Shinji and Warhammer40k
by Charles Bhepin
Summary: Shinji Ikari finds a boxful of insanity and becomes even more unhinged than before. Somehow, this is A Good Thing. As the grim dark future melts into stark bleak present, upon a throne of tropes humanity might find the savior it so requires.
1. Prologue: Rise, young man

Disclaimer:

Neither NGE nor WH40k nor assorted other references belong to me. This work is intended for its mere amusement value. :)

Please set story width to (full 3/4 **1/2**) to preserve word wrap as like book pages or in Wordpad.

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Prologue

**Rise, Young Man**

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**=][=**

Second Impact was man's attempt to wield the hands of godhood. It brought them low, purging them of their previous petty problems. It reshaped the world and set billions of souls screaming into the night. Those that were left behind had to struggle the shivering remains of their proudest era.

Japan, being an island nation, was among the worst affected. The seas had risen dramatically, drowning their interlocking coastal metropolises. The children who were born following Impact could only know a world vastly reduced, vastly sapped of its vibrant exuberance. The age before them could only be recast into the apex of humanity. It was a time of reckless motion that they might ever achieve again, brimming with ideas and fervor, most of which were taken by the sea or set aside in the call for survival.

Shinji Ikari grew up along the hills, which were now the new coastlines. He lived there with his uncle and aunt, who though cared for him still set themselves remote. They had lost their own son in the Impact, and taking care of Rokubungki's child could not truly fill that emotional void. In a house without smiles, Shinji only learned to be silent and obedient, further deepening the dissimilarity between him and the child they once had, a boy full of laughter and easy tears.

He did not expect much from his guardians. As he never asked for anything, they took it as a sign he was content. That it was how he liked things. He as a consequence grew without lavish attention, without toys, without the competitive bonds of playmates. He watched silently as the others played, bragged and then combined their amusements. Apathy was his proof against envy.

It was before he discovered the cello, the solitary music, and the gentle stirrings of the classicals. Before that, he had the sea. He would walk back then at the edges of bitten cliffs and the new worn beaches, watching the unceasing motion of the tides beating powerfully against rock. Lying there, staring up at the sky, letting the sounds fill him and consume him - he felt a part of something greater. It reminded him that man was small, that such needs and such painful emotions were as nothing at all.

The latter half of the twentieth century was a glittering glut of entertainment. All but vanished as studios sank under the waves and efforts were funneled into the practical. Frivolity was laid to rest beside the gravestones. That left a somber land and a somber people.

Shinji grew up without frivolous TV shows, without the spread of manga or the glorious wrath of Godzilla. The few books around the house and at school were simple texts, intended mainly to be instructional than entertaining.

One day, as he lay there, as if daring the sea to make that surge and swallow him up, it all changed.

For the sea did surge, and the waves did flow over him, and he gasped and flailed and something big and black rose along with the tides to clonk him upside down the head.

He washed back up on shore. Shinji rubbed at his head, and he thought it pitiful that for those brief moments he thought he was going to die it was nonetheless the most exciting thing to ever happen to him. His heart was still pounding, his skin cold and over-sensitive. He felt so thoroughly alive just then.

The waves seemed to push the black object further to him, trying to get him to accept it. Shinji decided to haul what turned out to be a big black suitcase away from the sea.

It was made of tough plastic, and sealed shut with protective hard plaster lining at the seams. He was alone there, as he preferred. It wasn't that far from his house, but in the aftermath of Second Impact many properties still remained abandoned. Shinji gave in to curiosity and decided to open in. In any other point in time he would have sheepishly brought it over to a person in any authority, even someone slightly older. Right then however, he was still filled with his first shot of adrenalin and his head throbbed enough to interfere with common sense. He brought it over to a slab of flat rock, and broke the seals. The suitcase lock had only three digits, and was easy enough to crack.

Inside, were books. Big, colorful books, and utterly unlike anything he had ever seen before. Packed to the side were little figurines in dynamic poses, painted in exquisite detail. Skulls, monstrous figures adorned the contents in many places, but for some reason it hardly frightened him, he who was nervous of little mice. He picked one book up and hesitantly ran a small palm over its glossy cover. Its title was adorned with a strange double-headed eagle. He didn't recognize any of the letters, being that English had yet to be taught to his grade level… but the sight was burned into his mind. He had to know what it said.

He opened the book, the pages crackling with newness. Illustrations, paragraphs, numbers, all there and unfamiliar. None of it made sense. The pictures matched the figurines, though, scenes of conflict and deaths on a massive scale were clear enough.

He did not understand, anything, but knew enough that he held in his hands something _**epic**_.

For the first time in his life Shinji learnt NEED. He needed it. He needed to know what it meant. He would never let it go, never give up this discovery. For a time, he considered just burying it as a treasure all his own, but then there was always the risk of someone else finding it and taking it.

Slowly, furtively, he dragged the suitcase back to the house. He felt utter fear. Every shadow was a thief. Up, up, difficult as it was, he wrestled it over stairs and into his room.

When his guardians came, he was so hesitant in his speech that they thought he had stolen it. For the first time he felt anger. He found it by the beach, he insisted, and it was his by right! The seaweed and small cockle-shells clinging to the case convinced them. It looked like it had floated for years through the bloated Pacific.

When he asked what it was, they said it was perhaps too grown-up for him. "This… this means something." he said, suddenly too serious, his face such a focused mask that reminded them all too much of Gendo. Shinji pointed to the title. He took out one of the figurines, and matched it to the frowning helmet on the cover. "I don't know but it's this. What does it say? What is it?"

His uncle sighed. His wife disapproved of the blatantly violent and unchild-safe contents of the suitcase. "It says… Warhammer 40,000. Codex Space Marines." Inside he was bubbling. He saw the hope in Shinji's eyes and shared it. It was in its own way a true treasure. It was something for the men in that house to share, his son would have enjoyed it as much as Shinji would… in that respect he would allow it. It was vintage. He found the contents as damn cool as Shinji did.

'_Mine!'_ he was shouting inside. He did not dare look at his wife. '_Man rights! Man rights! We are never too old for toys!'_

"What's that…?" Shinji asked. _'That wasn't helpful at all!'_

"It's in English, Shinji-kun. A language different from Japanese. You need to know it to really see what this is all about."

The boy nodded. "Then I will learn this… Ing…-lesh? I want to learn it, uncle!"

The magic word was _**want**_. His guardians saw the same self-determination apparent in his father. The boy, young as he was, was ready to give himself over to something separate from himself. If they gave away the suitcase, literally anything might happen. Gendo was unpredictable in such a manner, and his son, so easily following in his steps… it was likewise easier to just tolerate his odd dreams than to give him reason to become even more morose or unstable.

Besides, his uncle really wanted to play with that Dreadnought over there. "I'll help you learn it, Shinji." He smiled. "It's okay." he said aside. "It's… educational…"

=][=

The universe of Warhammer 40,000 was already heady stuff for a grownup, and mind-warping to a little boy. For most people it should have remained, even in obsessiveness, as clear entertainment. Shinji was determined to puzzle it out. Not only was it his first exposure to creative entertainment, but of science fiction as well. Everything else he saw was linked to Warhammer somehow. His childish daydreams involved hunting for xenos, Titans in the bushes, the sky above seemingly higher and bluer with the knowledge that beyond that might be worlds like the stories. His uncle grew hooked as well and soon put the books on prized display over at his desk. Armed with dictionaries the two slowly figured out the mechanics of the game.

Laughter rang in that house, for the first time in many years.

"Filthy xeno! You will be cleansed from this planet!" the office worker screamed in badly accented English. "In the name of the Emperor!"

"Waaaagh!" retorted Shinji, pushing a tray full of orkish figures and paper cut-outs to stand for missing pieces. It had gotten to the point that the two would not talk to each other except in English. And in a martial combative style.

His wife hated it. She hated the ugly, warlike setting. She hated the way they laid claim to the kitchen and sections of the living room as battlefield. Most of all she hated how her husband was treating the boy as a replacement for her son. He was forgetting, who it was that he owed his love to. She hated how she was being cast aside, in their rapid exchanges in a language she was not really all that familiar with.

"You're Japanese!" she screeched. "At least speak that in this house!" _Nihonto, _to be exact. It was as if they were making fun of her ignorance.

One day, while they were away, she took and stuffed all the figurines into a sack. Space Marine and Land Raider, Ork mobs by the whole, Eldar so spindly and fragile, and the horrific Chaos specially… into the bag, out the door. She had to get it all out of the house, she had to take back her life.

Shinji arrived, smiling and polite. He noticed their absence. He looked frantically about, making noises, leaving messes. She snapped at him, told him to do his homework. With such accusing eyes, he looked at her, and he ran upstairs to get it all done.

All too soon he was back down, gasping for breath. He stood there clutching his notebooks and waiting, as she sat by the table and cradled her face in her hands. Minutes inched by, in silence, perhaps she hoped he would go away. Shinji's little body shook, but he stood there, as long as it would take. He did not dare to poke her and see if she was asleep.

"It's gone, damn it! GONE! They're trash! Worthless, useless, trash!" she screamed at him suddenly. "I THREW IT ALL AWAY! YOU'LL NEVER GET IT BACK!"

Shinji let out such a howl and dropped his notebooks, that she feared he might actually attack her. Instead, he cried. He had thought as much. "WHY?" was all he said, between whining sobs. He had stood there long enough that his legs were numb, locked into place. He wiped his face on the sleeves of his shirt, staining it with yellowish snot.

"Stop that!" his aunt shouted. "I have to wash that…!"

Shinji didn't care. He felt malice for the first time. He blew his nose but it just came out in dribbles. He turned back to her, eyes red and sniffling… wetness down his cheeks and out his nose. "Why…?" he asked again.

"STOP THAT!" she screamed again. She launched off her chair and made as if to hit him. He shrank back, though still rooted to the spot. The aunt grimaced and pulled back her hands… she clutched them over her laboring chest, constricting emotions gripping her as well. She sniffled a bit as well, her eyes starting to tear up. The boy's howling never stopped.

She was sure the neighbors, though far enough away, could hear him. "Stop it…" she whispered. "You're not my son…"

"I'm sorry." said Shinji. "Whatever it is, I'm sorry."

"Stop it! No!" She placed her palms over hear ears and squeezed her eyes shut. She considered herself a good person. All she wanted was some peace! "Don't say that!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry… I'll try to be a good boy." He coughed as air went down the wrong pipe. "I'm sorry. I know I'm not your son. I won't play with uncle anymore. I'll help out more with the chores." Gendo's son wanted to kneel, but his knees were still locked. He wanted to run away. It was so painful! Why did he have to feel that way? It was better when there was nothing he actually liked!

"I'm sorry!" he shouted now.

She threw herself at him, her eyes glittering madly, and the boy screamed.

However, his aunt was just embracing him. She was crying into his shoulder.

"No, _I'm _sorry." she sobbed out as well. My face is now full of snot, a part of her mind noted. Being a mother is disgusting, difficult job. Sometimes that what makes it worthwhile, to be so needed. "I'm sorry, Shinji…"

She pulled away at wiped his tears with her apron. She had served the domesticated wife for too long, she even wore her hair in the prim manner so demanded by the role. Every day without her son made it all meaningless, but still did so in a ritual to forget, to immerse herself in being needed that it only heightened her isolation.

"It… is… my fault… I didn't understand. I was selfish, too." she said. She all but collapsed, and Shinji had to support her with his tiny arms. "My son is dead! I can't… every day, I can almost hear his voice. Kaa-san, play with me! Kaa-san, where's father? Mother, look at me!"

Her hair came undone, she touched her forehead to his. Her bloodshot eyes met his. "You are drowning out his voice! When you laugh, it's like he can't be here anymore. It's like he was never here. Your room was his room. Your clothes were his clothes… you look so much like your mother, my sister, and me, it hurts! It hurts me! I can't let you be my son. I can't abandon him…! I have to prove he once was!"

Neither were in any rational state of mind.

"I'm sorry…" Shinji said again.

"No!"

"I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that!"

"But I am!" he shouted. "I never wanted this! You're not my mother. My mother is DEAD! My father doesn't want me! And I do nothing except cause everybody pain…!"

"Shinji…"

"All I had was a place where I wasn't myself. It wasn't real… it made me happy because it wasn't real. I hate my life! I hate it! I hate this world!" He was grimacing so much veins in his neck were bulging out. "But over there, without hate you can't live. They're heroes out there. I want to be a hero. I want to die, that I did something that was worth everything before it… and it's not even real!"

He sniffled some more. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

His aunt drew back, staring at him in mute horror. Children were prone to the dramatic, and in their ignorance could be the cruelest creatures. They were also in their way heartrendingly sincere. A child should not be entertaining such thoughts. She could blame part of that on his violent little hobby… but most of it, in a world and a family that had no affection to spare.

"…humanitas…" he mumbled. "For humanity. It was so big. It was so awesome. It was everything this stupid stupid world should have been…" He looked up, seemingly through her, his young eyes dark and piercing. "I want never having to be alone with the brotherhood of the Space Marine. I want to have a God-Emperor to trust with all my soul. I want the orks and their Waaagh and their joy in being alive, and the Eldar who are all so wise where I'm not. Even the Chaos and their demons made it all seem so worthwhile.

Everything made sense. Everything had a purpose…"

Shinji had actually gained better grades from the box, his drive to learn English and understand the concepts in science fiction made elementary school… well, elementary.

Much like his father, he had let himself become absorbed by something greater than himself. The main difference was the he had swallowed a lie rather than building an edifice of it to entrap others.

"I'm not your son…" he continued. He clenched his fists and quivered in place. "What am I, really?"

"Shinji… I never realized it was…"

"Who is Shinji? Someone please tell me! What am I supposed to be?" he asked in all desperation.

His aunt slowly shook her head. "You're just a child. Shinji… you shouldn't be thinking those things. You can be whatever you want to be, it's still all so far away for you…"

"Whatever else other than your son…" he finished. "I'm sorry. I'm not him. I can't ever be him. I'm sorry you thought I was trying…" he trailed off into silence.

Crickets chirped outside, the room was stained red.

She placed her hands on his shoulder, in a posture to push him away and sighed. "No, you can never replace my son…"

Instead, she pulled and crushed him into a hug. "But I think I can love you anyway…"

The boy began to cry again. He was, after all, just ten.

"Baa-san."

"Shinji…"

In the growing darkness they remained, true family at last.

"Librarian!"

She blinked. That was one of the few English words she knew. What an odd thing to yell out in such a dramatic moment. Shinji struggled to get out of her embrace and she let him loose.

The boy tried to walk and nearly toppled over to smash his head on the table edge, luckily he was fast enough push away with his hands. His aunt was stunned into wide-eyed inaction.

Shinji weaved past the dining table and into the kitchen. He reached into the shadows behind a shelf and brought out a figurine, a bald man, scowling, in thick stubby blue armor. "Hu-waaa." the boy gasped out. "I found it! Master Librarian of the Ultramarines!" He looked wildly around the kitchen. He pointed to another dark area. "Is that… is that, hey!" He rushed to over the refrigerator and pulled out a "Dreadnought-sama!" and "Wah! Tankbusta-dono! You were fighting again!"

Well, he was ten.

He turned around and gave her such a biiig, happy smile, so bright and honest. "That was a dirty trick you pulled, auntie." He wanted to hug her again, but his arms were rather already full. "But I'm glad we had this talk."

His aunt simply sat there, her eyes glazed, her hair frazzled. She managed to get herself to moving just in time to clean up after herself, and present a welcoming face to her husband. Meanwhile, Shinji went around finding Warhammer 40k figurines all over the place. He was having fun in the odd variation of hide and seek. It made him love, for yes he finally identified that feeling, his aunt all the more.

They never mentioned again what happened then. They got along just fine, and it was from her that Shinji learn most of his cooking skills. She never interfered again in the boys' (both ages) playing, and went deliberately out of her way to allow them their time for bonding. The miniatures were always clean and their colors bright and fresh as the day they were painted.

=][=

**In the grim dark future of the forty-first millennium, there is only war.**

Warhammer 40k was perhaps one of the most violent, depressing, over-the-top mindscapes ever created. It dripped with blood, with dreams juiced into unrecognizable slurry, decency and morality stretched to the breaking point. The very intro proclaimed; the worst regime imaginable. There are no innocents, only degrees of guilt.

Shinji basked in it. The boy absorbed it into every corner of his being. There was nothing else at that time in Japan that could compare. The gods had abandoned man, cast him in the fires of their own stupidity. Shinji had no idea of what was behind Third Impact, whether it was punishment or mere random chance. In the grim solace of his pieces and codices, the human struggle from without paled in comparison. It made the living world, to him, bright and new and still worthy of exploration.

It could be some cosmic irony, that a galaxy torn in strife and populated with the worst and best of zealotry, lusts, hatred, fear, deceit, mutation, and just senseless murder… was the one thing that could turn him… normal.

Shinji was, by nature and nurture, a nervous, easily frightened child. The very first blackout he ever experienced froze him in mid-step. There was a typhoon, and the old house groaned as what sounded like a howling army of vicious toothy beasts beat themselves against it. He had suffered through tropical storms before, but it was the first time having read of the dark future and the science behind typhoons, that it struck him all at once how massive the world was and how little he was. Everything was dark and hopeless. He was cold. Unsurprisingly, that realization was how it was _all the time_ to the mere grunts in Warhammer.

A roar, and his window broke from a flung branch, icy air rushed knife-like in, seeming to grasp him in great claws. He screamed. His uncle went rushing in, and his candle blew out.

It took him a few moments to rekindle it, every second sending the over- imaginative boy further into cold shock.

Shinji's aunt led him away while his uncle boarded up the cracked glass window. They boy felt the universe dammed away in the warmth of her arms. "Are you all right, Shin-chan? Maybe you should stay with us in our room." The boy was not her son, and she wished that if he had lived, he would have been so well-behaved.

Shinji shook his head. He didn't want to impose even further. His guardians likewise didn't want to force anything they wanted, even for his own good, to him.

The boy stood alone in the center of his room, the candle-lights sending strange writhing shadows dancing on its wall. Outside the primordial fury still raged. He closed his eyes. Total darkness was actually less scary.

He rushed to a place he was absolutely certain on, where he had stashed his miniatures as the family prepared for the storm. He opened the cardboard box and took out a Space Marine without his helmet. His square-jawed faced and steely gaze held a Space Marine's unfaltering will.

He took that figurine and set it on the desk near his bed. He lay down, with the Space Marine standing between him and the shadows. Its own shadow loomed large over Shinji's bed, and it was good. When the candle died, and all was rage and darkness, Shinji was no longer afraid. He believed, in a child's innocent and utter faith, that the Space Marine stands as a guardian against all darkness, that the light of the Emperor will yet prevail. He stands as the rock upon which the hope of humanity is built.

Shinji never feared the dark again, no matter where it was. As long as his Space Marine stood there, he never had any bad dreams. Scary movies, ghost stories, among the pastime of children, had him listen there unflinching. The kids he played with called him the boy without fear. Graveyards and old buildings were gothic grounds, and in their dark stillness he felt as if welcomed.

His nights would always be safe, thanks to his Space Marine.

=][=

Shinji was doing well in class, even going so far as to be on the honor roll. His teachers could not say anything much about him, though. He was still small, he was still so slight of stance and stature that he was easy to ignore. He always seemed to stop just short of pushing himself or getting noticed. He did what was expected of him, nothing more.

That didn't mean he wasn't noticed. His classmates saw his improving grades, how he devoured books that he saw, specially seeking out hard English books. He was becoming a proto-nerd.

He was a weirdo that talks to himself, they saw that. He was weird. Not a cool sort of weird, no one good at class was ever cool at that age. They all felt as if Shinji was judging them somehow, intentionally setting himself apart. That was starting to piss them off.

And actually, he was. Shouts of "Geppie Robo! Combine!" and the frantic rushing about beating on space monsters did not appeal to him. It was the most popular game on the playground. Giant robots and boys naturally sought each other out.

Shinji never indulged in that play. He even refused. He did not really know much about that sort of thing. He could not play along because in his dreams his robots never played.

They were epic.

Their stride was unstoppable, their will indomitable. They did not leap, they did not shout special attacks. They simply _were_. Their home was battlefield, and where they went they brought it along. They made it with every stride, every glance. The Giant Robo is a little boy's god. They that walked in the vistas of his mind were the Titans of their age, Archetypical, the God-slayers.

Shinji liked the swings, trying to get himself soaring higher and higher, and the fall was the best part. He did not compete with the other children, nor shared any of the playground until he had to. To him, the seesaw remained unused. Those he could call 'friends' were all older than him, and their classes ended at different times.

Shinji got another perfect score on his English test. It was a required subject in the higher grade levels, as the world's devastation forced countries to become more and more interconnected as they shared and traded dwindling resources. His reading ability was nothing short of phenomenal, but his teacher said that his speech was not too good. Unfortunately, neither of them could actually pronounce proper English. Neither could pronounce proper diction.

It was likely that Shinji was further along with that. Where he acquired such an authentic accent, not even he could say.

They followed him that day, three boys skulking along the long deserted path back to Shinji's house. They saw him again talking to himself, his face full of animation absent when at school or speaking to another person.

"Hey!" shouted the token leader of the three. "Hey, you! Wait up!"

They ran up to him. They were all taller than him, and Shinji looked up at him with his customary bland gaze. "Ara, Kobayakawa-kun." He nodded to each. "Minato-kun, Yohta-kun." Inside Shinji was strangely expectant. No one had ever talked to him outside of school before.

"Shut up!" shouted the tallest, and roundest, who was Kobayakawa. "You likes talking down to us, huh?"

"Yeah! You think you're better than us!" put in Minato, a short boy only barely bigger than Shinji. "We don't like that."

"You're uncool, you're a kiss-up, and you're useless." piped up the third.

"So why don't ya say something?" Kobayakawa finished, his round face crumpled into a sneer. He poked at Shinji. "Say something in English."

"A-no sa…"

He poked Shinji again, harder.

"In English, I said!"

Shinji, bewildered, only said "Wot?"

The boys made blanching sounds of frustration. Shinji began to step backwards, preparing to run off away from the insanity, when the leader noticed him having his left hand stuck in his pockets. Kobayakawa grabbed it, keeping him from bolting for it.

"What's that you have there?"

Shinji tried to break free, but couldn't. The pudgy boy tried to get at whatever was in his pockets, but Shinji had enough leverage to keep the hand forced in. "Hey, help me out!" Kobayakawa told his buddies. They managed to pry it loose.

"Hey! Look at this!" said the boy. "It's a monster!" He held up an Orkish warboss to the light. "It's so ugly!"

"That's so cool…" breathed Yohta. He reached for it with his long, dirty fingers but Kobayakawa pulled it away. The boy scowled. "Where do you think he got it?"

"Probably stole it." Minato put in.

"Yeah. That sounds right. He probably stole it." A pathetic loser like Shinji didn't deserve a cool toy like this. Look at those teeth! Is that a machine gun for an arm? "If he stole it it's okay if we have it. That's okay, right? If we share it's all okay." He still planned on playing with it most, though.

"I didn't steal it!" Shinji said, his voice pitching up. "It's mine! Give it back."

"Bii-!" Minato stuck his tongue out at him. "Make us."

"Please give it back." Shinji begged. "I can pay you…"

"Ask it in English." Kobayakawa said haughtily. "Ask for it politely."

"Kood you pleese gib it back to mi?" he ground out. Could you please give it back to me? He even bowed low.

"Hm…" The boys laughed. "No!"

Slowly, ever so slowly, Shinji raised his head. "Gib back da warboss."

They laughed and began to ignore him. They waved it in the air and made growling noises.

"Gibbet!" Shinji said sharply.

Kobayakawa turned to see the smaller boy standing there, half-crouched and eyes all wide. He laughed again. Someone so small and so mad. "No…" he said again, all so slow and deliberate. What could he do?

"WwwwWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGH!" Shinji shouted and launched himself at them.

"AAAH! Get it off! Get it off!"

"He's biting my toes! Oh god why is he biting my toes?"

"The pain! I didn't know there could be such pain!"

Pain? What is this pain you speak of? Shinji had a busted lip, bruises all over, blood spattering his uniform, maybe even a hairline fracture in his left arm. Through it all he had this big, open-tooth, completely happy grin, total joy dancing across his face and out through his fists. The adrenalin, that he only felt once before, he realized then that he didn't have to risk killing himself just to get that feeling again.

"Get away from me!" Kobayakawa managed to push him away, sending Shinji tumbling across the dusty street. He noticed that he still had the figurine in his hand. He looked from it to the small boy slowly rising from the ground, with all the languor of a hellcat.

He scowled and lifted his hand high, to throw the orkish figure down at the ground and stomp on it, winning that way.

Shinji said something low, heartfelt, and threatening. Then, realizing they couldn't understand it, repeated it in Japanese.

"I'll burns your houses, I'll choppas your cars, I'll stomps on yaz where I find yaz. I'll smacks your townz, I'll throws your pets, I'lls rips ya to pieces!" He got up and laughed, his jaw hanging down, in har-har-har manner. "GIMME BACK DA WARBOSS!"

"You're crazy!" Kobayakawa hoarsely shouted back.

"GIBBET, HUMMIE!"

"Here!" The boy threw the figurine at him. Shinji ignored it as it went sailing past his head.

He grinned some more and made a lunging motion at them. The boys screamed and fled.

Once they were out of sight, he dropped to his knees, drained and in blinding pain. He shuffled over to where the warboss lay face-down on the concrete. A drop of his blood fell on it as he bent down to pick it up.

"…good…" he whispered, his vision fading to black. "…not a scratch. I did good." He rolled over and lay there by the road. "…I didz gud, dident I, warboss…?"

He decided it was a good time to go to sleep.

His guardians found him there, and in all panic rushed him to the hospital. They screamed at the police, they screamed at the school officials, and the parents of the boys who were telling such out and out lies! After all, there were three of them! And look at how they left Shinji! How dare they try and pass themselves off as the injured party here? Shinji would never, never, attack someone. He was so shy and well-behaved, everybody said so!

And so kind. Shinji actually insisted that the boys not be expelled. He was so firm about it. He didn't want anyone to be in trouble. They had to have learned their lesson.

The reputation of the three boys took a nosedive. No one wanted to play with them. In the end, it took Shinji to approach them. Over time as it seemed he'd forgiven them, they were accepted back into the community of kids. Even if they didn't call Shinji, poor little easily-embarrassed Shinji, anything but Boss. He called them 'da boyz' which, literally speaking, they still were.

=**][**=

School in post-Impact elementary was that it taught history up to, but just short of, Second Impact. The children might ask _why_ the world was as it was, but they would have to know it from other sources. They would not be given official word until the next stage in education.

His final years were about rediscovering the finest stages in humanity's history. This would have been when he discovered the more cultured eras, and classical music. He would have found its haunting patterns more to his liking, instruments uniting and falling, relics of a much more hopeful era. It was dead music suited for a dead world. The past was gone under the seas, with all its frenzied beauty. All that lay in the future for Shinji were ruins and damaged goods.

He would have known this, and was part of what would made him so depressed. He could not imagine in what possible way things could be better. How could it possibly compete to the sheer perfection of these concertos? How could it be anything but a tarnished, imperfect reflection of these long dead? It made him believe that the luckiest died in died at the most glorious portion of humanity's history. They would remain with it, and never know how ugly and uninspired the world could be.

A Shinji Ikari, who saw Titans in the shadows of buildings and walking tombs in the trees, had a much longer view. Compared to the bleakness of the forty-first millennium, it was still so much the better. So very much. He had faith in humanity, he was told how it could rise and fall, burning anew like a phoenix from the ashes. History itself supported this. That a cathedral once gilded now lay moss-stained and ruined was nothing to be sad about. It was enough that the shape still remained. It was all the more impressive to him, that it could still be so defiant against the tide of history.

It was only right and proper that things should fall into ruin. The greater the fall, the farther to new heights they could reach, climbing upon the remains of those before.

TV was a rare pastime as he grew up, filled mainly with cheesy reruns and news reports. The radio was slightly more lively, but the most cheerful of music didn't find its way into the airwaves. J-pop, mind-melting, sugar-filled J-pop, was a vanished piece of Japanese cultural heritage.

Shinji did not need the cello to chase away the silence of his bland hours. He and his uncle played the game less and less, but they shared in its ambiance. His aunt was no longer the remote specter she was, and the house never seemed so tomblike. He had been to tombs, he knew what that felt like.

His hobby, unsurprisingly, was sculpture. There was plenty of clay to be had and there was an oven right there in the kitchen. It was a hit and miss process, and he wasn't really all that good with it. His creations had a tendency to fall apart, as no one had told him about frameworks and bracing. He acted as if it was one big secret, and his guardians were careful not to make too much notice of it. It was certainly nothing to be ashamed of, but Shinji was embarrassed easily. They supposed he was ashamed his efforts looked very little like the miniatures.

"Shinji…" his uncle said finally. "The miniatures are made of plastic, not clay. Maybe instead of sculpting them into something, you can sculpt them out of something." He gave the boy a bar of bathing soap and a utility knife. It was the best gift he could have given, and it was not even his birthday! In a previous time, his uncle would simply have given over money as a token gift during birthdays, in thinking quite reasonably (if callously) that the boy could just go out and get what he wanted.

Affection proved a much better present.

Shinji did not actually improve in his sculpting efforts, but became the cleanest, sweetest smelling boy, ever, in his school.

In another place, Shinji would have saved up his money to buy a cello, being so unwilling to present himself as a bother. Here he was comfortable enough with his guardians to ask them for the money to get one, and so unwilling to lie (it displeases the Emperor!) that he told them why. He was of course, red-faced and stuttering as he said it.

For it turns out, that there was this girl, in the school band…

His guardians shared a look. So, it was about that time, eh? His uncle looked like he had swallowed a prune, and ran out of the room. Shinji supposed it was indigestion. His uncle went right out the house, and collapsed there, completely unable to contain his mirth. Shinji had always been a serious boy, but now he was… GRIMLY serious. He began to roll around.

That left his wife to just shake her head and sigh. She motioned Shinji to take a seat by the table and explain. Her comforting, serious, motherly manner coaxed the information out of him. She didn't tease him, or give on any tricks to win affection. She made a mental note to make sure her useless husband didn't try anything. Instead she just told him to make friends and find a common interest.

"That's why I need a cello, auntie." he said, nodding and likewise calm. "It's the only position unfilled. If I own an instrument, I can get in sure."

"Ah, Shin-chan, but music isn't so simple. If you don't love music for itself, you'll never succeed. And you would only dishonor yourself and the girl if you build your friendship on a lie."

Shinji nodded. He knew all about honor. It separated humanity from the foul xenos. One had to be ready to go to extraordinary lengths to defend it, even breaking a world was nothing, rather than let it fall into the chaos of falsehoods, broken oaths, sacrilege, dishonor.

His uncle came in, breathless, and saw the two sitting there with their backs straight and hands folded over their laps, with faces placid and polite. All that was missing was for them to be sitting cross-legged, maybe throw a few big banners around, for it to be all out of some samurai drama. He gurgled something that sounded like "Bahah-!" and fled.

His wife shook her head again. Useless.

"Remember, Shinji, if you do go into practicing music, you need to see it through. No matter what happens, no matter how difficult it is, even if you don't make friends. Music is something that requires dedication all through your life."

The boy's eyes widened. She could not have phrased it any more attractively to him. "I won't fail!" he said, puffing his chest out. "I'll give my life if that's what's asked!"

Shinji's aunt couldn't resist anymore. She pinched both his cheeks and cooed. "Shinji's a good boy!"

Her husband finally managed to get back inside, saw Shinji's grotesquely distorted face, and continued to be useless.

=][=

Unknown to him, Shinji had gathered a few admirers at school. He was not all that 'cool' to the boys, still something of a nerd, but to the girls he was more appealing. It was by simple matter of selection.

First off, he was clean and orderly. Boys as a rule were dirty, sweaty and rude. Shinji was not merely neat, he did so on his own without seeming to notice and without looking a like a pretty boy. Orderliness without being told was the first sign of maturity.

He was smaller than most of his classmates, but seemed more than them somehow. His eyes were deep and unflinching, and he had a well of silent self-assurance. Whereas he was once a recluse for the lack of it, now he was set apart because he had too much of it.

He was mysterious that way, independent, aloof, they knew those he lived in were not his parents and unfortunately that was fangirl fodder.

A Space Marine feared nothing, and his every step was to purpose. The books however told little about the ways of human interaction, specially towards the opposite sex. There, he was lost. If only she was more like the Adeptus Sororitas! Then there would be no problem. He never thought women would any be weaker than men.

Ever since the event years ago, in which he pulled out a singular Waaagh! that he swore never to repeat, he had learned to keep his figurines at home. They were too precious to risk, despite the emotional comfort they provided. He kept their existence to himself.

In that, he was lost. He had no idea how to relate.

Shinji's little crush was a girl taller than him, and so delicate she looked like made of flowers. He felt himself hesitating every time he even gets close to her. Though he was smaller he feared as if his slightest touch could damage her somehow.

"Shinji?" her opinion of him. "That little weirdo? I don't know, he kinda creeps me out. Always just standing somewhere, staring into the strangest things. I saw him stare at those for like, almost an hour."

"Eeh, Minase-chan? So you WERE looking…" was the reply of another girl, her voice peevish.

"Oh, just drop it, Acchan. Why are you asking me? I don't care."

It was just by accident he overheard. He would swear! He was just walking along the bush. It wasn't stalking! Fortunately he was indeed very good being unnoticeable when he needed to be. Like his father he was prone to possessiveness, and now he had found a new target.

"What should I do?" He paced the room and asked himself. He looked at the figures at his desk and as his gaze rested on each of them could almost hear the Warboss say… _'I dunno', _the Space Marine_ '…have courage', _and the Chaos Marine_ '… you're… actually asking… ME?'_

He picked up the Farseer. "You're a girl. What should I do?"

'_Shinji, I'm speaking only as a figment of your imagination.' _her voice was almost at his head_. 'how do you seriously expect me to solve your problems?'_

"Aah!" he began to spin around. '_What should I do?_'

Learning about the school band was a fortunate turn of events.

=**][**=

He had his cello. He had a manual, and later his guardians would find him a teacher. In the meantime, he put his stick to rest at a string and filled his head with illusions of how he'd show her his skill in music, at how they would create music combining and completing each other…

He slid it against that string and killed his eardrums.

"Aaaagh!" he screamed. It was horrible! It was impossible! She would hate him! Hate him utterly!

He turned to the Space Marine at his desk. "Don't look at me like that. All right, I'm not giving in to despair! I gave my word of honor!" And to the Chaos Marine up on the shelf. "So you can just stop celebrating right there!"

Shinji could not really talk about it to his guardians, and so turned to the only companions he knew he could completely trust. His old friend the Warboss was an asexual being, and could only offer advice about _'Stop overfinkin' and go bash somefin'_. A good dose of violence would let him forget ALL about this love foolishness. It's so puny humie of him.

"I AM a human." he retorted.

'_Yous a bloddy ork inside-' _The warboss seemed to shake. _'And don't you forge' dit. Wez got da blood to prove it!'_

The boy sighed and lay back on his bed. "She's never going to like a creepy, violent crazy weirdo like me…"

The Space Marine continued to stare._ 'This uncertainty is unworthy of you.' _He seemed to say._ 'Remember that doubt is for the dying.'_

'_I agree!' _an imagined voice that was harsher, even less forgiving than a Space Marine's put in._ 'To lie to oneself is the first step into lying to others! Guard your thoughts, boy. For such thoughts lead to Chaos!'_

"Oh, Commissar-san!" Shinji noticed one of the regimental Commissars by the flowerpot. He was orderly except for one thing, he was apt to pick up his figurines and absent-mindedly place them back down one he has finished a 'conversation'. That was the likely reason they were always all over the place. "Thanks. That really cheered me up."

'_Yes… sure…'_ ground out the Thousand Son over at the shelf. _'Gang up on me. I have NOTHING to do with his thoughts, though I follow the Gods of Chaos, even I find such whining disgusting. Why do you think we send so many cultists out as meat shields? We will not suffer even such emos in OUR presence.'_

He was still confused, however. He was almost half-asleep when he heard a commanding female voice say _'To look too far into the future leads to madness. To Hope is to be Disappointed. If you must plan, Shinji, then you must define your goal and choose the paths that will lead to it. Choose the best future nearest, and see only that future. Do the steps that will lead you to that. Then the next simple outcome. And the next. Only then will you find that which you seek.'_

He turned and saw a skirted figure near his head. "What do you mean, Farseer-sensei?"

The other figurines made outraged noises at that suffix of respect, and various warnings about never trusting an Eldar. Chaos, self-recognizing as evil and misleading, was even the loudest at it. Shinji could almost feel her pride. His eyelids were heavy, and through his wavering vision he could almost certainly see her turning her head and lowering her arm from its salute with a sword. The Eldar placed her hands to her hips as Shinji began to cross that boundary between sleep and wakefulness.

'_Time is planning, Shinji. Many believe that the future is what you make of it. You mon-keigh are determined to force fate to your whims.' _She radiated amusement. _'Only we Eldar see that the future is already set. The future only calls for events to be altered to suit itself. It is the present that is malleable, never the future. Do you want me to teach you?'_

'_Eldar witch!'_ the Space Marine spat. _'I will not have him as your pawn!' _The others made similar statements.

'_Silence! He is not your Emperor's! Not yet! I will not have his blood spilled just like any other meaningless fighter in a meaningless Waaagh! I will not have his beautiful soul consumed in Chaos! I WILL GIVE HIM WHAT NONE OF YOU CAN GIVE HIM!' _She turned to him and spoke softly. His eyes already shut, Shinji could pretend freely he felt the barest of pressure on his nose, like a tiny hand pressed upon it.

'_I will give him a Choice. He will know just why it is he so willingly walks into Hell.' said the Farseer. 'I will give you a mind forever voyaging, Shinji. Will you accept me as your teacher?'_

"S-sure, Farseer-sensei…" the boy mumbled in his sleep.

=][=

_The Farseer stood over him, her cloak billowing in the breeze. The world was mist, dense, endless. She stood tall and proud, her armor the fruit of thousands of years of expertise. Her facemask looked even more severe, more disapproving than a Space Marine's. That only made them look Angry, All The Time. The Eldar's pointed chin and frown made him feel his insignificant years._

_Maybe it was a bad idea. He knew full well he was dreaming, and even there he felt in complete lack of control. What was a boy to an Eldar, a person thousands of years old, even if it was one he imagined into being?_

_The Farseer reached into the back of her helmet, and unlatched it. Unseen seams came apart with a hiss. She pulled up a bit, and removed her helmet to the front. As her face revealed itself, with one last flick away from its darkly discouraging mask, Shinji felt his heart stop._

_There were illustrations, but they simply did not do her person any justice. She was an Eldar, pointy-eared and arrogant in the supposed perfection of her Race. Three thin red lines were marking the sides of her face, from eyes to chin, as if she had been crying blood. Her lips were as red, as if she'd been drinking blood. Her skin was smooth and seemingly glowing with an inner light, such was its silken fineness._

_It was there Shinji recognized why he found Minase attractive. Her delicate, regal features was the closest to living Eldar he had ever seen._

_The Farseer smiled. It was an unnaturally beautiful, frighteningly serene smile. "Shinji…" she said, her lips barely moving. "Clear your mind."_

"…_what?"_

"_The mind is full of noise, going hither and thither. The mind is a spoiled child. It is without order, without structure. The mind is a journey. Is it freedom to just let the wind and waves take you? To let yourself drift wherever it might take you on its whim? Is to take the helm taking away from that freedom? Freedom, is choice. This has always been the gift of the Eldar. To be able to decide where and when you want to go. To take that future, and only that future you want. You must clear your mind, if we are to begin."_

_She sat cross-legged on the imaginary ground, a wind helpfully setting her cloak out of the way as she sat. It was a standard meditative seat. "Shinji, please sit."_

_The boy nodded and complied. He looked at her for a while, so deathly still, so artistically perfect. A comparison to a spider would have been easy, as she was wearing black and bone-white. Shinji could not compare her to any creature, she was just as moonlight to him. Cold, but at the same time elegant light, hiding flaws, enhancing grace, holding secrets._

_She opened her left eye and slightly quirked her lips._

_Shinji turned red and quickly shut his eyes. "Clear the mind… clear the mind…" he muttered. She was right! It IS full of noise. Everything it seemed passed through the forefront of his thoughts. It didn't help that he had completely memorized all the codices, every angle he could view the miniatures, the sketches, the novels. Everything there, and constantly churned over in his mind, was what made him capable of recreating the personalities of fictional beings so thoroughly._

_He began to frown. He began to sweat._

"_Aaah! This is harder than it looks!" he had to say. It's unfair that the Eldar could do it so easily. Eldar seemed always at peace with themselves, without the internal struggle of the mon-keigh. It was a point of irritation that the closest thing to it was the simple crude mind, never without any insecurities, of an Ork._

"_I would have been surprised if you succeeded in your first try, Shinji." She lifted her right hand and held it palm down in front of her. She then had moved it about in gentle, swaying motions. "The mind is like a butterfly. You can see it resting on a flower, but it leaves. It goes where it will. But it comes back to that flower again._

_It is perfectly all right to let the mind wander. As long as it returns. Then, the mind may be taught to remain. All life, is suffering, Shinji. All suffering, is in the mind. Only in the mind can one become free. Take your time, Shinji. Time is meaningless here. We can take as long as what proves necessary."_

"_Won't I just forget when I wake up?" He began to think of a butterfly. Come on butterfly, don't move. Don't move. Ah! No… bad butterfly! "This is a dream, right?"_

"_It is a dream, true. But a mind in control does NOT lose control. To wake is not to disappear. To wake, is simply to BE, to exert even greater awareness of the mind, as connected to body."_

_Eventually, Shinji realized that forcing the butterfly to remain still actually encouraged it to fly away. The butterfly, if left alone, will choose to return to the flower. It would flitter away, then return. Away and back again. By ignoring it, Shinji knew that he actually found the stillness he was looking for. Motion in stillness. Stillness in motion._

_Time was indeed meaningless. It could have been minutes, or hours, or hundreds of years before he came to that conclusion. Eons more as he learned to be satisfied with it. That damn butterfly's never going to just stop at the flower. To fly IS the natural state of the butterfly. The flower's natural state IS to provide a place for a butterfly to rest._

"_You're teaching me patience, aren't you?" he said after some time. "A clear mind doesn't equal an empty mind. Only that it knows."_

"_Very good, Shinji. We Eldar meditate to bring out knowledge that we have always known. You have always known this." She stroked at his mind and had him open his eyes. "Now, come sit with me, and we shall learn how to apply it."_

_Shinji scooted closer and prepared to enter a meditative state again. The Farseer stopped him. "No, I said sit with me."_

"_Um, so, closer then? Should I sit to the left or right?"_

_The Farseer patted her crossed shins, and motioned the boy to sit on her lap. Shinji just knew his face was flaming, but the Eldar still had her eyes closed and seemed unconcerned. Reminding himself that it was all just in the imagination, he complied._

_She laid her chin right over his head, her long black hair flowing like dark rain to either side of him. She grabbed his hands under her gloves and crossed them over his chest in much the same way Pharaohs would have rested. Needless to say, Shinji had a vastly more difficult time at achieving meditative serenity._

"_The future… to reach for it, one must first define your goals. What do you want, Shinji?"_

"_Want…? I want Minase to like me!"_

_The Farseer hmm'ed. He could feel the vibrations passing through the chestplate and into his back, going deep and prickling into his spine. "Vague." she said. "That is not a goal, not even an idea. A future must be specific for it to happen."_

_He closed his eyes again and reached for that timeless calm. "Specific, huh? I want Minase to SAY she likes me."_

"_Like you? In what way? Or for what?"_

"_Um, just LIKES me, I guess. I want her to say someday, Shinji I like you…" Wait. He could feel himself drifting. The was muddying the vision. "No… I want her to like my music. She can like me later."_

_And then, it suddenly came all tumbling into his brain. It was all so obvious, in retrospect. He gasped._

_A myriad of possible futures, given what he already know of his classmates, his teachers, his classroom, and what they might be doing. What he had imagined, was hope. It was wish. What the Eldar had were a burden. The future was no mere fantasy. It was a series of specific events happening at specific points in time made by specific people. There is no 'might be'. There was only 'will be' or 'will not be'. An event once past cannot be undone. It only reduces it further, the choices available to it, closer and closer to one eventuality._

_He can't predict Minase's movements or her opinions. He can mold events however, to arrive at a specific scenario at a specific time. But to lock on to that ideal would be to ensure it would never happen._

_It was an odd paradox._

_But there was a way out…_

"_What future do you reach for, young Mon-keigh?"_

"_I reach for no future, ancient Eldar. I see it, and it will come to me."_

_The Farseer kissed the top of his head. "And thus you have taken the first step in a winding road once traveled by the Eldar."_

=][=

Shinji taught himself how to plan ahead. He drew a line in the sand and took a leaf. He held it above the line and felt the Farseer ask. 'Now, which way will it fall? The right or the left?'

"Left." he decided.

He let go of the leaf. It drifted slowly down, twisting over in mid-air now and then. It landed to the left.

No way! He had really, really focused on-

'_Do not hope, Shinji. The future is not built on hope._' she admonished soundly. '_An object does not move through time. It is time that flows around an object. The leaf, the wind, even you, and here only you can make the choice and only you can create the future that you desire_.'

Shinji picked up the leaf and held it up again, this time much closer to the ground over the left side. "It will fall to the left." And so it did.

'_What have you done, Shinji?'_

"I saw the future I wanted, and knew the steps that would have it happen. This was the simplest I saw."

'_Well done. May your sight serve you well in the days ahead.'_

People, because they made choices, were simpler to predict. It is unknown when Gendo himself learned this, but Shinji for all intents and purposes, taught this realization to himself. Information was needed to craft a scenario, for the future was a series of steps, each of which built upon each other, reinforcing each other, until finally there was no choice but to arrive at that outcome.

Shinji visualized a future in which his teacher would arrive and say "Sorry class, I… overslept."

=][=

It was just a day after getting his cello. He did so by simply asking his teacher "Hisoka-sensei, why don't we just use China for farming? They've got plenty of space over there that they don't need, and we… we don't have enough people anymore."

"Um… shouldn't you be asking that to your Social Studies teacher?"

Shinji dropped his eyes. "I'm sorry, I just had to ask someone…" He backed away and ran out of the classroom before his English teacher could say anything more.

And because he couldn't say anything so Shinji, had to say it to himself. It got stuck in his mind as he went home. The boy watched him go. Shinji knew that Hisoka-sensei lived in a small old home with a multi-generational family.

And he just knew that he would blurt it out to his wife, as he thought things over on the way home. And also somehow he just knew, that Hisoka-sensei's wife would bring it up over the dinner table. And he could see, though the faces were blurry, Hisoka-sensei's brother saying how stupid it would be, hadn't they learned from history? The father would just shout out to shoot the bastards. All that land, and they wasted it, most of their population died of starvation, not the rising seas. Supply and demand worked like that. Manchuria was warmer now.

_But the Chinese might still have (more than a few) nukes stashed away! _It would not be wise to rely too much on foreign assets. Even if they buy it, someone else could just take it.

_And so do we!_ Though to be precise, N2 warheads, almost the same anyway. They had the will and ability to preserve their rights. Damn it, he had enough of being forced to feel guilty.

And Hisoka-sensei would have sat there, as his stronger-willed family got to shouting and debating. Each time he opened his mouth to speak, his father or his brother would say something scathing to each other. His wife would just pat at his hand and give him a look that said 'yours is the only word that I trust'.

He would kiss her that night, but try as he might, he would not be able to go to sleep or concentrate on much anything else.

=][=

The next day, he did arrive late, his clothes crumpled with hurry. His eyes were bloodshot and weary. "Sorry, class…" he started to say. "You overslept, Hisoka-sensei?" Shinji said suddenly. "It's okay."

The teacher laughed weakly. "Yeah, sorry class. I overslept. People do that from time to time."

The children nodded, forgiving him instantly. They never wanted to get up early either. Until then, they just assumed adults did so because they wanted to, but even they were human. They paid a little bit more attention in class that day.

Shinji caught him again by the end of the day. He felt guilty and just had to give him back his nights.

"Oh, hello, Shinji, about what you said…"

"I'm sorry to be bother, sensei. But I just thought, we don't NEED to go to China after all. We can use their land without taking it from them. That's selfish and bad. Can't we ask for help somewhere else?"

The teacher's eyes widened. "Yes… that's what I thought too. We can just lease it from them. They provide the land, we provide the seedlings, the technology and the expertise. Yes, but the history between us is just too deep. But that approach to America, now that's different! It might be farther away, but they actually have the military power to protect their convoys. There would be less deliberate deal-breaking or lapses in piracy protection." He stared down at the little boy. "That was surprisingly deep of you, Shinji."

"Um… sensei? You said all that stuff."

"Uh. Right. I guess I did." He began to laugh again, at seeing his own ridiculous attention to the question… "But such thoughts you have. You should apply yourself more to schoolwork, Shinji. You're wasting your potential."

"T-thank you, sensei. I better be going now…"

The next day, Hisoka-sensei showed up early, smiling and well-rested.

=][=

Shinji had the better part of two months to be at ease, if not proficient, with cello to make the band. It was certain he could improve more, as the whole point of the club was to offer additional instruction, but he didn't want his first appearance there to show him useless.

The first part was not to be ignored.

He didn't care about being noticed. He didn't care about the common interests. First, he must elevate the level of attention. There was nothing about him known, no true opinions formed. Only through his presenting what was expected could he reliably guess at anyone's reaction towards him.

He knew this from his guardians. Were he to become suddenly willful and wild, they would be at a loss on how to react, and most likely choose negatively. In a long stretch of consistent action, though, his simple demands appeared reasonable. In such context he found ways of making sure they could never say no.

For instance, just staying up until midnight. Any normal boy had to have a curfew for school. Shinji had always woken up early, being easy to rouse. Now he did so on his own. He practiced his cello at night, and always stopped on his own. Every day it was a few minutes later. Then, he just stopped playing at night, just when he was getting better at it. In their questioning next morning, he said that there was no way he could get any better given his limited time. Night was no good. He didn't want to be any bother.

"But Shinji, we're not bothered." He could synch his lips with what his uncle was saying. "It's all right to play as you need."

"Yes, you gave your word to me, remember?" his aunt added impishly.

"I'm sorry…" he said.

She responded to that as well as he'd hoped. "Well on weekends you can stay up as long as you like! You wanted this, and you should finish it!"

"I'll make you proud." he said just then.

He managed to barter to almost midnight for weekdays. It went as he had foreseen, barring several changes in phrases and wording. It was a Scenario playing out in his face. It astonished him. It humbled him. He had no power there, he was merely a bit player in the affair, and the results being to his benefit mattered little. His guardians jumped into the scenario of their own volitions, their own logics. He could see other paths, but they never took them. They were false because his plan was too expansive yet, too much being taken in. Emotions AND actions AND events had to be taken into consideration. No, the future should happen at the tips of his fingers, and he should never have had to fear or get excited by it.

As long as the _Why_ escaped him his vision was imperfect.

The goal was not to make them proud. It would be a side-effect, to having achieved proficiency in the instrument. The short-term goal was to gain more time to train his physical movements, to have his muscle memory do all the work, it was the entire point of learning from sheet music.

There was a reason the Eldar called their craft the MUSIC of creation. Music was orderly, notes following notes, motions following motion. Every note was exactly the same as all other notes before it. All the motions to produce these notes too had to be exactly the same. It was the hardest part in learning to play, finding muscular and mental consistency.

Shinji's music teacher remarked that he was astonishingly good. To the boy the simple strains were nothing special. It was unlikely the school would demand anything that much more complicated. It was easy, because of his memory. There was a finite series of movements possible in the cello, and a finite series of perfect sounds. He knew what motions produced those perfect sounds.

He was not fooled by the presence of a 'song' or a 'piece' in the exercise. What mattered was each note. The whole could carry itself. Each note had in his mind the corresponding perfect sound. He no longer needed to hear his cello to know when he was playing correctly. He could practice at any time, at any place, just endlessly repeating those chains of motions, immune to the touch of boredom. School was tedious, with all the lectures and note-copying. Music, with its predictable end, was engrossing in how it kept the illusion of change. Once done perfectly, he had to do it again, for perfection was in itself beauty and worthy of being experienced again and again.

Music was perfect like nothing else could be, except mathematics, of which music was likewise an expression of its universality.

The future he saw was not of being incredibly good in music in such a short time, but it happened anyway. The greatest barrier to the learning of music was the irritation in forgetting the parts, in sour notes, in the sheer repetitive nature of practice. To Shinji, expecting perfection so soon was unwise. Perfection built upon smaller things. His music teacher gave him more and more complex pieces, as he showed a hunger for the classicals. Where in a different time the boy may have played to forget, here he played to remember.

He had no fear the day he showed up for audition. Everything unexpected comforted him in knowing that the future was growing closer and closer to one inescapable end.

He did not believe his teacher's praises. He was no genius. What he did was merely the wraithsong of crafters long since passed away. He merely followed their instructions, shaped by the music as much as he shaped it. Ego was the second most crippling barrier to the pursuit of music.

The music teacher was an old, thin man named Masayuki Asano. He was already there, listening to the audition. He seemed in obvious pain just from the over-enthusiastic thrashings of a trumpet-playing boy.

"This is not that type of band, Asagiri-kun." the old man sighed. "If there is place for you in this band, we will let you know."

"Oh, you're here too, Ikari-san?"

Shinji turned to see a mousy-looking girl with short braided hair standing near him. He nodded, and furrowed his brows a fraction at seeing a cello in her hands. "You're… Mitsugane Ayane-san." he said.

"You know me?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"You're Houko Minase-san's friend." He briefly glanced towards the girl, there too, looking bored. She had to be there though, as the nominal leader of the band.

Ayane's expression fell into guarded neutrality. "Oh. Her. Yes, I am her friend."

"It's good to have friends sharing your hobbies." he put in with a slight smile. "I wasn't aware there was already someone at the cello, though."

The girl looked down at her instrument, and embarrassedly made as if to hide it behind her back. "No, no. I'm just trying out too. This is my first time playing with Minase-chan."

"How long have you been playing?"

"A… year or so now. I only transferred here from Nerima-2, you know. Or maybe you don't know…" she let her bangs fall over her eyes. "I played at for the school there, too."

Actually, he did know. He just could not say so without revealing he'd been going around all ninja stealth Ranger on Minase and all the people she knew, gathering information. At least he wasn't at the peeping, telescoping sight stage yet. Privacy was not something the Eldar valued or respected. Every bit of his time was occupied; this Shinji had little to be bored or despondent about. He felt absolutely wired, as his plans all became tangled into one unfolding scenario.

How had he missed this? He supposed it was simply because he had never heard her practicing. An unexpected hitch to her plans, but then that was the part that delineates a mere Seer from a Farseer.

He went into music for friendship and friendship he shall have. He smiled. "I'd love to hear you play."

"Next!" shouted Asano-sensei.

"Please, go ahead." Shinji stepped aside.

"B-but." She made a slight grimace.

He felt a stirring of what should have been. He allowed the Farseer in pocket to guide his voice. "Music is music, and must be loved where it is found. In sincere hearts and loving hands, it cannot be anything but perfection."

She turned away quickly, and walked over to the front of the room. She faced the teacher, keeping her back to Shinji, and played. The boy closed his eyes. She was good, her practice showed. Her music was fast and lively, and without hesitation. It was perhaps a little rushed in places, but it didn't take away from its spirit. In the tilt of her shoulders he could see she felt it, drew out the music from her soul. She tried so hard, put all her heart into it.

Asano-sensei merely nodded, and bade the other cello-holder to the makeshift stage.

He played a simple tune, there at audition. He showed no expression, no artistic changes of expressions, no impressive flourishes. He stood there, said "My name is Ikari Shinji, and I play the cello." He closed his eyes and called the perfect notes from the warp of his memory.

He closed his mind and let time cease. He just let it flow. Even his hearing closed off, even his tendons did their motions all unknowing.

He didn't know what he played or how long he played it. Asano-sensei's face remained impassive, Minase's almost frowning. Ayane, through her glasses, could only stare at him in mute disbelief.

'_Ookay. Farseer-sensei? What in the Warp just happened to my plans? What just happened?'_

"Hm… I don't know." The music teacher turned to the pupil he considered his prodigy. "Minase, what do you think?"

The girl shrugged, and flicked aside her long black hair. Her face was still in that pretty, slightly haughty set. "Well, I think I like it."

Asano-sensei nodded and turned back to the boy. "All right, Shinji. You want in? You're in. We'll keep Mitsugane as a backup." He stood up from where he was sitting on a desk and gathered the folders there. He tucked his papers under his arms. "You two report here next practice. Houko, tell them the schedules." He made his way out the door, and left.

"Don't mind him" said Minase. "He acts strict, but really not. Practice is every day at five-thirty, even on Saturdays and Sundays." She stood up and stretched out, her starched white uniform stretching out interestingly. "Well, I got things to do. Coming, Acchan?"

Ayane blinked and looked from her to him. "Um…" Fortunately the sunlight had a reflective glare off her glasses. Shinji nodded slightly, as if thanking her. "Um, sure!" She hurried to pack her cello and was actually the first out the door."

Shinji was left there, alone in the music room. "What just happened?" he wondered again.

The problem of Uncertainty as applied to time was that one can truly know Time, as the fourth dimension, had the special properties of relativity. What something is doing in time or where it is going, but not both. If it seems so clear and apparent, then both parts of the vision are flawed. As he reached the cusp of his scenario, his awareness and control over it vanished utterly even as it reached the conclusion he had wanted. It was this that made FarSeeing an Art, rather than a Science.

"_Perfection_…" he felt an ancient voice whisper. "_A future perfectly arrived at. There are no grand plans, no fortune-telling. There is only the what is, blending into the now. Such is the music of the Eldar._"

"My music is the pillar upon which whole worlds have been built…" he whispered back. He understood at last.

Hmm… if was going to play the cello, he thought about getting some white gloves. Perhaps also some orange-tinted sunglasses, if he was going to keep standing out in the dramatic sunset.

Nah, that would look ridiculous. It was so poseur. Who wears stuff like that?

For some reason he also felt that made the Farseer cackle madly.

=**][**=

This was the childhood of Shinji Ikari. It could have been worse, and he was thankful for it. He had friends. He had family. He had friends. He had accomplishments. He had friends (it bears repeating). But soon enough, it had to end.

Years passed, he grew, and graduation time was around the corner. He entered his teenage years. In its confusion not even his plastic advisers, being extensions of his perception, could help. The ork never had to worry about puberty, the Space Marine had genetic enhancements for that sort of thing, to Chaos it was just mutation, and the Farseer was a girl. Strange urges, mood swings, and the world being suddenly so slow… he needed someone other than himself to tell him how things made sense. Books helped, to an extent. But here Shinji realized he needed his father.

Surely his father would come to his graduation, right? As the day grew closer, Shinji became more and more expectant. It's something that only happens a few times in a person's life after all. The boy had actually managed up to second in school, just below Houko Minase in grades and everything else. Many of his teachers believed he could have been more, had he been a bit more focused. He was such an absent-minded kid.

He couldn't visualize that future, as he actually had very little idea of how his father looked like anymore or of what he did.

A few days before graduation, there was a knocking on the door. Shinji answered it, and found there two men standing. They had one crisp black suits, black sunglasses, and each carried a small black suitcase. One seemed older than the other, pale and grey-haired. The other had the tan of someone who spent much time in the beach or open seas.

"Wah! Yakuza!" cried Shinji, at seeing them.

"See? See? That's what I'm talking about." The younger, and taller man said to his companion. "Just once, just once! I'd like to have someone NOT think we're the goddamn Yakuza. Why can't we wear white suits instead?"

"What, and have people go 'AAAAH! It's the Gay Mafia!' It tends to scare them even more."

"… you tried that once, didn't you?"

"… shut up, Jiro. If you've been in this business as long as I did…" He turned to the boy and asked him in a gravel voice. "Are you Ikari, Shinji?"

"Y-yes sir."

"I am Agent Kentaro, and this is Agent Jiro. NERV Section Two. Is your uncle in?" There was nothing there, no expression at all as he talked, only the boy's own nervous face reflected off his sunglasses. "We'd like to talk to him. Official government business."

"I… I'll go see." Shinji bolted away from the door.

As it turns out, they WERE government agents. And they were THERE on official government business. Only this had the stamp of Gendo Ikari all over it.

"We're here to check on the boy." his uncle was told. "How's he holding up?"

"What, Gendo can't even see how it is about his own son? You know he hasn't bothered even once these years to ask, so why should he care now?"

"Mister Ikari is a very busy man." replied Agent Kentaro. "He cannot just drop his important duties for something so small. It would be dangerous to show so much attachment, his child could be used as a hostage against him. This is why he cannot risk coming here and revealing his location."

"Bullshit." his uncle said. "The bastard can't even show ANY attachment."

Agent Jiro looked from the relative to his own partner. "Uh… look, I know he's… difficult to get along with sometimes, but could please not say things like that about our direct superiors to our faces? It might…" He stared long and hard at his partner's cold professional facade. " …complicate things. Mr. Ikari requires respect."

"Phff. The name Ikari used to mean better things…" Shinji's uncle leaned back on his chair, but his hands were shaking slightly.

"Answer the question, please. How is the boy?" the other continued.

"Shinji?" His uncle thought carefully. Gendo wouldn't send his thugs over for something so small, sadly enough about family that was true. "He's a pretty normal kid. That's about it."

"Are you sure? He has not been… mistreated in some way?"

"Just what are you implying?" he bristled.

"Mister Ikari only wishes to make sure that his son receives all the proper attention due to him." Very little, but not too little. It was a large part of his plan. "It would be unfortunate if he was damaged in some way."

Shit. The way they went on about Shinji as nothing more than an object. Just what was going on here? "He's a kid, that's about it. Ask around. Ask him. Gendo threw him here to keep him out of the way, and if that's the furthest he can show about his concern then he can just go fuck himself."

"Please!" said Jiro suddenly. "Not to our faces!"

Crap. 'You're both wired, aren't you?' he mouthed. They nodded.

"Gendo? You're an asshole!" Shinji's uncle shouted at them, his words in no way mistakable to their recorders. "And I thank the gods in heaven that your son is absolutely NOTHING like you!" Then looking up to their faces. "That's it. Now get out."

That seemed to satisfy them somehow. "We'll be in touch."

Hiding and Listening in by the door, Shinji took in deep breaths. He had always believed his father had some reason for leaving him, and sometimes he had bleak thoughts about it. It was his first direct confirmation of being unwanted, though. He was too much a burden.

Silently, he went back up to his room. He just did not know how to feel about that.

=**][**=

In post-Impact Japan, just because school was ending and most of the tests were done, was no reason for the children to start slacking off. The school board devoted the final weeks towards community-building, sending the children out in various cultural pursuits designed to bring them closer to the society they belonged. Usually this meant cleaning up the still-standing pre-Impact buildings, planting new trees, and various other tasks in free labor.

He pitied the boyz outside. Eh, he'll pick up a watermelon later.

Shinji and the others in the music club were luckier in that they were allowed to stay indoors, being part of the artistic side of the school's contribution. He grinned a little at a joke their pianist made. Music was the only real common interest he shared with normal children. He had succeeded in his plan to become friends with Minase, and in her friend Ayane found someone he could more easily talk to. He wasn't blind. He could see her liking for him, but she was just so… plain. Her hair, her glasses, her dress, all made her seem stumpy in direct opposite to Minase's tall lithe form.

He lost what she was trying to say as he saw the agents… well, they were just so nondescript that even he had difficulty remembering their names, agents J and K at the school courtyard. From the second floor, he could just make out that they were talking to his English teacher.

Interrogating most of whom he knew wasn't the sort of attention you gave to someone unwanted. He tuned out the world. It was a paradox, and the Eldar in him hated paradoxes.

After school, he cornered Hisoka-sensei again. It was well know that he favored Shinji above most students, mostly because they seemed to have the same reserved, retiring personalities. He always just let Shinji initiate these little interactions, to himself amusedly surrendering control.

"Do you know my father?" Shinji asked then.

The teacher licked his lips. The boy had the oddest habit of asking such simply-phrased but... difficult… questions. "No, Shinji. I do not know your father."

"Those men you were talking to earlier. They work for him."

He nodded. He had long since stopped wondering how Shinji knew about things. The boy was so naturally curious, his thoughts drifting to the oddest of things. He never imagined it could possibly be calculated to provoke a specific response. "They were asking about you. I tried not to be too effulgent in my praise."

That was a private joke. They both knew just how much Shinji hated to be the center of attention.

"My father sent them. If he wants to start noticing me again, I should know something about him." the bitterness in the boy's voice was unfeigned.

"Shinji…" Why was it that he felt so utterly out of his depth when he speaks to this child, no… young man? It puzzled him and exhilarated him. He shouldn't feel so challenged by someone at least a decade younger. "Your father is an important man. For you to realize how important, know that almost no one knows ANYTHING about him. He doesn't appear on the lists of the world's most important people. He never goes on TV. Very few even know what he LOOKS like. I only know because he tried living here for a while."

"He did?"

"Yeah, at your uncle's house. Your uncle threw him out pretty quickly. It was a short time, while he was between jobs and your mother had to support him." He shook his head at the boy's wide-eyed expression. "Sorry, Shinji. I never even knew your mother. Her sister only married into this town."

The boy flinched as if stabbed, but nodded for him to continue.

"Look, the most I know is that your father is out doing something very very important for a very very big organization." He decided to add something for the boy's sake. "Who knows? It might even save the world."

=][=

His graduation was supposed to be a joyous time. Parents were supposed to bask in their children's achievements, and the children in passing that threshold realize how they changed and be prepared to be treated differently. But mostly it was about celebrations. Life in the post-Impact era had little to celebrate, as the planet and its people would take a long time to heal. The progress, the confirmation of a new generation to carry their legacies was well within that reason to exult.

Shinji brought all four of his favorite miniatures to school. He had somehow managed to keep his toys a secret from everyone, the furthest anyone ever went was the boys those years ago… and they were entirely too willing to blank out the experience.

He fidgeted in his seat. The rites were perhaps unnecessarily long, full of speeches about future and glory and hope and coming together and please vote for me next election. He drew emotional support from the presence of Warboss-sama, Space Marine-dono, Chaos Marine-kun and Farseer-sensei. Their snarky remarks all through the proceedings made it all worth it somehow.

It dragged on until it was time to hand out those little slips of paper that would permanently kick them out of their classes. He felt as if electrified until it got up to his name.

He went up to the stage to receive it, met by his uncle who gave him a deep bow. He bowed back. Then, back to his seat.

The feeling didn't fade, not until the very last instant, the very last congratulations, and they were all outside in the sunset. He winced as a sunbeam got into his eyes. Dramatic, yeah right. He regretted not asking for those damn orange-tinted glasses, even if he'd outgrow them rather quickly. Even if he'd look silly in them. He rubbed at his eyes.

He looked around, past every happy parent and simply exhausted young teen. His guardians let him even roam around a little.

Shinji returned, his face an emotionless mask. "He didn't show…" he muttered numbly.

"I'm sorry, Shinji." said his aunt. Shinji looked nothing like Gendo right then.

"I shouldn't have Hoped." the boy continued. "I really shouldn't. I had no way of knowing whether or not he would show up."

Shinji's uncle clasped the boy's shoulder and patted it reassuringly. "Not to worry, we're here, ah? I don't know what your father must be thinking but he's going to regret not being here. Come on, let's get something to eat. Chin up! You're a high schooler now!"

Shinji tilted his head, as if listening to something. His eyes cleared. "Yeah, courage. I'm a high-schooler now!" He even grinned. "Excuse me, uncle. I have to do something."

It didn't take long for him to find Minase and her parents. They were rich and stood out from the sea of sensible clothing. He steeled himself and walked right up to them. "Houko-san!" he shouted, his voice breaking at the end.

Three sets of calculating eyes turned to him. He repressed a squeak. It was like being in the presence of the Inquisition! Shinji turned his gaze down and addressed the girl. "May I talk to you, Houko-san?"

"Mina, who's your little friend?" cooed her mother, almost a jade figurine herself in all that green lace. Her father seemed to look past the boy, instantly dismissing him.

She sighed. "Mother, father, this is Shinji Ikari. Please excuse us, we won't be but a moment."

They moved aside and there the girl waited with narrowed eyes. She'd been brought up to consider her time as precious, specially when it is spent in the company of her parents. It was simply rare when they were all together, a condition shared by many families in the scattered employment of post-Impact industries.

"So, we're like high-schoolers now." he blurted out. "And I thought maybe now we could go out… as friends! As friends! Um, yes. Celebrate and eat strawberries or something." He was feeling a double dose of embarrassment. Not only did he burn in his own daring humiliation, his four other pieces were groaning with and AT him. "We can invite Acchan if you want…"

Minase sighed and looked above his head to where her parents were, their eyes twinkling with merriment. He sighed again and grabbed his arm. She pulled him off to a more private spot, uncaring of how that might look.

And there, she took a deep breath. She looked straight into his oddly hopeful eyes and said, "Look. You're right. We're teenagers now. And I've just had about enough of your little elementary attentions!"

Shinji's mouth hung open.

"I tolerated it back then because it was kinda cute, but it's getting annoying. I don't want you following me around in junior high. Don't take it too hard. Why should I go out with a short little weirdo like you when there's already someone cool waiting for me at the next school? You're only going to make yourself look even more foolish trying to compete. Why don't you just go out with Aachan and get it all over with? You both deserve each other anyway."

She flicked back her hair and walked away. She nodded to herself. Yes, fast, hard, clean. It was the kindest thing she could really do. Better have him hate her a little than pine away uselessly. That way her two friends can actually move on.

It was going to be high school, after all. Things would be a lot different, more people, more things to reach for. She could find better ones, more suited to her.

"Let's go, mother, father." she said in her sweet voice. "Best not to waste any more time here."

=][=

"_T-that was…"_

"_What in the Warp?"_

"_Waddahel? Wadda wada!"_

"_I… am speechless. Completely, utterly, speechless."_

Well, that was totally unexpected. A miniscule part of his brain prodded him about being totally spontaneous, acting on his feelings. He never saw THAT coming.

The shock was wearing off. And there's the pain. And now the "WHAT DID SHE SAY?"

"_Shin-"_

"None of you will talk. None."

The young teen stalked over back to where everyone else was, his limbs hesitant as rubber. Someone recognized his small frame easily.

"Hey! Boss! Hey!" Kobayakawa gleefully made his way over to him. "How's it feel, hey? We made it! My parents really like my grades now, thanks for that, boss." He nodded, though Shinji had yet to respond. "I saw ya going with Minase. First rank and second rank, sounds good huh? How'd it go?"

Shinji looked up with a hollow gaze. "…"

Though round and considered somewhat stupid-looking, he wasn't that dumb about matters right outside the books. "Ouch." He scowled. "You want the boyz to do something?"

"No." Shinji shook his head slowly, trying desperately to clear his thoughts. "Neva hits a girl. Only puny grots need to slappa someone weaker."

Kobayakawa nodded. He swallowed Shinji's words like gospel. It was he that started the trend of calling Shinji boss. However, it wasn't until the boy forgot and lapsed into another mode of speech that it really stuck in. Shinji was a scary little dude when he had to be. That however was nothing, to da boyz he was scary in how much he knew. Whatever question they asked, he had an answer for. He set them up a standard of behavior that had them using their strength to help others rather than push them around. Da Boyz, as they became known, were anti-bullies. They went around stompin' da respekt back into other would-be thugs.

Shinji was Da Boss. No ifs, no buts. What he says goes. It was very small gang that knew, and that was the secret that bound them together. Outside, the world saw a polite, obedient little boy growing into a fine young man. When around his boyz and no one else, he could relax, laugh and shout. And he told great stories. 'Ere we go!' was Da Boyz chant, as they walked the streets. 'Ere we go, were we go, not gonna knows till we gets dere!'

He owed Shinji more than he felt he could actually repay. He actually got da respect from the littler kids and gud feelins' from those bigga. Kobayakawa could never gotten that the old way of doing things. Da Boyz got their own subsidiary formations of littler boyz, and the Gretz as a messenger squad. It was a community within a community, a select brotherhood of, well… boys (plus a few particularly awesomely ferocious girls), and it felt good.

"She sedd somefin' about a high-skoola waitin' for her." Shinji said absently. "Have a lookat dat."

"Sure thing, boss!" Kobayakawa enthusiastically replied, almost snapping into a salute. "You want us to stomps on him for a little bit?"

"Nah, just… curious. Just gather information." His gaze was so far away again. Da Boss had a tendency to space out like that. The boyz took that as a sign of dismissal.

Da Word passed quickly, and even as they went home they were happy at getting a direct order for a change. Things to do tomorrow, some hearts were singing. Things to do! Purpose and sense of belonging post-Impact fulfilled a most basic human need.

Shinji returned to his guardians, a fake smile plastered to his face. "Okay, that's done. Let's go home."

=**][**=

He was not going to go throwing things. He was not! Mostly because the only things he could throw were his figurines and they were too valuable to waste on some little fit.

Shinji grabbed at the sheets of his bed and pulled at it until almost tearing. "RrraaaaAAHHHH!" he snarled out. He then slammed his face into it, letting it soak his tears.

He had never felt anything so ugly. It swallowed everything. He dimly remembered saying it was better when there was nothing he liked. When you valued nothing, you were like, invulnerable.

'_So you would rather not feel anything at all? That is foolishness.' _counseled the Farseer._ 'Nothing remains unchanged by the music of creation.'_

'_Leddit out, lil'boz. Nuddin's going to makes ya feel better dan a good STOMPIN'! WAAAAGH!'_

"How could she do that to me?" the teen sobbed. "Am I really such a bad person? Sure, I'm scrawny and weak, but…" He wailed. "Shinji is a Good Boy!"

He felt a mental slap.

'_Get a hold of yourself, commander! You're getting emo! You're breaking the fourth wall!'_

Shinji stopped to catch his breath. He blinked.

"Wait… what did you say?"

'_I said… uhm.' _The Space Marine seemed to squeeze his face in concentration under the dim night lights._ 'Get a hold of yourself. You're granted some ammo. Prayer may cleanse the soul, but pain purifies the body. What does this prove, but that the soul is weak? Only in pain and suffering do we stoke the fires of our spirit.'_

'_Endure.' _said the Eldar softly, as if her pain resonated with his. _'And in enduring grow strong.'_

The young teen sat back up on his bed and sat there cross-legged. He took several deep breaths. No. The pain was still there. The rage was still there. Nothing he could do would simply make it go away.

"Why do you all sound little more respectful now?" he asked after a while. "You never gave me titles before."

'_Am I not your protector? Am I not born from the depths of your mind? You are the Primarch of my will, the bastion of my discipline! Command me, and I obey.'_

'_Wez ya thoughts, hummie. Ya saids to shaddap, so we did.' _The warboss radiated disdain at the wordy gothic parlance. See? Short, to the point, orky. That was da proppa way to talk.

'_Never have we been anything but your helpers, Shinji.' The Farseer seemed to curtsy. 'What pleases you, pleases us. What hurts you, hurts us.'_

'_We felt it all.' _came an oily presence._ 'All of us. Your pain! It is OURS.' _Shinji looked up at the Chaos Marine standing on the shelf, its bolter still crossed over its chest. Its scarred face still looked fierce, but also oddly at peace. _'She HURT you, and we know how it is to hurt. The only way to make it go away, is for HER to hurt back.'_

Imaginary shouts erupted all around the room. _'Foul spawn of Chaos!' _The Space Marine was understandably the loudest among them._ 'I knew this! I knew this day would come. I knew you would wreak your temptations, but I say NAY! You will not succeed this WAY!'_

'_Wot da zog?'_ The Warboss seemed to stare cross-eyed at the lyrical turn. _'Look, just come down so I can stabs ya.' _he told the Chaos Marine._ 'Ma lil'boss is no squig-head to go stompins no puny feemale.'_

'_He will not turn' _the Eldar said in all confidence. _'It is easy to See the failed methods of Chaos.'_

Shinji hadn't realized it until then, but it was raining outside. In a brief flash of lightning, the Chaos Marine seemed to turn its head and sneer.

'_So he is to just accept it? Become a whipping boy? He is meant to be abused and be glad for it, a martyr without a cause?' _The Chaos Marine began to laugh, booming for such a tiny figure, competing with thunder outside. _'Where is the respect, ork? Where is the justice, astartes? And where, you soggy old witch, is his choice?'_

The three could not answer.

'_She disrespected you, bright lord, and it is only justice to let her see the error of her ways. It is your choice to be a WIMP or heed the call of POWER. Your education is incomplete, intentionally so. THEY wanted to keep you WEAK.'_

'_That is a lie!' _screeched the Farseer._ 'I taught him all that he needed to know!'_

'_Did you? He may have needed only that much THEN, but this is NOW. Can you teach him all that he CAN do?'_

'_Just because one can… does not mean one must…'_

'_PAH! You all disgust me. I can complete your education, bright lord, and show you how to command rather than be commanded, to take rather than be deprived, to be revered rather than reviled!'_

'_Um… isn't all that like, evil? I'd rather not do anything that will get me throw in prison, thanks anyway.'_

'_You know us, Shinji. Evil is a LABEL that only given by the other side. It cannot be TRUSTED to be impartial. People will tell you that evil is a slippery slope, and good a mountain. It is hard to do good, while so many do evil. This only says the natural state of man is EVIL.' _The Chaos Marine seemed to grin. _'Are YOU evil?'_

"Hell, no I'm not evil!"

'_It can also mean INSTEAD that there are great goods, little goods. Great evils, little evils. There are many things, EVIL THINGS one can do to serve a Greater Good, but one must ask WHOSE good? The Imperium and its corpse of a God, the Orks and their ongoing wide scale murder, the Eldar and the many souls they so easily send to ignorant doom - MANY might call us ALL evil. We are only GOOD in the sight of those we serve. Methods are equal, it is the goal that casts it all in its light.'_

"Those are excuses. I'm not going to start worshipping Chaos and wishing harm to Minase-san." said Shinji with conviction. "I don't like the Dark Gods you serve."

The Chaos Marine laughed even more. _'Bright lord, it is YOU that I serve. I am only EVIL if and when you are evil. I am your SERVANT and only your will is my CREED. I am CHAOS! I am neither Good nor Evil. Chaos bids me serve you, and serve you I SHALL. I ask for NOTHING. I require for you to do NOTHING. I give you ALL, for such is the favor of CHAOS. It is already IN you, my bright lord, and it is how I speak. It is in you my bright lord, and it is the POWER that you SEEK.'_

"W-why do you keep calling me bright lord?"

'_Are you like the Dark Gods I once served? You are bright and limitless my lord. I will not ask as to their GOOD or EVIL, you shall shine either way. Ask for justice, and I shall give you justice. Nothing more. Nothing less. CHAOS shall serve you well.'_

Shinji was dumbstruck. He knew these conversations were all just in his head, he knew he did so to entertain himself, he knew their advice so far had been useful as they opened up possibilities he normally wouldn't think of. ACCURATE is the only way he could have described them thus far.

Outside the rains still fell, and the unrestrained sounds of a wounded nature continued to be the breath of an enraged wolf at his windows.

He had never expected his fantasies to turn out to be so thorough. He HAD been doing it for years now. He exhaled and sat up. "What can you do?" he asked it.

He could feel its triumph. He could also feel the truth in every single thing it said. Chaos was not an evil separate from him. His figurines could not, ever, force him to do any action against his will. It was his delusion, and it was only his choice to allow said delusions.

'_The last half of what the Eldar has wrought. That which continues to escape you.'_

The young teen stood up.

'_Wassat? Whys you lissnen' to dis Chaos-boyz? No need to make stuff all complicated and wot. Just bash somefin'! You'll feel betta, you'll see.' _

'_Commander, no! Chaos promises many things, and always have they led into ruin. Even the greatest of us all could not stand uncorrupted by its touch. Do this, and forever will it hold a piece of your soul.'_

'_Shinji! Remember!' _the Farseer cried out, the most desperate among them. The Eldar knew its warping influence. Against it even their Sight could avail them not. Only the mon-keigh and their defiance of fate seemed able to beat it back, but always at cost of in themselves being the monsters they battle. _'We may only offer our advice, but ultimately it is you who must do these things. It is you and only you that must suffer. Turn back now and or these thoughts will consume you!'_

"I don't care!" shouted Shinji. He shot up to his feet and snatched the Chaos Marine off its shelf. He walked over to the window and stared at the howling darkness outside. He put the figurine down.

He stared at his own reflection in the glass. He was barely more than a boy just yet, his frame without physical power. The Chaos Marine stood there in mute steadfast obeisance.

Lightning flashed. Everything in nature, everyone he has ever seen, seemed more capable and more powerful than he was. No one truly wanted him, his guardians ached for their son, his father had no need for his own, and the first one he ever opened his heart to ripped his hopes to unrepentant shreds.

"Show me."

'_As YOU desire, bright lord…'_

He slept well that night, no dreams at all. He stewed in his own newly-discovered brand of hate. In another time, he would have known of it much earlier. But only here was it pure and malleable.

=**][**=

It was a bright and fresh morning. There was nothing like a little light rain to make the world seem clean and new. Colors seemed more vibrant, the air clear and sweet. Shinji woke up late, for once. His guardians had let him sleep in as a recognition of his slow change. He was no longer a child to be coddled so.

He woke up and all was silent. "…guys?" his looked over to his plastic miniatures, and in the morning glow they were motionless plastic. It was the first time in many years that Shinji was alone in his thoughts.

Even the Chaos Marine had nothing to say. Fear gripped Shinji.

"Oh come on. Do you all hate me or something?" There was no response. The young teen sighed. He shook out the last scales of sleepiness from his body and walked over to the window. He opened it up and let the air in. He took a deep breath.

The world was all anew. Yesterday seemed so far away. Yes, he supposed he was just being silly. He could easily live without Minase. He was to be a high-schooler. He supposed he was just growing up, and no longer had to rely on something else to do his thinking for him.

"Congratulation, Shinji." said his uncle over breakfast. "How do you feel?"

He paused and really thought it over. "Empty, somehow."

The man smirked. "Yeah, it's because you've been doing the routine so long that you don't know what to do without it. But change is good, Shinji. Now you can do exactly only what you want. You're going to go back to the old habits when the classes start again anyway." He waved at the air. "Best to enjoy this while you still can."

Shinji nodded, agreeing utterly.

Mitsugane Ayane knew where Ikari Shinji lived. She been over to it a few times, but it as the first she would head over alone and on her own volition. Her nerves were at a chaotic frenzy as she walked the path. "What will I say?" she asked herself. "Oh, this is so hopeless." She barely had any concentration left over to avoid puddles in her path.

Music drifted from Shinji's window. It was fast, as usual perfect in its chain of notes, but somehow now held more passion… angry, bursting with energy, was the only way she could describe it.

She didn't know what expect at seeing him, and was relieved he looked calm and without puffy eyes. Of course, she thought, boys don't cry themselves to sleep as she had. She wished if only she could suffer it for him, oh my could it have actually worked?

"Mitsugane-san, hello." Shinji smiled politely, but he seemed diminished somehow."

"Uh, we're out of classes now, Ikari-kun. There's no need to be so formal."

Little bits of amusement showed in his eyes. "Kinda hypocritical of you isn't it, Ayame-chan?"

"Oh you, Shinji-kun." She looked away and fought off a blush. She looked at him from the corner of her vision, and his relaxed stature. Maybe even too relaxed? Was he in denial somehow?

"So, what brings you around, Ayame-san?"

She huffed. She supposed that was the most she could get out of him. "Can we… talk?"

Shinji looked back over his shoulder. His guardians had seemingly all but vacated the premises. They were giggling like mad when a girl came to visit him. He supposed grownups were weird that way. So easily amused. It was pathetic, really.

"Oh, Shinji. I heard about what Minase did to you. That was such a mean, nasty thing to do! You deserve better than that!"

"Oh. So I suppose she told you, then?"

She hesitated. "Well, it wasn't that much, but everybody saw the difference in how you looked before and after your talk. Oh, Shinji!" she felt her eyes tearing up. "Everybody knows!"

He winced. And he imagined Kobayakawa would have gone blabbering on about it to his closest friends, and with a Gretchz nearby it was certain a rumor would be flying all over the town.

He shrugged. "Oh, well. There's nothing to be done about it."

"You shouldn't say that!" she almost yelled. "Just because she's pretty and rich doesn't mean she gets to treat the rest of us like we don't matter. What she did to you was just… wrong. Why not you? You're kind, and smart and gentle… and cute…" And she was actually now crying. "…and you don't deserve to have your feelings thrown aside just like that! You should… you should know that you're not disliked by everybody. You should know that there are others who can care for you as much as… you were so brave, at least. I wish I could be so brave…"

"Ayane-san…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but-"

"I already know."

She looked up sharply, her eyes wide behind her frames. "What?" she gasped. Her face burned. Of course he would know. But then, why didn't he ever say anything before? That was cruel, too.

"But there's really someone else."

The girl nodded, and took out a handkerchief. "I know that too. I just can't compete can't I? I'm not as smart or pretty or sophisticated and…"

Shinji can sense she was about to enter into familiar territory and decided to head her head off at the pass. "No. MINASE has someone else." He shrugged. "So I can't stand in the way of that."

Ayane looked up again, her face open with shock. "She does?"

"She does." Shinji didn't know exactly why, but gave her word for word what happened. He relished it, though he had been humiliated he felt some delight at sharing the ugliness of her personality.

"T-that's scandalous! How long do you think this has been going on?" The supposed best friend stood up and began pacing. "Seriously! What could she have been thinking! We're too young. You only asked her out to eat…"

"Strawberries."

"Eat strawberries." the girl nodded. "That wasn't a date. To have someone waiting for her already in high-school? What is she thinking? What is she doing?"

Shinji shrugged again. "Likely, she initiated it. It's a status symbol for her, to reach above her apparent social caste. The other, I think, would just enjoy having someone of her family status linked to him. Both don't really know what they're doing." He sighed. "We are too young."

"You… don't sound young." said Ayane. That had always been what drew her to him.

Shinji laughed, but sadly and at himself. "A part of me always feels like ten thousand years old." He took a deep breath and leaned. "Or it might just be undigested cheese."

The girl did not know what to do with this more casual, more playful Shinji. She felt guilty, but it was perfect. It was like everything was made for this chance.

"No, I don't think we should be going out." said Shinji, still with his head slumped back over the chair and almost asleep.

Ayane felt her heart stop. So THIS is what that felt like. She could finally, truly emphasize.

"What are we, Ayane-san? Friends? We ARE too young, why change that? Why mutate this comfortable distance we have to something we can't really See?" He raised a hand, and made little flitting motions. "Feelings are like butterflies… let them fly as they wish, and they return to that flower time and again."

She smirked. How so utterly, wisely Shinji-kun of him. "Usually people say that about horses, set it free and if it returns, it's yours forever."

He lifted his head. "They do? I didn't know that."

She giggled and sat back down, kicking her shoes. She copied his lazy slouch on the chair.

"So… what should I do?" she asked him, while staring at ceiling too.

"Hmm? Do?"

"Yeah, you're free, Shinji-kun. Whatever you want, let's do it. What you want me to do, I'll do it. We're friends and that's what friends do."

"Umh, you're describing more like a minion, actually."

"Then command me, your most loyal minion!" She giggled again.

Shinji sighed and let his eyes remain closed. He was pretty sure he had one of that already, but said nothing to spare her feelings. The future was closed to him. What did he want? Others made it their choice to make his wants their wants. The more accurate question would be what could he possibly want from another?

"Ayane-san?

"Yes?"

"I need you to go now." He didn't need to see her face to know she looked hurt. "I need you to go out and tell Minase I don't hate her. I need you to tell her to be careful. No, don't stand up. Not exactly now. Go home and think carefully about what you'll say. We both know she's not going to take it kindly. She will mock you. She will mock me. So prepare yourself well."

The words, the MANIPULATION, it was so there and so obvious and she couldn't see it. She refused to see it. What could only be described as sheer determination filled her. Joy, at simply being needed. Power, as if his will and wisdom was pouring into her being.

"I will…" she said. "T-thank you, Shinji-kun."

Still looking up, still distant in his gaze, he smiled thinly.

Sometime later, it was Kobayakawa who arrived. He bounded into the house with his usual fervor, moving deceptively quickly for someone so large. "Hey, boss! Got news boss!" he called out after being shown in.

"More of your friends, Shinji?" said Shinji's aunt. "I have some more rice cakes. Would you like some?" he asked the rotund boy. The expected happy nod pleased her.

"I think we should take a walk. Please wrap a few in a plastic bag."

=**][**=

Shinji led him a good ways out from the house, near beaten cliffs over-looking the devouring ocean. Kobayakawa followed content in having rice cakes to munch on. He waited patiently as Shinji stared off into the distance.

"What have you found?"

Oh, so it's to be THAT sort of Shinji, eh? Well, he could not expect Da Boss to be fun about this sort of thing. "We gots the Gretchz workin' boss. One'a dem saw Minase stop at a call booth to phone someone instead of using her cell phone. She ducked into a store and came out looking different, hair up in bun and everything. Dude in a bike came by and took her off."

"You know, I SHOULD be feeling some dismay at how you have kindergarten kids stalking people, but I just can't seem to raise it right now. I'm impressed though, they're surprisingly patient and hard to fool."

Kobayakawa lifted his double chin up. "My Gretchz are da best, boss. No one ever notices a little kid. Have four of dem squatting in a corner and nobody cares what dey do. It's like derr invisible. If dey look playing, they can do anything."

"Good job. Now what's about dis runty squig? I don't think the Gretz can follow dem on a bike, can they?"

"No need ta, boss!" His voice then brightened. "We gots dis little Gretz, we call 'im Bike Boy. He knows the bikes of EVERYBODY in dis town. If its on two wheels, he knows it. Dat cause his brudda runs da bike shop. He works da Gretz on messenger service. We gots him and other shops on it, so we always haz a stash of candy for all da boyz back at da hut. No toyz is too expensive if ya can share it. No one messes wid da mob without da rest chippin' in."

Shinji nodded approvingly. Da Boyz were actually loved by the merchants downtown. Let them grow up a bit more and that cut off an entire generation out for 'protection'. Da Boyz would actually protect these people.

"We gots some bad news for ya, boss. Da squig's Kotaru Jishin, he's in high school, third year. Now HIS brudda's Yakuza. He's in prison right now so the squig's behavin'. He's 'ard though. Runs da junior high mob, nutting like OUR mob." Kobayakawa seemed to shrink into himself. "If we gets at him, a lot of da boyz are gonna get hurt."

"So? Don't. I only asked you for information."

"But you're DA BOSS! Who hurts ya hurts all da boyz. Who don't respects da don't respects da boyz! We should stomp him! STOMP HIM GOOD! W-"

"DON'T!" Shinji turned, his eyes glittering madly. "That word is NOT to be used so lightly, so foolishly. Do you understand me?"

Kobayakawa took a step back. "Uh, sure boss."

"The Waaagh! is sacred. It is not for the boyz to waste. Da Waaagh! Is to be done when and only when da world needs turnin' back to the right and proppa. You smacks someones, you stomps someone. But you don't call Da Waaagh! without a warboss! And you don't have a warboss until you HAVE A WAR! Do you hear me?"

"Boss! I hear yas!"

"When you calls a Waaagh!, I expects there to be nothing left! You will stompz da target until it is gone, you will breaks der stuff, you will digs der landz up until nobodys can remember where dey once waz, you will send da boyz and da boyz will not stops until da odda side is all right and propa and OURS! DAT, IS DA WAAAGH! Do you getz it?"

"Y-yes, boss. I getz ya, boss." Kobayakawa had an expression which could only be described as religious awe. "You Da Boss."

Shinji stepped back, and sighed heavily. "So, don't say it."

"…not gonna say it."

"Something has to be done about this Jishin. He's got that broody bad boy image young girls love." Shinji steepled his fingers, and held it up to just under his nose as he thought. "He wants her money. He wants her body. He will use her, he will break her. I can See it."

And I can just let it happen. Wouldn't that be perfect?

He sighed again. "Send someone to follow him and Minase around, ready to call the cops." Crap. He had sent Ayane out. "You know Mitsugane Ayane? She's my friend. I need you to watch out for her. If she's in trouble, I don't care what, jump in. Protect her."

"Yes, boss. Sure thing boss…"

Shinji turned and smiled now. "Auntie makes good rice cakes, doesn't she? It's the sliver of cheese she puts on top. Come on, let's get you some more."

"Thanks, boss!"

=][=

Shinji was still waiting. The silence in his skull was deafening. For years now he had imagined life into those little plastic people, and filled his bland moments with the joyful noise of their bickerings. He had made them the companions who would never disappoint him, would never abandon him.

He took deep breaths and tried to clear his mind. He went out into the beach where he found them and listened to the waves. A constant pattern in the background helped him concentrate, he had no need to time his breathing. He breathed in with the surf, out with the riptide. No wonder so many temples were built near the shore, he realized.

Though it all there was only the serenity, the utter and artificial silence within his mind. He was starting to loathe it. He would seek that meditative state to help him think, but now that he could reach it so easily he found himself preferring the chaos of their little voices batting away thoughts back and forth.

He made them as the ones who would never betray him, so the logic was that he betrayed them. They did not leave, but were shut away. How? He had no idea, just as he didn't know at what point it time they crossed from mere voices in the head into distinct seemingly self-sufficient personalities.

He thought that he should have brought the figurines, they helped him focus. But really, did they reside in all that plastic? He had used them as a crutch for too long.

"I STILL NEED YOU!" he shouted into the silence. "COME BACK!"

There was no response. If this was what it meant to grow up and decide from oneself, he could do with remaining a child for a while longer.

He stood up and looked down at himself. Black pants, white shirt. Even out of school he preferred those simple clothes. No wonder Minase found him weak and boring.

He kicked off his shoes and began to walk over to the shorelines. He stopped right at the water's edge and let the waves lap at his feet. The horizon stretched out to beyond time, the sky vast and infinite. Under it, his problems faded into their temporal insignificance.

"Was it the pact with Chaos?" he asked the silence. "But… Chaos doesn't exist…!" Even then, shouldn't his Chaos Worshipper remain?

What happened while he slept? He missed them, missed them terribly.

"What will you take for them, oh sea? You brought them to me from your depths. What can I offer so you can bring them to me again?"

The winds blew but there were no answers. The waves rushed on, but it was no reply.

Shinji bent down and scooped up some water in his palms. He splashed it into his face. He scooped up another handful and drank in its salty tang. He let most of it dribble down.

He fell back and lay down there on the beach, much like he did all those years ago. He felt the same pointlessness, the same sourceless sadness. "What am I doing?" he whispered. "This is so worthlessly dramatic. I'm brooding. Brooding, damn it!"

He slapped at the sands on either side of him, palms up. "They were awesome." He felt that if he could touch that, that thread of awesomeness once more, he could follow it and pull his miniature companions out of whatever box they were sealed in.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Waves up. Waves down. Clouds grew and shrank in his vision. He had a feeling of timelessness, as if in the future he would lie down on a shore again, always in sunset with all that dramatic red. The waters were all orange, the sky as red as blood.

He felt something watching him. Like a big floating head. He looked down, suddenly cold, but the post-Impact sea was still wine-purple, eternal and uncaring of humanity. The sky was starting to darken even, though. He saw a single star weakly twinkling out in the distance.

"I'm sorry." he said, but there was no one to hear it.

He clenched his fists. "But this is pathetic. I am my own person! If the future is closed to me, then I'll break it open with my bare hands! I will teach them all to respect me! I'll take my own justice! I'll never be afraid again! Thank you for everything you've done. If we never talk again. I think I'll be fine somehow."

Shinji got up and walked back to his house. He still had his own life ahead of him. He felt more powerful than he had ever before.

=**][**=

He found there a child waiting by the front door. The boy stood up, and looked at him doubtfully. "You're scrawny." he said.

Great. Now I'm being criticized by a being even bonier than I am. He actually chuckled a bit. Being made fun of by tinier things was familiar. "And you're little." he said back. "Who are you?"

"I'm da Gretz" the little boy proudly said.

"I thought there was more than one? Collectively, you're Gretchin."

His eyes widened. "You don't look like one of Da Boyz. But you're right. We're all da Gretchz, but nobody knows dat secret name…" He scowled. "But I'm the Gretz here and I have a message. I've gotta make sure."

"Um, okay. What do I have to do?"

"You gots to prove you're one of Da Boyz."

"How do I do that?"

The child put both hands behind his head and half-turned away. "I dunno." He said casually. "If you're one of Da Boyz, you know."

Shinji blinked. All things considering, he wasn't actually one of Da Boyz. He'd never been part of their meetings, he had no idea of their initiation rites or how they identified each other. His contact with them were limited mostly to the three other kids who had legitimate reasons to fear the heck out of him.

He slapped a fist down into an open palm in the common Japanese expression of 'eureka!'. "Wait here." he said, and rushed into the house.

When he returned, he had his cello. The little kid squinted at the spindly, fragile-looking instrument. It didn't look properly 'ard and awesome like the boyz would use. Shinji smirked a bit, and mouthed 'try this'.

He held the cello improperly, head down like a fiddle. He stomped his right foot down on the concrete, hard. Then, twice more, faster. He began to play. It was a simple melody, repeating, rapid, violent. He went at those strings as if he wanted to rip them right off the wood.

When he finished his hair was all mussed up, his eyes were wide and his teeth were bared in a feral grin. He held the cello up to the sky like an axe. "Ere we go. Ere we go. Were we go? NOBODY KNOWS TIL WE GETS DERE! ERE WE GO. ERE WE GO! WHAT WE DO?'

"Nobody cares til we gets dere…!" mumbled the child. "That was awesome! You ARE Da Boss!" He kicked his heels and stood up straight. "Gots a message for you, boss."

Shinji made a wearied 'heh-heh'. "So wot's Da Word?"

"Something's going down at da old Salt Park, boss. Boss'yakawa's already dere. He tolds me to come gets ya. We gots to go!"

"Then what's with all the dancing around for? We should hurry."

"Da Word was for Da Boss. I had ta be sure. If you're the boss I shouldn't be wasting your time." The boy sniffed. "But if you're not Da Boss, then you're a squig-head wastin' MY time, and I don't gots to show you any respect."

Shinji sighed. He went back indoors only long enough to shove his cello into his aunt's hands and mutter a quick "Sorrygottago!" He ran back out again, but stopped after a distance. He looked back to see the Gretz scampering to keep up on his stumpy little legs.

He crouched down and motioned for the child to get up on his back. Though he did look scrawny, Shinji was relatively fit for his age. He bore the burden well as he went off at a steady lope towards the town.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Dunno. I was tolds to come gets ya just as he was headin' in. My feet were already moving, so I hads no time to ask."

Shinji tried to turn his head. "Wait, are you telling me you RAN all the way from the Salt Park to here?" At the boy's nod, he added with simple wonder. "You had better be getting lots of candy…"

"What, are you crazy? I should be expecting candy for this?" the child's indignation threatened to topple him off his feet. "Da Boyz needed me and I was dere. Da Boyz are always happy ta do what da boyz gots to do."

Shinji groaned. Such fanatic dedication. How many young lives had he inadvertently corrupted thus far?

=**][**=

The Salt Park was actually Mamoru Community Park, half-swallowed by the sea. It was one of the most secluded portions of the town, with weeds barely kept at bay hiding it from the road. Behind its tangled reeds opened up a clearing with several benches, with an excellent view of the sun sinking into the sea. It was a properly romantic spot, remote and intimate and mostly unknown to the grownups.

Shinji dropped the Gretz upon reaching town. "Go gets the boyz. Bring food and rocks. Big sticks. Nothing bladed or could stab, all right?"

He arrived at the Salt Park to see it no longer unknown. Police cars ringed the place, their siren lights bathing everything in harsh flickering colors. There were already a few curious people milling around. They were outnumbered by blue-garbed policemen though, who kept everyone away from the police line. Behind that yellow barrier was an ambulance, and Kobayakawa surrounded by cops. The round teen seemed unafraid though, and easily broke away from them to get to Shinji.

He ducked under the tape and bounded over. "Hey boss! Good thing you got here boss. Da cops were getting annoyed I wouldn't talk, but I had to tell it all to yas first." He grinned. "I dids what you wanted me to, boss. I saw Ayane-san and followed her, but without her seeing me, you understands. I heards some yelling and her screamin' so I went right into da park. Dere I saw Minase, and she was naked and cryins' and that grot Jishin gots Ayane-san, and he was just abouts to slap her. So I jumped him, boss! I jumped him good like you told me to!"

Kobayakawa's face was a mass of cuts and bruisers, his left eye purpled and shut. His grin only made it look even more grotesque. "He gots me a few times but I didn't really feel it." He patted his belly. "All dese fat's gotta be good for somefin' ha!"

Shinji's was surprised at his own tone. It was cold and calm, and yet he still wanted someone to tear apart. "What happened next? What happened to Jinshin?"

"Dat's whats awesome, boss! We was muckin' about dere and Minase just up and gets him at back of a head with dis big 'ard rock! He turns around and looks all confused and he sees her and she's cryin' and she bashes him AGAIN with rock at the side of his head. He makes dis little spin in the air as he falls over. Minase falls down too, and cries there for a little bit, then she gets up and STOMPS ON HIM IN DA GROIN and den Ayane-san hugs her and the girls can gets on so some propa cryin'." He nodded and looked proud. "I coulda looked, but I didn't wants me groin stomped too. We was gonna sneak her back into town but it turns out da Gretz went to da cops first before headin over to yas. Da cops came by and dey was actually scary for a while until Ayane-san yelled at them. They led us away and gave us blankets and coffee. I think I like coffee, boss. It's bitter, but you need it to fight the sweet of the round cakes we was supposed to dunk into it."

Kobayakawa shook his fists over his face. "We stomped dat Jishin good! Da boyz rule!" Shinji looked behind his follower to see a covered stretcher being loaded into the ambulance. He didn't have the heart to correct the statement, not just Stomped but Stomped Ded. "Now I gots ta talk to the cops. Thanks for gettin' here, boss."

Shinji watched him go, and hoped the police would get something more substantial out of him.

Intellectually, he knew about rape. He could understand the reasons behind it, the biological imperative, Minase was quite well-developed for her age and without ever even seeing Kotaru Jishin's face could deduct to some extent why he'd taken this particular day to lose it.

But emotionally? He got it all as Minase emerged from the Park, bundled in a thick warm blanket and flanked by her parents, her hair matted, her skin bluish pale, and gaze hollow.

Life on returned to those eyes when she saw him, and all the shame and the horror there could likely be matched only by his own.

"Don't look at me!" she shrieked and hid herself behind her parents. "Not him… anyone but him." she said into their embrace. Her words came out in sputters. "Just yesterday I told him… I never wanted to have anything to do with a short little weirdo… when I had someone cool waiting for me." She wailed. "I didn't want to be seen with someone like him. Now even he would never have anything to do with me!"

"Mina-chan…" her mother hugged her well. She looked at Shinji standing there, whose young face was stricken with grief. "Such a pity. He seems like such a nice boy."

Minase continued to sob. They went into their expensive new car, and drove away.

The future might have been closed to him, but the past was not. He knew that somehow, that he could have prevented this.

Next to come out was Mitsugane Ayane, escorted by policemen as her parents hadn't arrived yet. Her frightened expression abruptly brightened as she saw him, numbness faded from her joints as she abruptly rushed him and fell into his arms. "Shinji-kun!" she sobbed into his shirt. "Shinji- kun. Shinji-kun." She repeated his name as if it would drive all the bad things away. "It was so horrible, Shinji-kun."

"What happened, Ayane-san?"

She looked up with tear-stained eyes, her glasses gone, and said. "I thought about what you said, and what I would say. I just _knew_ Minase would just ignore me if I went over to scold her, so I had to go where she couldn't escape what I would say. So I came here, because I knew she would come here… and I was hoping that someday we would go here too… and she _did_ arrive. She had her boyfriend and he was _older_ than her. And they were _celebrating_ her getting out of elementary, she was saying he couldn't feel so guilty anymore. I was hiding and I can see his eyes and I knew the he wasn't ever guilty of anything. They were doing _things_, Shinji, things we shouldn't be doing yet and I just had to get out there and say it to her!

"And I went out there and said it! It was _wrong_! She should be ashamed. It was all wrong, and it would end wrong, and how could she throw aside the good that you would have brought her?" Ayane gripped his shirt tightly and pulled herself closer to him, grimacing with heartfelt pain she spoke it to his face. "And she stood up and spat out what was in her mouth and told me I was a child. And you were a child. And that she wasn't anymore and that she didn't have to listen to us. Going here and there, crying and asking for help, we're so useless. She was better than us. She didn't have to listen to us."

She collapsed into sobs. "She said it, like I knew she would, she didn't care about any of us at all. That's where I slapped her. That's where I told he she might not need to listen to me, but she had to live with her parents."

Ayane buried her face into the folds on his shirt. "I told her it was wrong, and her parents would find it wrong, and they would do something about it. She slapped me back. She told me I wouldn't dare. She told me no one would believe an attention- seeking brat like me. She was afraid." The girl continued her tale in between wordless desolation. "She grabbed my hand and told me she would find some way of making me regret it. I wouldn't tell anyone, would I? Would I? Her parents would lose face, and a word to the right people MY parents could lose their jobs. The Houkos are a proud family, they wouldn't see it as a favor. She pushed me away and told me to go away. And, I did! I left her there and I shouldn't have!"

And Shinji could see it. Minase's words hurtful aside, she must have reconsidered. She must have thought over how continuing her charade at being grown-up could harm her later. She had forgotten one thing. Other people had their pride too.

=**][**=

He could almost hear it:

'_Who do you think you're talking to_?' she would have said with her chin up in the air. _'Just because I grace you with MY attentions is no reason for you to think you're actually WORTHY of me_.'

'_What, should I be scared of you now? I won't go away like a dog, not while I still have this here_.'

'_You SHOULD be. My parents will_-'

'_Your parents aren't here, you little bitch. Now get down and_ _finish it!'_

She would have resisted, but she would find her strength was nothing against his. They were alone, she had made sure of that.

'_Let go of me!'_

'_You're not better than me! You're the one that wanted this, you were the one who threw yourself at me. This! Take it! Take it! You want to be treated like you're grown up! This is what grown-ups do!'_

=**][**=

Shinji wanted to gag. Experiencing many emotions simultaneously was something he had cultivated a little with his imaginary conversations, but never to such an extent! His imagination was running away from him! No way it could it be **_that_** accurate!

"But… Ayane-san, if you left her… then what are you doing here now?"

"Because I thought of you!" she said back, such hurting in her face. "I thought of you and how you were brave and I was such a coward. I was almost home when I thought of you saying it was all just alright that I couldn't do anything when it wasn't! I should have been able to DO something! I shouldn't have just run away. You wouldn't have run away. I mustn't run away! I turned around and went back. She wasn't going to get rid of me that easy. I would drag her out of there, it was for her own good. She was MY friend! I had to help her. You wanted me to help her!"

She had already ran out of tears. She was shaking. "But I didn't really expect them to still be there! He was just zipping up his pants, and told her she would enjoy it more next time. She was naked, Shinji-kun, and she was… bleeding! There was blood!" She screamed her words. "I screamed. I was scared! And he looked at me, and I couldn't move. He was so angry! I couldn't do anything! I was completely worthless!"

She stopped and looked down. "And that's… when he arrived. He jumped and wrestled him away from me. I never really noticed Kobayakawa-kun before, but he was really bigger than the rest of us. He was fighting that high schooler without any fear, no hesitation whatsoever. He was laughing, Shinji-kun _'Stay away from Ayane-san_!' he was shouting. _'Dis is for Da Boss_!' I never knew he could be so fast or so brave… "

Ayane shook her head. "It wasn't enough. I saw him almost beaten but he was still saying _You don't mess wid friends of Da Boss_!'. He was going to keep throwing himself to the fight until he died! I could see that he could, he would! His enemy was going to kill him just to keep him down!" She shivered.

"But he was so intent on beating Kobayakawa-kun that he didn't notice Mina-chan get behind him. Mina-can had this… this rage, this despair, and she hit him with that. She hit him again! She kicked him. She killed him. He hurt her and she hurt him back. But I could tell it wasn't enough to take the pain away. That's where I saw she needed me. I tried to help her, Shinji-kun. I helped her the only way I knew how. I took off my own clothes and gave it to her. I cried with her. I stayed with her. I told her I'd never leave her again."

She sniffled, and her eyes upon him held some emotion he couldn't decipher. "Kobayakawa-kun stood guard until the police arrived. He was so brave. He was so strong. He wouldn't let me look at his wounds. He told me Da Boss sent him to protect me. His Boss wanted to make sure that nothing ever harms me. He didn't care about anything except that I was safe. I didn't care about anything except that Minase was safe."

She whispered directly to his ear. "You're his Boss, aren't you? You sent him."

Shinji could only nod.

She gave him a bone-crushing hug. "I'm sorry, Shinji-kun! You're so kind and good and I know this must be hurting you! It's not your fault! You had nothing to do with it."

But it IS my fault! he wanted to scream. Don't you get it? If I hadn't sent you out to confront Minase, you wouldn't have set this in motion. It was all so premature! I could have planned to separate them instead of this! I didn't want her hurt!

…but you did. You wanted her to hurt as you have been hurt. Your will is ABSOLUTE, can you see it, bright lord?

That voice, its return filled him with equal parts relief and simple understandable terror.

Ayane stared at him, and he realized that without her glasses and with her hair down, she could be even… beautiful. Her face held such strange trust and serenity in it now. "Thank you, Shinji-kun. Thank you! I'm sorry for being so useless…"

"Y-you're not useless, Ayane."

"Yes I am! Please don't be too kind to me. I can't bear it! Shinji-ku… Shinji-san." She put her head to his shoulders again. "Shinji. From now on I… I…"

"Ayane!"

The girl lifted her head and turned. There behind them stood a big police officer, his thin moustache keeping his face looking always fierce. "Dad!" she yelled with renewed relief. "Oh, dad…"

She looked up at Shinji, waiting for his approval. At his slight nod, she fled from his embrace and into the waiting arms of her police chief of a parent. "My little Acchan…" said the big man gently. "You're safe now."

"I've always been safe, Dad." she mumbled. Ayane turned to look at Shinji. Her father noticed it and frowned at her attention towards a boy. Well, any member of the opposite sex. He was predictably protective that way.

"Who's that?"

"That's Shinji-san." said Ayane. "He's my friend."

"He's Da Boss!" piped up Kobayakawa form nearby.

The father's expression lightened up seeing him. "Ah, you're the one I have to thank for saving my daughter! Thank you, young man! You're a hero!"

Kobayakawa looked down and wrung his hands. "It was nuttin'. Ayane-san is friends o' Da Boss. His friends are friends o' da boyz. Da Boyz are always ready to help their friends."

His frown returned a fraction. "Boyz, huh? And he's the boss. How is he the boss? Can you tell me?"

Kobayakawa, simple and unsuspecting, went on. "Sure! He tells us whats to do. He shows da boyz da right and proper way of things. He's told us that the use of strength is to protect da weak, and da weak can be strong when they needs ta be." He nodded. "Da Boss is NEVER wrong."

"Shinji's my FRIEND, dad." Ayane added.

The policeman's face softened, up at that boy… no, a young man, who still stood there with his head bowed, his shoulders shaking in grief. A natural leader, eh? He looked back down, and saw that beneath layers of fat was a good heart and a good policeman in the making, maybe even Chief someday. His daughter could be anything she wants to be, maybe even the Mayor! That one over there, he had a feeling, would be Very Important Someday. With such kids around, the future didn't seem so bad. "He sounds like a nice boy."

"Yes." Ayane whispered fondly. "He is." She waved at him one last time. Shinji only looked back with such sheer misery in his face, before he fled.

=**][**=

"I never wanted this…" he said under his breath.

_But see! He that has stolen from you has paid for it with his LIFE._

_She that set herself above you now lies humbled and broken, the BLOOD of that she once loved on her hands._

_He that follows you is now a HERO, respected by many._

_And she who once held you in high regard, now WORSHIPS you._

_Chaos IS. And in CHAOS **all things** are **possible**._

=**][**=

His guardians arrived only soon enough to see him run past back to the house. His aunt made as if to call out to him, but a hand on her shoulder kept her silent. Shinji's uncle had already learned of what happened. "No, let him be. He needs to be alone." he said sadly. "Shinji is just too kind, he needs to be alone to deal with knowing not everyone can be as naturally good as he expects them to be."

"That poor boy."

The Boyz broke into the scene, shouting something that sounded like 'Huuwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- " and ground to a halt at seeing all the policemen. They sheepishly put away their useless rocks and sticks. The snacks were _not_ useless, and in between grateful munches Kobayakawa regaled them of his tale of heroism and the confirmed infallibility of Da Boss.

The boyz offered some snacks to the policemen, who accepted it with a smile. It was a simple act that would have far-reaching symbolic consequences.

=**][**=

Shinji ran until his lungs burned. He ran until his legs began to burn. He ran until he felt as if he could breathe fire and still didn't stop.

He arrived at the house gasping for breath, feeling his entire body screaming. He fumbled angrily at the locks. He stumbled in, leaving the door hanging open. He clung to the wall as he climbed up to the second floor. His heart threatened to leap right out of his chest, and his head seemed about to burst.

He kicked open his door and laid bloodshot eyes at a single figure alone in its shelf. "YOU!" he snarled.

He leapt over and snatched it from its place. His hands shook as he gripped it, slowly adding more and more pressure. As plastic deformed under his grip, it looked as if the Chaos Marine was bowing its head.

'_Someday you will NEED me again, bright lord. Someday, you will call out for me again. Someday, when you can set aside this petty morality. And on that day I will grant you POWER beyond your wildest imaginations.'_

Shinji snarled and tightened his grip. He felt so immense just then, and the figurine in his hands a little person, red-eyed and so willing to just let him crush it/him in his hands…

Shinji screamed.

He collapsed to his knees and punched at the floor.

"What am I doing?" he breathed. "What am I doing?" He opened his palm to reveal the figurine all bent of shape, its lacquer cracked in places. It didn't seem irretrievably damaged, though. He could push things back into place and slap on a fresh coat of paint. "Why am I so angry at this thing?"

"You're just a lump of plastic!" he said, his heart lifting. He got up and placed it back on the shelf. Shinji sat on his bed and cradled his face in his hands.

"I… did it." he failed to hold back his tears. "I'm a horrible person."

'_No, you are not.'_ he felt another familiar voice skim through his mind._ 'It was not your fault, Shinji. What did you really do, clear your mind and admit it to yourself.'_

"What I did I do? I wanted her to hurt! I let her be RAPED! I took her pain and loved it. Oh, gods, I loved it."

'_No, yaz didn't!' _Shinji could feel a massive stomp echo through his consciousness._ 'She was weak, and you hated anyones who abuses da weak.'_

'_You must not lie to yourself, commander. Consider exactly what your influence in this matter brought. As much as it pains me to admit it, the chaos-pawn had done you right. You SAVED a life, commander, and it was not by your hands that an evil one was destroyed. It was by your will that one was saved from that evil.'_

"But… Minase…"

'_Did you plan it? Such is the way of Chaos that it prevents any attempts to truly control it.'_ The Farseer in his mind stroked with her white-gloved hands from the cheek of her helmet, down to her neck, past her chestplate and down to her hips. _'You did nothing to her. You must understand this. You are not a God. Not everything is within your control. Her fate is hers alone.'_

"I don't want anyone to suffer…" Shinji cried. "I don't want anyone to suffer ever again."

'_If that is your desire, bright lord.' _the Chaos Marine actually had the gall to interject._ 'Then let it be written upon the flesh of destiny.'_

'_Be silent!' _screeched the Eldar. _'You have had your say. Be silent unless your loathsome opinion is asked for.'_

'_I obey Chaos, not you, witch. But for the bright lord's sake for now I shall do as you say.'_

Shinji bent his knees up and went into a sitting fetal position. He had touched something today, something vast and powerful and his. The Ork said it was nothing more than his "Inna bad-ass". Both the Farseer and Space Marine counseled for him not to worry about it, and it would be a LONG time before he'd swallow so easily anything that Chaos would say.

He no longer felt powerless, though. He learned that day that when one's physical strength fails, let the mind triumph. When the future is closed to the mind, then it is the point of decisive action. When all is dark, is when the light of the soul shall reveal itself.

His physical form was not the _all _of what he was.

_I am Shinji Ikar_i. he said to himself. _This is what I am_.

=**][**=

The day arrived when he received the letter from Tokyo-3. It had one word in it: COME.

Shinji Ikari stared disbelievingly at it, all else blank paper but for the NERV letterhead and his father's signature. How hard can it be to write one other word? _PLEASE _COME.

Or YOU ARE NEEDED, COME.

Or just I'M SORRY?

"No father would write this!" he said to himself. "This is something specifically designed to piss me off!" he gasped. "And it's working!"

"You don't have to go to Tokyo-3, Shinji." his aunt said softly. "You can just stay here. You can be happy here, can't you?"

"Yes, don't give the bastard the satisfaction of having the son he so ignored come running at his earliest call… what's there for you anyway?"

He could just stay. In a town which actually loved him. Where the boyz were being treated like the minor militia. Where someone stood beside him, and strangely a best friend/confidante/personal secretary did vastly simplify his life. Where, once, when no one was around, Minase actually knelt down and kissed his shoe as if his mere touch could purify her. Then she laughed at the panic in his face.

Life was good. With his own efforts he could believe he deserve a little bit of happiness, right? It was a nice, normal life, and yet somehow...

He could see it in their eyes. Even as his guardians asked for him to stay, they already knew that a part of him was meant for bigger things out in the world.

Shinji crumpled the letter, if it could even be called that, in his fist. He looked up and the weight of ages were in his eyes. "I HAVE to go to Tokyo-3. It's time my father and I talked things over."

"Give him a punch him in the face for me, would you?" his uncle said with a grin.

"If he deserves it!" he replied with a similar, wide expression. Shinji Ikari had all the outward signs of a happy, emotionally healthy child.

* * *

**End Prologue**

changes in Sn40k:REWRITE:**  
**

Very little. Tightened up some of the wording and altered the ending.

Shinji Ikari grew up somewhere in Sendai. He was 4 years old when Yui 'died' from the contact experiment. At such an age, he would have been aware of being abandoned without yet being able to comprehend why. His memories of that day may not be clear, and whatever Gendo may have done or said; he wouldn't remember.

This is the first major change from the previous version, which indulged in Gendo-bashing for the lulz of it. Shinji now knows that he has totally no data about his father, or what he should feel about their broken family bond.

ADEVA Campaign notes:

A pilot may have been raised in relative isolation and ignominy for his or her own protection. A 'normal' person. While under mental attack, a pilot may be viewed by his or her own much more innocent past self or even try to futilely pass instructions to the child that he or she won't be able to understand yet. Realizing that the childish imaginative 'dream' of those days actually happened may fracture the pilot's psyche even more. Or, if somehow the child does remember and take heart the message, realizing that it was all in futility.

Only in Evangelion would space-time silliness be useful only in terms of furthering maximum suffering.

A scenario may also be set near this hometown, like a triumphant homecoming of sorts. The residents who remember the child may treat the pilot with pride and pomp, for one of the chosen few who defend humanity comes from their community. And yet, now it's under threat. There are also those who fear and resent this. While normally fighting to defend a Fortress City (such as, say, Tokyo-3, Boston-2, etc) is harrowing enough, now failure may become much more personal. There is also the problem of the surrounding area not having any real defenses, for Commanders to deal with. Another possible mission is to rush to keep the potential pilots from being assassinated.

Also, humaniform Angels walking around trying to 'understand' can lead to all sorts of Silent Hill shenanigans.

Or as a town with a dark secret, while normally you'd play AdEva like you're Godzilla, you could also now play it as if you're a Kamen Rider by chance stumbling into a Gorgom plot. After all, you -could- also choose to channel Eva technology into small-scale personal armor and weapons; tokusatsu also includes metal heroes.


	2. Chapter 1: And become legend part1

**Chapter One **

**And Become Legend part1**

**=][=**

It swam past sunken skyscrapers, the stripped bare bones of mankind's arrogance. Arrayed along the shoreline were rows of warships and tanks along the highways. As the creature made its first step out of the waters, its foot crushed their renewed hope. Fifteen years of ignorance died at that moment. Fifteen years passed, the innocence of the world was raped out of it by the ambition of men who would become gods, and now the Earth felt the touch of angry abandoned children.

This was the being known as [SACHIEL]. It was a giant, vaguely shaped like a man, with slick black skin like that of sea mammals and for some strange reason, its rib bones seemed to be on the outside. Curving wedges of bone jutted out of its shoulders like pauldrons. Most distinctive about it, other than its maddening size, was the bone mask on its neckless head. The mask looked faintly bird-like, and behind the eyeholes there was nothing but untold darkness.

It stepped out of the waters of Sagami Bay, moving its spindly yet powerful limbs in punctuated jerks, and utterly unconcerned at the assembly of forces ready to receive it. The full might of the military was brought to bear on the intruder. The first hot salvo came from the Type-110 tanks of the Japan Ground SSDF lined along the highway. To [Sachiel] the rain of 140mm rounds, a mixture of long-rod penetrators and high-explosives, did not even rate the sensation of even pinpricks. Then, the warships of the Marine SSDF added their voice, booming out with larger-caliber automatic cannons. Explosions rippled across the Angel's back, but it did not bother to even turn around.

It seemed that not even all the machines of men would fail to break its stride. Yet, Japan of 2015 was not the innocent nation of 2000. While constitutionally they still avowed war, theirs was now a much more varied and much more potent military force.

Rising from behind the mountains, coming in from the bases in Gotemba and Odawara, the two cities next to Tokyo-3, it was the air force, having to close in to near suicidal range just to target the immense creature. For some strange reason, radar and even laser rangefinders were fuzzing up around it. The JASSDF sent out a large number of VTOLs for this purpose.

[Sachiel's] masked face quivered. Unlike the previous two massed attacks, the incoming forces were deliberately putting themselves between it and its objective. A massive missile, almost as large as the strike fighter carrying it, was released and shot forth towards the Angel. It was one designed to destroy hardened bunkers buried tens of meters underground. [Sachiel] raised its clawed hand for the first time, and caught it. The missile crumpled in its palm, and engulfed the giant in flame.

[Sachiel] walked out of the billowing flames, unscathed, undaunted.

Behind the mountains lay Hakone, and beneath Hakone was the call of a being older than worlds. [Sachiel] could not feel the light of the soul from all the things that tried to impede its progress, and all were therefore irrelevant.

=**][**=

Meanwhile, the completely automated railways system towards Tokyo 3 continued to roll on. The high-speed rail from Tokyo-2 to Tokyo-3 slid to a gradual stop. Its single passenger got off. "I hope there were no security cameras in that thing…" said Shinji Ikari. He could not help it. Being so alone felt so liberating, as a teenager he wasn't supposed to give in to such childish urges anymore.

_ 'You should have thought of that before you started to run on the cushions and then slide and swing on the handrails just because no one else was around.' _A stately female voice in his mind replied._ 'Truly, you show all the signs of your mon-keigh ancestry.'_

He looked at those bars, and thought; Why not? What did he have to lose but his dignity? There was nothing to be scared of, and if he did end up being scolded he was prepared to accept it. "…wait. Mon-keigh is supposed to be monkey, right?" the teen noted with some disbelief. He was smiling indulgently. "You've been calling me a monkey all this time?"

_'We have been calling your kind the mon-keigh, the wild ones, for as long as your race have stood upright. It saddens me, to be sure, that you took this long to realize this. Some… never do.'_

_'So, that's why you refer to me as a metal-skinned brute!'_ quoth the Space Marine. _'That my genetic enhancements only return me to my true mental state! This armor, these geneseeds are the finest fruits of the God-Emperor's will. I thought you Eldar might have actually respected His mighty intellect. That was an insult all this time?'_

_'See, Shinji? Disappointing.'_

_'BE SMOTE for your HERESY, foul xeno Eldar witch!'_

_'It's heresy only if I follow your religion! And I do not!' _She seemed to grin._ 'Gorilla.'_

_'Let me out, commander! Get us out of this pack. There must be smiting!'_

_'So much grunting. Would you like a banana?'_

An inarticulate roar filled Shinji's mind, with a '_oohho-ho-ho'_ weaving in and out. "Hush!" he said, suddenly alert. There was silence. There was too much silence. He looked about, and all the activity he could see were the blinking of street lights.

There was perhaps no danger for a fourteen year-old to travel all the way from Sendai, to Kyushu, but one of the mayor's friends had accompanied him to Tokyo-2. Once there, he found out that there was a train waiting for his arrival. The train official there looked irritated at the reserved line, but the train was not allowed to leave without him and only him and only at a certain time.

It was odd but not too implausible that his father's connections would have a train only for him (for what, he could not understand – it was a foolish waste of time and money, if maybe just to impress one perplexed teenager), but for the terminal to be without any people was simply unthinkable. Tokyo-3 was supposed to be a bustling city and a nerve center of Japan's industrial and commercial efforts. "…where is everybody?"

Shinji Ikari stepped out of the terminal and walked down the streets. The shops were all closed. There was not a single moving car to be seen. The speakers were saying something, along the lines of [Please remain calm. Proceed to the nearest shelter.] For some reason he was feeling a heavy weight over his shoulders.

He looked down at the photo sent to him; a woman in tight clothing leaning forwards, an arrow in red marker (maybe to remind of red lipstick?) was drawn pointing to her breasts.[LOOK HERE!] it said. Shinji quirked his lips up. He had to admit, as much as his father's message made him insulted and indignant, this one tickled his curiosity. What sort of person would send something like this?

For years now, the voices in his mind had counseled him, berated him, told him things that should be outside of his knowledge and awareness. For most people, it would have faded into harmless fancy as they realized they were basically just talking to themselves. Shinji, who had never even entertained the notion that the voices were each their own identities separate from his own, was comfortable with asking them to double-check even his own senses.

He took out a card from his pocket, and there was a red symbol, half of a fig leaf. NERV. Below that, a telephone number. He saw a row of public phones some distance away. He went over and dialed it in.

"Hmn. No answer." He set the receiver back. "This doesn't make sense. Why go to all this far and not have anyone to meet me? Getting here was all pre-arranged, I had no real choice anywhere. So why just let me get off here and then expect me to manage on my own?"

_'I doubt your father would clear out an entire city just for the purposes of insulting you further…'_ the Farseer said, to hide that she had no idea of what was going on either.

"It's no good. Maybe I –_should_- go to a shelter? Not that I know where one is, anyway…" Also, he mused, why were there shelters in the first place? Maybe he should have been paying attention to the news. Maybe there was a storm or tornado or something. That would nicely explain it; he nodded to himself. Quick enough to suddenly appear all the while the train trundled toward Tokyo-3 in all ignorance. He looked up at the sky. Unfortunately the crystal calm belied that hypothesis.

He felt something icy cold run up the back of his neck, a feeling of being watched.

Shinji blinked. Wait, what, is that…

He saw standing across the street, a girl in a school uniform, staring at him. Her blue hair was what drew his attention, and her red eyes seemed to go straight into his soul and out his back, leaving his being a flayed but exultant mess. He felt a certain deep yearning settle over him, and faintly, almost unheard… _'and we are reunited'_.

A flock of white birds suddenly flying off from a power line drew his attention for an instant, and when he looked back, she was gone.

"What was that? Did I… imagine it?

In the distance, something exploded.

_ 'IT COMES!'_ screamed the voice of Chaos.

Shinji's mind rang with a roar. He turned and felt a wall of… something. The pressure! Squeezing his heart! _'What… what is this?'_ His inner voices were suddenly all unable to speak. It came to him as a gust of wind. Shinji saw a tilt-wing rotor combat helicopter slide into view, discharging its missiles at something behind the buildings. It came as cleansing fire, as he saw that same gunship speared by a bright pink bolt of energy, withdrawing back to massive black arm just now coming into view.

He shielded his face as the aircraft fell, whipping the air, crashing and chopping up the pavement near him. The giant strode on unconcerned.

"I _know_ this!" Shinji shouted out for reasons he could not explain. "I feel I should _know_ this!"

Its gargantuan foot came down close by, and Shinji could feel a slight breeze just from the air being pushed out of the way by its sheer mass as it walked. Shinji wondered if he should run away, except that something paralyzed him. It was not fear, even as the animal part of his brain felt so small and insignificant, foremost in his mind was this puzzling feeling of familiarity. It was like trying to make sense of a dream, trying to remember it in the moment just before consciousness fully engages back into wakefulness.

Conveniently a sports car screeched to a halt between it and him. The door opened, and a woman in a tight purple one-piece shouted at him, her face hidden behind large tinted driving sunglasses. "Get in!"

He ran to it, sensing that the next step might actually land on top of the hapless vehicle. Once inside, the car sped out with maniacal speed and reckless turns around sharp street corners. They sought sufficient cover behind several building blocks.

"W-what was that?" he said between frantic gulps of breath. '_So pure. So much purposeful hatred. What was that? What can man do against such black hate?'_

"That was an Angel, Shinji." Misato said nonchalantly. "That is what your father fights."

Shinji looked back. "An angel…" My father fights that? Technically, the word she used was **_shito_**. The expression was more linked to avenger, or punisher. There was nothing intrinsically holy about it. Even so, now he felt strangely at peace.

_'We might be getting into something we would not want to be in, Commander.'_ was the Space Marine's warning. _'I can feel it. We all can.'_

_'Deres stompins dat gots that be done.'_ added the Ork warboss.

_'There is blood.'_ hissed the Chaos Marine. _'I can taste it. Blood waits for us here. Blood to FILL a God to satisfaction.'_

'_Are you afraid?'_ he asked them.

The Farseer pulled deep into herself. _'Are you not? Your thoughts are our thoughts. Shinji… The future is closed to me. I feel it. We are at the cusp of a scenario. We cannot see it, for we are part of it.'_

The young teen turned his head back and sighed. He slumped against his seat. _'I can't escape it now. I have to know it. What are you up to, father?'_ He looked up and at the woman beside him. The large shades hid her eyes, she seemed serious and professional and nothing like the picture she sent. He felt his eyes drifting down to the stretched folds near her chest, and looked away sharply. He felt a certain amusement from her. Damn! So, hidden by the reflective shades, she was looking at him instead of the road.

Wait, wasn't that… dangerous?

Shinji faced forwards, slumped back some more and obstinately jutted out his chin. He tried in this way to fight back his embarrassment. That only made Misato smile widely. The young teen just couldn't pull off a tough look.

"So, you're Ikari Shinji, huh?" she said, eyes back to the road.

"And you're Katsuragi Misato-san." he replied. "P-pleased to meet you."

"Yes, I'm sure." she added impishly. '_Nice kid'_, she thought. '_Still so innocent. He's going to be so much fun to tease. Who knows? I might even do something might enjoy._' She begun to chuckle lightly, which for some reason made Shinji feel even more uneasy.

Misato angled her neck to get a better look at the sky. "That plane… it can't be! They wouldn't?" She suddenly turned and yelled right at Shinji's face. "GET DOWN!"

The car swerved wildly away.

And the sun came down from the sky.

=**][**=

Misato Katsuragi shielded him with her body. She pulled him tight to her as the car was thrown off the road by the blast. The car tumbled up and over to its side and skidded off the highway, throwing sparks, as the shockwave passed over them. There was only the vague feeling of heat, but they could feel their ears pop from the sudden change in pressure. Through it all, Shinji thought '_Maybe coming to Tokyo-3 wasn't such a bad idea after all…_'

_'I should be feeling outraged'_ said the Farseer, miffed._ 'But your thoughts are our thoughts.'_

_'I am SURE it is no surprise that perversion flows from one of the Race that spawned Slaanesh. Enough. We care not. Get your FOOT out of my face, woman.'_

_'My foot, as you put it, is attached to my base. Stop kissing my plastic stand.'_ She paused._ 'You were trying to look up my skirt, weren't you? Weren't you?'_

_'Damnation! Stop kicking me, woman!'_

His imaginations were always the most lively when he needed to take his mind off something. He was only grateful for their timely distraction.

_'Hear your most devoted follower, oh bright lord. Save me! HELP!'_

_'Die, die and die again. Be resurrected by your Dark Gods to be killed by me again!'_

After a while, Misato let him up from his breath-starved position.

"That was an N2 mine. It seems to have stopped the Angel for a while. Let's get moving."

Shinji stared blanky at the rising mushroom cloud. "Aren't we going to die from, like… radiation?"

"No, Shinji. N2 means Non-nuclear. It has all the power of a nuke without the nasty side-effects."

They pushed the car back to rest on its wheels. Misato bewailed her beautiful car. Shinji patted her back and said "Um, it's not that bad? The spirit of this machine is the same no matter what face it wears." Misato stared back at him with incomprehension. The boy smiled sheepishly. He took his hand away and stared up at her. "Aren't you a soldier, Misato-san? This is a soldier's car. Let it wear its scars proudly."

She scrunched up her face at him. Not that she wasn't guilty of applying personifications to machines too, but it's not the time to be joking around pretending that machines had identities. "But Shinji-kun. I still had payments on this! People won't respect me if I'm driving around a piece of crap."

"This piece of crap got those bumps saving their skins." The young teen nodded, his face so serious. "Misato-san! Screw 'em!"

That did it. She had to laugh. He was just too serious, and yet she could tell he meant well. She hugged him, pressing his face to her bosoms again. "Aren't you just adorable? Hah! You're right, Shinji-kun! Screw 'em!" She slapped at the steering wheel, as if urging a horse to run.

They went on their way.

After a while down the road, the car rolled, rolled, slowed, and… came to a stop.

Silence. Misato turned her head and pointedly looked at the young teen sitting beside her. Shinji grinned weakly and rubbed the back of his head. "… maybe the spirit is willing but the metal is weak?"

"Maybe you're not as cute as I thought, after all." she huffed.

=][=

_Smash! _

Misato chuckled as she hefted a bundle of heavy-duty batteries in her hands. Tokyo-3's hyper-efficient ideals worked against her, the electric car might be clean and cost-effective, but ultimately easy to knock out of proper working order. She didn't have time to fiddle around with the insides, hopefully these would provide the additional power she needed for the existing engine lines.

"Um… is it really okay if we take this? We did break into a store, after all. Isn't that stealing?"

She huffed again. She just knew the kid would be one of those unimaginative law- abiding types. "It's fine. It's fine. NERV will take care of it, no problem. Now let's get go-"

The young teen finished placing his armload of batteries into the back seat. "Really? Awesome! Can I go get something for me too, then?"

Her head turned with such unbearable slowness that it filled Shinji's heart with dread. Her gaze was grim and and judgmental. He began to back away. Then, all of a sudden she cheered up and said "Sure! But remember this is an emergency so be quick!"

"Thank you, Misato-san." Shinji bowed. Then only painfully suppressing himself into as to look too much like a looter during an inner city riot, he rushed back into the store. Score! The boy had always been fascinated with hardware and construction tools, ever since he realized that it was the only way to build a 1:10 scale Battle Titan. His childhood knew friendship and camaraderie, but association with the Boyz and their independent attitudes also taught him the joy of building things with his own bare hands.

Oddly, it was the Warboss and the Meks who'd admonished that building stuff was just as much fun as destroying it. Looting was, after all, gathering the scrap needed to make something bigga' and betta'.

"Maybe the kid won't be so boring after all…" the NERV officer mused while waiting. "I wonder what he's going to get out of a hardware store?" The kid came out holding a mini-chainsaw.

He was practicing sword-like motions with it. Misato stared at him.

Shinji felt her stare and grinned weakly. He held it out for her to see. "May I have this?"

"Shinji…" she said blandly. "Why, out of all things in the store (and by that I include the dirty magazines they hide behind the counter) did you choose a CHAINSAW?"

"Um, because I've always wanted one and it'd be really useful where we're going?" '_And that it's the closest thing to a chainsword I've seen so far?' _ It was not a proper choppa, but better suited for him since he did not have to swing hard with each cut. Really. Useful. The words seemed to hit her face. Misato rubbed her cheek and straightened back up. "Useful? What do you mean useful? How could it possibly be useful where we're going?"

"You know! We could be thrown off the road and we have to cut our way out of a mangled vehicle! Or we might find a fallen tree blocking our path! Or we might need to fight off scavengers and looters operating while the city is under attack!" Shinji took a deep breath. "A rippa's always useful when you need to resize a room or things to more manageable bits."

"Heh, heh…" Misato chuckled oddly. _Unimaginative, you say, Misato? I'm riding with a psycho!_

She pulled herself together and pointed. "Put it back, Shinji. I took those batteries for a reason. We're not here to pick up toys for you."

"B-but… Misato-san."

Misato crossed her arms over her chest. "Shinji, as a ranking officer of NERV and an authority over this city, you must obey me."

His face fell. He let the mini-chainsaw drop to the ground. It was such a perfect size for him, too. He woodenly walked over, complying. However, rather than entering the car, he simply stood before her. He kept his head down and his face under shadow. "S-Shinji?" asked Misato, slightly nervous.

The young teen merely leaned forward and pressed his head into the flesh of her arm.

"Please, Misato-san…"

His voice was so tiny. She felt as if she crushed his dreams.

"Oh, all right!" she retorted hotly. "Go get whatever you want. But it stays in the car, until you can pay it back with your own money!"

He looked up at her and his face just… beamed! "Thank you, Misato-san!" he said with such honest rapture. He slid over to the chainsaw, dumped it in the backseat, and rushed back into the store. She heard him say "Lookz at dat! NAILGUN!" with unbridled joy.

Misato stood there rubbing the flesh where he'd touched. It still tingled. She shivered for no reason. "What is it with this kid?"

They did not speak at all on the rest of the way towards NERV.

=][=

_'What was that about, Commander?'_ the Space Marine asked. _'Did we just impose our will on this woman? Have we not sworn never to do such again?'_

_'I- I don't know. It just seemed so right at the time…'_

The warboss snorted. _'Well, I gots me stuff, so I'm happy. Wot's it matter?'_

_'It was a way to keep her off-balance. She sent her picture to us in a forced act of intimacy, that was designed to send us confused. We simply returned the favor.'_ was the Farseer's helpful reply.

_'It was a Slaaneshi greeting.'_ said the Chaos Marine after a while. All beings in Shinji's mental landscape turned to look at him, in wide-eyed horror. _'Flesh to flesh, NEED to need. Can you not hear her soul? It SCREAMS in anguish, calling out for comfort and acceptance.'_

Shinji had to nod. _'That sounds more like it.'_

_'She has been HURT before, and badly, so much so that she wears her skin and her sexuality as a shield. She is a soldier. Her first reaction is ALWAYS physical.'_

_'I see. She shares her body but not her soul? She aches for intimacy and yet always spurns it when given.'_ Shinji shook his head. _'How do I know this? She's still a stranger… since when could we judge other people's hearts?'_

_'Since the time you started to become comfortable with calling yourself "we".'_ was the Eldar's dooming answer.

=][=

NERV was inside a geofront. Shinji couldn't help to gasp, impressed, as the elevator bringing them down showed the dome lit from above by rays of reflected sunlight. It was huge. He could see buildings hanging off the roof, like the stalactites of a cave. Though an enclosed space, it felt even larger. The ground, he could see, was green and forested. There was even a lake!

A ropeway train line carried them to the geofront surface. Entering NERV itself, the golden pyramid undeground was just the tip of an iceberg. Much of it was apparently even deeper than that, behind levels and levels of metal. Moving walkways conveyed them from one section to the other. Shinji looked around with undisguised awe.

"Let's see…" mumbled Misato. "If we came in there then we should be coming out …here!" The door opened with a whoosh, and air rushed up from below. It was a walkway over a tall pit. "This is why I hate wearing a skirt around here!" she complained while adjusting at her noticeably more exposed legs. "I wonder where in the heck Ritsuko is…"

An awe that shortly turned to frustration as it became clear they were thoroughly lost. They had yet to see anyone else around.

Mentally, the Space Marine collapsed to his knees. _'It's like campaigning with Leman Russ all over again!'_ he blubbered out to the heavens. _'How can you get lost three sectors on foot? How?'_

_'I doubt Leman Russ had thighs that…'_ That thought was interrupted with an internal thwap to the head. He felt a disapproving tendril from his female advisor.

_'That's true.'_ said the Space Marine, his eyes slightly glazed. _'If only Leman Russ had –_' She thwapped him next.

Finally, exasperated, Misato went over to a phone and yet again paged her friend for help. As she did so, Shinji held the map. It was amazing! It completely failed to make any sense at all! Why did section 3-A lead to 6-F and only then to 3-B? It was like it was purposely made to confuse any invaders (and/or hapless visitors) from gathering information about the facilities!

She had them enter yet another elevator, in the hopes of going deeper somehow managing to strike gold location-wise. She yelped as the door opened to reveal someone already waiting there, her face showing all the impatience banked over the years of knowing Misato Katsuragi.

"Why are you wasting my time, Captain…" she said flatly, aggressively entering Misato's personal space with an intense look. "Don't you know we're short on time AND manpower?"

Misato backed away from the force of that glare. "Heheh, sorry…"

Ritsuko Akagi turned to face Shinji, and asked "So, is this the boy?"

"Yes, according to the Marduk Report, he's the Third Child."

Ritsuko saw the young teen quirk his left eyebrow at being regarded as if he wasn't there. He had, if just briefly, reacted to the words 'marduk' and 'third'. "Pleased to meet you." she said, a small smile crossing her face.

Shinji smiled back. "'Ello dere." He coughed. He'd been distracted by wondering how a swimsuit and a lab coat found their way together. "I mean, pleased to meet you too." he said in Japanese and bowed. "But, I don't know your name."

"I think he might even be worse than his father…" Misato said with a grimace.

To this, Ritsuko could only lift her eyebrow in much the same way as he did a few moments ago and experimentally said back in English "Ah, that was impolite of me. My name is Ritsuko Akagi. What's yours?"

"S'aright. M'name's Shinji Ikari, but I think yaz already knew dat. Amma happy to meets ya, Akagi-sensei." He bowed again.

Ritsuko's smile grew a fraction. "That's an… interesting accent you have there. Where did you learn it?"

"Here and dere. Books. Nevva seen anyone with blond hair before."

"I'm not actually an American, even if I know English, Shinji." she replied. Of course, she wouldn't share so easily that it was dyed. My, what an uncouth boy he could sound like, lacking the daggerlike diction she knew from the other Ikari.

Misato could actually understand English, having been raised to an multicultural expedition and been to many international postings, but had to say "I didn't understand that at all! Was that even English?"

"Oh, sure." Ritsuko nodded and turned away from the young teen. "Purer English than most I hear around here, since it actually sounds like it comes from England." Granted, the very roughest parts of England, but who really cares? Practically the entire island was under the sea these days; she thought.

The elevator went back up, and the women spoke ignoring Shinji. He took his time to listen. The Geofront was at battle stations, but something known as Unit-01 was under refrigeration. It was supposed to be pretty important, but they didn't know if it would even work. There was a rather plain pun in the Japanese language (oni and 0.009), but he learned that yes, it had never worked before. The chance of it working now was abysmal. And yet they had to keep it under cryogenic suppression. What was it that they made that they were afraid of?

The moving walkway went into a dark room. As soon as he asked why it was so dark, it snapped on, shocking him with the view of gargantuan purple face.

He felt again that strange pressure.

"A giant robot…?" he muttered. He started to leaf through the booklet they gave him, but fumbled his grasp. It fell off into the orange vat of coolant. He shrugged. No big loss.

To Misato's indignant 'Hey!' he answered "That thing" he pointed to the giant robot "wasn't even there, is it?"

"No. But it could have had a lot of useful other info and rules."

His amused look implied _'… that you don't even follow?_'

_'I sense something here,'_ the Farseer whispered. '_A soul that is not a soul. A mind that is not a mind. And rage. Such aimless rage!' _The complex shook as the Angel [SACHIEL] unleashed its energy attack upon the city._ 'I have a feeling all the rules just ceased to matter.'_

"You'd be correct at that…" Ritsuko muttered under her breath. "This is humanity's last and best hope, the artificial human Evangelion!"

Shinji quickly turned to her, and leaving no space after she finished talking asked "What is its gender?"

"What?"

"I noticed you said artificial human with much practice. If this was an android or a battle machine, it would be genderless. You would have said HUMANOID. But you were careful to emphasize artificial HUMAN." His eyes, dark and focused, seemed to plunge into her. His tone was all too familiar, peeling away other people's barriers. "The natural guiding characteristic of humanity is its duality, which allows for emotional attachments and beneficial mutation. I suppose it could be neuter, but people have called weapons from tanks to ships as he and she before." He smiled a bit. "What is his or her name?"

Misato scratched her cheek. "It's a big fighting robot, Shinji. There's no male or female about it. Ritsuko's just being… scientist-y. They tend to get poetic that way."

Ritsuko could only stare down with horror, as Shinji reminded her too keenly of just whose son he was.

At this silenced point, Gendo Ikari appeared in a blind passageway above the Evangelion. "Hey Shinji." He drawled out, his words friendly, his tone and expression completely not. "It's been a while."

Shinji Ikari stared up at him. "Yes, father." he replied with the same faux friendliness. "It has."

Ikari and Ikari stared at each other, motionless, unblinking, for what seemed like minutes etching away.

"What are they doing?" Misato whispered to her friend.

"Oh, no. Not here. Not now…" was all the response Ritsuko could give, her voice breaking. "Not two of them…"

It was a paltry trick, to set oneself higher than another, a contest of wills and patience. Shinji was stunned that his father would have the sheer gall to resort to that level of intimidation. Part of what kept him staring was sheer wonder at the man's apparent immaturity, when it all boiled down to it. Shinji was angry when he first read Gendo's letter, but through the journey had come to realize he didn't really know much about his father at all.

_"What are we doing?"_ said the Space Marine? _"The city is under attack and he wants to play these games? If his time is so valuable that he would not acknowledge you for so many years, then he has better concerns now than this posturing."_

"Why have you sent for me, father?" he shouted up. "For years now, you ignored me, and now you want me again? Why!" He put the right amount of childish anger into his voice and by the Emperor, Gendo actually looked pleased!

There was the briefest of nods. "We're moving out." Gendo Ikari said, ignoring his son's outburst.

Misato yelled something about a Unit-00 being in cryo-stasis, which further confirmed Shinji's impression of something inherently dangerous in that thing they called an Evangelion. Then, "You're using Unit-01!" she turned and shrieked at Ritsuko.

She nodded impassively. "There's no other way."

"But we don't even have a pilot! Rei can't do it… can she?"

"We just received one…" Ritsuko added numbly, still only barely managing to accept it.

The women argued about how Shinji just has to sit on it. There was something about any chance at anyone getting a synchronization. Shinji barely paid any attention. He only stared back up at his father, who stared blandly back. Sure it was childish, but HE was the child. This was all a setup, he realized.

Misato was telling him to get into the Eva.

Shinji tilted his head to the side, remembering what happened outside. "No, I won't do it. Isn't there someone else…?" He asked without looking back. He could see it, faintly. He had to get out of the scenario to affect it. "I just got here! Why can't you do it?"

"Shinji… I would if I could…" she said softly, pained. "But I can't! You ARE our only hope! Humanity needs you, Shinji. WE need you."

Humanity? He bristled at their appeal. How dare she put humanity to him! He knew just how much he was willing to give up for humanity - everything! But this! This is ridiculous! "Then maybe you people shouldn't have been so stupid as to design a weapons system so picky about its pilots in the first place!"

One could almost hear the creak in Ritsuko's neck as she turned her head to bring her blazing eyes to bear. "… what did you SAY?"

"I don't believe you!" he shouted up to his father. "You had me come all the way just for this? What if I didn't answer your summons? You never cared before!" He turned to Ritsuko and frowned. "I don't believe it. Me? It can't be me! You must have something else…! Why this thing you're not even sure will even work? If this is the best that humanity can come up with, then maybe it needs to reap the fruits of its stupidity!

I mean… that THING! It's attacking us! It's coming here. Even I can tell it wants something here. Why is this the only real defense? Why don't you have a giant cannon the size of a house, the size of a mountain! To meet it? Why don't you just drop one of those buildings I saw on top there… why not? Why…? This doesn't make sense! I don't believe you people who could build a base this big and complex could be so incompetent. At least, why couldn't you have called for me earlier? Now it's just too inconvenient to all of us that I arrive during an attack.

Why me? I'm just a boy. I don't have any training! This is completely wrong! Why are you relying on me? You're all adults. Why don't you have the power to solve your own problems?"

Ritsuko actually SNARLED at him. "No! There is no other way! The Evangelion… the Eva…!" Her rage was such that her intellect fled, leaving her grasping for words.

Misato placed her hands on his shoulders. Her voice was gentle, caring. "Shinji, I can't really explain right now, but there's an important reason why an Eva is the only thing that can fight Angels. Please, Shinji…" though she did turn to Ritsuko and asked. "… why don't we have a giant cannon big as a mountain down here to meet it anyway? It has to break through the Geofront at some point…"

"… it would be too expensive. Hard defenses are impractical, specially in this enclosed space." Ritsuko could only reply dully. "We had a lot of other secondary defenses planned, but the primary function of NERV is to field and maintain Evangelions… that was our only purpose, anything that could reduce the focus from the Evangelions would diminish our primary combat potential."

The place shook as one of the Angel's energy blasts finally pierced the outer shell of the Geofront. Any defenses down in the geofront would have been useful, even just to buy some more time; Misato thought, then shook her head. "Shinji, get inside, we don't have much time!" She grit her teeth and glared, losing patience.

He deeply regretted it, but… "No!"

I don't believe it! My father had to have known I maybe could just HATE him that much. Why take a chance? Why me? I don't think he'd risk the world on me. He never even knew me! If I was supposed to do this, shouldn't he have told me anything before now? I would have been glad to do it, to be needed by him! But now… there must be something else!" He bit back his next words, for it might insult all those she already saw die under the monster's onslaught. "I don't believe we're actually in any real danger!"

It was too convenient. A hero should leap at the chance, but he just could not grasp that it was real. There had to be a trick. It simply could not be all about him; not even his father would waste all that time and effort. He understood, from his teachers, that for the sake of survival there was very little that could not be sacrificed, and that in the end even children must fight. The clash of armies had also led him to appreciate however, that grown men made for an effective fighting force simply because they had the physical and mental resilience necessary for the task. If you were down to using child soldiers, something had already gone hugely wrong somewhere.

_'So it is the implausibility that deters you, commander, not the duty in itself?'_ asked the Space Marine. _'To choose not to fight for humanity, it is inconceivable.'_

_'Maybe it is just bad luck that it's attacking at the exact moment I arrived… maybe they did expect to give me some time to acclimatize… but damn it, I still can't get over it! Even father should know it's sub-optimal as a defense. Is he being forced into doing this?'_

Gendo liked the conversation was turning, but did not show it. As expected, the boy was emotional and could not see the big picture. Throwing a childish tantrum was well within the boundaries of the scenario. "This pilot is useless." he said to the bank of monitors near him. "Send out Rei."

"Are you sure, Ikari?" Fuyutsuki, his elderly second-in-command, asked from it. "We both know she isn't ready."

"She's not dead yet." he replied.

_'Why not simply cooperate, my Bright Lord? Trying to demand explanations or open terms at this point leaves you at a disadvantage.'_

_'I'm no Amuro Rei. If you send a total neophyte out to fight, you'd just end up with your expensive weapons system and its pilot dead. This should be basic. They should know this already! Why would they even build a weapons platform that requires unreliable children instead of professionals?'_

_'Perhaps it is your destiny. It is a giant robot. You are a teenager. There is no other way this can end except you getting into that pilot seat.'_

_'I know that! I just wish… is this why father called me? Why couldn't he just explain that there was a job for me to do? Hitting me like this out of nowhere, I know this! Trying to drive me emotionally off-balance. Why? He didn't have to go this far. Just some basic decency, just some information like I'm a person instead of just a tool... it's inept, that's what it is. Unwilling soldiers are not so effective soldiers. I just don't believe my father would make a mistake like that. So it has to be intentional."_

_'But you will, of course, pilot that… Evangelion?'_

_'Of course I'm going to fight. I'm going to let father think he's pressured me into it. When Misato-san asks again, I'm going to say okay. I don't want my own father as my enemy anyway, if I survive this maybe I should apologize. It's a good enough excuse for us to talk, right?' _

And into the Unit-01 cage they wheeled in Rei Ayanami, already in her plug suit, still bandaged and hooked up to an IV bag. Shinji looked on, up to his father, then back to her.

No way. No way he would be this crude. This is raw emotional manipulation!

"Rei. The spare is –_useless-_." said Gendo. "-_You-_ will pilot the Evangelion."

"Y-yes sir." said the girl, who weakly tried to sit up. She winced from the pain and faltered, but pressed on.

She had blue hair. She had the finest pale white skin he had ever seen. She was a broken doll. His father… his father! Had taken this girl and broken her! He was going to let her die to prove a point! The depth of the man's gall far surpassed his worst expectations…!

Once more the chamber shook, but this time the Angel had finally broken through. A cross-like pattern of directed energy pierced the Geofront armor and stabbed down the space in between the shell and NERV proper. A building, a large one, separated from its locks and came crashing down into the lake.

The earth shuddered and shook them off their feet. The blind corridor above was actually shut in glass, or Gendo might have fallen all the way to his death. He staggered, but kept an alert eye on what was happening below. Shinji slid up on his back and saw Rei knocked off her gurney. She struck the ground and the pain must have been excruciating. Her back arched in agony.

He ran up to her and tried to hold her up. She grit her teeth, squirming painfully even in his arms. Her jaw quivered with unvoiced agony. He held her and she seemed so small, her bones so tiny and bird-like, even if the objective part of his mind noticed they both had pretty much the same build.

He took one of his arms away from her side, feeling the wetness. He stared at his palm and saw blood.

'_This makes even less sense! Is there really no one else? No adults, no professional soldiers to ride that… artificial human? Father!'_ Shinji raged within. He held the girl in his arms and watched her writhe in pain. '_How could he do this? She would have gone out and bled for him, died for him. Instead of just explaining himself… use someone's pain as leverage? How could he use her just to force me into acting?'_

_'Kicks him in da teef, lil'boss. Boots ta da head!'_

_'Well, that might be difficult considering he's taller than I am."\'_ he had enough attention to spare for that, even as he parted some of the girl's hair away from her tightly-shut eyes. She was so familiar… like that brief vision he saw at the street? It could not have been this girl, but still he felt as if he should _know_ her somehow.

'_How is that a problem? Remember, plan sequentially._' the Farseer said far too calmly._ 'Kick him in the shin, first, and when he lifts that leg to rub it, you may punch him in the genitals. THEN when he is kneeling is WHEN you may kick him in the teeth._'

Silence met her declaration, stretching out in the timeless nature of the mind.

_'… when you say things like that'_ the Space Marine was finally brave enough to say. _'Is when I am reminded as to why your Race ruled the galaxy for eons before humanity had even evolved out of our primate ancestors.'_

_'At least you admit it…'_ she replied, but it lacked her customary haughtiness.

"Look out!" someone yelled, as another strike by the angel sent NERV shaking. A large metal beam broke from the ceiling and began to drop right over the Children, spinning with deadly force in its descent. Misato shut her eyes, not wishing to see the carnage.

Shinji didn't really notice. He was still staring at the blood on his hands.

There was a loud metallic crunch.

"Impossible…" Ritsuko gasped. "The Evangelion can't move on its own!" Not while cooled! Not without power!

But the Evangelion Unit-01 had not merely shielded the Shinji and Rei, it brought its palm up and caught that beam, twisting it easily to a V-shape in its powerful grip. The Eva's clenched hand remained utterly still over the two teens, having moved so imperceptibly fast that the coolant spray kicked up by its motion was just now starting to sprinkle down.

Shinji carried Rei up, bridal-style, to her gurney. He placed her there leaning against the turned-over bed. Looking at her pained face sent his heart pounding with outrage. It was utter simplicity. He did not know this girl. But it was a boy's job to make sure a girl doesn't get hurt. A man's job, even – though still he felt there was more in life he wanted to enjoy yet with childish shamelessness.

She's hurting.

"I'll do it!" Shinji shouted out to no one in particular. He licked at Rei's blood on his palm, leaving a red track across his face, which disturbed nearly everyone. He made sure to swallow some of it, to fix the taste in his mind. His mind cleared, as if a plane of mirrored glass. Only the black rage of the Angel above sending ripples through the surface. It had all become absurdly simple. There was danger. There was injustice. Okay.

If the adults were going to push it onto him, then all the voices in his head agreed that he should just man up and try. He would fix it. He would fix it so people would not be hurt by his inaction ever again!

Unit 01's eyes glowed. Its jaws were still clamped shut, but it was like it wanted to laugh.

"I'll pilot THE EVANGELION!"

End And Become Legend part1

* * *

Changes in this version:

Added more information as if the reader hasn't heard of NGE before, for sake of introducing the crossover to those unfamiliar with either settings.

Shinji Ikari does long for some parental affection. He came to Tokyo-3 hoping to get to know his father, and even if Gendo was aloof then at least Shinji was prepared to act like a dutiful son. He had a personality that treated studies seriously anyway. He was wondering just what his father expected from him.

He didn't have any antipathy for Gendo Ikari until he saw just what his father was willing to do to further his scenario. It's not as a father that Shinji loathes Gendo, but as a leader. While a commander had to accept that the men and women sent out to fight may die, there was no reason to intentionally cause loyal soldiers suffering before battle.

AdEva Campaign notes:

The tank I used here is the completely fictional Type 110. It carries a L55 140mm cannon due to improvements in armor as a practical advancement from Project E. The NGE universe is more advanced than ours in several ways, and alongside practical fusion power (Tokyo 3 alone has three such reactors), completely unsupported by anything in canon I'm going to presume that defensive technology has temporarily outstripped weapons tech.

There are very few things that can take a nuke to the face and survive unscathed. Evangelion armor is one of them.

Hence, they needed a larger caliber main gun to defeat armor made of such things. There are several theories right now as how to make superstrong materials, but that's rather irrelevant to the point.

A drawback of the larger gun is of course, that the tanks carry less ammunition. Heavier shells also mean that autoloaders are required. The big guns would also have a rather hefty kick.

I'll discuss the VTOLs they use later.


	3. Chapter 2: And become legend part2

**- Chapter Two **–

**And Become a Legend! Part two**

**=][=**

Alerts rang all over NERV. Around Evangelion Unit One refrigerating liquid began to drain and heavy security bolts began to disengage from the pylons on its shoulders and around its ankles. There were plenty of military storage areas called 'cages', but here it was literal application of the term.

Up on the control center Misato Katsuragi stood at her station with a backpack by her feet. Shinji had been very adamant that no harm should come to his things and begged for her to make sure of it. It seemed a reasonable request in light of sending him out to save the world.

Stuck hearing the echoes of shouted reports from the entry plug, Shinji could only wonder as to why it was all necessary. What was wrong with a weapons system that you could activate with the turn of a key? If he was the only one who could pilot it, then should not they have had the precaution to keep it already warmed so he (or anyone else so authorized) could just jump in and ride out? The city was already under attack, after all.

He knew now that Gendo Ikari really did have the absolute authority over this place. Everything around him simply added to the mystery. If, he supposed, he was in his father's shoes and mankind really was under threat and the only thing that could save them was a giant robot… that only a moody teenager could pilot… even if the whole world obeyed the rules of a comic book he would have tried to make it easier to respond.

He breathed deep. Because… he felt the words were right… it was more than a machine. Artificial human. Everyone seemed to fear it just as much as they did the enemy outside. '_Machine-spirit, what have they done?_' He closed his eyes and gripped the arm controls.

They were afraid of the thing they created. He was afraid too, he realized. Of course, he admitted it to himself. It was all so new, unplanned, and he might die. At the very same time, the sweet adrenalin was starting to flow. He closed his eyes. He was blind. The future was waiting for him. He felt… impatient.

He felt himself moving. "Inserting the entry plug!" he heard. The white cylinder containing him slid into the gap in the back Unit 01's neck, between its vertebrae. Shinji felt something in his head buzz with eagerness.

"Commencing injection of LCL into the entry plug…!" next.

Shinji abruptly shot up, awake. Thick orange… goo… was flooding the cockpit at a rapid rate. "What in the Warp?" Wait, drowning the pilot would be rather counter-productive, wouldn't it? He was slightly annoyed, thinking they should have warned him something like this might happen, if at least for the sake of not messing up his clothes. He held his breath as the liquid flowed over his head. For humanity's sake, now that he had agreed, he'd have gone into the entry plug naked if they had asked. Wait. It was probably for the better if nobody knew just to how far he'd go to keep his word.

"Don't worry about it. Just breathe normally." came Ritsuko's voice over the comms. "After your lungs fill with LCL, it'll directly supply you with oxygen. You'll get used to it soon."

Trusting her, he exhaled and took a deep liquid-infused breath. It slid down his throat as a reverse sneeze. Nasty. He gagged, but remembered just in time that vomiting into this stuff would be a tremendously bad idea. "I feel sick…" he said weakly.

"Endure it!" said Misato. "You're a boy, aren't you?"

"It tastes like blood." he replied dizzily. Oh, perhaps it was too oxygenated as well. He blinked, and just like trying to see underwater it was weird to feel something through your eyeballs. He licked his lips. "No… not like blood…" he said after a few more swallows. "I know what blood tastes like. It's like it, but something lacking. It doesn't convey that essential vitality, that flavor of life…"

"Shinji… I don't need to hear this…" Misato ground out.

"LCL is a super-nutritious soup, for lack of better term, that is likely the perfect condition that brought out life in the first place." Ritsuko couldn't help but to put in. "It will insulate you, absorb shock, and is essential to the operation of the Evangelion."

The scientist stopped trying to report things for the boy's benefit. "_Nihongo_ has been fixed to the system as the fundamental interface for the operation of Eva. All initial contacts are all right." She bit her lip. She was actually hoping it would not be this easy, Gendo's scenario be damned. She gave Misato a brief nod and said "Sequence ready."

"Beginning connections…" said a young male voice from the bridge.

Shinji felt his head turn inside out. The inside of the entry plug began to flare into a pulsating series of colors, a tangle of stark lines that looked like nerves somehow, and finally resolving into a view of the outside. It was the world as the Evangelion could see it. Shinji gasped with vertigo. And the luxurious feeling of power. Smaller windows showed the people in the command center.

"The connection of the A-10 nerve is operational."

Shinji heaved forwards, only barely managing to hold back his stomach. Vomiting inside the entry plug would be really disgusting; he tried to convince himself. Worse than pissing in your own pool… or somebody else's pool… and now he had to grit his teeth to keep from laughing and then puking anyway. The boyz were such disgustingly shameless little children.

The pressure in his mind intensified, as if the memory of happiness was like a little fire in the middle of dry forest.

"Shinji, are you okay?" Misato asked as she saw him put his hands to his hand sway from side to side.

They were so tiny. Like ants. The human was an insignificant speck in the cosmos. Why should anyone care what the little bugs should think?

"_My mind bears a great pain…_" he hissed. "Ritsuko-san… I take back my words. My lungs are filled with liquid. How is it that you can understand what I speak? Subvocalization? There's no air to move my vocal chords. My thoughts go directly to a vox… I'm impressed. I'm very impressed." Machine telepathy, already? _My mind to your mind. My eyes are yours. Give yourself to me, machine spirit._

"That's surprisingly perceptive of you, Shinji." she added.

"Maybe too perceptive, because like I said, _MY MInd BeARS a GrEAt PAIN!_" It was a storm raging within the confines of his consciousness. Winds, or as far as he could equate them with, were carving away at the inside of his skull! At the center of it, his brain felt like a burning mass of tissue being warped by the changing pressure.

_No! You can't eat me! No!_

"Ritsuko…"

"It's… incredible." was the only thing the scientist could say.

"The mutual lines are connected." Maya breathed out. "The connection is at forty percent… there! It spiked again. Sixty. Seventy. It's rising!" She put her face closer to the screen. "It's falling again."

Shinji screamed.

He felt his flesh being flayed from his bones. He felt his will being drained away from his soul. He felt naked and lost in the middle of that maelstrom. FEED! it said. HUNGER! PAIN! HURT! HURT! HURT! MOVE? NO! MOVE! HURT! PAIN! KILL!

"Everything's still at primary sequence, sempai! The Evangelion is still deactivated. I don't get why he's getting this. Usually the feedback only goes the other way."

"Ritsuko…!" Misato's feet touch the bag at her feet. "Maybe we need to stop this. He's hurt even before he's faced the Angel…"

"No!"

Two voices said that. Ritsuko looked up in surprise at the main screen. There, Shinji, his face grimacing, tears mixing with the LCL, stared back at her. His pupils were dilated. "I will…" his eyes rolled up in his head and he fell back on his cockpit.

Howl.

A boom.

"THE EMPEROR PROTECTS!"

The storm abruptly broke apart.

A lash of wind blew outwards from the center. The mind was bright and empty, and there in the middle lay slumped over a young boy, still ten, still in his white shirt and black shorts.

Something dropped from the heavens. It smashed upon the ground of the mindscape, splintering it, sending cracks out to and far past behind the boy. Under the smoke was great shape, rising to its feet. Out of the fog of his uncertainty strode in all his might, in all his surety, in all his vast will - the Space Marine.

A figure tall, bulky and red, the eagle gilded on his chest armor gleaming under an unseen sun. His left hand carried a chainsword, already longer than the boy was tall. The right had a Bolter. His mere fist was larger then the boy's entire torso.

He stepped forwards, a giant of righteous vengeance. His face was set in grim and deadly purpose.

The boy looked up, tears in his eyes, and sniffled. "You came. You followed me."

"Always, commander. Always. The Emperor protects. His Legions shall send his glory to those who are worthy."

The Space Marine hefted his sword up, as if to cleave the boy in two, then stabbed it into the ground in front of him. The Space Marine set his hands on the hilt and knelt.

"I am forever at your command." He bowed his head. "I shall stand against the darkness. Let your enemies be mine."

And when he raised his head again, Shinji stood there, in his current age. His eyes were dry. His hair moved slightly to a suitably dramatic breeze. He was still so small and insignificant as standing compared to a kneeling Adeptus Astartes.

"How are you here?" he asked. "Didn't I leave you with Misato-san?"

The Space Marine idly tapped his fingers on the hilt.

"Oh, right! Right." Shinji added sheepishly. "Not made of plastic. But I've never been able to think of any of you this distinctly without seeing something to focus on." Strangely too, Shinji didn't think much of his own imagination. Antics and conversations were just… natural. To visualize them in his mind, he felt that perhaps making them move would leave them as puppets. He didn't want that. He let them be as the wished to be, or as far as that was possible.

"When you had her blood to your lips and let its red cover your eyes, you swore an oath, a Blood Angel oath, to protect her forevermore. I am here, and let me protect you as I have sworn. Let the Emperor's Will protect us all."

The Space Marine stood up again, pulling his chainsword out of the ground with very little effort. He brought it up and pointed it at the distance. "And TOGETHER we shall SMITE the ENEMIES OF HUMANITY!"

Whoosh.

"… humanitas. This is the world that should…" Shinji opened his eyes wide and it was all as one. He was awake and in control.

"The rate of synchronization has dropped… and holding at 66%! All harmonic values are normal, sempai." said Maya. "It's all under control."

"It _will_ function!" the blond-haired scientist stated most emphatically, and tinged with a little regret, glancing at Misato.

"Shinji, can you hear me?"

"I am… fine. I'm fine, Misato-san. Must have been travel lag."

"… are you sure?"

Like hell it was… Ritsuko thought at the exchange. Her Evangelions had never exhibited that behavior before. It seemed like the natural fact of existence that the Evangelions were built to go wild.

"I can do this! Please!" His cheek twitched. "We have no more time to waste. Please, trust me…"

The one in charge of Operations gave her own approval. "Prepare for launching!" Shinji. I don't care about being brave. Please, live.

The Evangelion shot up the delivery system and emerged right behind the Angel. It turned and looked, more curious than anything, at this strange parody of a being that stood unmoving before it.

Shinji shut his eyes, letting the feelings was over him. "Is this what it's like?" he asked softly.

'_Its sight to your sight. Its might to your might. Yes. This is very much like how a Black Carapace should feel_.' the whisper was faint, like from a distance.

'_To feel like a Space Marine_…' he answered back inside.

"Shinji? What are you doing? Move!" Misato yelled. "It's on you!"

Shinji blinked his open only to see the Angel drive a fist right at his face. For some reason, the Angel switched from inspection directly to intent aggression. The young teen felt his teeth dig inwards.

"Gah!"

The Evangelion spun back, receiving the full force of the haymaker. It staggered and clutched its face. There was a flash - and abruptly it was flying. Hot, dense energy pressed upon its armor, and sent it hurtling through the streets until it smashed to a halt upon a building.

The Eva let out an irritated 'hurrr…'.

"Shinji…? Shinji? Can you hear me?"

"…I can… hear you… Misato-san."

"Don't think about fighting for now. Just walk! Think of walking!"

"Think of… walking…" Shinji replied robotically. The Evangelion reached up and dug its fingers into the building it had sunk into. Slowly it pushed itself out of its odd nest and fell to a crouch. It shook as it attempted to lift one leg… then both knee joints. The Eva slowly stood up on its own feet.

It slid one foot forward. Then the other. "It's walking!" rejoiced those in the command center.

The Eva pitched forwards and fell on its face. "Ow."

"Shinji…!"

"I'm trying! I'm trying! It's not obeying!" Why? Why must you fight me, machine spirit? Don't you want to destroy this enemy before you? I can taste your hatred of it.

Unit-01 could only just return to a kneeling position when the Angel, having leapt impossibly high to the night sky, landed on its back, slamming it deep into the concrete. "…gaaah!" Shinji bounced out of his seat and off the entry plug walls. "Seat belts! Why are there no seat belts?"

It grabbed at his wrists and began to pull at the Evangelion's arms. Inside, Shinji stretched his own arms out and bent forward at the waist. "AAAH!" he screamed hoarsely as the Angel began to drag the arms past the limits of their joints' rotation.

[Weak. Unworthy. Perish.]

"It's not your arm, Shinji! Keep your concentration. It's not your arm!" There was a snap. The Evangelion's arms dropped uselessly back with a thud. Inside, the pilot slumped at his cockpit, his eyes and expression dull.

"How is the Eva's protection system?" he heard through the vox.

"It hasn't activated! The signals aren't responding." said a young female voice. He had a feeling she would be important to him later somehow.

"AT-field hasn't developed!"

Shinji felt this strange pressure, an innate wrongness in the taste of LCL. Even without seeing, he rolled, just as the Angel drove a spike of its energy attack into where his head should have been. That feeling bathed him again, and the Eva moved its body, wormlike and undignified, out of the way of another stab. "That's it, Shinji-kun!" Misato cheered. "Dodge it, Shinji-kun!"

"AAH! What should I do? What should I do?"

"Retreat, Shinji! We can -"

The Eva flopped over on its back and managed to kick out at the Angel as it approached. It then slid back on the concrete, pushing on using its feet like oars. "Charge the enemy? What?"

"… I didn't say that."

"How do I do that WITHOUT ARMS? What? Fine! YEEEEEEAARRRGG!" The Evangelion barely got out of the way of another energy blast. "Is there a knife? I can hold it in MY TEETH?"

"The pilot has gone hysterical." noted Fuyutsuki. "He only hears what he expects us to be demanding from him."

"My god…" Misato breathed out. On the screen, the Unit-01 in all its purple insanity ran up to and headbutted the angel, its horn actually snapping off from the impact. The broken edge left a gash on its strange white mask. "… what have we done?"

"What am I doing? What in THE CHAOTIC HELLS am I doing?"

"Cut the feed." said Gendo.

"Sir?"

"We have no need to hear lunatic ravings." Those at the bridge looked up at him, amazed at his apparent disrespect, but all it took was a bland stare back to send them chastised properly back to their duties. Makoto dutifully did the commander dictated.

The Evangelion managed to headbutt the Angel once more, as it recovered from its surprise at the sheer unexpected natured of the attack. It caught Unit-01's head in its palm at the third try.

Flash!

A glowing spur of bone jutted out from the back of [Sachiel's] elbow, and then struck like jackhammer directly into the Eva's eye. And again!

"The front area of the head is cracked!" exclaimed Maya.

Ritsuko pressed her palms on the metal of her console. It was simultaneously better and far worse than what they had all been expecting. "The armoring won't stand any more."

=**][**=

'**_SACHIEL'_**.

Shinji heard it in his mind. A name? No, a purpose.

[Heed the call. Only the strongest are meant to survive.]

The attack went into the Evangelion's eye and out the other side. What looked very much like blood spurted forcefully out the back of its head. Red EMERGENCY! hexagons sprang into many displays.

As Shinji Ikari felt his mind blow out the back of his head, for a moment he saw a face, a smiling face, with wispy white hair. [Sachiel] had tested [its brother] and now is being tested in turn.

"Head damaged! Status unknown!"

"The control lines are dropping one after another!"

"The pilot… no response."

Darkness.

=**][**=

The commander's room, NERV, was a large space occupied only by a single desk. Up at the ceiling was a glowing etch of the Cabbalistic Tree of Life. The floor was polished to reflect it. Gendo was already there, in his usual pose, staring straight ahead.

Kozo Fuyutsuki had known Gendo long enough not to be intimidated with that sullen silence, or near anything about the man. "The pilot is still unconscious, Gendo." he said. Of course the father would not react. "I have the contents of what he brought from his… home." That brought some attention. _'So the boy doesn't fit exactly to your scenario, does he?'_

The sub-commander walked up to the desk and reached into the folder he brought. "It was all unimportant articles, clothing, money, two notebooks that seemed to serve as recipe books, other things. Then, this." He laid on the table four large glossy photographs.

They showed disproportioned figures. One was a grim-looking man in dark red armor with enlarged gilded pauldrons. Another was a female figure in smoky black and white armor with a disapproving pointed mask. Another still looked similar to the first but with armor in black, adorned with spikes, its face scarred and clearly Evil in some manner. The last was a green monster, half man-beast and haphazard machine parts, its teeth comically oversized.

"We scanned them thoroughly, Gendo. They're nothing more than plastic and paint. TOYS. Your son plays with TOYS, Gendo."

The bastard scoffed a bit. "At his age?"

"Why not? He's barely into his teens." The older man's voice was suddenly all too weary. "He's still a child. Isn't that what we call him? The Third Child?"

Gendo Ikari stared down at the figures, past his steepled hands. "These were not part of my scenario…" he had to admit. "But an insignificant one. They only show his continued immaturity."

"This reminded me again too keenly that we are placing the burden on the world upon children's' shoulders. It was bad enough with Rei, but… Yui would not want you to do this, Gendo."

"It is far too late for that, sensei. You know as well as I that if we do not defeat the Angels humanity has no hope."

=**][**=

"Shinji-kun has recovered consciousness." Ritsuko said to Misato as they boarded the truck back to NERV from their inspection of the battlefield.

"How is he?"

"No external wounds. He is somewhat confused in his memory." At the captain's look, she added. "They said there is no worry about mental contamination."

Misato looked out at the spread of devastation in their path. "To have this happen so suddenly to him… that he could actually recover this fast is a wonder."

"Quite so. A severe burden was imposed on his cranial nerves."

"His MIND, Rits-chan. His mind. We did this to him."

=**][**=

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Shinji stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling. In the past few days, it was all that he had to distract himself with. His head felt hollow, like something was missing, and he couldn't remember just what it was he was supposed to regret.

There was knocking at his door. He turned and said "…come in." Do people actually need to knock at hospitals? In his hospital gown he felt no privacy whatsoever. The room was merely an illusion of it.

A face framed by combed brown hair poked into the doorway. She was older than Shinji, but not by so many years. As his flat stare met hers, Maya Ibuki shivered with guilt. She entered the room reluctantly.

"Um. Hello, Shinji Ikari-kun. My name is Maya Ibuki. I work for NERV."

He smiled slightly. "I remember you."

"Um… I don't think we actually met before."

Shinji closed his eyes and inched back on his bed to a more comfortable sitting position. "I remember your voice. You were there. It was battle and chaos and you were there." He opened his eyes and gentle amusement was in them. "I don't think I can forget your 'dame desu', Ibuki-san."

She looked away embarrassed. "So… how are you feeling, Ikari-kun?"

Shinji brought his arms up. He distinctly remembered them breaking. The NERV doctors told him that it was the Eva's own arms that broke and sent pain signals to his brain, but he dimly knew he dislocated his own arms himself. "I feel as fine as I think I could be, Ibuki-san."

"That's good. Sempai… that is, Akagi-san, sent me here to tell you that you've been released from the hospital. I'll give the reports from here to her later." She looked again at that young face, barely more than a boy, unnaturally calm. In her mind, he was still screaming. "If- if there's anything more you need, please just ask."

Shinji tilted his head to the side. "Actually, if I could bother you for a favor?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Two favors, actually. The first, please call me Shinji. Ikari-san feels like my father somehow." He turned his gaze to the window. The sound of crickets chirped passed between them. "The second… there is another. Who was that other pilot?"

"Her?" Maya bit her lip. "Ayanami Rei. I don't really know much about her."

"She was injured. Is she here?"

"I… don't know. I guess I could ask."

"If she is, I'd be really grateful if you could take me to see her."

She was there. Shinji dressed in his old familiar clothes and slowly followed Maya out. She kindly kept her steps close to match his. "There are so many in the hospital…" he said after a while.

"There were many injuries in the Angel attack. We had to move some people as one of the other hospitals was wrecked." She turned to look at him, and said in a tone only he could hear. "If it wasn't for you, there would be more. Please don't worry about it. You're a hero, Ika- Shinji-kun."

He nodded. So, the ordinary people weren't to know about the Evangelions or its pilot. They could better live their lives in ignorance. Still… so many. He clenched his fists.

He saw people on wheelchairs. People who had lost their legs. People who had their heads bandaged. People with both limbs in casts. He should look like them. It seemed unfair. He wasn't fast enough, strong enough, and others would suffer in his stead.

They reached a room much like any other in that hospital. Maya's NERV card let them past doors and doctors. Inside there, Rei lay, clad now in hospital green. Sunset was there, and under it she looked still even more helpless. Shinji grit his teeth.

"Ibuki-san… please… could you wait outside?"

She hesitated at the expression on his face, but nodded and left.

=**][**=

Shinji walked into the room. At first, he thought she was asleep, then saw she was merely staring outside. He went to stand beside her bed and waited.

Minutes later, slowly, she turned to face him.

He was struck again by how familiar she looked. The protective feeling welled up again. Her paleness, blue hair and red eyes… otherworldly. She stands in always in moonlight, he thought. "Ayanami-san…"

She made no reply.

"Do you know me?"

"You are the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"I am Shinji Ikari. You are?"

"I am Ayanami Rei, pilot of Evangelion Unit-00." she replied blandly.

"How long have you been a pilot, Ayanami-san?"

Rei tilted her head a bit, as she attempted to remember. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. She had no way of quantifying her earlier years. She had never celebrated birthdays, so had no means of checking the passing of years. "I do not know…"

Shinji absorbed the odd certainty in her reply. He clenched his fists again. "You would have gone in my place." Knowing now just how much literal pain was involved in fighting with the Evangelion, it spoke a lot of her courage, and vastly even more of how much his father had used the situation to force him – untrained and unprepared – into an unthinking tool.

He bowed. "For that… I thank you."

"You defeated the Third Angel." she said. It was obvious. Otherwise, they would not be talking. "I would not have been able to."

"That is immaterial. You would have gone anyway. Thank you, Ayanami-san."

She could only nod. Someone being grateful was to her not a part of her reach of experience. Instead, she observed him, Commander Ikari's son. Some part of her was naturally curious.

A meaningless silence extended between them.

"How bad are your injuries, Ayanami-san?" Shinji asked. She told him.

"How did you get them…?" She told him the complete truth again, thinking that now that he was a pilot their security clearance should allow it.

Evangelions. Machine spirits. Created by man, for war, that causes only pain. He remembered his own brief but bewildering experience. Every time she was asked to, she went in. Every time she had to wrestle with its machine spirit. This time, she lost badly. Shinji abruptly unclenched his fingers. There was only one other Evangelion he knew of. Why her? Why must they send Children to solve their problems? It stank to him of irresponsibility. She knew her duty. Others feared theirs.

"I won't have it!" he said suddenly. "No one should suffer as you have suffered!"

"It is my duty."

"Your duty is to humanity. Humanity must prove itself worthy of your sacrifice! Listen to me." He stepped closer to her bed and loomed over her. He had worn a monster's skin, but he maintained the core that gave it meaning. In what manner did she deal with it? "I am Shinji Ikari."

She nodded.

Shinji held his thumb up to her. "Bite it, Ayanami-san." he said.

Rei tilted her head to the other side question. Again Shinji offered the appendage. Seeing no other choice, she complied.

"With all your strength. Let there be blood." She followed orders, and he winced in the sharp arrival of pain, as her teeth bit down to the bone. "Can you taste my blood?"

She nodded, her lips still around it. Rei knew the taste of blood. Somehow, his was… different. She let go, and red stained those lips as he took away his thumb.

"I have tasted your blood." he told her, letting the wound drip to the floor. "Now you have tasted mine. Let me share your suffering, let your pain be mine and my pain be a part of yours. Together, to each our burdens will lighten." The cloud covering the sun passed, and abruptly brought the room into deep golden brilliance. "I am Shinji Ikari and I swear to you I will not let you suffer any more. I will fight anyone, even my father, all want to hurt you any more. I give my word, Ayanami-san. You don't have to live like this… it's wrong! We should not suffer like this." His was an old-fashioned world-view, and one that was stupidly chauvinistic at points. "This world is not made for suffering!"

"It is my duty."

"Then it will be my duty to protect you."

"Your duty is to pilot the Evangelion."

"I will pilot the Evangelion to protect you."

She shook her head. The two concepts were mutually exclusive. "You do not understand. As you are the son of commander Ikari, I must protect you." But he had sworn to it. It was a paradox, in a life that until then had never known doubt or uncertainty.

"The enemies of humanity will _die_. Under _my hands_ they shall be _broken_. You will not need to suffer for their sake, Ayanami-san."

He stood there, the golden sunlight draped over him like a cloak, and spilling over his determined face as if in halo. There was a feeling that she couldn't identify. And, deep frustration. The paradox still applied. That he wanted to defeat the Angels and at the same time protect her. No. It was irreconcilable. And she couldn't tell him!

Her head burned.

"Then I must thank you, pilot Ikari." She bowed slightly. "Know that I will still do my utmost to protect you as well."

He smiled at her. "Be well, Ayanami-san. Be well." He bowed to her, lower. "I must go now."

=**][**=

Maya Ibuki waited there, some distance away from the door. She was trying hard not to look at him.

Though some may have accused her of pining away for her sempai (which was, she admitted only to herself, quite true), at heart Maya was a closet romantic. She felt drawn to people burning with purpose and shining in brilliance, like moth to a flame, drowning, burning, dying in their presence.

Though he had asked her to leave, she just had to listen in. And there, that was something so deep, so… romantic, so soulful, in the thematic meaning of the word. She nearly squealed at seeing it. It was just too freakishly out of place in the cynical modern world, that only a teenager could say it without shame. He meant it. And best of all, he actually had the Evangelion to do it.

_'You're a Hero, Shinji-kun…_' she said silently as he walked beside her. She hoped his ideals would not be broken too quickly.

Shinji's unease could only grow. He desperately needed the emotional security the presence of his four 'figures' could bring. He was indeed happy when Misato arrived later, his backpack slung over her shoulders. He never even noticed that his wound, like in the Evangelion, had already completely healed.

=**][**=

"I'm not going to live with my father?" he asked her.

"No…" the woman replied sadly. "I guess he just has too much to do, still. He lives alone in a gloomy old apartment anyway, some people tell me."

"Just as well. I know he's important to our operations, but I might not be able to resist poisoning that callous bastard."

"Shinji!"

He smiled genuinely. "Joking, joking. The truth is, I don't mind being alone. All places are the same." As long as he had his figures and imagination, all places can be painted in awesome. Tch. Where would they stick him anyway? A place presumably filled to the brim with all sorts of monitoring equipment. How could he possibly think himself alone in there?

Misato frowned slightly. They were standing in front of an elevator. She backed away at seeing the Commander in it.

For a second, Ikari and Ikari locked eyes and wills again. Shinji backed down first, looking down, at Gendo's shin. The man looked satisfied and walked on. _'Yes…'_ Shinji thought. _'Give him what he wants. Let him become part of MY scenario rather than dancing to his.'_

Misato grimaced. "I'm beginning to see what you mean, Shinji-kun." Her face lit up as she got an idea. "Could you wait around here for a moment?" She rushed off.

=**][**=

Minutes later, Misato was at a telephone. "What?" Ritsuko said from the other side.

"As I said, I've decided to take charge of Shinji-kun. I've even got the full agreement from my superiors." Her eyes squinted and she grinned catlike. "Don't worry, Rits-chan. I'll try not to take advantage of a minor."

"That goes without saying!" the receiver yelled at her. "To even start thinking about it… Misato!"

"Sheesh. Can't take a joke." She turned to see Shinji some distance away, at a vending machine. Such a pity, she thought he might actually disobey and listen in. How boring. But maybe boring is good. After what just happened…

"So I'm going to be living with you…?" he asked while in the car.

"That's right!" she replied cheerily. "I'm your direct superior in terms of NERV activities anyway, so it's more convenient this way."

Shinji looked out the window. "Convenient…" he repeated. A NERV officer's home would be under far less scrutiny. The risk of blackmail was the reason behind all those privacy clauses. Very convenient. He nodded. It would do.

They stopped at a convenience store to pick up some supplies. The young teen noticed that Misato was driving out of the city. "Um… where are we going?"

She giggled a bit. "It's a special place."

There up on the bluff and the darkly setting sun, they beheld Tokyo-3. The signs of battle were clear, streets ripped up, buildings torn down. That man- shaped depression there? Oh he knew that too. There were very little lights.

"It's… kind of desolate, isn't it?" he muttered sadly.

"Sh… watch."

An alarm rang throughout the city, reaching them even at the outskirts. And then slowly, with measured elegance, homes and hopes began to rise. "The buildings… are growing!" he had to say. "This is great!"

"This is the Fortress City for interception against the ANGELs,,'Tokyo-3'. Our home… and the home which you protected."

Shinji dug around his pack and brought out the four Warhammer figurines, as if to let them see. He felt their rush of welcoming voices enter his mind and fill his soul.

_"Death to the enemies of humanity, commander. Glory to the Emperor!"_

_"Dat was good stompins' dere, ah?"_

_"Glory to YOU, bright lord."_

_"It is well that we are in your hands once more."_

Misato looked over at his supremely relieved face. Were those… tears forming in his eyes? "You know, when you forced your backpack on me, I thought you might be hiding some dirty secret. But, Shinji-kun… aren't you too old for toys?"

"Men are forever boys, and we are never too old for toys, Misato-san."

She chortled. "I guess that's true enough."

=**][**=

Misato said something about his things having arrived, and having moved there only the other day, herself. He thought about that. Either she lived somewhere else or was new to city. In the former, he felt guilty as the chances were likely that he'd demolished her previous apartment. In the latter, is was all so strange that it went just ahead the first Angel attack in so many years.

"T-tadaima…" he said upon crossing the doorway. I'm… back. It was traditional. He knew the value of tradition.

"Okaeri…!" Misato replied with a smile. "Welcome home, Shinji."

Gah!

"Well… the room is somewhat untidy." she said. "Well, you know how it is."

_Chaos! Such CHAOS! Beer cans, bottles, snack food wrappers… scattered all around. Wait, was that a panty? Chaos!_

He went over to place the food in the refrigerator as she'd asked. More beer! What kind of life does she lead anyway? 'See?' whispered a buttery voice. '_She hurts. Deeply_.' An alcoholic drinks to forget.

Oh, Misato-san. No one should suffer like this, too. What can I do to help?

Well, first things first. I don't care if she thinks it presumptuous. One must guard oneself against Chaos. Demons of untidiness! Fear me! I have come, with the mop of justice and the sponge of truth! I shall cleanse you from this home! Let it be sanctified with the sweet scent of the Emperor's soap!

Misato watched him go at it, the young teen's face delighted and occasionally cackling ominously.

She prepared the food, instant meals, while he worked. Maybe rooming with this crazy kid wouldn't be so bad. "It's not so bad to eat with others, isn't it?" she asked him once done. He looked very… satisfied.

He nodded. "Friends and family make even the meanest dish into a banquet."

Oh? "Could you tell about them? How did you live without your father?"

"It actually seems better that he left me in the first place. We were pretty… normal… out there."

Misato smiled. "I'm happy for you."

They then played jan-ken-pon, or rock-paper-scissors, for chores. Misato thought she was pretty good at it. Meanwhile, Shinji tried desperately to lose. "Ookay. I'll do everything except laundry."

"Aw, don't be like that, Shin-chan."

"Really, it's okay."

"No, it's… wait! You're trying to guilt me into backing out of our agreement, aren't you? Your reverse psychology won't work on me!"

"But… Misato-san."

"Lalalalala! Not hearing you. Go take a bath and wash those thoughts away."

At that point, Pen-pen came out, a tiny bath towel on his shoulders. He stared up at Shinji who was about to enter. The two stared at each other for a while, with Misato looking on as a third party.

After some more time, Shinji asked "Emperor penguin?"

"Wark!"

"Hail!" "Wark!" A hand and a flipper were raised in salute. Shinji went into the bath. Pen-pen went into the fridge. Misato was left denying what she just saw.

=**][**=

Shinji stared up at another unfamiliar ceiling. "This too… I don't know anything about this city. What should I really be doing here…?" In another time he would have asked why. Here, the future was still hazy, but there was one constant. The Angels are Enemies of Humanity. They must be destroyed. The how was the only thing puzzling him. He had to destroy Gendo's foul scenario in the meantime.

He closed his eyes. I wish I could actually pray to the God-Emperor. I wish someone could actually hear me.

But the future is not built on wishes.

=**][**=

"Synchrograph has reversed. Pulses are flowing backward!" Maya shouted.

"Cut the circuits. Stop them!"

"No… no way. The signal is being refused." she continued. She looked back to her sempai. "…it can't be received!"

"Unit-01 is totally silent!" added in Makoto.

"Damn it! So much for this last best hope. Stop the operation!" Misato brought her authority in despite the look on Ritsuko's face.

"Im… impossible." the scientist said, looking over Maya's console. They both said it. "It's… totally out of control."

The Evangelion roared.

All electronic feeds to the cockpit was still shut down. Even the recorders were jumbled. No one could hear Shinji say to himself… "Let its might be my might. Let its fury be my fury. DEATH TO THE ENEMIES OF HUMANITY!"

The Evangelion rose up and lunged at Sachiel. It slammed against a red barrier.

"We have won." said Fuyutsuki.

"AT-field…" Ritsuko breathed. "As long as that's up, the Eva can't touch the Angel."

"Evangelion is spreading its own AT-field! It's neutralizing it!" shouted Shigeru Aoba over at his console.

"Arms fully restored!"

And the Evangelion PUSHED, and AT-field and all, the Angel went tumbling back the street. Unit -1 roared once more and crouched. It punched at the ground, and the streets cratered deeply even before its fists touched it. Inside, Shinji screamed. "PAIN! HURT! KILL!"

Behind the red in his vision, people walked past. He thought of all those he knew, and there was Minase who had hurt, Rei who is hurt, and Misato and all the others who will hurt. That was the sacrifice of the Astartes, to become more than human and suffer for those who could not. "I will… I will… NEVER LET ANYONE SUFFER AGAIN!"

Shinji felt a presence, approving, and the madness faded away. He felt the power of the machine spirit overflow within him. The Evangelion leapt, in one bound crossing the distance. Sachiel had its AT-field up, but as both AT-fields met they shattered.

Unit-01 grabbed it in a flying tackle. Buildings in their way crumpled into rubble. Its eyes glowed with primal fury. As the Angel stood up, the Eva got it right at what passed for its jaw. Backhand across the same place, sending the Angel reeling. Hard punches right over its face. Knifelike palm thrusts to just below the ribs. More and more wild punches. Finishing off with a shinbone groin-crushing kick extravaganza. The Angel had no expression and no genitalia, but one could almost see a 'gleep?' on its bonelike mask.

Both Gendo and Fuyutsuki sighed fondly. Yui.

"RRRRAAAH!"

The Eva brought a two-fisted smash over the back of the Angel's head, driving it to the ground. Once there, it stomped on its head, pushing it into the concrete and the metal beneath. Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! It looked like a child pitching a fit, but each one had the city shaking. Billboards fell off their metal frames, cars bounced up. The pavement flickered red with each stomp.

Weakly, the Angel lifted up its arms and caught the Eva in a doubled energy smash, sending it all the way across the street again.

Both Eva and Angel got up to their feet, and stared at each other over the distance. The power cable had snapped, and only barely a minute remained, and they stood there and stared.

Then, a roar. The Evangelion pitched forward in a full run. Sachiel blasted away at it with another pair of energy attacks, two spinning crosses of raw sunfire. Unit-01 merely plowed through and swatted each aside with the back of its hands.

The Angel still had no expression, but even those below could see its astonishment and fear. It threw bolt after bolt, and the Eva kept on swatting them away until with one final lunge Unit-01 roared and headbutted it one more time. The jagged end of its broken horn drove deep into Sachiel's bonelike mask, and ichor flowed out from the cracks. It slumped against the Evangelion, stunned senseless.

[Brother why do you betray me]

Unit-01 twisted its fingers into a clawlike shape and stabbed at the Angel's chest. Incredibly, it seemed to want to pull out the core. Sachiel screeched at the realization. It expanded and wrapped itself around the Evangelion.

Self-destruct.

Chaos reigned in the command center for a few moments as the sensors tried to recalibrate. "What happened to the Eva?" Misato screamed.

Then there, amidst fire and screaming darkness, walked the Evangelion Unit-01. It lifted its face to the heavens and ROARED.

Within, Shinji breathed heavily, or at least gurgled LCL. "That's done… dat's done." He began to chuckle, then laugh. "DAT'S DONE! WAHAHAHAHAHA! DAT'S DONE! NOW WE GETS TA STOMPS GENDO!"

The Eva made another roar, even louder, that sounded somewhat like "WRAAAAAAAAA UUUAAAARRRGGGHHH!" It lifted on foot and drove it deep into the pavement. Then, in an exaggerated walk forwards, the other and even deeper. Once more, and – it slipped.

It lost its balance and fell. Its unarmored face bounced off the ground once more. It had lost power. Shinji, his sync ratio briefly passing one hundred, knocked himself unconscious.

"The system has been recovered. The graph is in the normal position." said Maya.

"Survival is confirmed." said Makoto.

Misato urged them on. "Begin Pilot Recovery! The survival of the pilot is to be our utmost priority!"

=**][**=

"Shinji…"

"Yes, Misato-san?" The young teen turned to see his new guardian silhouetted against the open crack of his door. "Is there anything you want?"

"No… no. Shinji. What you did today was a praiseworthy thing." she said somberly. "You should be proud."

"T-thank you, Misato-san."

"Thank YOU, Shin-chan." And then she closed the door fully.

In the darkness, Shinji stared up again at the ceiling. Shadows from the street made strange dancing figures up on it. He tried to trace out images that were familiar.

"… we still needs to stomp Gendo…" he said softly, before falling asleep.

End And Become Legend

* * *

Changes in this version:

Very little of the battle scene, but added a bit more foreshadowing. While throwing a teenager into a giant robot remains a cliche, NGE still presents it as it is to highlight the absurdity. That nobody argued with Gendo about it seems to be from either his absolute authority over NERV, or that nobody just had any idea of what else they could do.

AdEva campaign notes:

This is a disaster waiting to happen. AdEva presumes the existence of multiple fortress-city bases, or that it happens post-NGE, when the attack of Angels is already an bloody routine. If the whole thrown into combat without prior training must happen, then at least the prospective pilots should already know just what they're being brought in for - that is the sane procedure. The pressure that Gendo put in Shinji, even in canon, would not have worked on anyone else.

At the very least, a base should already have a pool of pilots (of various personality types) ready instead of just... nobody? NGE is excusable because it's the first encounter. The Evangelions were barely even complete.

The commander role can be more interesting than just buying defenses and allocating funds for repair and research every month. I haven't been keeping up with the updates, but possibly here a street-level human antagonist would be of good use. Cults, terrorists, etc., acting even as an Angel itself is attacking. One pilot, one Eva, one Angel - like a tutorial level, showing all relevant elements.


	4. Chapter 3: This is Tokyo 3 part1

Chapter Three

This is Tokyo Three

-o-

-o-

"Good morning, Shinji..." said Ritsuko, a little testily. "How are you?"

"Good morning, Akagi-sensei." His voice was distracted. Piloting the Evangelion had started to become routine. He could still feel it in his mind, the all-consuming anger at... well, everything. He wondered what could have caused it. Though Shinji had ideas about the machine spirit, he didn't quite yet imagine that the Eva might have a mind of its own. That it would be aware of him. That it would hate itself, and him, and everything in between.

A spirit, to him, didn't need to be self-aware or independent. The word on the tip of his lips was _Daemonhost_.

"That's fine. Appearance positions, an emergency power source, locations of armed buildings and recovery spots. Have you kept all of them in your mind?"

"I have, Akagi-sensei." Without power, the machine spirit cannot function. Without weapons, it cannot deliver its wrath. Without a happy machine spirit, humanity would be destroyed.

_Why do you suffer?_ He asked it. _What can I do, to help ease your pain?_

As expected, only rage and hunger met his mind.

"Well, I'll review the lesson again. Eva usually works with electric power supply from the cable. If Eva use the internal battery in an emergency, it can work only for one minute at its full strength or for five minutes at most on basic tasks. Did you get that?"

"Yes, Akagi-sensei." He nodded, attentive. In the heat of battle, there was no time for fancy planning. The future blurred into the now and in seconds legions may live or die. "Thank you, Akagi-sensei."

The pencil snapped in her hands. His sheer submissiveness irritated her in ways she could not explain. It simply couldn't be natural in Gendo's son; not when she saw in those eyes the same icy ruthlessness that lay in his father. It had to be a trick somehow.

"Very well, let's resume our lesson on Induction mode, where we left off yesterday."

The Evangelion skipped out of cover, bursting with its oversized autocannon made into an assault rifle analogue, at a holographic image of the Angel from the last time. He missed and ducked behind another building.

"Keep your head." Ritsuko advised. "Aim at the center of the target... then pull the switch."

Shinji leaned out of cover and shot at the Angel. "... pull the switch."

"Good. Next!"

The simulation ran through the entry plug and supposedly the Evangelion's brain itself. MAGI, the three supercomputers running NERV, supplied and interpreted the sensory data. Within a sealed room, the Evangelion could act out encounters in relative safety. Due to the size of the Eva, more complicated motions couldn't be acted out; such as running, diving, or just close combat.

NERV had for this the Pribnow Box, which if only Shinji could see behind the thick walls would have horrified the boy at the truth of their technology. What he believed to be simulating this battle were banks of supercomputers; but instead he was running off the nerve signals of what looked to be a mutilated, skinned, and dismembered human torso.

"Damn it, Shinji!" Ritsuko shouted. "Stop showing off! Just point and shoot! Point and shoot! This isn't a game! Accuracy is what's important here!"

The Evangelion began to rack up accuracy - 60 - 67 - 79..., according to the MAGI. Then that dropped again, as Shinji began to move around at random and fire from different positions.

"Shinji! Are you even listening to me?" Are you playing with me?

"It sure is surprising that Shinji-kun is so enthusiastic about this..." said Maya.

"I'd like to think it's because he's found a purpose worthy of his life." was the reply. '_I'd LIKE to think that. But it was LIKELY not to be the case. A big part of that would be how much he hated his father.'_ The Evangelion was power over his father; it made him important. Unignorable.

Shinji's reasoning for his failure to comform to test procedures was actually rather simple. Missing the enemy delayed the simulation end, and how long he may stay at any one location. One of the first things he did upon being left to his devices was to roam around Tokyo 3 and familiarize himself with the city's layout. His ignorance of its structure had left widespread devastation. Suffering everywhere and caused by him.

"We must be prepared." he said to himself. "We must make sure our next battle is fast and precise."

He had the Eldar vote for that. The Space Marine was noncommittal, as long as the xenos were destroyed. The Warboss wanted more destruction and the Chaos simply liked all the deaths. Well; pity for them it wasn't a democracy.

He tried to equate the buildings he saw on the ground to that of the simulation. Those important and less important. Those he could afford to let be destroyed, those to protect, those to avoid.

Hospital. Shopping center. Apartment blocks.

Ritsuko, who was still in the clear mindset of Shinji as selfish and power-hungry as his father, could not even conceive of this.

"I think it's because he wants to protect someone." sighed Maya.

"Who?"

Maya realized she'd spoken that out loud. She wasn't supposed to know that, and it felt like a betrayal of Shinji's confidence. Still, it was her sempai asking..."... rei. Don't they just look cute together?"

Ritsuko shuddered at the image. A mini-Gendo and a mini-Yui. Would there even be a Tokyo-3 after it was all done?

"If he thinks that, then humanity may be doomed. We need to keep a level head if we're to get through this."

"Oh, don't worry sempai. I'm sure Shinji-kun will keep his priorities straight." She shivered again at the odd timbre she heard in his voice. _The Enemies of Humanity will Die. By My Hands, they shall be Broken._ Ooh! She giggled. "He's sort of Heroic that way."

"Heroic?" What an odd thing to say. Shinji, with his small frame and frankly rather creepy expressions, was the furthest from heroic in any sight. "Did you talk to him much when I sent you to get his files?"

"Um, not much, sempai. He did leave an impression, though."

Gods. He's starting already. First he'll manipulate the perceptions of my staff, then what? "I have more important things to do." she said. "Maya, could you handle the rest of this for me?" She couldn't stomach being around the boy any longer...

"Sure thing, sempai."

Through it all Misato, who stood at the back of the room, said nothing. Only when Ritsuko was out of the door did she comment. "What are you doing now, Shinji?" she asked when she saw him walking forwards then back away from the Angel target.

"I don't like this gun, Misato-san..."

"Why not?"

"Sure, it has a high rate of fire, but I think I'm going to just poke holes in the enemy if it has a soft body like the last one. Can Angels heal as fast as Evangelions?"

"That's why we have hollowpoints, Shinji. Besides, you should really be aiming at the core anyway. That's why Ritsuko was so annoyed."

"Then, what if it's armored? What if I miss? What about the AT-field? The longer the fighting goes on, the more damage we do. I think I need something bigger than this. Something that can kill the Angel in just one shot. As it is, I remember how fast the Angel was. It could be at me already by the distances I'm forced to follow."

_I need a Bolter. I need a Bolter, bad. Going hand to hand against an Angel leads to Bad Things. Green things. Angry green things. Please, Misato-san._

_You wouldn't like me when I'm angry, Misato-san._

"Well, it's at the drawing boards. We'll get something after a while. It's good to see you taking this seriously, even if Rits-chan thinks you're just playing around."

He nodded. Misato-san... she wasn't a bad person. It was good to have a steady ally in Tokyo-3.

**=][=**

_'CHAOS!_

_Back! Back, I say!_

_A good person? By the Emperor, she feeds Untidiness enough to be considered its Daemon Princess!' _Shinji marveled at the state of her room. The woman was hunkered down under a futon blanket, like a turtle. "Misato-san..." He poked her with a clothes hanger. "Misato-san. It's already morning, Misato-san."

Like a turtle, she slid further in.

"Misato-san... please get up."

"Mnfrgh."

"Misato-san." Poke. Poke. Pokepokepokepoke. "Misato-saaan..."

"...go away!" The women slid her head out slightly and looked at Shinji with bleary eyes. "I was on night duty until just some time ago. Today I have only to appear at the office in the evening. So, pleease let me sleep!"

"Ah." _'Poor Misato-san. _She did not even even have a hungover as an excuse_. _"Are you sure? Don't you want something to eat? Egg and mushrooms..."

"mnnnh. Tempting. But sorry, Shinji."

"All right. See you later, Misato-san."

"Is today Thursday? Burnable trash only, please."

"Already handled." Waste was weapon of the enemy. Recycling was Shinji's main defense against it. He glowered around the room. Soon. Soon, we shall have a reckoning!

"Later, Shinji..."

"Later, Misato-san."

**=][=**

After he left for an undeterminate amount of time, Misato's phone rang. She took it and snuggled back under the covers.

"... yes? (No!) Hello? (Die!) Oh, it's you Ritsuko. You're calling me. (I will find you and I will strap you down to a bed like we did in college and this time you won't enjoy it!)"

"How are doing Misato? Aren't you getting along with him? (You will give me the information that I need so I too can sleep easily)"

"Him? Oh. Shinji-kun. (dammit, even I can tell you're obsessing about the kid. What are you, some form of shotacon?) It's two weeks after he transferred to the school. He is as he was. (I've grown used to his oddity) He never got any telephone calls... (Odd. We never did forbid him to tell about his status as a pilot. Good to see he's using some discretion. Too much attachment could be a  
weakness)

"Telephone calls?(Odd. I thought he'd have a cult by now)"

The NERV phone Misato gave him was left at his desk.

**=][=**

Meanwhile, at school; "Hey, Ikari, what's your number?" a student asked, trying to be perfunctorily friendly to the new kid.

"Oh." Shinji pulled out the phone he bought at a random shop with his own money. He did not trust anything from NERV not to have a monitoring system built into it... though, come to think of it, if his father was even half-way competent as to the defense of humanity, Shinji was sure any store-bought cellphone could be tracked anyway.

He looked at the number saved in memory. "Here." He kept the phone in Silent Mode.

**=][=**

Misato continued. "I gave him a phone for necessary contact. Outside of NERV calls, I don't think he's ever used it or gotten a call from anybody. (for all the hype we put up about state of the art, you'd think we'd be able to give out a less tacky phone) He has no friends, though I'm not sure. (so stay away dammit. He's mine! Mine! Mine!)

"He seems to have an unsuited personality for making friends, doesn't he? (Fools. You do not know what sort of forces you tamper with.)" Ritsuko, calling from her office, turned on her chair to look at the Geofront outside. "Do you know the story of the 'Hedgehogs' dilemma'? (danger, Misato! Danger!)"

"The spiny animal? (what the hell, Ritsuko?)"

"If a hedgehog wants to give or receive warmth from other hedgehogs, the nearer they approach, the more they injure each other. It's the same as the people. (Misato. When did we ever stop really being best friends? Oh. Right. when I started to fuck Gendo and couldn't let you know about it.)" She stood up and went to the window. "As he is frightened of aches in his heart, he seems so detached  
now. (I'm lonely.)"

"Fear? Shinji? Well, I suppose. This has to be entirely new to him. He's such  
a serious boy. (Stay. AWay. From Shinji.)"

**=][=**

Shinji entered the room silently. No one seemed to notice. Rei was still staring out the window, but knew without looking. He left a unique trace to her passive senses.

He sat down on his desk and nodded briefly to Hikari Horaki. The freckled girl was still reserved towards him, but other than Rei was the only one in that class he could actually identify with. He'd been class representative in his last class. Gods. What a hassle.

There were a lot of boyz in that class.

On his first day of school, he stood up front and introduced himself after the token 'please treat him well'. "My name is Shinji Ikari and I just moved here to Tokyo 3. I..." he looked up for a moment. "I came here because of my father. I didn't really expect the attack, so I guess we spent the first time we met in so many years just ignoring each other and trying to survive. I'm going to stay here and help in his... business."

"That's admirable, Ikari-kun." said the teacher. "I see my class getting smaller and smaller each day. It's good that there are those who are brave enough to stick around. Please, take a seat."

He picked a chair among many; making sure not to be too close nor too far from Rei or make it seem that they knew each other previously. He took out a notebook. Hikari turned to him and said "We don't use actual notebooks here, Ikari-kun. Do you need help with using the computer?"

"No, thank you. I guess it's just comforting, I've been writing on paper for so long. I can save my work, but the important stuff... I'll keep it with me."

She smiled a bit. It was good to see someone else serious with schoolwork.

-o-

Shinji wrote into it, in deliberately sloppy writing:

_HIKARI HORAKI(?) Class Rep. A position of some influence. Ask for basic  
information and for monitoring classmates. Proper. Independent. Will need to be  
subtle. Best approached from a non-romantic standpoint._

Days passed, and his list of people to possibly allow into his scenario failed to grow. In fact, there remained three.

_REI AYANAMI(X). Protect. Main link to NERV. Possibly higher security clearance  
than I have. Ask about things I can't subtly interrogate Misato-san about. As  
long as Father uses her as emotional blackmail I have to stay in Tokyo Three. I  
feel I can reverse this somehow._

_KENSUKE AIDA(?). Class clown. Social Pariah. Has a friend still absent. Very  
knowledgeable about a variety of useless topics. Seems to regard me with some  
degree of suspicion; might need to... adjust... him later. Seems to be enamored  
with military affairs. Dreamer. Idealist. Manipulatable to a ridiculous degree._

-o-

Shinji tapped his pencil at the edge of the desk and began to doodle the symbols of his four main figures. There was the double-headed eagle to the Imperium. There was the squinting Ork. There was the Eye of the Eldar. There was the eight-pointed Star of Chaos. Focusing on each, he could imagine a link to them he had left behind at the apartment. If he crossed his eyes a little bit, he  
could actually imagine the chimaera's black wings flapping, the stylized Ork face moving its jaws, the Eye looking and winking... and the Chaos symbol glowing a faint purple hue. He did not draw the latter often, even in play, on the off chance that he might accidentally actually summon a daemon.

While suitably distracted during free hour, other students tended to their own concerns. Hikari went over to Kensuke to scold him about not giving Toji his homework.

"Well, class rep, there was no one at Toji's house. Okay, this might shock you. But Toji's house isn't even there anymore."

"What? You mean - in that robot incident? Could he be hurt?" She faltered. "Or... or killed?"

"I don't know."

"You're his friend, aren't you? Why aren't you worried about him?"

"Class rep, it's my philosophy that one can't know the future. I COULD worry about him, but it wouldn't do me and him any good. I've reached the limits of what I can find out. The only thing I can do is to wait for him to show up. If he doesn't... well..." He pushed his glasses back up his nose. "I'll gladly take the pain. But not before then. Not before I know."

Hikari stood there, and licked the top of her lips, uncertain. "Well... maybe he's all right. The TV did say no one was seriously hurt."

"What, are you insane? Didn't you see the explosion? The Units of not only Iruma and Komatsu but Misawa and Kyushu were sent out. Did you see the main avenue? Entire blocks are -gone-. I'm sure that there were more than ten or twenty people injured. Probably some may have been killed... "

"That's horrible. Why should such things happen?"

"Nobody knows. The word is pretty hush-hush on this sort of thing."

Someone entered the classroom; he was the athletic and rebellious sort, wearing a sporting jacket in defiance of uniform rules. That he went to school way past the required time implied he might have had to sneak in. Students noticed.

"TOJI!" Kensuke said out loud, overjoyed.

"SUZUHARA!" Hikari's surprise was more muted, but there stood pleased nonetheless.

Suzuhara Toji grinned lopsidedly and waves. "Wow. There's a lot fewer people here than I remember."

Kensuke shrugged. "You know how it is. Evacuations, evacuations. Many went to transfer to other, far away schools. That's what you get when there's a real war in the city."

"You're the only man I know who's actually pleased to see a real battle."

"But, Toji; it was awesome. I managed to get my hands on leaked footage. There were a few people stubborn enough not to go to the shelter. It's blurry as hell, but it's there and I can't decide. Headbutting the enemy to death; was it genius or stupidly awesome?"

Toji spat to the side. "You wanna know why I was absent, Kensuke? My younger sister, she was buried under a heap of rubble. She barely escaped death but had to stay in the hospital since then. My father and grandfather both work for the research center. They can't desert their posts now... If I weren't with her, she would been left alone."

He sat down on his seat and put his foot up the table with force. "Damn that pilot! I'm burning up! He destroyed more of our city than the enemy! What did he think he was doing?"

The two didn't know how to respond. "I'm sorry, Toji..." Hikari said softly after a while. "How is she now?"

"She's conscious. She can't move out of her bed yet, but at least she's awake. That's why I could come here now. She NAGGED me into coming here."

Kensuke leaned closer and whispered. "Hey... did you hear the rumor about the transfer student?"

"A transfer student?"

"There. No! Don't look! He came here only after the incident. Don't you think that's strange? People would usually be leaving, not going here."

"I don't think that's so strange..." Hikari had to say something in Shinji's defense. "Didn't you hear him say he's minding his father's business? He didn't expect anything to happen and I don't think he actually has a choice about leaving or staying."

Kensuke made a face. "Please, class rep. Must you kill my joy with your logic?"

**=][=**

The teacher began to talk about Second Impact. Shinji had actually heard most of it before from his teachers early in junior high. Most of the other students were familiar with it, too. As much as the elementary years focused only on the better past of humanity, so did junior high schooling seemed determined to let it soak into the minds of students just how much their parents had to sacrifice  
to give them the slightly more comfortable world they lived in.

"The hardest trials for the human race began then. In the last year of the 20th century, the massive meteorite, which came from the outer space, fell in the Antarctic Continent. It caused the ice of the continent to melt in a moment. Tsunamis ravaged all coasts. As the result, the water level of the oceans went up, the earth axis fluctuated and abnormal weather which threatened the very  
existence of living things occurred all over the world."

_'Now here's as I see it..._' Shinji thought. '_Either ALL the nations of the world failed to detect such a rock approaching the Earth, or some select few knew and knowing that there would be nothing anyone could do to stop it simply let it come and had the world enjoy themselves up to their final moment.._.'

'T_hat seems needlessly complicated, Shinji_' replied the Farseer through the link.'_I would also say inhuman, but I expect very little actual humanity, as you mon-keigh call it, from your kind_.'

'_I would take insult, but I must agree. That it should catch them blind is indeed most improbable, but more possible than the other_...' said the Space Marine.

'_Or it could simply be_' Chaos put in, well-versed in duplicity. '_That it was [intentional]. Someone or something sent Second Impact. I would not be surprised if we, and by that I mean humanity, caused it. We, as Chaos, would not have hesitated... of course._'

Whatever reply Shinji was going to make died in his mind as his computer beeped softly. "A message?"

[Is it true that you are a pilot of that robot? Y/N]

He blinked.

He tried to find the sender, but it was sent through an anonymous host. He was hardly the most computer-savvy of people and knew no of way to trace it. He merely looked at it with a slight frown.

"But 15 years after that..." the teacher continued. "Out of only 15 years, we have revived the world so far. This is not only the result of the excellence of the human race..."

[It is true, isn't it?] another line scrolled it up.

The answer was obvious. He was about to push 'N' when he saw his finger drifting past it to 'Y'. _Noooooooooooooo! Must... remain... truthful. Lies displease the Emperor! _

_Even Chaos knows reason! This way!_ His left hand fought with his right; until the finger stabbed a button.

_Waha-ha!_

"... but the one of blood, sweat, tears and efforts of your fathers and mothers."

"HOEEE?"

Everyone in class turned to look at him. "Shit." Shinji said.

A voice within him groaned. '_This is why Evil -wins-, because Good is -DUMB-!'_

_'HERETIC!'_

_'IDIOT!'_

_'Too late. Can't lie now. It had to come out sooner or later...'_

_'... foolish'_ was Rei's thought, while still staring outside.

They crowded him with questions. He could feel everyone of his other figures dogpiling the Space Marine inside his mindscape. It was a grand skirmish as he tried to fight them all off simultaneously.

He ignored the other students' queries as he thought over his own ideals. Arguably he stuck closest to the virtues of the Emperor and His Imperium. However, he and the Space Marine had connected in a way he hadn't foreseen, and now his instincts seemed sharper somehow.

He heard something about being the pride of their school. Damn, the attention. It would make crafting his scenario harder. No wonder Father preferred to be all but unknown.

He was very grateful for Hikari attempting to take control of the class and said so as much as it ended. She accepted his thanks, but curtly.

-o-

-o-

"Sorry, new kid. But I have to hit you. I can't be satisfied until I hit you."

Shinji sighed. Should I just take the hit? I caused so many to suffer. Yet, at the same time. "Could you have done any better?" he asked, inflaming Toji with his calmness. "No one had any idea if it could have actually worked. I didn't even know about it until I arrived here, DURING the attack."

"Why you - I won't accept your excuses!" He shoved a fist at Shinji's face. The pilot merely bent away a fraction to the side and let it pass; then actually slapping it away with the side of his head.

It surprised Shinji too. Those were reflexes normally attributed to the Astartes. His normal tactic thus far had been to take the hit, letting his small frame deceive them, then maul the tar out of the other guy. An Orkish way to fight. He had a surprising level of pain tolerance for such a little guy.

Shinji tilted his head and listened.

They had him bound and gagged. Hah! When its enemies unite, even the finest of an Imperium may fall!

The Space Marine's acid spit burned through the gag, and he leapt over to bite the Ear of Chaos. The melee started again. Shinji decided it would be better to ignore them and focus on the problem at hand.

Kensuke grabbed Toji before he could tackle Shinji. "Toji! Think it over! Do you really want to get into a fight with someone who kills his enemies by headbutting them to death?"

"This vicious, arrogant bastard isn't any better than the enemy he was fighting!"

"Maybe..." Shinji replied sadly and put his hands deep into his pockets. "I can't seem to cause anybody anything but pain, no matter how hard I try to help."

"See?" said the jock. "He wants it."

_'Just stomps him, lil'boss. It woulds be eezy.'_

No. I might actually deserve this. I heard about what happened to his sister.

'_Hitting you will not help her in any way' _added the Farseer_. 'To whom do you __truly owe your responsibilities to? Then perceive; to whom does he owe his own duty?'_

_'To his_ -' Shinji ducked down as a fist swung at his head again. Bending at the waist and taking a single step forward, he drove the top of his head at Toji's abdomen. The more physically able young teen fell backwards with an 'Oof!' Shinji never even had time to take his hands out of his pockets.

"See?" Kensuke crowed. "Told you!"

"Why you..." Toji got up quickly. "I won't let you look down on us little people! We live in this city too! You destroyed our home! You hurt my sister! I can't let you get away with that!"

_'I can win this with force'_ Shinji realized._ But it won't help him. He's suffering too. How much more must I do to save these people? I'm not a God or an Emperor._ _But I can't... I failed to protect them once. If it will ease some of their pain_ _then let me carry it.'_

Since dealing with Chaos all those years ago, the sight of people in pain also put him in pain. It was not a good pain.

'_But iz not yours to take. You cant's steals it from them. Pain makes ya strong. Let dem be sad, and let dem be alive. Take der pain and dey're neva gonna learn who is really boss o' whom, whos responsible for whom. Dey needs to learn dat they needs to respect dem'selves too.'_

_'But... he's just going to keep trying to harm me, until he succeeds. He needs it.'_

"I won't deny that it's my fault your sister got hurt and your home was destroyed. I won't even try to ask for your forgiveness..." Shinji said with his eyes closed. "But why do you really want to take revenge, Suzuhara-san? Them? Or that you couldn't save them...? I know what it feels to be powerle-"

There was a meaty thwack.

"Ungh. Muh does. You pounsed me ib da does!"

Shinji opened his eyes to see Toji fallen on the ground clutching his face, and Rei beside him with her right arm outstretched.

"I will not let you harm pilot Ikari." she said flatly.

"..rei?"

"As you have sworn to protect me inside the Evangelion, then I shall protect you outside of it." She nodded to him. "There is an emergency at NERV. I shall go on ahead." But first, one last look down at Suzuhara Toji. "You -will not- harm pilot Ikari."

The boys watched her turn and walk away.

"... 'suke?" Toji asked after a while. "Did I just get beat down and threatened by Ayanami?"

"... yeah."

"I am scared, and at the same time strangely turned on."

WHAM! Shinji's foot stomped on the ground just below Toji's crotch. The teen let out a surprised 'mngak!' The pilot leaned over to rest his elbow on his knee. His eyes were in shadow under the bangs of his hair.

"... Ayanami-san has known it her fate to pilot the Evangelion since she could talk. She has suffered more pain, seen such horrors, than you can ever imagine." Shinji looked up, and contrary to their dread, actually had a kind look in his eyes. Then, he tilted his head and smiled slightly. "I don't mind if you hate me, Suzuhara-san. But if you or anyone else disrespects Ayanami-san I will SMASH you.  
Do we understand each other?"

He looked first to Toji, then Kensuke. Both boys nodded frantically.

Shinji stood up, and bowed deeply. "I can't say I'm sorry to you, Suzuhara-san. But I will kneel and beg forgiveness before your sister. We should talk later..." He turned and left following Ayanami.

The two other teens were left there at the school backyard, unmoving until the Eva pilots were out of sight. Then, then both let out the breaths they were holding.

"... daamn, Toji. I don't think you can win against that guy. A man in love is just a wall you can bust your fist on." Kensuke looked aside and then said with wonder "... are you crying? It wasn't that scary. Well, maybe it was."

"Dammit. DAMMIT!" He scraped at the soil. "I hate that guy. He comes here as if he's all perfect. And he's right. I hate that he's right. I don't have the right to take revenge on him... only my sister and my father and grandfather can do that. I wasn't injured. I didn't buy that house out of my own money. DAMMIT!"

"Toji, hey, man..."

"Dammit! I need to punch something, Kensuke! Anything!"

"Um... maybe I should go stand over there. Somewhere else." the glasses geek added nervously.

"Come on, let's go back to class."

Kensuke sighed, relieved. Okay. Boring lectures were better than this emotional crap. He didn't know how to deal with it. He really needed a gun. Guns made things simple.

-o-

-o-

This is Tokyo 3. The wounds of the last battle still marked it. And now, barely three weeks have passed and once more it must suffer.

"Tokyo 3 is moving to battle formation!" Buildings began to sink down into the geofront. "Central block and districts one to seven have been housed."

Up at the command seat, Kozo Fuyutsuki sat tensely. He made sure to keep his hands on the table rather than together right under his nose.

Misato looked up at him briefly, then back to the main screen. "While Commander Ikari is away, the 4th Angel arrives. Not again; we're caught off guard..."

"The last time it was a fifteen-year interval." Makoto helpfully added. "This time it's just three weeks."

"They never think about our circumstances, don't they? They're the type which women hate." Misato mused.

'_Always be considerate._' Makoto noted. '_Misato-san likes considerate men_.'

The screen showed conventional forces attacking the floating, squid-shaped Angel. As expected, even a massed barrage of shaped-charge missile artillery hardly even fazed it. Tanks and VTOLs were not sent out from the JSSDF bases, the memory of [Sachiel's] brutal stride lingered as a lesson in the costs in life.

"They are wasting taxes." said Fuyutsuki. "Have we received authorization to mobilize yet?"

Shigeru nodded. "Yes, sir. The committee is demanding for us to mobilize. Immidiately."

Maya hid a grin. Time for Shinji to play hero.

=][=

Deep within the Launch Cage, Shinji closed his eyes.

_Machine spirit, my eyes are your eyes. My heart is your heart. My will is your will. My rage is your rage. Let us be one, and destroy that which threatens Humanity._

His mind flashed back to the wounded, the damage. The city rising in golden triumph as the sun ascends to the sky.

_Let us end all suffering._

KILL. was the only thing he could feel in return. As always. ALL. KILL.

"Shinji-kun? Are you ready?"

"Yes, Misato-san."

_Machine spirit, let us protect this city. Let us protect its people._

Irrelevant.

"EVA! Launch!" yelled Misato. The Evangelion shot up its electromagnetic catapult system.

KILL. The Eva was expectant.

-o-

-o-

end first part


	5. Chapter 4: This is Tokyo 3 part2

This is Tokyo 3 Part Two

-o-

-o-

Makoto Hyuga considered himself a normal person. He grew up in a normal way, tried to excel in school in a normal way, got hired into a secretive paramilitary organization in a distressingly normal way (he looked up wanted ads and submitted his resume to a hiring agent). He had normal hobbies, and normal dreams.

Getting between Misato Katsuragi's legs is also a perfectly normal desire. Major Katsuragi liked to walk around in that little miniskirt, and nearly every male and not just a few female employees were easily distracted by her lithe figure walking by. Makoto's main difference is that his rational mind is saying 'she's waaay out of your league, man' while his heart wants to damn the torpedoes and try to charm his superior officer anyway.

It should be noted by now that the reason why Makoto Hyuga and Maya Ibuki had imprinted on their respective superior officers and not each other was that they were simply too similar. And also why Shigeru Aoba still dreams of making it big as a rock star. In the end they all moved in fantasies and not in the daily tide of their seemingly useless lives. Souls forever lost in the terrifying freedom of their existence.

Until the Angel attack, of course, in which case it suddenly became too exciting.

A building beside the EVa opened up to reveal a weapons cache. The Evangelion took out the Assault Rifle analogue and moved sideways along the row of buildings. Misato at some point convinced the others it might not be a good idea for an Eva to keep emerging in full view of the Angel it's going to attack. Whose idea was it anyway to have the Eva emerge right behind Sachiel?

"Remember, Shinji!" Misato spoke over the link. "Spread your AT-field!"

"Yes, Misato-san!" _It has an AT-field. I have an AT-field. Just like practice. Neutralize. Neutralize._

He searched around in his mind, but other than the Eva's continuing pain and impatience, there was no one. He would for the first time fight alone.

Unit 01 stepped out of cover and burst at the Angel. Shinji burned the clip through, gritting his teeth all the while. Die. Die. Die, here. Die quickly.

"Shinji! What are you doing? You're just clouding up the target!"

The pilot blinked. "Wha-"

Lashes of energy emerged whiplike from the dust cloud, only narrowly avoided. The Eva's weapon broke apart in the Evangelion's hands, razor-edged energy whips slicing through the thick metal stock with contemptous ease. Unit-01 backpedaled quickly. "Misato-san!"

"We're giving you a reserve rifle. Take it!"

The Unit 01 began to run, and raged at itself. It longed to leap at the enemy and tear it to shreds. Those energy feelers, however, could counter that even before Evangelion could get near. This was [SHAMSEL]. Where the previous Angel was a force, its odd appearance leveraged finesse.

'It's like... purpose-built to defeat us.' Shinji thought. 'They learn. They want to kill us.'

Unit 01 stopped suddenly at reaching a particular building of no apparent note. It pivoted on its heel and reached out with its left hand towards the Angel. Shinji extended his AT-field. To someone who had made, maintained and still conversed with secondary entities in his mind, the feel of the AT field was also familiar. It was like filling a hollow. It was like reaching the top of a mountain. It was like living in light.

The whiplike appendages of Shamsel passed through his invisible AT field and very nearly sliced him from shoulder to hip.

The Eva leapt side and rolled. Behind it, the building was torn apart. The Angel continued to lash away at the Evangelion, slicing away entire blocks of buildings in its frenzied chase.

_'It knows our AT field!'_ Shinji screamed to the Evangelion. _'It erodes it, it gets through! This thing is made like nothing else in the world to destroy me!'_ Fear gripped him._ 'Anyone? Anyone! How can I possibly defeat this?'_

"Keep your head, Shinji! The rifle! The rifle!"

Shinji could only run on. _Anyone? HELP! I can't... I have no power alone! What __should I do?_

A strange thought entered him. _Is this the day?_

-o-

-o-

"At this noon, a state of special emergency has been declared all over Kanto and Chubu districts around Tokai district. More detailed information will be reported as soon as it is received." the announcement was repeated over and over.

Inside the shelter, Toji groaned. "It's nothing but a blank screen again."

Kensuke was fiddling around with his camera. On the small replay screen, he saw the confused shaky images of Tokyo 3's current journalistic hero and his past borderline suicidal tendencies. This bootleg video was not subject to NERV's media blackout.

'_My god! My god! What is that thing? Holy shit! It just took out all of Mizuhara Street!_'

There was running. The video stopped and resumed at some point on an unknown rooftop. In the distance grappled sticklike figures.

'_That's... what's it doing? It's useless!_'

Bright flashes and the cameraman scurrying back inside. Cut to black, then switch on.

'_It... it's arms are gone and it's - that's a headbutt! It headbutted it again! What the fu-"_

Kensuke closed his eyes. He mouthed the words of the man, having the entire video already memorized in his mind. '_It's dead. Now, we're done for. Masako. Dear, if you somehow get this, I'm sorry for being so stupid. I pray you keep little Akane safe, and that she never marries a stupid fool like me. May the gods in heaven have mercy on all our souls.'_

Then '_It's not dead? It's not dead! It's a miracle! It's...'_

Roar! Crash. Boom. Wham. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Shronk! whapoom! A long silence. Roar! Shronk! Spow! Shronk! Shronk! Shronk! Spow! Spow! splinkt! Roar! Ker-phom!

The camera-carrying man cowered under cover, exposing only his head to the action that is shattering buildings and causing sluicing shockwaves through the city streets.

'_That was a -monster- headbutt. Whoever's in that thing is -insane-! This has to be the most insanely awesome thing I've ever seen! It's - aah god! I'm blind!"_

The man still had his head all covered in bandages. They said he might never recover full use of his left eyeball. "It was worth it." the man said later.

Kensuke sighed.

It was hard to imagine their thin, somewhat shadowy classmate as the one responsible for such brutal carnage. The circumstances fit. He just desperately wanted it to be so, for Shinji seemed to him as like him; another reject, another weak-handed shiftless dreamer. He certainly looked it, always staring off into the distance. Like Rei.

And it turns out they're both pilots.

Was this some cruel joke of fate? If they could be pilots, what prevented him from being one? He might secretly be one savage monster inside, given the right circumstances to express it.

He prodded his friend with his foot. Toji, trying to sleep there on the floor, opened one eye and looked up. "Whaaa...?"

"I gotta talk to you." said Kensuke. "Alone."

"Now?"

"Yeah..."

Toji sighed and raised his hand. "Hey, class rep! Hey!"

"What?" Hikari looks up, exasperated, from her conversation with a few female friends.

"Me and Kensuke are going to the toilet, is that all right?" They were already at the door.

"Suzuhara! Why didn't you do it before you left? So troublesome..."

-o-

The teens did use the bathroom, though. Part of that was true. They really should have gone before they left.

While facing the urinal, Kensuke said in an odd tone "Toji, we... we're friends, right?" he asked. "Well, just before we die, I'd like... if we could..."

Toji zipped his pants up in a hurry. "Um. Yeah, 'suke, we're friends. Maybe even close friends, but... no. Just no! I'm not into that!"

Kensuke turned his head, with a confused look on his face. Then, stricken. Then, he began to bang his head against the bathroom wall. He zipped up his pants then pointed at Toji without looking. "It is because we're friends that I'm not revealing my previously unknown and unprecedented berserker personality and KILLING you. I am ignoring that part of the conversation."

He pushed away from the urinal and glared ineffectually. "Did you really thi- no. No thoughts. Such  
thoughts will involve me putting a sniper round into your brain in the near future. My GOOD friend Toji."

Toji scratched at the side of his chin, embarrassed. "So... what did you want to talk about?"

"I want to see it even only once before my death." said Kensuke in all seriousness. "I want to behold such power and awesomeness before I die.

Toji felt the ground shake. "The battle above? "

The bespectacled teen nodded. "I want to bear as witness to such the terrible glory of humanity."

"Kensuke... what a guy."

"If I miss this chance, I might not ever..." He bowed. "So, please help me unlock the gate."

"If you go out, you'll be killed."

"Since we're here in the shelter, I wonder if we'll survive. Since I may be killed anyway, I want to see it before then." He was disturbingly cheerful about it.

Toji resisted the urge to punch him the face. "Don't be a fool! What do you think NERV is for?"

"Well, what do you think that fighting machine of NERV is for? You didn't seem to have much confidence in it. That robot the transferee pilots. He didn't have to, but without him we could all have died! And you would have hit him." Kensuke paused there. "If we weren't afraid Ayanami would just beat the crap out of us."

"I'm not afraid of no girl..." Toji huffed, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

"Toji, she's a girl. She could spend all day kicking your ass and you can't do anything about it without being the bad guy. We could ask for help from class rep, I suppose, but then she'd likely just call you an idiot and join in."

Toji looked like a jock, but was after all the son of NERV scientists. He nodded under the terrifying logic of it.

"So, in the interests of keeping our posteriors unbruised, don't you think it's our duty to go out there and see for ourselves, before judging others?"

Toji groaned and turned to the window slit of the bathroom. Outside, the sky was just starting to change color. "I suppose there's no other choice. You are really faithful to your desires, aren't you?"

"Aheheh... life is too short to waste."

"You do know that doesn't make sense with what we're going to do, right?"

"Toji! We must reach for our dreams! That is the essence of youth! Our blood must be hot!" He lifted a fist to the air. "This is the power of youth! Toji! Toji? Hey! Don't leave me here!"

-o-

-o-

The two teens ran up the steps to the top of a hill. There, they saw Unit 01 already fighting, and ineffectually, the Angel. Kensuke wanted power, and here it was, all bright and terrible as the painstaking constructs of man collapsed with but a touch. The Evangelion drove its hands into a building, not even waiting for it to open and took out an oversized rifle. It fled again, and grabbed another rifle from another cache; this one having opened just in time. Unit 01 surrendered even more space, then turned suddenly to burst at it with dual-wielded guns. The shots merely sparked off direct hits to the red Angel core.

The Angel lashed out, and tore a chunk of Unit 01's arm armor as it tried to defend itself. Purplish blood stained nearby whitewashed buildings.

"It's no good!" Shinji screamed at the control center. "These guns are useless! We both have our AT-fields down, but either it's just armored too well or it's healing too fast for me to tell. I need something bigger!"

Misato turned to Ritsuko. "We have a missile launcher, don't we?"

"It's at location 46-B-4." Makoto helpfully put in. "But we only have two shots."

"Then we must make them count." It's not like we have a giant cannon the size of a mountain down here in Geofront that could help. "No AT fields? And still this? How is that possible, Ritsuko?"

"I don't know. As... Shinji... has said, either its armor is just that good, or it's ability to heal far surpasses that of an Eva. Or a second layer of an AT-field. We just don't know."

He had to fight three battles at once. First and most immediate, was of course the Angel. The second was the rising urge to panic, to run away and hide curled over somewhere. The third was to supress the tactically deficient bloodlust of the Evangelion, so eager to just charge in and claw, kill, devour the enemy.

The Evangelion began to resort to leaping upon the tops of buildings to get away, like a Spider-man, and unfortunately leaving an even greater trail of destruction at its wake. "I... I can't do this... being such a coward... where are you?" Shinjis words were barely picked up at the control center. "Father...!"

Her heart went out to him. "Oh, Shinji-kun..." cooed both Misato and Maya. We must be the monsters, to force him into doing this.

Actually, Shinji's thoughts were more like:

"I can't do this... not with such limited equipment! To sacrifice the safety of the human race just to advance your own agenda... how, how could that be? What being would do that than... such a coward. Right now when we're fighting for our lives and those we care for... where are you? Father! How dare you do this?! Stop disappointing me, Gendo Ikari!"

-o-

"What... what's he doing?" Toji watched as Unit 01 slammed facefirst into another building as the Angel cut down the skyscraper it was trying to jump off out from under the Eva's feet. "He's already beaten... he's no good."

The Angel stabbed with a glowing feeler at the back of the Evangelion's shoulder. It roared as the tentacle pushed through to the other side. Unit 01 actually dove right through the building and made its escape out the other side of the rubble.

Kensuke winced. "I wonder if getting hit is actually as bad as I think it is." He looked to Toji. "It's destroy some of the city or die..."

"S-sh-sh-shut up!" said the other teen. He was staring out, his teeth bared and gnashing with tension. _Fight!_ he shouted silently. _Fight! Why won't you fight? Beat this one like you did with the other before!_

It reached a clearing, and out from a marked area on the ground another building shot up suddenly. Its shell collapsed to reveal a vastly oversized Evangelion reached for it in a homerun-like slide, grabbing it off its pylons just moments before the Angel's feelers could have torn it to shreds. Its power line was ripped off its back in its desperate tumble and the timer started.

Five minutes. Shinji licked his lips.

The Evangelion rolled to a stop, protecting the Eva-bazooka in its arms like it would a baby. Then, it lifted its head and roared off a challenge to the Angel.

It barely avoided several more whips, and let the angel come. It ducked once more under a series of attacks and moved as well. It shoved the bazooka right at the Angels face, roared, and pulled the trigger. Buildings around the two were starting to crack from the force of two meshing AT-fields.

Explosion.

The dust cloud covered everything. Then, the Evangelion was seen stumbling out of the cloud; followed by glowing feelers that wrapped around its fleeing ankles. The Eva was yanked right off its feet and was swung around and around, and into buildings. Two more round passes and it was sent flying into the sky!

The two teens up on the hill watched its descent. "It's... coming right at us!" yelled Kensuke, and the two ran for it. The Evangelion slammed into the hill with such force it knocked off trees out of their roots at the other side. Its arms slapped hard right where the two were about to run. Had they been a bit faster, they would be smears of blood on the ground.

Shinji was breathing heavily, only the hyperoxygenated state of the LCL keeping him conscious despite the massive trauma of the impact. Nothing. No Space Marine. _Why?_ The Eva's rage; he could feel it directed solely at him. The sheer frustration there. _I'm sorry, machine spirit. I'm not as strong as you._

"Shinji, are you alright? Shinji?"

"I'm... I'm fine, Misato-san."

"Damage levels, it's going back! It can still fight..." Makoto said. He furrowed his brows at the screen. _'Shinji... do you know the Evangelion's trying to heal its wounds almost as fast as it's being inflicted? This mechanical monster of ours, it's not satisfied with this. I'm not satisfied with this.'_

Evangelion Unit 01 opened his eyes. It saw the Angel still at the distance, watching it. The Eva  
dug its head out of the soil and looked around. Shinji saw his classmates looking back up at him with clear fear.

"Are... aren't those Shinji's classmates?" said Misato, back at NERV. A smaller window pulled up the names of the two boys. "Why are there there?"

The Angel flew at the Evangelion. Again, the Eva put out both hands as if in surrender. Yes... the feelers were actually slowing, but still - so fast! Unit 01 grabbed at one feeler letting the other whip it in its abdomen, cracking the armor there. Its hand began to smoke.

Toji stood up. "Why- why isn't he fighting?"

"Because we're here..." Kensuke remained there, his hands over his head. "He can't move as he likes!"

Maya watched the battle from her battery of monitors. The Angel continued to attack the Evangelion; which remained there unmoving. It withstood the whips like punishment from a master; chained by its need to protect the hapless civilians. "Unit One!" she screamed out frantically. _'Shinji-kun. You're living up to my expectations of you...'_ "Active time remaining is 3 minutes and 28 seconds!"

Misato stepped up and shouted at his suffering face on the screen. "Shinji-kun, let them into the cockpit. After they are picked up, retreat for the present. And come back later!"

Ritsuko frowned at her. "Why do you think it is possible that civilians can be taken in the entry plug without permission?"

Misato looked back, her expression set. "Because I permit it."

"You are exceeding your authority, Captain Katsuragi..."

"Unit One, Active time remaining is 3 minutes!" Maya's voice brought in the urgency.

"Shinji! Hold the Eva for just a little longer." Misato looked aside, fire in her eyes. "Eject the entry plug! Hurry!"

The two teens watched the Evangelion shudder under the continued attack; then its back opened up. A white tube emerged, and opened up dripping orange liquid. The Eva leaned back to touch it to the ground. Within, they saw Shinji vomiting and sneezing out the orange liquid.

Misato's voice came from the external speakers. "You two! Get in!" At the boys' hesitation. "Do it now! Don't let Shinji take any more for your sake...!"

They hurriedly went in, and grimaced at seeing it was full of something like water. Kensuke bewailed his camera. The entry plug slid back in and shut; darkness then through the rapid patterns resolving into an outside view.

"There's trouble in the nervous system...!" Maya noticed.

Ritsuko responded idly. "It is because foreign bodies have been inserted. Noises are detected in the nervous pulses."

"Now, Shinji! Retreat!"

"Yes, Misato-san!"

The Angel cared little for its main objective. Destroying Unit 01 was essential. It was humanity's only defender, an abomination of the highest order. Misato relayed the exit route.

"Back into the city?"

"Do it, Shinji! There's another power line in the Geofront. We'll try fighting it down there, where you won't lose power so easily; we purposely put in many recharge spots."

"But... people are hiding under the Geofront, aren't they?" _That's why the buildings retract down._ _No way. Misato-san. I can see it. You plan on collapsing the roof of the Geofront on it if... when... I fail, don't you? I didn't think you could be so cold-blooded. All those people. You -are- a soldier, Misato-san._

A slot on Unit 01's shoulder fin opened up.

"Progressive knife equipped!" Makoto yelled out.

"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Darkness.

-o-

-o-

A door swung open, and light flooded into part of a room. It was enough to reveal the particularly cheeky logo of NERV splashed onto the wall. Shinji was sitting there on a bench, doubling as a bunk. Misato stood by the door.

"Do you know why you're in here?" she asked him.

"My father wanted me here."

"You disobeyed my orders, Shinji. You put NERV and the city and the entire world at risk. Why did you do that?"

"... it seemed the right thing to do at the time."

"... and now?"

"You were right, Misato-san. I should have trusted you. I thought wrongly of you. I'm sorry."

"Are you really? Do you understand? As the person directly responsible for your operations, you must obey me."

Misato-san. Such like a soldier. Shinji looked up at the completely dark ceiling.

"I won't let you throw your life away like that..." she added. "If you go out there going along with what people say and thinking you don't matter, you're just going to get killed. You need to live. Your life doesn't belong to you now."

"Misato-san..."

"Yes?"

"Do you know the story of the three bears?"

The NERV officer changed her stance to rest on her other foot. She still had her arms crossed over her chest and looking disapproving. "With goldilocks? The little bear, the medium-sized bear and the big bear?"

"This isn't that story. May I tell you this story, Misato-san?"

The woman sighed and walked over. She sat beside him and put her hands on her laps. "Sure, Shinji..."

-o-

Once upon a time, there was a big bear and a little bear. The big bear was the older  
brother of the little bear, the girl bear. The mother bear had died the winter before,  
and the big bear had to care for his sister bear, even if he had no idea how to. He  
caught fish for her. He played for her. He drove off anything that scared her. The  
big bear didn't know how to live, except through the joy of his sister bear.

One day, while walking through a valley, a boulder fell tumbling down from the  
cliffs to crush the sister bear. She gave out such a scream and stopped moving.

The big bear pushed at her with her nose, and she didn't move. He roared. He  
mumbled. He whined. She didn't hear him. She didn't move.

He looked up and saw up on the cliff another bear, staring down at him. There was  
another boulder beside that bear, ready to be pushed off.

Filled with rage, the big bear began to climb the sheer cliff, digging into it with his  
claws. He didn't care that after while his paws were bleeding and his claws were  
cracked raw. He reached the top after a while, tired, but so angry and so ready to  
fight to the death.

What did he see there? An old bear lying down, himself also bloody and weary.  
Near him closer to the cliff higher on were seven other boulders. He had shielded  
it from falling further down with his own body, when he saw the two younger bears  
walking below.

He was wheezing and dying, and such sadness in his eyes. He begged the big bear  
to kill him. He was so sorry that he failed after all.

-o-

"Do you know what the big bear said, Misato-san?"

"No, Shinji. What did the big bear say?"

"If we had stood together, we could have stopped all the boulders." Shinji finished softly. "And so while the old bear died, he asked the big bear to find other bears, so that if ever they had to save others from rocks, they would all stand together and no one who mattered to them would be hurt by their failure."

"... so, who are you, Shinji? Are you the old bear? The big bear?"

"Of course not, Misato-san. I can't do this alone. I've never fought alone. All this time... Rei would have gone out to die for me. You wanted me to live. The others... without them, I can't fight at all. I've been selfish. It's not just my fight. It's all of humanity's."

"Is that why you fight? For humanity?"

"Yes...?"

"Don't lie to me Shinji."

The young teen laughed, but bitterly. "Until this time I didn't really realize what humanity was. I fought because it made me feel good to be needed. No one should have to suffer anymore... and I only gave them more reasons to instead."

"Shinji..." Misato placed a hand on the young teen's shoulder.

"Humanity is in here, Misato-san. It's our hope. It's the others who are ready to fight alongside me. In the end I'm nothing more but the expression of their trust in the future." He looked up at her. "Until today humanity didn't really have a face.

Now it wears yours. And Rei's. And Ritsuko-sensei's. And Maya-san. And Touji. And Kensuke. Others to... I'm sorry, Misato-san. I'm sorry. I won't disobey you again. I don't... I don't want you to die! I don't want any more to die." Suffering was bad enough, but that day he saw just how fragile the human existence was.

She hugged him. "Shin-chan." she said to the top of his head. "I don't want you to die either. If all us bears stand together maybe none of us will be crushed under the weight of our duties..."

"Thank you, Misato-san."

"I'd let you out here if I could, but Gendo really seems to think you're a flight risk. You did say you hated the Eva. And that chant you did... that really creeped us out."

"I'm sorry..."

She let him go, away from the lock of her breasts. "Well... don't take it too hard. None of us blame you for anything. You're a hero, Shin-chan. I'll try and get you out of this place as soon as possible. It's just politics. The politicians can't just let by you destroyed so much of the city... I bet the people will boo them out of office if they learn they had you locked up after saving... um... what's left of the city."

Shinji actually smiled a bit. "Not to worry, Misato-san. It might actually be relaxing. I need to stop and think a bit."

"Are you sure you're all right, Shinji...?"

"Yes, Misato-san. Thank you..."

And when she was gone, the door clicked shut and locked; and all was darkness; Shinji lay down on his bunk and closed his eyes. Softly he whispered...

"Scenario. Gendo saying 'I was wrong' in full hearing of most of NERV.'

'_...timeframe...?_' he felt a different female voice at the edge of his mind.

"Six to seven weeks."

_'...excellent...'_

-o-

-o-

"You don't have to this, you know." Toji said to Shinji as they approached the hospital. "After what happened, I don't blame you for anything any more."

"I have to." as his reply. "Your sister was injured. That's inescapable."

"No! Really! You don't!" The taller teen began to wave his arms about. "You don't have to! You shouldn't!"

Shinji was resolute. No more suffering.

Toji's sister was named Mari, a primary school student. She squealed and giggled when Toji introduced Shinji to her. She stared up at her brother with filial awe. Then, Shinji knelt before her. He pressed his forehead to the floor and asked for her forgiveness, unworthy as he was, for her injuries. She stared up at her brother with female rage.

"TTTTTTTTTOOOOOOJJIIIIIIIIII NO BAAAAAAAAKKKAAAA!"

You are an evil, evil person... Toji mouthed to Shinji.

She yelled at him for almost five minutes straight. Kensuke actually timed it on his watch. He supposed she took fast shallow breaths between every other syllable or that girl was actually sixty percent lung. Shinji could only smile numbly and nod on occasion.

"and that's why my brother is sooo stupid. You're my hero and I don't blame you at all!" She stopped and for the first time took a deep breath. She smiled up at him with all the cuteness she could muster. She lifted up her arms. Shinji looked first to Toji; who nodded, and let her hug him. "My name's Mari and somedays I'm going to marry you!" she exclaimed in the hug. She didn't let go.

Shinji gave Toji a look that clearly said 'She's your sister! Help me!'

He gave look back that clearly said 'Screw you! You're the crazy one, not me!'

-o-

Toji's parents were such that if they weren't wearing white lab coats, one could have mistaken them for soldiers or basketball players or something. They had their heads shaved in a crewcut for the younger and utterly shiny bald for the elder.

Shinji started to make his bow, but was prevented from completing it. "It's not your fault." said Toji's father. "It was the Angel that destroyed the house, right at the beginning of the attack. We were at Nerv, roving police put Toji in the shelter, and Mari was stuck at the hospital for leukemia. None of that was your fault..."

"So, really, it is we who must apologize..." said the elder Suzuhara. "Sorry for my grandchild causing you so much trouble." He dropped his brows slightly, and Toji began bowing and apologizing profusely.

Shinji laughed weakly and said it was no matter.

He began to laugh strongly when he learned about what the other Suzuharas did for a living. Dr. Suzuhara the younger began to frown at thinking Shinji was mocking them, but his father shook his head; no.

The pilot pointed at Toji. "You." Then he pointed at Kensuke. "You." He laughed some more. "Haha. Now I finally understand why you're friends...!"

Toji smirked. "Yeah, pissed off 'suke here mightily when he learned I didn't care at all about guns. I guess I just grew used to tolerating him."

"Hey! I'll have you know I have OTHER interests other than guns. Must I speak to them about your worship of my awesomely complete collection of pre-Impact hen-"

Toji began to strangle him.

The elder Suzuharas laughed to. "That was our impression at well. Though the boys do seem to get along well." Then, they noticed the calculating look on Shinji's face. "Yes? Is there something you wanted?"

"You design the weapons of the Evangelion, correct?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Sorry, but... the Evangelion's weapons have been almost useless. The only thing that works is the prog knife, and the Angel attack was designed to keep me at a distance. I barely got in close enough to use it."

Both Suzuharas bowed. "We apologize. In our defense, we really have no idea of what the Angel's capabilities may be. You were shooting off tank rounds in burst mode. We thought that would be enough for anything, really."

"I wonder... if you could design a specific weapon for me?"

Suzuhara the younger nodded. "Anything, mister Ikari."

As Shinji described what he wanted, the elder Suzuhara's expression grew more and more excited. "This!" he said at last. "I know this! I've seen something like it before!" He ran to the other room and began yelling at the people there. There was much noise, and he ran back in with a sheet of paper. "This is one of rejected ideas for an Eva-sized custom bullet. See, there's the solid penetrator at the tip and behind it the explosive filling. It was rejected because... well, who would be crazy enough to design a single shell that was BOTH armor-piercing and high explosive?"

"I call it a Bolt round."

"Awesome." said the younger Suzuhara. "If it doesn't penetrate, it will send shrapnel all over... dangerous, true, but might take out some of the softer parts of an Angel... like its eyes and the backs of its joints. If it gets in; will rip it apart from the inside." He looked up and took off his sunglasses. He cleaned it on the edge of his coat. "Now we just need a delivery system... a gun."

"Ah... I might actually have a wooden model that might help? It's functional, just that the shell won't actually explode. I can show you what a Bolter is supposed to look like, soon." He had a hell of a time rigging up that many springs and string. The Suzuharas stared at him. "What? I was bored and itchy after three days in basically solitary confinement."

_Build some trukks or make some dakka._ the warboss murmured. _Anyfin less is just muckin' about._

-o-

"Sorry about that..." Toji said after a while.

"Hm?" Shinji turned aside, while walking. "What?"

The taller boy gestured weakly. "That... thing with my sister. We know you like Ayanami. Sorry if that embarrassed you."

Shinji stopped. "I don't like Ayanami."

"No way! Don't you dare, man!" Kensuke jabbed a finger at Shinji's nose. "We were there. She was like, hurt him and I'll kick your ass. And you were like, make fun of her and I'll SMASH you FLAT! We're not stupid. If that doesn't make you a couple, I don't know what will."

"Unless you're going to say that you actually... hate her." Toji added with a deeply sarcastic leer.

Shinji frowned. "You're mistaken. Look, I'll admit I pilot the Evangelion for Ayanami's sake..."

"Ha!" Kensuke crowed.

"... but you were there. You know what's like. Rei... something about her feels familiar to me. It's not love. It's not family. But I have to protect her. I feel her future is dark and I feel like standing in front of it and holding it back with my hands and saying YOU WON'T HAVE HER! I feel like holding her to me and protecting her from the evils of humanity and the word."

Shinji kept walking. He stopped again and turned to them. "I don't understand it really. It's like there's something deep and old and powerful inside her and I've got something deep and old and powerful in myself and they're calling out to each other and together they have the power to shape something new and powerful and endless in its scope. What is that? That can't be love..."

Kensuke nodded. "Shinji. I think you pretty much defined lust."

"Rargh!" The pilot pulled at his hair. "It's not it! I can't... I can't explain it. Rei's just connected to me somehow. I don't actually get a stiffy from looking at her. She has bled, and upon her blood and her pain I shall write a new covenant. She has fought with me, my sister of battle, and upon her sacrifice I will likewise give my all to see to it she doesn't suffer any more .She wears the face of humanity itself, to me."

Shinji turned to the two. "Likewise you two have fought with me, my battle-brothers, and to you I give the same respect. I will fight to protect you the same as I would to protect Rei."

Toji and Kensuke merely stood there, silent.

"... though sometimes I do have this strange urge to lick all over her body. Does that make sense?"

Toji opened his mouth to say something. He closed it. He put his finger up to make a point and opened his mouth to speak. Then, he shut it again. The most he could get out was "You... bawoo? Gah? Bleh?"

Kensuke sniffed and went to over to slap Shinji's back. "You know, I think this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." His glasses reflected the sunlight oddly. "Shinji, if you're not gonna use up all your fangirls, could you throw a few our way?"

"Um... sure." What are you talking about?

"Well then!" Toji took a deep breath and thumped his chest. "I can see where this going! We've got to protect Shinji from all the other vultures in our school. Rei too! We're in this together! We're a company of heroes, a company of men! A knight and his guards!" He grinned at Shinji. "Don't worry, Shinji! We're going to be your Guardsmen! I keep them back and 'suke here can flail at them uselessly from the sidelines."

"Hey!"

Shinji smiled, his eyes suddenly sad. "Actually, I might have another use for Kensuke... um, you know stuff, right, Kensuke?"

The glasses wearing boy smirked. "Yes, Shinji. You could say I know... stuff."

"Then could you find something out for me? I think you're the only one who can help me about this. It's about a game... a pre-Impact game, it was made in the UK, I think... "

_Stand by my side, battle-brothers..._

-o-

-o-

"Shinji!" Misato yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry, Misato-san. But this thing... it's -fast-. It's going to keep on following and following me until only one of us survives. It's going to follow me right down the the very chute I enter. I need to end this now."

"Transferee!" Toji went over behind the cockpit seat. "She says 'Run away', transferee!"

"No." Shinji said, snarling. "No more suffering. No more suffering."

"Damn it, Ikari! You're not the only life at risk here!"

"Exactly." Shinji said aside. "Fight for your sister, Suzuhara. Fight for her like you've never fought before!"

That struck the jock numb. Shinji seemed so small there in the seat, yet at the same time... "You're the one at the controls. What I can I do?"

The Evangelion growled and rolled aside as the Angel drove its body into the side of the hill. It had more mass. "No... no way." muttered Kensuke. "Did it just try to headbutt you?"

"That! Is the enemy of humanity! Believe it will fall and it will!"

Both other boys looked at the Angel, standing there, its deadly feelers wriggling. They felt the hate, the urge to destroy. "That thing... wants to kill my sister." said Toji.

"That thing... wants to make useless all the wondrous things humanity has made..." added Kensuke.

The Angel surged forward; the Evangelion led with its knee. The Angel didn't actually have any groin for him to kick. It pushed the Angel back with its own weight, and slid away from what would have been a deadly embrace. "Believe it will and it shall! We fight!" screamed Shinji! "I can't fight it alone! We must fight! The enemies of humanity will die!"

"It will fall!" shouted Kensuke.

"It will die!" yelled Toji.

The Evangelion roared. Its AT field broke the air around it, expanding suddenly. A sonic boom spread over the surrounding area. "BLEED AND DIE!" yelled three youthful burning voices in the entry plug.

One must remember all in Shinji's class were potential pilot candidates.

The Angel actually stood still for a moment, confused, as the AT-field shifted. The Evangelion headbutted it back down the hill. It tumbled over, its feelers leaving long scorched lines in the grass.

"No way... they can't be...?" said Makoto, over at the console. He put his palms together as if in prayer. "Please... Shinji-kun."

KILL!

Shamsel shot out with feelers. The Evangelion punched out at it, using its AT-field offensively - a pressure wave pushed it back, even if its feelers were unaffected. The lethal whips fell short of the mark.

CRUSH!

Makoto prayed without knowing why; it was not enough just to win, but to break the enemy. To make it regret trying to stamp down on mankind's feeble mortal hopes. The Evangelion landed on the Angel with both feet. It gave out a tormented screech as half of it caved inwards. It lashed out at the Eva, and Unit 01 caught one of the feelers on its palm; its bare smoking palm. The other pierced its abdomen armor.

BURN!

"My hand is burning!" Kensuke cried out suddenly. "Its shine is calling out for me to defeat you!" The Evangelion pulled, and ripped that feeler right out Shamsel's strange growths. In its hands, the crackling particle whips became nothing more than ropelike twists of biological material. Strangely enough the Eva's hands did glow, and as it grabbed both sides of the Angel where it grasped there rose acrid smoke.

MAIM!

Can it be done? KILL. YES. KILL. The Evangelion roared, and incredibly, spat at its face. The Angel screeched again as it felt its eye melting; that spit reacting much like its feelers had... corrosive AT-field wrapped around conductive matter.

KILL!

The Angel blew aside the Evangelion in a burst of its normal AT-field, and began to float away. Unit 01 grabbed at the single remaining feeler and yanked it back. Three voices screamed, as the bulk of the Angel shot back, and met with a left-handed stab of the progressive knife at the core. They yelled some more. Sparks began to fly as red solid object met red glowing object.

Then... silence.

It was sunset.

-o-

-o-

It was night.

Shinji looked out at the stars. He picked up his pen, opened up his notebook and began to write:

TOJI SUZUHARA (X) Related to Evangelion weapons designers. Simple. Loyal.  
Dedicated. If he follows orders well, may be the core around which I can build my  
aboveground more activist plans on. I can...

Shinji put his pen down and looked at what he'd just written. Toji was a good  
person. He looked out the window. Tokyo 3 was full of good people. It was they  
that made the city. Buildings can be rebuilt. Tokyo 3 was a good city.

He looked again at the list he'd made, and snarled. He ripped the page right off and crumpled it. "I won't be my father." he said softly. "I'll beat him my own way."

He closed his eyes and sighed, let his mind run clear and free.

-o-

In this relaxing meditative state, he didn't notice he was unconsciously flipping over the notebook and opening it up. In one of the back pages where he wouldn't look;  
he wrote:

TOKYO 3. (X). All of it. Mine.

-o-

He yawned and put away the notebook. He went to sleep.

Thus ended the Second Day Against The Angels.

-o-

-o-

end chapter three

-o-

-o-

-o-

* * *

AdEva campaign notes:

Contamination should prevent high synch ratings, specially with untrained civilians in the plug. Contrariwise, high synchro also means more feedback. Having more than one person inside an Eva should naturally lead to sluggish movement and lowered AT-field strength, unless as shown in canon with Asuka, the pilots also synch with each other.

In a world where Evangelion technology is much more common, perhaps it is possible to have a commander experiment in multi-pilot setups, only for it to fail disastrously and taint the whole procedure.

Technically however, isn't this basically what the Dummy Plug System is? Self-aware human pilots have all this noise and emotional baggage. Is it possible to over-synch with what's basically a mysterious assembly of organs and whatnot? The fully-realized soul of a pilot is what provides the adaptive AT-field, the Berserker is just brute force incapable of making tactical decisions - the dumb Dummy Plug just allows the Eva to act freely according to its own instincts.

There is a complication here, with that if Dummy Plugs can be programmed, that is a vector for contamination into the pilot too.

But really, any success or even attempt at a multi-pilot setup is basically just an excuse to get yer Gattai! on. There is also the chance for even more trauma for the pilot in needing to continue the fight _with his or her best friend's corpse. _Even worse with high-synch damage, because of the stigmata effect, meaning decapitated heads or ripped limbs knocking around inside the Plug.

* * *

Previous comments of a younger and more foolish author preserved here for posterity.

notes:

One of the reviewers pointed out that Shinji might become like a Gary Stue. That's true. It's a great risk, considering I'm making this as a shot at all other wildly supercompetent OCs and attempts at fixing the timeline by making a character superpowered above others. Shinji to be awesome doesn't need to be an asshole. Or be replaced utterly. One simple, simple thing. Just change his childhood. Make him happy. Everything pulls its own weight after that. Shinji learns he needs more than voices in the head to fight Angels. He needs the power of his humanity. Only that can save him.

Although technically, yes, this not a simple change. Canon Shinji has a lot of self-doubt and self-esteem issues. Warham! Shinji is self-medicated through outright monomania. He loses the pitiful self through subsuming himself in a greater purpose.

Anyways, thanks for that. I apologize. It was actually intentional in the first part that Shinji seems to be going the Mary Sue way... then this. It's a reversal of sorts, a common way to screw with the reader. Evangelion itself uses it wholeheartedly. It's dirty trick, I know. Shinji was for a time as useless again as he was in canon.

Shinji can be awesome even when he doesn't stand alone. In fact, he should be even more awesome for sharing it.

Feel free to tell me when my writing of Shinji starts to cross from Awesome to Wanking. I want to keep this as enjoyable for you, the readers, as much as possible.

A teacher once said my writing's like water. Most of the time it's just streams of thought. One of her best advice was to let it flow. Too much comedy can dry out your wellspring of ideas quickly. Pull back, take it slow. Then hit them with the wtf again. Same with drama; flooding the reader with it dilutes the poignancy of the message. Let it slide. Let it tide. Give them a chance to feel with the characters. Let them stand there as the emotions roll over them again.

As I've had one of the characters say over at the prologue; perfection doesn't come instantly but is built on lesser things. So, sorry if there won't be any updates for a day or three. I've got some traveling to do, and boring as it is to spend hours on a bus; I can use that time to think up more insanity to inflict upon Tokyo 3.

That's how I write. After a surge, let it fall back and simmer for a while. Later; all at once again.

Natch. Worry not. I've got it planned. It's actually easier to write now that I can refer to the script and choose what to change. I'll introduce Asuka to a whole lot of What The Hell is Going on Here. This is why I've taken such trouble at the prologue; it may be ungodly long, but necessary. Tragic past doest not equal mad skillz. Reason means win. Plot isn't one grand overreaching thing. Let it fall, one drop of plot. Then another. Let it all mix together. It exists there all at once; that thing you wrote all those pages ago? It still matters here. The best way to create surprise is not to pull it out of nowhere but to keep hinting and hinting away at it so that the reader can go; 'aah...' when it arrives. 'So that's what it means!' So; whatever you think I'm leading to, please rest easy in the promise that it's probably not what you think will happen.

Laters!

-Bpen

In the meantime to tide over:

-o-

-o-

Omake:

Pen-pen turned off the TV and set aside the newspaper. As always the humans do  
as humans must. And as always, it is everyone else around them that must suffer.  
He was an experiment brought forth from NERV labs, and adopted by Misato  
rather than be euthanized.

He moved to the door and looked up at the door handle. He then looked around  
the apartment. Seeing no one, Pen-pen began to flap. He began to flap faster and  
faster, and wind began to form under his flippers. He stopped. Then, the penguin  
leapt impossibly high up, higher than the door handle. Retractable claws, not  
present on other normal birds, emerged from his wingtips. He caught the door  
handle and with his weight pushed it down.

The door opened. Pen-pen pushed it further open with his beak.

A suitably dramatic wind flew through the doorway, ruffling his crowning feathers.  
He stepped out and an alleycat hissed at him. He squinted at it, and it fled.  
Looking right and left and seeing no one, he pulled the door shut again with his  
claws. He had etched a small line along the lower edge with his beak; almost  
unnoticeable by tall humans but served him well enough as a surface for grabbing.  
The door clicked shut. It was unlocked, but only an idiot would try to rob a NERV  
apartment block.

Pen-pen clung to the walls as he moved down the hall. He gave out a soft 'wark!'  
as he heard someone approaching. Quickly, he dived behind a garbage bin. A drunk  
party girl and her boyfriend walked by. Once they were out of sight, the penguin  
continued on his way.

The elevator was easier. He just leapt again and pushed at the button with his  
beak. He waited out of direct sight as it arrived and opening with a ding! At  
seeing no one inside, he stepped in and pressed 'G'.

Ding! Pen-pen watched furtively. Seeing the place dark and deserted, he went on  
out into the courtyard, and then to behind the apartment. There, around natural  
soil, he began to dig. Anyone observing would have seen a rudimentary pattern to  
it, like a V with little slashes along the side. Pen-pen finished and began to  
let out a strange warbling sound, pitching high and low. Anyone observing would  
have seen the lines glowing a faint yellow.

A minute or so later, Pen-pen stopped. He carefully covered up the signs of his  
digging. He piddled on it to mark his territory and stamped down the ground. Once  
more back upstairs. He used the stairs, jumping with impossible lightness from  
one stairway block to another. This formed his daily exercise, not just of body  
but of faith. Each day he could feel himself closer to flying.

Look left. Look right. He waddled quickly towards Misato's apartment, opened  
the door and shut it again. Pen-pen exhaled. Humans must not know.

He walked out to the veranda and stared at the stars. He repeated his warbling  
song. For those of us who have gone, for those of us who remain and keep the  
Faith. Soon we shall all return to the stars! Glory to the Great Wing that sweeps  
the Stars!


	6. Chapter 5: Beyond The Heart part1

Chapter 4  
Beyond the Heart

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Words could not describe adequately the devastation left behind by Shamsel's attack.  
Tokyo 3 was a bitterly divided city. It set father against son, mother against  
daughter and janitor against CEO. The cause of this division? One Shinji Ikari.

Tokyo 3 was full of crazy people. They almost went on a riot when they learned  
that the pilot of the Evangelion was in temporary confinement for:

a. Willfully disobeying the direct order of a superior officer in the midst of combat.  
b. Gross negligence in the field of battle leading to the wanton loss of private  
properties, structures, and other things that might prove valuable.

"Well, yeah!" a random person said on TV, in a street interview. "He did destroy  
half the city. But he did it so WELL. At first I thought that robot was remote-  
controlled, but to hear a boy was piloting it...?"

"But sir, aren't you concerned that you won't have work the next morning?"

"... I'm a construction worker."

The interviewer was a young woman with shoulder-length hair and round sunglasses.  
Her wide face looked irked. "Oookay. Let's move on shall we? How about you, sir?  
Has your place of employment been damaged by the Evangelion in the attack?"

"Sure." He was so obviously a salaryman, even in plain casual clothes. "You know  
that building it just broke right through? I worked there."

"Do you feel any resentment towards Shinji Ikari for depriving you of your  
livelihood?"

"Well it is true that I'm living off NERV handouts now, but... are you insane? Did  
you see that battle? The Angel was attacking and there's this building in the way to  
a rocket launcher. So what does he do? He goes THROUGH the building to get at  
that rocket launcher!"

"But - that tactic didn't even work."

"Sure, but does he shoot it off from a safe distance? He gets right at its face to  
make sure he CAN'T MISS. I can respect that sort of dedication."

The reporter turned to look at the camera. "Everyone so far seems enamored, of  
this Shinji Ikari, despite his wanton disregard for their own happiness and financial  
future. Could he have delayed slaying the angel to ensure himself a properly  
spectacular finish?"

"... you don't actually know a whole lot about this whole journalism thing, do you,  
girl?" said the man being interviewed, amused.

"I'll have you know I graduated at with top honors at Kyoto-2 International -"

"Great. A newbie and from out of town. Let me spell it out for you." The man  
loomed closer to the microphone. "We know about loyalty here. This is a NERV  
town. I feed my family out of NERV money. Most of us, in some way, work for  
NERV. And NERV is in the business of -_SAVING THE WORLD_-." He turned to  
the camera. "You're doing a good jo so far, Shinji! The sun's still there, the birds are  
singing! Keep it up!"

Behind him the reporter made gestures to kill the feed.

If she was expecting better reactions from the JSSDF, she was disappointed.

"But the efforts of the military so far have proven ineffective. Don't you feel anything  
about Shinji Ikari making you look obsolete?"

"Are you kidding me? That kid rocks hardcore at a level I can hardly believe. Did  
you see the way that Eva was running up on rooftops? Did you see the way he  
finished off that Angel?!"

"... well, if he wasn't showing off so much, then perhaps the battle could have been  
ended faster and with less loss of-"

The soldier laughed. He turned around, repeated what was said to his buddies, and  
they began laughing as well. "If the kid had been stupid enough to run down the  
hill to stab at the Angel and get stabbed himself, yeah, I'd hate him a little bit. But  
he did the sensible thing and stuck to his guns until the last moment."

"The guns proved ineffective, didn't they? If he could have ended it earlier with just  
the knife..."

"He'd have gotten himself skewered." The soldier shook his head. "You civilians  
just don't get it. Do you really think we go out to fight and die just for a salary?  
That we bleed and die for glory?

Well, -_BEEP_- YOU!

There's no -beeping- glory. There's only living for the next day and killing the other  
guy! We all saw that, that kid tried his -_beeping_- best to kill the -beeping- Angel  
without being -_beeping_- killed in return. He knew it, -_beep_- it! He knew that he  
died there, if he tried to play the stupid shounen hero, then who's gonna be there  
to stop the next stupid -_beeper_- that comes?!"

His buddies actually had to wrestle him to the ground to keep him from being too  
agitated. He continued even there. "It makes me sick! I lost friends to that -_beeping_-  
Angel, and they say that no one really had to die! And these -_beepers_- are pissed  
because they're losing -_money-_?! The -_beeping_- kid on a -_beeping_- giant robot  
stepped on a -_beeping_- bank or crushed a -_beeping_- mall?! They're alive! Shouldn't  
that count for something?! "

"Um... maybe you better go away for a while, Miss..." said another trooper. "You're  
not helping things."

Rika Izuna left, frowning. Oh, she'd provoked a reaction, all right. Not just what she  
wanted. There were simply too many other journalists out there ready to sing praises  
to young Ikari. Her voice would be lost in that cacophony. A negative viewpoint kept  
things balanced. The only way a reporter of her caliber could become part of history  
was to destroy a legend. She'd be there to point out to the people that all gods were  
dead and no true heroes walked the earth. And they would remember her and thank  
her, for making the world sensible again.

This, she believed.

She seethed as she walked away. She just had to find Ikari's feet of clay.

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All of this was in thanks to a recent crop of amateur journalists/idiots with cameras,  
who refused to go down into the shelters. Shinji's plan was to take the Angel only  
to the commercial and industrial areas, in short destroying only the buildings of  
those who could afford to rebuild. Fortunes and legacies were wiped out in an  
instant; but no one died.

Public opinion could not decide whether to crucify Ikari, deify him, or sometimes  
even both at once.

Needless to say, Gendo was not pleased when he returned. He expected to find a  
pilot almost crushed in the pressure of his role, not such total devastation and a  
media frenzy. SEELE would be pissed, he thought. They would have to find a way  
to pay for all of the damage.

In a brief private moment admitting to human frailty, Gendo rubbed a headache in  
the darkness of his office. "How could you let this happen, Kozo?"

"What's wrong, Ikari? I followed your scenario to the letter. If the damage ever  
reaches beyond a certain point, have the pilot 'reminded' of his priorities." The  
white-haired man looked up. "This far exceeded that point."

"These people are insane..." said Gendo. Logically predicting the movement of a  
group should be easier than that of an individual. The larger the mass, the better.  
This came from right outside of his predictions. He took off his glasses and rubbed  
his eyes.

"ah, you must embrace the power of youth, Ikari. As I have."

"... you're older than I am, sensei."

"Your physical age doesn't matter. As long as you feel young inside, then the world  
is always full of possibilities. Every change can be a delight."

"... sensei. Stop trying to piss me off."

Kozo Fuyutsuki knew better than to laugh. Standing behind Gendo he was free to  
smirk all he wanted, though.

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Reactions of the elder and younger Ikari were pretty much the same. "These people  
are insane!" said Shinji to his friends, as he fled into the safety of his school. In  
recognizing that even a robot pilot needed a good education, his studies were  
sacred neutral ground for the post-Impact Japanese psyche.

Kensuke was nearly in tears. He could die now; and told them so. He had not only  
seen the awesome but felt it it in his hands and drove it into an enemy's heart. He  
could die happy having piloted an Eva.

"But what about other things. Like.. guns, girls?" asked Toji, the more sober of the  
two.

"Feh."

"...'suke, sometimes you scare even me."

Shinji looked out the window at the literal campground of reporters waiting outside.  
He could understand those who hated him, those who didn't really care one way or  
another... but those who followed him around just hoping for a word; a touch?

'_These people need something to believe in, something larger. That all their loss was  
for a worthy cause. They need it. Something that gives meaning to their lives rather  
than waking up to the knowledge of the everyday pain that is LIFE itself_.' whispered  
Chaos. '_They need a figure to worship or kill. You will be that figure_.'

_'... but I'm just a kid. I can't give them what they want!'_

The Chaos Marine didn't answer back. Rather; 'Why so silent, astartes? Have you  
finally come into the realization that the Emperor had to do much the same thing?  
Out of all the horrors in the Galaxy and in themselves, the people could suffer it all  
gladly had they something to keep their hopes in; outside of their own frail, weak  
selves. That was what the gold in his armor was for, all the ostentation. How dare  
he stand there, so vast, so wise, so powerful, so damned PERFECT and chastise  
us for calling him a God? What does it matter? Humanity needed a God, and got it,  
even after his death."

Still the Space Marine did not respond.

"_The Gods in Chaos are ACTIVE gods, living gods, bubbling with power. Call out  
and they respond. Worship, and they answer. They are NOT the dessicated, self-  
decieving husk that humanity deludes itself into a being that protects_." The Chaos  
Marine laughed. "_In the end, all the plans unravels, as the God who Is Not a God  
dies on his Golden Throne. My Gods are forever. And I shall see to it the bright lor-_"

DAKKA!

The Space Marine put down his bolter. "_Frak this; for my faith is a shield proof  
against your blandishments._"

Both bolter round and Chaos face were made of the same materials; ie, imagination,  
so no true damage was done. Silence remained in Shinji's skull for the rest of the  
day; as both personalities warred their old grievances, while the other two thought  
up some popcorn and watched the fun.

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Ritsuko Akagi had a headache.

Gendo Ikari was back, and to relieve -_his_- headache, made more and more use of  
her valuable time. There was the fact that Shinji and and his two classmates had  
managed to combine their synchronizations and attack as one; an event long  
theorized but unproven until that moment. It brought into question what the AT-field  
really was and how the Eva generated it. True, an extra 20 percent from each was not  
much, but it was enough to cross over the one hundred percent sync barrier.

She wondered why Shinji didn't show anything like a sympathetic wound from the  
Angel. Perhaps it was diluted across three minds and thus had less effect? This  
could bring into the table again the proposal for a multi-pilot Evangelion, though  
cursedly complex and impractical that was.

There was still the analysis of the Angel corpse.

She groaned.

"Aww, poor Rits-chan. Shall I kiss it and make it better?"

She turned to see Misato there by the doorway, holding two cups of coffee. Coffee!  
Ah, old irresponsible, yet dependable Misato. She hadn't changed. Ritsuko held too  
many secrets she just had to pretend to be the same.

"Misato. I love you. Now give me!" she said in a loud enough whisper. She grabbed  
a cup eagerly. "Oh, thank you; thank you." She breathed in the aroma.

The other woman grinned. "Yep, same old Ritsuko. If I weren't around, you'd end  
up marrying your desk. So- whatch'a got?"

Ritsuko waved at the screen. "Do you see that number blinking there? That means  
unanalyzable."

"So you don't actually have anything new?"

The scientist sighed. "Unfortunately, you are correct. We do know the Angel is  
composed of matter which has the properties of both particles and waves, just like  
light."

"um... what?"

"Do you remember that energy whip the Angel had? It can alter its own physical  
properties using its AT-field in ways we never concieved of." She grit her teeth.  
"When Unit 01 spat at the angel and its body started to melt, we knew then that  
another AT field can corrode its cohesive structure." She looked up. "Before you  
ask; no. The Evangelion does not now have 'acid spit'. It's a function of the AT-  
field, nothing more."

"Well, you did find its power source, didn't you?" Misato asked hopefully. "Maybe  
we can have the Eva fight for more than five minutes..."

Ritsuko sighed. "If only we had something like that. I've got nothing on its working  
mechanism."

She felt Misato's arms wrap around her, and her friend's breath on the nape of her  
neck. "Ritsuko... I'm afraid. I'm afraid for Shinji. We've reached something beyond  
our experience, haven't we?"

"The world is full of mysteries, Misato." was her reply. She patted the captain's arm  
on her shoulders. "... someday we humans will know all of them. And on that day  
we'll finally look inward to figure out our own secrets." Such as why a brilliant mind  
such as myself would continue to whore out her own body to such a bastard. She  
relaxed there, for a moment, in the warmth of someone who still thought the best of  
her; someone who couldn't really judge.

This was the scene that Maya walked into. The young lieutenant gasped and  
dropped her disks. "Oh! I'm sorry, sempai... Misato-san... for... interrupting. I'll  
just go now..."

Ritsuko turned and frowned. "What are you talking about, Maya? We've still got  
plenty of work to do." Then, she realized what it looked like. She felt a laugh escape  
her. So ridiculous. Her assistant looked so red; so innocent in her ways. She tapped  
the limbs around her neck."Oh, let go; would you, Misato?"

The other woman laughed as well. "It's not what it looks like, really. Rits-chan and I  
have been through a lot. We're old friends, almost like sisters, you'd say."

"Obviously, I'm the more responsible one." Ritsuko added dryly. "The one that has  
all the honors and she's the one the parents actually focus on since she so obviously  
needs the help."

Misato prodded her friend. "That's mean! And yet, accurate." She turned to Maya.  
"Don't you remember your own wacky college years?"

"yes... " said Maya numbly. "whacky..." _Error; does not compute_. Wacky and  
Maya just did not belong in the same sentence. She stood there looking at the two  
women, dynamic in their familiar and comfortable friendship. She briefly had a  
misty vision of Ritsuko-sempai balling up her fists and saying in a plaintive voice up  
to another; "... neechan. Neh? Neechan?"

Maya shook her head quickly to clear it. She felt blood rushing to her nose.

"Um... I have the reports you asked for, sempai."

"Good." Ritsuko put back on her glasses. "Which ones are those?"

"About the Angel's inherent wave pattern sempai. Look!" the young woman loaded  
up the data excitedly. "Although the constituent elements are really different from  
humanity's, the arrangement and coordinates of the signals are extremely like  
humanity's genes: 99.89 percent..."

"And that says...?" Misato asked.

"That says our body of knowledge is really shallow." Ritsuko answered. "And yet  
this explains something I was bothered about."

"What's that?"

"Unit 01 had difficulty handling the Angel until the other two boys added their own  
sync pattern. Didn't Shinji report something about his own AT-field being easily  
bypassed by the enemy? This here could mean that not only can humanity match  
an Angel's AT-field (with the Evangelion), it could mean that every AT-field, like  
a fingerprint, is unique."

The NERV captain leaned over and frowned at the data. "Interesting. But what  
does that mean for us?"

"It means that we need to find a way to cycle the Evangelion's field pattern or Shinji  
will be vulnerable again to another Angel."

"Thank you, Ritsuko." said Misato, her gratitude true.

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Back at school, it was time for physical education. The boys had their turns at  
basketball, the girls had swimming. The best part of the exercise was the waiting  
in between their turns; the boys lounged about the grassy bank looking over the  
pool and the girls in their bathing suits below.

"... the girls..." said Toji. "They are all developing such lovely shapes."

The girls had other thoughts about this exercise, of course. "I hate this part! Look!  
They're at it again!"

"Look at Suzuhara! He's got this weird look in his eye."

"He's actually looking here? Stormtrooper Suzuhara? With him keeping anyone  
from talking to Shinji, I thought he was gay!" The girls all giggled.

Toji's eyebrows twitched. That exchange hadn't been at a gossipy whisper at all!  
He stood up and gave them the finger. "SCREW YOU, WOMEN!"

"HA! YOU WISH!" was the reply.

"Now... let's not provoke the animals, girls." someone said from behind the row of  
jeering girls. A freckled face peeked out and smirked at Toji. He immidiately sat  
back down. "Suzuhara can't stop himself from being such a monkey."

"Hikari!" one of the other girls exclaimed. "Ooh! I'm so envious. You're Inner Circle  
now. We thought you might think yourself too good to be with us anymore... come  
on, girl. Share the word. What's Shinji-sama like?"

The girl looked confused. "Inner circle?"

"You sit with them every day at lunch, don't you?" said another girl, tall and well-  
built with her dark hair plaited into two long pigtail strands. "Don't think we can't see  
you feeding Aida and Suzuhara and even Shinji-sama. They must really like your  
cooking if they won't accept anyone else's offerings."

Hikari sighed. "... actually, Ikari-kun's cooking is even better than mine's. He knows  
hundreds of recipes, both native and foreign."

Squeals greeted that tidbit of information. "Can anyone be even more perfect?!"

Hikari sighed again. Sitting with the boys made her realize just how little they knew  
or expected from her gender. For all that talk of perversion, sex didn't really enter  
into the question; it was so ridiculously easy to pound it out of their heads. She  
repressed a '_bwa-ha-ha-ha!_' of her newly-discovered power. It was so simple; as if  
Shinji had given her the authority to seek out and punish. He couldn't do it to his  
friends; they were -his- friends, and were too precious. He could never harm them,  
either physically or emotionally. But her - she could do it. She was class monitor.  
She knew the line between fun and folly.

She was always there, everpresent, as if she'd always been there. Watching the  
people around Ikari. Sending Suzuhara here and there. Answering Aida's questions  
and telling him when to stop. Inquisitor Horaki; someone had started that trend and  
even behind her back the other girls watched their words. She was their only link to  
Ikari and the strangely removed world he moved in. She was his link to their own  
flightful, carefree days. More than anyone she saw how Shinji Ikari was; more  
afraid to be with so many others than in the familiar silence of being alone.

"Ooh! Ooh! Shinji-sama's actually looking here too!" a girl said out loud. She  
grabbed her closest friend. "Come here, Mayu-chan!"

"Asa-chan, what are you- eek!" the girl screeched as the other began rubbing her  
body against hers.

"Look at us, Shinji-sama!" she yelled out.

And Shinji did look. Hikari saw his face, though subtly indistinct in the distance. He  
was smiling. He bowed his head a bit.

"Um... okay, maybe we shouldn't do this." said the excitable girl. "I feel naughty."

All the other girls let out a scandalized "ooooh!". The girl from before only shook  
her head. "No, not naughty as in sexy. Naughty like I've been bad." She turned to  
look up at the small hillrise. "It's like I can almost hear his voice in my head, saying  
'_You don't have to do that, Sato-san. I'll gladly fight for you anytime_.'"

She stood aside, put her palms together and bowed to him. The other girls all stood  
in line and followed suit. They went back to their practice and away to the pool.  
Only Hikari was left there by the fence. And of course, Rei.

"Guys... I said I don't necessarily need to have romantic feelings for Rei-san, right?"  
Shinji asked.

"Yeah, sure." replied Toji, staring up at the sky. Kensuke was fiddling with his  
camera again and replaying over and over the final parts of the Eva battle-the one  
he took part in.

"Well, let me just say I -like- Ayanami-san. She's a girl and she makes sense. She  
doesn't scare me like all these other girls. When she says something, it's what she  
believes. She's not strong one moment and weepy the next. I can depend on her."  
He was looking at Ayanami, who of course wasn't looking back. "About the only  
other girl I can so depend on is Horaki-san."

"Yeah... class rep's cool like that." said Toji, while idly chewing on a blade of grass.  
He could just hear her shouting 'Suzuhara! Get that out of your mouth! No wonder  
people treat you like an animal!'

Kensuke shut his camera. "Is it odd that the women we like to hang around with are  
those who can concievably kick our asses? I mean, there's the beautiful and capable  
Misato-san who Shinji here lives with. There's Ayanami who broke your nose.  
Then, class rep who's just tough in that way without losing the essential girliness."

"The eternal paradox, man." replied Toji. "Men have a hard time as it is trying to  
get why we like the women we like, so there's no chance for us to understand them  
at all."

"Well, I think it's rather easy." said Shinji with a smile.

Toji turned. "... really?"

"Sure. Don't piss 'em off and you're all right."

"... and what do we do so as not to piss them off?"

"I don't know. Just don't. And you'll be all right."

The jock laughed. Then choked on the blade of grass. Damn! So class rep had a  
good reason for all that nagging after all. "... truly, your wisdom knows no bounds."

Shinji grinned, completely comfortable with his friends. "I try. I try."

"Say, Shinji- about that thing you asked me about..." Kensuke started to say.

Toji stood up and dusted off his shorts. "Okay, maybe I better go away for a while."

"You don't have to." said both Kensuke and Shinji. The pilot continued. "It's nothing  
that can talk here."

"Yeah, well... I'm bored. There has to be other things to do other than to listen in to  
your conversations. Sheesh. I've sat through enough of Kensuke's monologues. I  
can recognize the signs of one ready to start."

Kensuke nodded. Unfortunately, true.

"Maybe I'll go over and talk to class rep, clear my name." Toji added. "It's not  
enough to Guard you and Ayanami. I've got a feeling class rep's gonna need it too  
after a while. Dude, girls can get -nasty- in ways we boys can only get nightmares  
about."

"You know, if I didn't know better I'd say you're getting sweet on Horaki."

"Hey, screw you, Kensuke!"

"Bullet to the brain, Toji. Bullet to the brain." The glasses-wearing boy put a finger  
to his head and grinned. Toji walked away swaggering with insulted dignity.

"So... what did you find out?" Shinji asked.

Kensuke shrugged. "Sorry, Shinji. That's the problem. I hooked up to everything  
that's left of the International Network. I couldn't find anything about that game you  
wanted. Now, I'm not saying that it never existed, since you were pretty sure it was  
popular at some point... but we've got to work with the fact that what used to be  
the United Kingdoms and Great Britain is now just Little Scotland and Parts of  
Ireland."

The pilot sighed. He tuned out the rest of Kensuke's rant about the state of the  
world and the decline of free thought (most notably the Internet, with major portions  
reclaimed by the military). He didn't hope for much. This meant however that his  
pieces were now that much more precious beyond just sentimental value. They were  
likely the very last of their kind left in the world. He just didn't know what to feel  
about that.

"I did find something about Warcraft, but nothing about Warhammer. You just gave  
me a name, Shinji. Maybe if I had more details, I could pull something from the Net.  
So, what's it about?"

Shinji lay back on the ground. For far too long, he'd held it close to his heart as his  
own secret; the security blanket of hoary knowledge. It was day and yet the moon  
was already in the sky; white on blue.

"Tomorrow..." he said.

As expected, the only one unaffected by all of this was Rei Ayanami. The reporters  
tried to get her angle, but the girl merely ignored them. When they got too persistent  
she told them "I was ordered to tell you that continued attempts at harrassing me will  
have you arrested. Anyone that touches me will be shot."

She meant it. Like Ikari, she never willfully lied.

It was for this that Ayanami remained still an unknown, unwanted; no one followed  
her, no one even realized where she lived.

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Maya was a surprise. "Hey, not that I mind, but what happened to Ritsuko?" asked  
Misato.

The lieutenant bowed slightly. "Sorry. Ritsuko-sempai really wanted to accept your  
invitation to 'hang out like in the old days' and 'divorce the damn desk, dammit' but  
she was called up to the Commander's office for a meeting. She sent me instead."

"Tch." Misato scratched herself. "It's always something with her. Well, come on in."

Maya, for her part, was still trying to deal with that Katsuragi Misato-san, bossy  
Operations Director of NERV, dressed indoors in a belly-revealing tank top. And  
apparently, no bra. She highly admired Shinji. Now she deeply envied him.

Inside, she was surprised to see how clean it was. Misato had that look of cheerful  
disorder, very much young and glowing in that way. The apartment was clean and  
bright that was almost... what was the word? Happy? Gay. Shinji Ikari sat there at  
the table, holding on to a cup of tea. His hands seemed so dainty, but more than  
anyone at NERV Maya knew the furious power in them; and in his face so placid  
she knew well the brute determination that lurked within. It was all so French  
romantique, she thought. A study of contrasts.

Oh, and there was a penguin.

Maya yelped and jumped back to the shut door as Pen-pen gave a 'wark!' of  
greetings.

"Oh, don't mind him. It's just Pen-pen. I thought you would know about him by  
now."

Maya shook her head. She knew much about her own sempai's odd fondness for  
cats despite her allergy to them, but she should have realized that her sempai's best  
friend would have her own pet oddities.

"Wark!" said Pen-pen, looking at her with such dark and oddly intelligent eyes.

Maya sat down at the low table. Shinji stood up. "Well, if Ritsuko-sensei's not  
coming, then I guess I can serve lunch now."

"Lunch?" she asked. "Shinji cooks?"

Misato took a swig of beer. "Yeah, sure. Shinji cooks." She frowned. "Won't even  
have me touch a frying pan. My cooking's not that bad!"

"Wark!" said Pen-pen.

"Thank you for agreeing with me."

"Wark!" the penguin said again and shaked his head.

"What? You have betrayed me for a new master! How could you!"

"Wark? Wark wark!" The penguin tapped his beak on the empty cup next to him.  
"Wark!"

"Oh, sorry Pen-pen."

She poured some Yebisu out from her can into it. The penguin began to drink.

"Wark!" said Pen-pen. "Wark wark warrk wark!"

"Well, yeah."

Maya was saved from the surrealism by Shinji's arrival. He came bearing three  
plates with what looked like strips of vegetables, tomatoes and other things on it;  
slathered over with rich sauce. Meaty garnishes rounded out the generous portions.  
It was a creative reversal. It looked right out of a restaurant!

"What... what is this?" asked Maya. She put a spoon to her mouth and nearly  
fainted right there.

"It's called ratatouille, a simple French dish as far as the French can make anything  
simple. I just had the strangest urge to make it today for some reason."

"Mmm... I'm sure Ritsuko's going to really regret not coming here. What, did she  
expect I'd cook instant noodles with curry or something?"

Shinji shivered with dread. "Thank you Misato-san, but no."

"... if rei didn't already have you, i'd snap you right up..."

"Excuse me? I can't understand what you're saying, Maya-san."

She chewed rapidly and swallowed what was in her mouth. The lieutenant blushed.  
"I mean... sempai gave me something for you, Shinji-kun." She took out a laminated  
plastic card. "It's Rei's new access key. She said that you're going to meet up with  
her sooner or later anyway in school or at work it would be convenient if could give  
it to her." Maya chose not to mention the rather vindictive gleam she had seen in  
Ritsuko's eyes.

Shinji took it, and over the table stared down at it.

"What's the matter?" Misato asked teasingly. "You're staring at her photo, aren't  
you?"

She was delighted to see him blush. "No! I mean..." Shinji sighed. "Yes."

Maya couldn't help but to put in "It looks like Shinji-kun has quite a crush on our  
Rei-chan."

Misato laughed. "They do grow up so fast, don't they?!" She turned to look at  
Maya. "OUR Rei-chan? Are you trying to tell me something, Maya?"

The young woman nearly fainted again. "We- we're colleauges, aren't we? And he's  
supposed to be the target, not meee...!"

Misato howled and slapped her thighs. Then, she leaned over and slapped Maya's  
thighs. "It's good to see you're not just a wallflower like you look! Let's get wild!  
This was how it used to be, you know. Rits-chan had that sardonic wit. I'd provide  
the openings in conversation for her to close with such scapel accuracy. Poor boys  
in front of us never stood a chance..." She stopped suddenly, her expression falling.  
Until. Damn Kaji.

She perked up again and turned to Shinji. "Well, this gives you a reason to go visit  
her home, doesn't it?!"

"Misato-san. Please stop teasing me..."

"But you make it so much fun!" She took another swig of beer, and as that can left  
her face her expression was slightly more serious. "It's a good chance. You pilots  
don't really know much about each other. It's a good time to bond. You need to  
know who it is you're fighting with..."

Shinji smiled. "Yes, Misato-san."

Misato beamed and saluted him with a splash of Yebisu. "So, go ahead and make  
friends! Bond! Forge a relationship that will stand the test of time! Don't worry  
about the dishes after this. Me and Maya can handle it; give -_us_- a chance to bond."  
She grinned, catlike suddenly. "Consider it an order, pilot Ikari."

"I understand, Misato-san!" _Aah! I need moral support! I'm not going out there into  
that emotional minefield that easily_. He realized that over the weeks, he and Rei  
did not really exchange much conversation other than their declarations of mutual  
protection until death.

It was sad, really; he thought.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

He could not believe it. Ayanami Rei was a pilot of an Evangelion; tasked with saving  
the entire human race from destruction. He had overheard that repairs on the  
Evangelion alone could bankrupt a small nation. NERV not only had the capability  
to make repairs on the Evas but to house them, research them, manufacture new  
parts for them. It was a massively expensive operation.

There was no reason then, that Ayanami, pilot of Eva Unit Zero, should live in such  
a dump!

No way. 'Did Misato-san know?' he thought. 'Probably not. She would never have  
stood for this.' Shinji had to walk up flights of stairs as the elevators were broken.  
The walls were dirty; stained with rust, moss, and dried urine. The higher he went  
the worse it got. 'Does anyone else live here?' Again, most likely not.

On one hand, that made him somewhat relieved. That was a little added layer of  
security for Rei. On the other hand - that layer might as well be a micron thick! This  
was no security at all! She was an Evangelion pilot! What the hell?!

The more he walked, the angrier he got. It got so that he entirely forgot about being  
tired as he went over to her floor. It all hit him suddenly as he stopped in front of  
her door. As he he tried to catch his breath he looked at all the jammed-up and  
ignored magazines at Ayanami's door. It was a variety of sporting mags, unlike what  
a girl like Ayanami would read. Therefore; she hadn't. However, by that several of  
the issues were successive, it appeared that she... or someone in that room... once  
had a subscription.

The door creaked open under his hand. Shinji's eyes widened. His pulse began to  
rise. Her door was unlocked! A variety of worst-case scenarios began to run  
through his mind. This was a vastly unsafe neighborhood. For a door to be left  
unlocked...

"AYANAMI!" he shouted, rushing in."IT'S ME! SHINJI! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"  
It was a dismal room. He saw bandages and blood on her bed. "AYANAMI!"

"Yes?"

Wham!

They collided, just as Shinji was turning and Rei getting out of the shower. As was  
expected, they both fell to the floor. Shinji grabbed away at whatever could support  
his weight, and instead affixed his right arm on something warm and soft and round.

They remained still; Shinji in shock and Rei from the sharp pain at the back of her  
head.

_'Move, dammit! MOVE!_' Shinji commanded his body. It just. Would not. Obey.

His heart was pounding. His breath was getting faster. He had an - '_What do I do?  
Aah she's gonna hate me forever! What do I do?_' he screamed within.

'_Shinji! Shinji, you -must- listen to me!_' came an urgent female voice. Oh! Farseer-  
sensei... Shinji nodded. Help me. '_First, you must move your thumb in a circle then  
pinch-_'

Shinji was off that breast as if his hand was on fire.

'_It was YOU ALL ALONG?!_' he screamed silently. '_Those strange urges?!_'

The Eldar hung her head, ashamed. Her cheeks were surely burning behind her mask.

'_Did I not tell you?! Tzeench. Khorne. NOT Slaanesh.'_ the Chaos Marine yelled  
out. '_Why did you not believe me?! Was it not I that said it comes as no surprise  
that perversion FLOWS from the Race that spawned Slaanesh?_'

"_Yoz Chaos_.' said the warboss simply.

'Y_our impeccable logic DEFEATS me._' the Chaos Marine sighed in assent.

Rei began to stand up, revealing fully herself in all nakedness, giving Shinji the  
knowledge that yes, it was all natural and- "Why are you here, pilot Ikari?"

Pick an emotion! Spin the wheel! Oh, look! Indignation! Let's give a hand to our  
happy contestants! Shame! And Arousal! "What in the warp?! Later! First, why in  
the warp do you just leave your door unlocked?! Do you always walk around  
-naked- in your apartment?!"

"The lock is broken." Rei said simply. "Not often." as an answer to his second  
question.

Shinji put down his strangely accusing finger and the frantic look in his face faded as  
Rei began to dress herself_. 'She starts with her socks, then her panties and- I DO  
NOT NEED TO MEMORIZE THIS!' _he shouted within and closed his eyes.

'_Too late._' said the Farseer. 'What is done cannot be undone.'

'_Someday you and I are going to have a TALK at just how much influence I can  
allow you people._' He felt something else from the Farseer. '_Why Rei? I -know-  
you. The Eldar do not do anything without any ulterior motive.'_

'_You -know- me. And you -know- her. -See- her_.'

Shinji opened his eyes and beheld Rei. She dressed without concern of his eyes.  
She moved with easy, economical precision. And he saw in there the results of  
something horrid. She was beautiful like glass, and like it had cracked it seemed  
beyond repair.

'_Her soul is bound in chains.._.' said the Farseer. '_Chains that bind her to your father.'_

She has no modesty. Just as he knew his environment and his exposure to the sheer  
mindwarping nature of the dark future in the 41st millenium shaped him; what sort of  
environment could shape a beautiful young girl without any idea of modesty or  
personal safety?

The answer was quick and damning. An abusive one.

It did not have to be sexual, but he could See that wouldn't be too far off. He stood  
up and took a deep breath. "Ayanami-san. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to -"

She walked past him.

"Ayanami-san!" He had to run to catch up. She's walking awfully fast. Is she upset?  
She has to be upset. "Ayanami-san! Wait up! Please, listen to me."

Rei continued to walk, heedless of him. Shinji had to content with matching her pace  
a few steps behind; his brain a-churning with thoughts. Finally, as they were out on  
the street nearing one of NERV's entry points he called out "AYANAMI! HALT!"

She stopped, reflexively obeying the order. Shinji walked to in front of her, his face  
set into a commanding mask. "You will need this, Ayanami-san." he handed over  
the new card. She nodded and took it. Just as she was about to walk past again,  
he added. "On a level of one to ten, with ten being the Commander, how would you  
rate my authority in NERV?"

She stopped. "One."

"Misato?"

"Five."

"Yours?"

"Three."

"Do you have to obey me?"

"No, I do not."

"Then why did you say you would protect me?"

"It is my duty."

"Were you ordered to do this?"

"No."

"Then why did you say it?"

She turned to look at him. "Because you have said you will protect me. You are  
the son of Commander Ikari."

"Does that make me more valuable than you are?"

"I can be replaced. You cannot."

Shinji fought back a frown. "On a priority level, using a similar scale, how urgent is it  
for you protect me?"

"Seven."

"Protecting yourself?"

"One."

"Redefine that. How can you protect me if you are inacapable of protecting yourself?  
I may be used as leverage against Commander Ikari. As the pilot of the only fully  
functional Evangelion, even NERV and humanity may be at risk.

"I have readjusted my priorities. My need to protect you is now at nine."

"What is at ten?"

"Obey the orders of Commander Ikari." There was something else she didn't say.

"Direct orders?"

"Yes."

Shinji clenched his fists. Gendo, Gendo, what have you done? Gendo, Gendo, how  
many ways can I kill you? '_He has shaped her well, like a puppet. She is completely  
COMPLIANT to his desires.'_

_'How can I free her from her chains?'_

'_The simplest and quickest would be to CLAIM her for your own, before your father  
can complete his mark._'

_'No_.' Shinji could follow that train of thought. Well did Slaanesh own its worshippers.

'It is the simplest but NOT the best. It is what your father has done. It is strong, yet  
inflexible. As you would break it, so easily could others do so. There is another, and  
the witch and I agree. Break her chains one by one. Set her FREE. Tie her to you  
with LOYALTY, nor servitude.'

_'She believes herself loyal to my father.'_

'_That is NOT loyalty. It is slavery. It robs her of the power she could weild. Power  
that could be used in your name instead.'_

Shinji and Rei both suddenly turned to look at the distance. There was brief surprise  
in her face. '_He can sense it too? He is but a human.'_

"Ayanami. We must talk later."

She nodded.

Both went into NERV.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

-end chapter four part 1-

Well, there it is. I've got things planned, but for now keeping it all low-key. Upon these simple passages may I build more expansive plotline arcs later. I've tried in this part of the chapter to reveal some character growth. Rei can do more than just parrot what Shinji says in an attempt to 'fix' her. Nothing frags up the perception of self like the Socratic approach. The analogy with glass is apt. The only way those cracks in her identity can be removed is for her personality to be melted down and remade into something new. It would be a hard and painful process, as Shinji might need to 'break' her even more thoroughly.

:shrugs:

As far as I can see it. That part about Evangelion being subject to interpretation by every viewer is what keeps it an anime landmark.

Did you see it? My works tend to be ridiculously self-referencing. I set up that scene with the Eldar waay back in Chapter One. I don't know if that's pathetic(1) or what. It's what 'slows down' the story despite update speed. Every line may be the setup for a joke or scene later on. Argh. Why can't I just surge ahead pell-mell to the finish like other authors? I know I've said that perfection is built on lesser things but I've seen others just plow right through deadlines putting every turn of phrase perfectly into place. I'm still learning. At this rate I have no idea how long it will be before Asuka enters the picture.

Anyways, expect the next part a day or so after tomorrow/this post date. Action scenes are rather easier to write.

Later days;  
-Bpen

(1)yes, that's a prevaling view in many writer's workshops. It's called 'the joy in oneself'(2), a celebration of one's wit instead of just telling the goddamn story. It's excusable in humor, but not in other books. Which might be why everything I touch has to have some humor in it.

(2)Eh. Another bad pun. Sorry.


	7. Chapter 6: Beyond the Heart part2

Beyond The Heart

part 2

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

Ramiel neared Tokyo Three. It floated slowly; massive, blue and diamondlike. It  
fired with its wickedly powerful beam at anything that came close. It approached as  
if saying 'I saw what happened to Sachiel and Shamsel. Close combat? Fuck that!  
I'm staying out here with a long range attack and angled armor so that thing can't get  
at me'.

"We're not going to use Unit Zero?" Misato asked. "I thought it was fully repaired?"

"No, it's still in the testing phase. It would take too long to reconfigure it for battle.  
The enemy's just entering Tokyo 3 airspace right now." was Ritsuko's reply.

The Operations Director looked at the monitor showing the Eva cages. Once more  
into the breach, Shinji. Be safe.

"Preparations complete!" said Makoto.

"Launch Evangelion!" she commanded.

Machine spirit, let us fight as one; thought Shinji. This time, while the same rage  
and hunger stirred, there was now some recognition. He -knew- the Eva and the  
Eva -knew- him. Unit 01 soared up towards the surface, impatient.

"High-energy reaction detected inside the target!" Shigeru shouted suddenly. He  
pushed aside some of his long hair; it was a wonder they hadn't forced him to get  
a haircut yet. "It's converging along its radial point... emerging! Oh, shit!"

"Shinji! DODGE IT!" Misato shouted.

"Misato-san? Wha-"

In another time, he would have been caught unprepared. Shinji managed to cross  
the Eva's arms over its head and raise the strongest AT field he could muster. The  
attack splashed upon a red hexagonal plane, and was amazingly deflected. The  
beam shot out to the side- burning a hole right through a city block; perfectly round  
from building to building until it began to burrow into a mountain.

Still the Eva and the Angel struggled; the beam continued and the field held up.  
Below however, was another story.

"Power reserves are dropping rapidly!" Maya said. "The Evangelion is draining too  
much power to hold its AT-field!"

"The capacitors can't handle it!" added Makoto.

The Eva was forced to its knees. The bright lance of energy began to spark around  
it; carving up all things around the Evangelion as minute perturbations in the field  
changed its angle of deflection. It was this chaos in the field that kept it at bay; for  
otherwise it would have matched Shinji's known AT-field and simply blown right  
through it to vaporise his Eva.

The NERV command center shook, as explosions happened below ground. "The  
capacitors are blowing! They can't handle the supersurge response to the drain!"  
Makoto shouted.

"Recall the Eva!" was Misato's order.

The control officer punched at a button that started to reverse the electromagnetic  
catapult. Shinji yelled out as he felt his last reserves of strength being drained. The  
very last of the Eva line's capacitors blew as it sank belowground; the AT-field  
failed, but the beam only managed to clip Unit 01's left chest plate. Sophisticated  
armor melted instantly and Shinji screamed as LCL temperature rose. It was soon  
over though; and in this instance he was able to leave the entry plug conscious and  
on his own.

"Shinji...!" Misato was there. "Are you all right?!"

"I'm... fine, Misato-san." He winced as he got out. "How damaged is the Eva?"

"We're not out of the fight yet. Just rest for a while. We've got planning to do."

He nodded weakly. He could not win his battles alone. He had to stand together with  
the others. Ever had cooperation and innovation been the strength of humanity.

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

It was a one of NERV's surface bunkers. Makoto stood beside Misato as her  
special adjutant, while far down below in the Eva bays Maya relayed comms  
to and from it through a specialized datapad.

"According to the data we've collected so far, it is presumed that the enemy  
automatically attacks objects within a certain range.." said the glasses-wearing  
lieutenant. "Its particle accelerator cannon will always target and fire at any object  
invading this area."

Misato sat with one leg crossed over the other; a deceptively relaxed pose. She  
responded flippantly when she saw both drone and induction cannons destroyed;  
both with pinpoint accuracy and from range.

"How about the AT-field?"

"Active. A strong enough field is present to make it visible by its phaseshift space."  
He sighed. "Any attack with cannons or suchlike would be as effective as throwing  
stones."

"... and with it right above Tokyo 3 we can't drop N2 mines at it. Tch." Misato  
licked her lips. "Ritsuko; how strong is that AT-field? Is it stronger than the Eva's  
AT-field?"

"With the enhancements I made, it can be assumed that they are equal. If you're  
hoping for a neutralized AT-field; it can be done... except for the fact that the Angel  
apparently has an infinite power source and we don't. The improved AT-field  
projection system drains far more power than it used to."

"Really? How much?"

Ritsuko turned to her assistant. "Maya?"

"Um. On average, normal operation of the chaotic pattern AT-field consumes 100  
percent more power; or double that of the standard AT field pattern. During the  
drain, it matched the output of the enemy's charged particle beam attack and had to  
increase its drain by around five hundred percent of that. Existing power connections  
were only able to hold this transfer for seventeen seconds before all the circuits  
collapsed."

Misato uncrossed her legs and leaned on her thighs; putting her hands together under  
her chin as if praying. "Both offense and defence are very slick... this thing's like a  
flying fortress. Defensive situation?"

"The target is just above us, penetrating into the Tokyo-3 City Zero Area. A gigantic  
probe with a diameter of 17.5 meters is heading for Nerv headquarters in the  
geofront."

"What's the ETA?"

One of the screens blanked out and displayed plain black figures. "At just past  
midnight, at 0:06:54, it will have breached all 22 levels of defensive armour and will  
penetrate Nerv headquarters." Makoto added.

"Damn. Less than ten hours left."

"Well, Misato? Should we send up a flag of truce?" Ritsuko asked sardonically.

"Not just yet. How's the pilot doing? Is he trying to listen in?"

"Um... he's on the other side of the Eva cage. According to the medical report, there  
was no permanent damage done other than perhaps increased nerve pulses due to  
hypersensitized skin."

Ritsuko smirked. "He was out there for less than twenty seconds and already much  
of rebuilt sections of the city are destroyed again."

Misato winced. "Does he know?"

"I don't think so." Maya responded. "He just looks so eager to have another shot at  
the Angel, no one had the heart to tell him."

Misato sighed. "I've been briefed. It's the unanimous decision of the city committee  
and this war plans directive that whatever manner I choose to destroy the Angel, it  
must be with Unit 01 from outside the city."

"I imagine that should limit your options, Misato."

"Not really. We can't close into the target anyway. I already have an idea..."

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

"Long distance attack from outside the target's range?" asked Fuyutsuki.

"Yes, sir." she responded. "A single point attack with a high energy convergence  
unit, without first neutralizing the target's AT-field. There's no other way."

"And what do the MAGI say?"

"The answers from Supercomputer Magi were two affirmative and one conditional  
affirmative."

"... this gets Unit 01 outside the city, doesn't it?"

Misato smiled sheepishly.

"There's no reason to reject it." Gendo responded grimly. "You may proceed,  
Captain Katsuragi."

She saluted. "Yes, sir!"

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

"You know you concocted an insane plan, right, Operations Director Katsuragi?"  
asked Ritsuko with a raised eyebrow. "By the calculations we performed and data  
from Unit 01's limited deflection of its attack, we will need at least 180 gigawatts of  
power to pierce its AT-field."

"Yeah, Makoto was moaning about not having any turbolasers on stock, whatever  
those things are."

"A laser won't help us here. The AT field seems hardly bothered by heat." The two  
women passed what looked like a massive rifle. "The positron cannon we have can't  
handle that much power."

"Then the answer is simple, isn't it? I'll just borrow one that can!"

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

Misato held up a sheaf of official papers. "For this reason, we, the Special Institute  
Nerv, hereby requisition this automatic positron cannon from 15:00 today."

"You... even if you want it, that's just insane!" mumbled the officer on duty.

Misato smiled her best charming smile. "We will do our best to return this in its  
original condition. Thank you very much for your cooperation."

"Wait... the prototype positron cannon is a long-range attack. This means Shinji  
Ikari-san will be attacking from outside the city, right?"

"Well, yes."

"Then, please take it with our compliments, Misato-san." The officer on duty and  
many of the technicians bowed gratefully.

Misato laughed weakly. "Well, Rei...? You can take it now. Be careful, it's fragile."

The Evangelion Unit Zero detached the hangar roof and reached into the building.  
It took the massive crate in its arms and set off back into NERV.

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

The notice about the planned blackout was spread all throughout Japan. Coolers  
and capacitors were brought out from all over, sometimes even ripped right out of  
power plants just for Misato's plan.

An atmosphere of optimism prevailed over Tokyo 3, and all NERV employees  
worked with tireless dedication. The faster it was done, the better. Not just for the  
sake of the human race; but that Shinji Ikari could actually take his Eva and get to  
outside the city as soon as possible.

Shinji was just astounded at their amazingly high morale in the face of such clear and  
present danger.

He felt a presence behind him. "Hello, Ayanami-san."

"I am here to inform you of the schedule of Operation Yashima."As always her tone  
was precise and apathetic. " It will begin at 0:00 AM, midnight.  
The two pilots, Ikari and Ayanami, will scramble at the cage at 17:30 today.  
At 18:00 PM, ready Units One and Zero.  
At 18:05 PM, launch.  
At 18:30 PM, arrive at the Emergency Base on Mt. Futagoyama.  
Wait there for further instructions.  
When the day changes, the operation starts."

Shinji nodded. "What time is it, Ayanami-san?"

"The last clock I passed read 14:35 hours."

"Do you always make it a point to watch the clocks, Ayanami-san?"

"Yes."

"And, by counting seconds, do you always know how fast you are walking?"

"Yes."

Shinji's grasp on the railing tightened. He had thought his life was empty before, but  
at least he had the sea. That sea which brought to him a world dreaming while in  
wakefulness; that sea that destroys time itself. He had never imagined someone  
could live in such hollow existence.

He took a deep breath and turned. "Then, it is Later. We must talk. Would you  
please sit with me over at the vending machines, Ayanami-san?"

She nodded. And so they sat there, drinking chilled tea. There was an empty blue  
bucket seat between them. Silence engorging itself upon minutes passed.

At finding his can half-full, Shinji asked "Have you always been so alone, Ayanami  
-san?"

Rei put aside her empty can. She had drank it, not quickly, but methodically. She  
took some time to consider. The answer, without a doubt, was yes. At the same  
time, she had to answer "No."

"Then please tell me who, for a time, took away your loneliness..."

And there; she told him.

She was a child, and the memories were dim, but through that veil of imperfect  
recall Rei could see a tall man in a black suit. He had a plain face, and seemed at  
all times frowning; but never at her. Those lines in his face crinkled into peaceful  
valleys. He was a Section 2 agent, tasked with guarding and tending to her. He had  
lived with her in that dingy old apartment that was originally his; when Tokyo 3 was  
new and it was filled with laborers and messy incomplete families.

She remembered him, for he was kind. She remembered him, for he was the only  
one she knew that had shouted angrily directly to Gendo's face.

This nameless Section Two agent, more than anyone, had raised her. He had taught  
her how to take care of herself, as a child learning the life skills that would serve her  
well later on. How to cook simply, how to deal with injuries, how to let the hours  
simply pass by. He taught her how to endure.

Then one day, he just... went away. She waited for his return and he never arrived.  
There was a knocking at the door, and then there was Gendo. He told her that she  
was finally old enough to start doing her duty for humanity.

She stood there and nodded. She had done as he asked ever since.

This was just after the contact experiment. Gendo suddenly had all the free time he  
needed to supervise her development.

"The one I do not remember has told me this: that we are all born to suffering. Both  
pain and joy are transient things. We must endure until the very end, for then we  
shall suffer no more forevermore. I am Rei and nirvana is within me."

She stared at Shinji with her eyes still red and unblinking, but somehow deeper now.  
"My purpose is the Evangelion. As I suffer I shall ask for nothing and need nothing.  
My purpose is me."

Shinji stared back. She was used to seeing pity, indifference, or outright scorn. What  
she saw in his gaze was something she couldn't identify, yet akin to all three. "It made  
him seem as immutable as the stars. "Prayer may cleanse the soul." he said at last.  
"But pain purifies the body."

She nodded. "You are correct, pilot Ikari."

"And -knowing- this, you pilot the Eva? Do you seek its pain? Does your own  
suffering seem muted in its own greater torment?"

"No."

"Why do you pilot it, if it doesn't ease your pain?"

"It is my bond."

"To what, my father?"

"To all people. To humanity."

Shinji dropped his drink; the can clattered and rolled. His limpid fingers twitched,  
and in his face was such frantic, lost desperation. "You are... strong, Ayanami."

"I have nothing else."

"...nothing?!" His expression was begging. "Surely there must be more to life."

"I need nothing more. It is my duty. It is enough."

Shinji stood up suddenly. "Ayanami... you are strong. But you are also a person.  
People are not tools! People are not weapons! People are not meant to be used as  
you have been used! Please, Ayanami. Tell me. Do you want to live?"

"My want is immaterial. I can be replaced."

Shinji stomped upon the dropped can, sending chilled tea spraying around his foot.  
Wetness splashed upon Rei's calves. Slight surprise showed in her expression. Shinji  
turned to look at her, his expression tight and furious. For a moment, she feared he  
might slap her. She had felt that before, from Gendo whom Shinji looked too much  
like at that moment; when she failed. She recognized it as negative reinforcement, for  
he had explained it carefully. Succeed and be rewarded. Fail and be punished.

_'How have I failed this time, Ikari-kun?'_

Shinji held his hand out. Rei put her own on top of it. His fingers grasped hers, and  
he half-dragged her back to the Eva cages - towards overlooking Eva 01.

He let go and walked a few steps away. He turned back to address her.  
"Humans are made to create their own choices." But I am not human, pilot Ikari;  
she longed to say. "You must be capable of creating your own destiny. This is the  
power inherent to all of us. This is why we fight! This is why we must protect! This  
is why you are -worthy-!"

Shinji pointed to the metal beast behind him. "The Evangelion may be your link to  
humanity- but it can also be humanity's link to you!"

He turned to it. "You suffer as well, Evangelion! I feel it! Humanity must be worthy  
of your own sacrifice. We must all suffer that the dream may live. It is not right that  
you endure so, nameless, alone.

The power of humanity is -_knowing_-, the power in -_being_-, the power in -_sharing_-!"

Shinji looked back at her again, and grinned madly. "You are Ayanami Rei." He put  
both hands to the railing and shouted to Unit 01. "If we must fight Angels, then let us  
fight them as those worthy in ourselves! We need no other guidance, no future than  
what we can make!

If we must battle the will of Heaven -"

The Evangelion's eyes flashed suddenly.

"Then I name you TITAN! Cast down! Forever raging against the Heavens! Power  
even older than the Gods!"

The Evangelion's eyes glowed.

"Cast in the shape of man! Made to fight humanities' enemies! You shall carry our  
will unto eternity! I NAME YOU!" He leaned over the railing. "EVANGELION!  
I NAME YOU; TITANICUS!

-PRINCIPIO ETERNUS-!"

The Evangelion roared! It roared like it had never roared before. Its roar rang  
through every corner of NERV, and deep within the geofront a gigantic white  
figure even twitched in its crucified repose. It was a roar that goes right to the very  
soul; a roar that brought out a similar surge of savage energy in the human heart. It  
brought all who heard it a mix of hope and fear. This was the roar of a predator true  
and unsurpassed - slayer! Murderer! Wrath! That which shall devour Gods!

"Evangelion." said Shinji again, his voice lost in the Eva's unleashed power. "Know  
thyself." He raised a fist up and grinned some more. "AND -KNOW- I AM IKARI  
SHINJI ! TOGETHER WE SHALL CRUSH THE ENEMIES OF HUMANITY!"

The Evangelion began to trash about in its bindings, sending technicians fleeing for  
their lives. Alarms rang all through throughout Nerv.

Shinji turned back and grinned at Rei; his eyes glassy and unfocused. "You will never  
be alone again, Rei. You are the sister of my soul, and together we shall stand upon  
the end of times. I swear it upon our blood, and under the sight of this machine god."

Everyone else was freaking out; from the lowest security detail to MAGI itself; all  
in NERV felt that force of change, billowing through the corridors, an AT-field  
stroking at their own separate personal identities.

Two Children stood there, unaffected, posts of order in that chaos.

Understanding each other at last.

He is insane./She is insane.

We are the same.

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

And then, there was Gendo.

He rushed to the scene, frowning. He beheld the spasmic motions of the Evangelion  
and there nearby the two Children. In that chaos, they were doing nothing more than  
talking and... was that almost a smile in Rei's face?

Shinji turned and actually -grinned- at him.

What have you done? he almost asked. Then, recognizing the futility of that; turned  
to Rei as the only one he could trust. "What has happened here?"

"Pilot Ikari has named the Evangelion. It is Titanicus, scourge of Heaven. Principio  
Eternus. Carrying the will of Man unto Eternity."

"Why?"

"It's machine spirit has suffered for too long, lost without the knowing of itself."  
replied Shinji. "The machine spirit needs acknowledgement to function. From the  
meanest switch to the greatest factory, the machine spirit functions best if they are  
appreciated. How can we do that, if we do not know their names?"

"A machine spirit?" Gendo scoffed. "How ridiculous. Science is what makes things  
function, not such... childish ignorance."

"That may be, but the Evangelion definitely has one." Shinji laughed, somewhat  
hysterical. "It knows itself now." He looked up at his father and bared his teeth in  
glee. "You cannot take away the name, father. Once given it cannot be returned.  
It's one thing you can't take away..."

All of Nerv was still in frenzy. The MAGI were busy calculating the volumes of  
feedback data it has received. For the first time in many years, he had felt again true  
fear. There was still the Angel boring through layers upon layers of armor plate. The  
plan Katsuragi brought out only had 8.7 percent chance of success... and then the  
sheer triumph on that boy's face!

Before he even knew it, his fist was at that face.

Shinji fell back, collapsing from the force of the blow. He fell face-down. There  
were multiple gasps. The Third Child looked up, blood dripping from the left edge  
of his lip; there behind his father were most of the command crew - from Fuyutsuki  
to Maya. They had all followed, for if it was urgent enough that it could draw the  
attention of the NERV commander...

Rei took a step forwards. "Commander..."

Misato growled.

"Ah, damn." the thought flashed through both Ikari minds. It was time to radically  
improvise upon their scenarios.

Gendo opened his fist and flicked his hand, as if throwing something away. He  
adjusted his jacket and turned from his son. "I will not tolerate any more of your  
childishness. This is a critical situation that demands we maintain reason." Gendo  
pushed his orange glasses back up his nose and caught Ritsuko's eyes. She flinched.  
"Akagi. There is obviously something wrong with Unit 01. Shut it down and prepare  
a full analysis."

Ritsuko hugged her datapad to her chest. "No. We can't."

"Are you disobeying orders, Doctor Akagi?" Are you starting to become useless?

"We can't! We have no chance of doing this without Unit 01 and you know it! I can  
shut it down, I can perform some tests, but we need to keep to the schedule. The  
machinery is already on the way, the base is being set up. We have... no other  
choice."

He nodded. He withstood all other disapproving gazes; from Misato's open ones  
to Fuyutsuki's weary acceptance of it. "The Evangelion is Unit 01. It is a weapon.  
It needs no other name. Anyone that refers to it as anything else is disturbing morale  
and will be punished accordingly."

He turned his head, to look again at his son. The boy crouched there, his eyes so  
full of betrayal and anguish. He made a slight huff and walked away. Then Gendo  
was gone, back to his lai-... office, and leaving as it seems a stain even upon the  
very air he walked through.

Shinji looked so sorry, so defeated, so disappointed. Misato was at his side instantly  
and hugging him. "That's just how your father is, Shinji. He's an asshole. Don't  
think too much about it. Right, all?"

The other people gathered there nodded; even the techs nearby. The Evangelion  
had already quieted down, as if offering its own agreement. Rei was surprised,  
though she didn't show it, to see just how much... or how little... regard the others  
had for their commander. They obeyed through fear.

Shinji stood up and nodded slowly. It went better than he had expected, the  
unforeseen reaction of the Evangelion aside. Gendo has lost his composure once.  
His armor had cracked. He could be made to lose it again. A dark voice laughed  
and laughed and laughed...

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

"I'm tired of waiting." Toji groaned. "It's time to go to the shelter."

Kensuke shook his head and readied his camera. "No, I made sure to read my  
father's data. I'm certain this is the time!"

"But they aren't showing up..." He turned around to look at the gathered crowd of  
teenagers from their class. Some of them were carrying banners such as FIGHT-O!  
and WE (heart) SHINJI. "This could get ugly, Kensuke..."

"They'll be around. Trust me! Too bad class rep won't see it. She's such a killjoy."

"AIDA! SUZUHARA!"

"Ohcrap."

It was sunset. They were gathered on the downslope of hill facing away from the  
road; and the winds were starting to blow cold. From behind them, a girl with  
freckles walked, her face set into righteous fury. She had taken one of her elder  
sister's jackets; the one in black with red trim, and decided to just wear it over her  
shoulders. Under it, she had her arms crossed over her chest, disapproving. A  
sudden burst of wind hit the hill, sending the jacket flapping all around her like a  
cape.

"Inquisitor Horaki!" someone gasped.

Hikari merely narrowed her eyes at the unflattering nickname. She walked down  
towards them with deliberate slowness; as if stalking them. The students all were  
seemingly frozen in their places.

"AIDA!" she yelled again. "Did you really think I wouldn't know?"

Kensuke sighed and held his camera up to videotape her. "... and in this my final  
moments..." he whispered. "Well, I was kinda hoping..." he replied in a louder  
voice. He sighed. "We can't hide anything from you, can we?"

Hikari made a gesture. "Okay, fun's over. Everybody; clear out."

"You can't say that!" someone said from the crowd. "Yeah, you're getting too full of  
yourself, Horaki!" a group of boys put in. "You can't order us around!"

Hikari sighed theatrically. She took out a hand from under the jacket, and held out  
for everyone to see a small black book with the NERV logo embossed on it. Below  
that was written BY SPECIAL ORDER.

"Do you know what this is? Any of you?" At all the blank looks, she continued.  
"This, is a Special Dispensation from NERV and the Tokyo 3 City Council that  
authorizes me to monitor Shinji Ikari's contacts with his peer group.

You want to call me Inquisitor Horaki? Fine. I know ALL your names. The last  
time, Ikari-kun was almost killed just protecting these two idiots. He can't have any  
more distractions in battle. If you don't clear out of here by the time I count to three,  
I will write your names in this booklet and have all you idiots EXPELLED!

Oh! Oh! Wait a second." She put her finger up to her lips and looked cutely  
thoughtful. "Your names are already IN here. And in the copy I keep at my house.  
I guess it's only my good nature keeping you around here, after all. It's just a question  
of should I erase these names or not?"

Another gust of wind set her jacket flapping again, like the wings of a predatory bird.

"One."

They fled.

Toji and Kensuke remained. "Aw, class rep!" Kensuke moaned. "There goes my  
street cred."

"...'suke, she's right. We shouldn't have risked it."

"The only reason I'm allowing you up here is because you're considered honorary  
Evangelion pilots now." She tapped her foot in irritation. "If you get killed, it's your  
own damn fault." Then she smiled slightly at their mournful faces. She sat down  
with them.

Under the jacket was a small shoulderbag. She took out two bentos from it. "Here.  
I thought you boys would have gotten hungry waiting out here..."

Toji took one and held it to his cheek. It was still warm. "... you're the best, Hikari!"  
The sunset hid her blush.

"Look!" Kensuke shouted out, jumping to his feet.

Two Evangelions emerged from under a disguised bunker hill - gigantic, purple and  
blue, silhouetted against the sun. They could almost hear groans of pure anguish  
from behind the lookout hill.

"Godspeed, Evangelions..." They saluted. "We believe in you." said the three.

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

The temporary field base was already set up, at the far side of the mountain away  
from the Evangelions. It was close enough to run massive cables to and from the  
staging point.

"Is the Evangelion all right? Could we really do this?" Misato asked.

Ritsuko unfolded a divan chair and sat down, a mug of coffee in her hands. It was  
already dark outside. "I ran all the tests I could. There just isn't anything -wrong-  
or changed in the Evangelions. There was no reason for it to go haywire like that."

"... other than that Shinji naming it." Misato sighed. "Ritsuko, is there such a religion  
that worships technology? I'd hate to think Shinji's been pulled into a cult or  
something."

The scientist smirked. "That's odd. Usually religions hate technology. What can  
we call the opposite of a luddite... hmm...? Something to the order of Mechanus  
or similar... but I'm certain I never heard of it." She frowned. Perhaps... "Misato."

The captain stopped in her pacing. "Yes?"

"Shinji is right. The Evangelion does have a machine spirit."

"What?!" Misato pulled up a chair and sat facing her old friend. "Really?"

"Of course, otherwise it couldn't go berserk on its own. It uses the organic  
computer architecture. What we have, might be some form of rudimentary  
consciousness. It's not unthinkable, as we have set the Evangelion up as everything  
short of a full AI."

"Anything more and it would be pointless to try and pilot it, I understand." She  
looked beyond Ritsuko. "Do you think Shinji's in any danger?"

"The only one who could answer that would be Shinji himself, and he doesn't seem  
to think so."

The portable military-grade computer beeped on the table nearby. "All preparations  
complete." an indistinct static-distorted voice said. "Electric power supply is linked.  
We are ready to begin operation."

Misato stood up and went over to the tent flap. She breathed in the cold night air.  
"Well time to go to work!"

Ritsuko hastily gulped down her coffee, ignoring the burning down her throat. It was  
all still insane. She didn't believe it could work, but as a scientist she had eliminated  
all other variables. There was no other option but to succeed.

It was midnight. Operation Yashima was commencing.

"Shinji-kun, you're using energy from all over Japan. Hang in there!" Misato said to  
him over the commlink. "We've put the trust of all in this nation in your hands! You  
can do it!"

"Yes, Misato-san."

"Start the connections!"

Power began to flow. Cooling systems began to hum, to handle all the heat that  
such a rapid exchange generates even just as a side-effect. The positron rifle went  
active.

"... pilot Ikari." Rei said to him over Eva to Eva radio. "Do not fear. I will protect  
you."

"... Ayanami-san."

"Goodbye." She closed the link.

"Release all final safety systems!" shouted Misato. "Operation Yashima is at go!"

"Shinji; remember. Since the positron beam is influenced by the magnetic field,  
gravity, and the revolution of the Earth, it will not fire in a straight line. Don't forget  
to adjust for that error--you must hit the core precisely." Ritsuko had to remind him  
again. "Be absolutely certain when you fire. We will have to disconnect both Evas  
from the power grid, so be mindful. This is a time-intensive operation!"

"You can do it, Shinji." Misato had to remind him of that. "We believe in you."

"All energy to the positron rifle...!" Makoto announced.

The countdown began. Both Evas kept their AT-fields down to keep from being  
noticed by the Angel. Ritsuko had theorized that by the strongly geometric shape of  
the Angel and by that it had no eyes, it could sense things by its AT-field. Anything  
that moves into its sensory area would be vaporized. Now, if it used any other  
means of detection, like echolocation or radar, she might have been able to do  
something; she complained. An AT-field would just glow like a bonfire and be  
targetted from no matter what distance.

Shinji pulled the trigger. The positron rifle fired.

"High energy reaction detected in the target!" Makoto shouted.

"What?!" Ritsuko leaned over him to see it off the screen. The two beams of energy  
met... curved around each other... and struck hillsides both behind their respective  
targets. "No! They're both affected by each other's packed magnetic field!" So  
accurate! Did the Angel realize it beforehand? Its own AT-field could not have  
withstood that.

"Shinji! Hurry!" Misato shouted.

The pilot hurriedly ejected the fuse and slapped in a new one. He grit his teeth as he  
waited for the rifle to cool. Too long! he shouted within his mind.

"Another high-energy reaction!" Makoto shouted.

"This is bad..." Misato grabbed the radio. "Shinji-kun!"

Flash!

"Ayanami!"

The blast shield she carried; in itself the re-entry armor of a space shuttle, was nearly  
blown off Unit Zero's hands. High-density ceramic composites began to melt; and  
under that even the Evangelions own armor. Rei held back a scream. Still, she did  
not raise her AT-field, being mindful of the operation's power requirements.

"It won't hold!" someone yelled.

"Ten more seconds...!" Makoto put in. Come on. Faster! Faster! Cycle faster!

"Fire! Shinji-kun! Fire!"

Shinji pulled the trigger. The positron packed energy beam lanced out, barely  
touching Ramiel's own continous energy beam, and burrowed deep into the Angel's  
thick blue armor. The Angel reeled, and wobbled, and shut off its own attack. It  
fell with deceptive slowness into Tokyo-3, splintering buildings in its way.

"We did it!" Misato shouted. She slapped Makoto's shoulders. "We made i-"

"High energy reaction!"

"What?!"

Shinji had put in another fuse, just out of quickly ingrained habit. His eyes widened  
as the other Eva leapt in front of him again, even though its protective shield was  
almost gone. The Evangelion had its own armor. She would shield him with her own  
body. '_I will protect you._' he felt her voice whisper in his mind. '_Goodbye, pilot  
Ikari. Please be satisfied with my replacement.'_

"Ayanami!"

Machine spirit! Help me!

The Evangelion Unit 01 pushed itself forward and kicked out Unit Zero's legs from  
under itself. Shinji pulled it the rest of the way down to the ground; and the beam  
passed mere meters above them.

The two Evangelions rolled a short distance down the mountain and away from the  
positron rifle.

"Shinji! What are you doing?! Shinji!"

"He missed. We have failed..." Ritsuko said tonelessly. "The odds were against us,  
and the numbers have proven true."

Misato slapped her. "Wake up! No... we still have a chance! While we live we still  
have a chance." She looked to the screen. "Shinji-kun!"

Shinji shouted over the radio, and by accident had set it to wide transmission rather  
than just to the other Eva. "Rei! REI! Can you hear me?" He pushed the other Eva  
away just as Ramiel attacked again.

"... pilot Ikari..."

"You're alive! Thank goodness."

Rei opened her eyes, to see Unit 01 stand up and roar. It stepped to in front of her  
fallen Eva. "... why?"

"You have sworn to protect me. I -will not- let you die! Not here! You're not  
disposable! You're not a tool! You have a name; Ayanami Rei, and people will  
remember you when you are gone!" Unit 01 roared again. Machine spirit. Why are  
we taunting the Angel? "In the name of humanity- LIVE!"

"I cannot have you die in my place."

"Didn't I tell you? Together we shall stand at the end of time." Ramiel fired. The  
Evangelion roared once more. It bent aside, and the beam missed it by mere inches.

"... how?"

"This Angel is blind." Machine spirit! You are... magnificent! " It sees me only by my  
AT-field. It knows where I am, but not as what I am doing... its beam must pass  
through my own AT-field, and by the grace of the machine spirit I can see where it  
will go! Its own supreme accuracy is its downfall!"

"That is... humanly impossible." Even computer-impossible. "You... cannot defeat it."

"Not this way, Rei. I will tire. I will make a mistake. I will die."

Rei felt as if stabbed. "Pilot Ikari..."

"Do you trust me, Rei?"

"... yes."

The Evangelion roared. Ramiel had paused, as if weighing in its calculations. Could  
it perhaps increase the diameter of its beam?

"Then give me your trust, Rei! Extend your AT-field to its furthest!" Shinji made the  
Evangelion stand with its arms out as if offering itself to a nameless God. "Have  
faith that the power of humanity shall yet shine through! Believe! That together we  
will stand against the darkness until the very end!"

Rei believed. And thus, she extended HER AT-field.

Shinji felt it, it filled him. So pure. So accepting. He let out his own AT field to its  
limit, damn the power drain.

Ramiel attacked again, lowering its own AT-field to create its strongest attack yet.

The beam lashed out, and simply CURVED around the Evangelion.

Ritsuko leapt to her feet and grabbed the radio from Misato's hands. "... Shinji!  
What... what have you done?!" She took a look at the figures. The drain was only  
half more than normal.

It fired again. It curved again.

"Two AT-fields, Ritsuko-sensei... I do not need to resist its attack. Let it instead be  
redirected little by little, trapped within the two layers that know each other. Ever  
the power of humanity has always been in each other. The Angel cannot have this,  
for it is alone. It fights alone. It will die alone." He grinned at the Angel in the distance,  
slowly rising again. "I know you now, monster! You will hide no secrets from me!"

Two Evangelions roared.

"It... it can't be." Misato whispered. "It's going to flee? It's afraid."

Shinji had the Eva extend its hand out, and the positron rifle all but leapt to it. His  
reasoning was that if he could push things with the AT-field, why can't he pull with  
it? That it defied all what Ritsuko knew about the AT-field so far didn't seem to  
bother the Eva.

"KNOW THE NAME OF YOUR DESTROYER, YOU WHO HAVE COME DOWN TO JUDGE  
HUMANITY!" Shinji shouted to the radio and external speakers. "THIS IS EVANGELION!  
TITANICUS! -PRINCIPIO ETERNUS-!

IN ITS NAME, DIE!

It was an image that would be slapped onto many an international news magazine.  
Unit 01... no, -Principio Eternus-... stood there with the other Eva looking up at it in  
what seems like adoration. It had a one-handed grip on the extremely long rifle;  
supported by its AT-field to keep it from breaking.

"IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY, DIE!"

Shinji almost didn't need to aim. The positron beam shot out unerringly as if homing  
into the Angel's core. It punched through its AT-field. It blew through its blue armor  
as if it wasn't there.

Ramiel let out a screech. It fell. And it died.

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

Shinji rushed to Rei's ejected plug. The metal was smoking hot, but he didn't hesitate.  
He wrenced the door open and stepped into the warm liquid within.

"Ayanami! Are you all right?! Ayanami!"

"... i believed." she said softly. "...what am I to do now?"

"Don't ever say goodbye when ending a conversation, Rei. Don't ever say you have  
nothing. It's just... too sad."

"... you are crying. must I cry as well?"

"No, Rei." Shinji looked up, still in tears. "No. I'm happy."

"... i don't know how to feel. ...what should I do...? in times like this?"

"I think... I think..." Shinji choked back his sobs. "I think you should smile. Be happy  
in that you are alive."

And so she did. She felt indeed, happy. Whatever you say, pilot Ikari. It is as I will  
be. For you have said to believe, and I do. Together shall we stand; until time itself  
ends. My name is Ayanami Rei. I shall love that which you love, and shun that which  
you shun. Until time itself ends.

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

There was a great cheer as the Evangelions returned to NERV. It was unknown who  
started it, but as soon as the purple Evangelion showed its face, it begun.

"PRINCIPIO! ETERNUS! PRINCIPIO! ETERNUS!" It was infectuous. From  
every technician to the very last JSSDF soldier, it rang all throughout NERV. "HAIL!  
PRINCIPIO! ETERNUS! PRINCIPIO! ETERNUS!

PRINCIPIO!

ETERNUS!"

That cheer grew even louder, as impossible as that may have seemed, as Shinji came  
into view.

Fuyutsuki grabbed Gendo's arm. "If you go out there to fire everyone, how will  
NERV function?"

"There are always replacements."

"How can you be sure you're not just inviting in new plants from SEELE or the  
others?" He withstood Gendo's glare. "You are angry because it seems you are  
losing control. Must you exacerbate that by losing control completely?!"

Gendo clenched his fists, then exhaled. "You are right, sensei. These petty emotions  
are useless. It still stands that they are disobeying standing orders."

"When Alexander turned back from India, his soldiers did not revile him for his  
failure to conquer." said the old man. "They loved him all the more."

There was an instant hush as Gendo emerged. He stood at a high gantry, starting  
down at everyone gathered in the loading platform. Tense silence stretched out  
for minutes.

"I was wrong." he said at last, his voice stern as if daring them to remember. Just  
this once. "To consider a mere name as significant to the operation of Nerv. I shall  
allow this informal designation. For disobeying a standing order, everyone here  
will be docked a week's pay. For exemplary performance under combat, everyone  
here will be awarded one week's bonus."

Silence.

Then, someone started "IKARI!"

They all began to shout it. "IKARI! IKARI! IKARI!" It didn't matter who they  
were referring to.

In the distance, Shinji met his father's eyes. He bowed as if in thanks.

"He's your son, Gendo." said Fuyutsuki. "It's perfectly all right to be proud."

He simply turned and walked away.

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------o--------------------------------------------------------

-end chapter four part 2-

--o--

--o--

--o--

Well, there you have it. I might tighten up the wording later, but this is about as far as I had planned during the trip. Next up; Jet Alone. Well. Yeah. You can't have a Warhammer-themed story without SOME curbstomping.


	8. Chapter 7: The Work of Humanity

Chapter Five

The Work of Humanity

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

If the press had been in a frenzy before, they went completely guano-eating insane  
the day after. It was easy to sneak away copies of the battlefield audio recorders.  
Abruptly Shinji Ikari became the most quotable person on the planet. The images and  
words from the last battle were endlessly scrutinized, argued upon, and in the end  
the concensus was that they simply didn't know what to think.

Religion was one of the first casualties of Second Impact. God(s) had turned his(their)  
gaze away from man and the world. The years immidiately following Second was a time  
of fear, hatred and savagery - all manners of sin were committed, all manner of brutality  
and disregard for life. It was as if the human race left behind had been abruptly freed  
from the chains of morality and civilization. With nothing to look forward to, and only  
wet doom behind, they sought in death or temporary relief what had passed from  
them. Those who survived this were bitter, hardened, clinging to life. Those who grew  
in the aftermath knew only this; that life was hard and there was no help to be had.

There were still those who kept to their respective faiths, of course, and many were  
instrumental in bringing order back to the world. The prevailing mood however, was of  
self-determinism.

"_I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with  
the glory which shall be revealed in us_." These were the last words of humanity's last  
Pope of tradition, even as pirates looted and burned the Papal barge.

The Evangelion roared.

In the name of humanity; Dalai Lama went down his mountain to plead with the  
Chinese soldiers and never went back up again. "_We shall yet see a paradise in our  
time."_

The Evangelion stood in front of Angels, unflinching.

The Middle East pretty much imploded. Those that remained touched sands made as  
unto brick with dried blood and said "_in the end we are all just human beings_."

The Evangelion tore into its enemies.

In the name of humanity; this expressed the belief of many. By their own hands they  
had saved themselves from the brink. The future was bleak, but still a future. It was  
one they could live in. Perhaps; so they could live with what they had done. Not  
many had a problem with Shinji Ikari's ravings.

The Evangelion roared again. The Eternal Principle. Mankind struggles on, no matter  
what. Mankind will yet triumph.

Those at Berkeley-2 accepted the Machine Spirit bit very easily. After all;

_Ever since one knew zero  
And begat the computer  
Have we knelt to it and wept  
Screamed at it, and prayed  
Keep working; don't hang  
Protect our precious data_

People all over the International Network Quoted For Truth.

Several bored Special Forces teams introduced the Ikari; which leads off with a  
headbutt and ends with the enemy on the ground begging for mercy.

NERV's obvious symbolism just for the heck of it didn't please everyone. In the  
Americas, the Angels were referred to as the Xeno Threats. In Russia, they were  
simply The Enemy. All they agreed though; whatever the enemy was, it was good  
they were attacking only Japan and Tokyo 3. Shinji Ikari was doing a good job at  
defeating them; a few quirks were nothing compared to that.

As long as he stayed over there and away from their own cities...

It really was just like Godzilla all over again. They could live with that.

Needless to say; Gendo was annoyed. Shinji was amassing so much support so  
quickly, it was obvious that someone else was pulling strings abroad. He knew of only  
one group powerful enough - those old farts! So they have some tricks left to pull.  
So they think they can hide this way and move with impunity?

SEELE was annoyed. Gendo was using his son as a magnet to gather support for his  
own project. It would be harder to act against NERV later. The boy was nothing, if  
more telegenic than his father. But to kill the snake, one must cut off its head.

Gendo made plans. SEELE made plans. They ignored the obvious pawn in front of  
them.

Their irritation though, their helpless anger, could simply not compare to that raging  
within a certain red-headed girl in Germany. _Ooh; I will crush him! Crush him utterly!_

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Though he had this time done nothing wrong (other than accidentally wrecking the  
city yet again, for which they no longer blamed him) Shinji Ikari was still a prisoner.  
He was effectively barricaded inside the apartment as reporters basically took over  
all the block around the building. The other residents simply hadn't known that they  
shared residence with the pilot, and responded to the inconvenience with simple awe.

Most irritated was Pen-pen, for his daily ritual was completely interrupted. He was  
stuck with marking out things using shampoo in the privacy of the bathroom.

Misato had to leave the apartment to attend to her own duties in NERV. Every single  
goddamn day she had to fight through a mob of reporters. They didn't seem ready to  
disperse just yet. Her authority only extended so far as to actually fighting Angels.  
Now, Gendo could have ordered absolute privacy with a few NERV goons and JSSDF  
support; but she supposed the bastard was just being spiteful.

Shinji couldn't even leave the house without being mobbed. Eventually, he even had  
to stop coming to school. The press release NERV issued hardly helped; in their public  
interviews, the boy was hardly the steel-veined warrior they expected. They left  
unsatisfied, as the best questions were easily deflected by NERV's own public relation  
teams.

One of the reporters dared to stand in front of Misato's car, as if all but asking to be  
run down. The repaired blue sports car skidded to a stop with barely any room to  
spare. Misato angrily rolled down her window and shouted out "WHAT IS -_WRONG_-  
WITH YOU?!"

A portable recorder was jabbed at her face. "There are those who say that having an  
underage boy such as Shinji Ikari living with an unmarried woman such as yourself  
looks improper... even immoral. How do you respond to that?" asked Rika Izuna.

Misato began to bang her head against the steering wheel of her car, making sharp  
bursts of beeping that sounded like -buuck! -buuck! -buuck! It was too early in the  
morning, in her opinion, for this shit. She had even cut down on her visible drinking  
just to make sure it didn't reflect badly on her charge.

"There is nothing wrong with us living in the same place. I'm his commanding officer.  
I'm his guardian. I know where he is, what he's doing, and what he needs. It's only  
immoral if we start to DO things." Misato stuck her head out the window and scowled.  
"And you know what? Screw it! If I need to, I will. What keeps that kid happy keeps  
this world in one piece."

"So Shinji Ikari should not be bound by laws or decency now? No matter what he's  
done, shouldn't celebrities still be accountable for their actions?"

"Celeb-" Misato was about to launch into a tirade, then noticed that behind the tone  
of indignation and the thick lenses were oddly hopeful eyes. She geared into reverse,  
back a ways, then zoomed off before she could do something she would regret.

"... and so Katsuragi evades the question." sighed Rika Izuna. She turned to her  
cameraman. "Seriously, these people are sheep. They'll latch into anything that lets  
out a comforting noise. Don't they get it? He's just a kid. Don't they see it? How can  
he possibly save the world? It wasn't him, it was the machine. If they keep doing this  
the boy's just going to get a swelled head and end up useless. Right? Someone needs  
to slap some sense into these deluded fools."

The cameraman shrugged.

She sighed again. "Come on. Ikari's too well-guarded. Let's see if we can track down  
that other pilot."

The cameraman nodded and followed. Inwardly, he too sighed. If you weren't such an  
eager lay when you're angry like this, I don't know if I'd even bother.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Over the course of three days, Shinji Ikari made three calls back to his hometown.

His uncle entered the local print shop; where he was greeted as a hero in himself;  
being the one who effectively raised pilot Ikari. After much glad exchanges, they got  
down to business. His uncle had brought along two books, which had to be duplicated  
and sent to Tokyo 3.

"This... might be tricky." the printer said. "We have to copy all this without ruining the  
spine of the book? We might try a hand scanner."

"Do whatever it takes. I'll pay it."

"Hah! Don't be crazy. If Shinji Ikari needs this, he'll get it. Hey, Ishida, clear out all  
work for the day! We've got a priority job here!"

"No, no... I couldn't let you do that..." said Shinji's uncle.

"Please. It would be an honor." The printer patted the books. "So, this is what he  
likes, eh? Looks interesting. I'll have it duplicated and hardbound by the end of the  
day."

Thus, 'Ere we Go!' and 'Waaargh! Da Orks!' were on their way. They were, as Shinji  
said, more interesting in the earlier editions.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Ayane Mitsugane entered a small broken house somewhere around the town outskirts.  
It was bigger on the inside than the outside, as its occupants had dug out an open  
basement. There were three levels to Da Boyz' hut; underground where it was cooler,  
they had hammocks and tables and storage. Wooden slats leftover from the original  
floor was where they played card games and ate snacks. On the second floor and a  
torn open attic was just a place to hang out, to soak in the breeze. It also served as  
a shouting point and an office of sorts.

Oh, and it was all painted again in haphazard green, red and blue.

All activity in that place stopped as soon as she stepped in. Ayane smiled and nodded,  
but they merely watched as she went up to the next floor.

"'Ello, boyz!" she said cheerily.

"Ayane-san!" boomed Kobayakawa, from behind a desk he'd looted from... somewhere.  
It was a good, sturdy old wooden desk... and she had no idea how they managed to  
get it upstairs, but it could actually support his weight. He took his feet off it and  
tried to get up. "What brings ya? Anything da boyz can do?"

She made gestures that he didn't need to. "Reporters have been around. Have da  
boyz been talking?"

"No way! Da Boss is Da Boyz'!" Those around him nodded and made noises of truth.  
"We don't owes any respect to those grots that come into town and try to make it  
look like they knows Da Boss."

Ayaned bowed slightly. "Thank you." She closed her eyes and smiled. "BOYZ! I GOTS  
WORD FOR YAS!"

Everyone dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to line up under the view of  
the second floor's raised platform. She opened her eyes and let that smile widen. Look  
at that respect. Look at that obedience. Yess. It felt good. For Shinji-san. "Da Boss  
thanks ya for keepin' it shut. He now wants to know, if you know any Boyz or Gretz  
that moved to Tokyo 3? I need a list of who they are and where they live. Oh, and he  
says don't try to follow him to Tokyo 3 if you're planning to. The rest of you, stay  
here and protect the town. It's da propa job of Da Boyz. It's better if he didn't have  
to worry about his home."

"We gots Da Word!"

A cheer rang throughout Da Place, sending the old paint flaking off. Though decrepit  
the old house seemed stronger than ever somehow.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

The phone rang at the at the Houko household. A servant brought it to Houko Minase.  
"Oh, Ikari-san!" she said happily. She motioned the help away. They talked for a while  
and when it was done, she was in tears; these were happy tears.

She rushed to the living room. "Oh father! Mother! Shinji Ikari-san just called."

"That nice boy? How nice."

"He requires our help. I already promised him."

Her father nodded. "After what he has done for this family and the world; anything."

Minase sat at the sofa, facing her parents. "He asks for us to buy him some land and  
for a construction crew to borrow for a few weeks. He says he can pay us whatever  
it costs, even at a significant markup - but in small increments, all of it musn't be  
traceable to him."

"That doesn't seem to be a problem." said her father. "There is no need for him to  
repay us. Land is cheap around Tokyo 3 now, anyway. At best, he thought, I might  
consider this a dowry. He clapped. "Someone get us a map of Tokyo 3!"

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

"There she is!" Rika Izuna chased after the blue-haired girl; who despite being so  
distinctive had proven disgustingly hard to find. She ran, for Ayanami moved with  
deceptive speed for such an even walking pace.

The pilot turned at the corner and out of sight. The reporter and her cameraman  
rushed to find... nothing. It was a blind alley, and there were no doors or anything  
to hide behind.

"Wow, where did she vanish to?" asked the cameraman.

The reporter growled. "Let's just go."

Rei watched them leave from the high rooftop. "For Shinji had said; do not let yourself  
be bothered by their mewling. Save your strength, Ayanami. Keep your secrets. Be  
yourself and no one else." she said softly to the wind.

Once they were gone, she slowly floated to the ground, descending like an angel of  
the old myths.

Gendo rode in a private jet, secure in his plans. He had just recieved word that the  
extra funding had been approved, and the Eva series was well on its way.

(Pity the foo'.)

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Ritsuko Akagi truly didn't want to be where she was. She had told Gendo that this  
sabotage of the Jet Alone project was unnecessary. She didn't want to admit it even  
to herself, but the performance of the Evangelion so far had been spectacular. They  
had no fear of ever losing budget.

He told her to go ahead anyway. Every loose million they could get into the  
Evangelion could be useful.

They must be idiots to release this so soon in the wake of the Fifth Angel, Ritsuko  
thought, but then again they had little choice. It was better they had something to  
show, or risk being exposed as mere money sinkholes.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this exhibition by Nippon Heavy  
Industry Solidarity. You will be observing the official demonstration from the control  
room." The man smiled far too much for her liking. "Are there any questions?"

"Yes!"

Ritsuko nearly leapt out of her chair. A tall, white-haired man with such a loud voice  
for such an unassuming face stood up. "Sebastian Walters, Associated Press. Is the  
Jet Alone project intending to compete against the Evangelion project?"

"Well, that's what it's for, right?" The presenter laughed a bit, but nervously. "The  
Jet Alone uses proven human technology as an robust, cost-efficient alternative to  
the Evangelion."

"Yes, but take a hypothetical situation. What the Evangelion has, and the Jet Alone  
does not, is Shinji Ikari. Why should he, in theory, prefer a Jet Alone instead of the  
-Principio Eternus-?"

One of the fat industrialists groaned. "Even at that level, we can't compete. Principio  
Eternus. Jet Alone. Machine titan. Human science. Damn that Ikari."

"Which one?" asked another.

"Both of them!"

The presenter's smile turned into a grin. He had been preparing for this question for  
weeks. "If you'll look at the screen, you'll see the a video of the Jet Alone at its first  
live fire test. It is assured of 150 days of continued operation. No longer will Mister  
Ikari be limited to five minutes and a power cord."

"That seems dangerous, putting a nuclear reactor in a close combat weapon."

"That may be, but it has the added advantage of something Mister Ikari had himself  
said deficient in the Evangelion."

The Jet alone was a stumpy, unattractive machine. Its torso was cast into one  
squat, angled shell and its oversized arms hung limp; a flexible series of joints like an  
octopus' was thought to provide more power and control than just a human analogue.  
It was complex, but the engineers had focused well on this problem. The arms ended  
in wide hands; tipped with thick metal claws.

It lifted one of its arms and clicked its claws. Then, it opened its right palm out to  
point at a faraway brick target.

There was a flash, and a thin beam of light shot out from a hole in its palm. It broke  
a clean hole through that target.

"Integrated weaponry. The best weapon Mister Ikari ever held, the positron cannon,  
wasn't even built by NERV. They limit him to a knife, some slugthrowers and a positron  
rifle that wasn't even powerful enough for the job. This is the all-terrain, all-conditions  
independent machine weapon! Jet Alone!"

"By Gogg!" gasped one of the Japanese reporters.

"Hy-Gogg." answered the presenter. "That was indeed the inspiration for this. We  
have speed. We have armor. We have an integrated beam weapon. What more could  
Mister Ikari want?"

"The AT-field." Ritsuko found herself saying out loud. "The Angels have AT-fields and  
only another AT-field can make any conventional weapon effective against them. As  
long as you don't have it, you will have no chance."

"Ah, the famous Doctor Akagi! We are honored. But it is only a matter of time. NERV's  
epoch won't last forever."

"Be that as it may, it still stands that the Evangelion is humanity's only chance  
against the Angels."

"We shall see if that is so, Doctor Akagi. We shall see indeed."

"Misato... do you think there's a chance Shinji could be lured from NERV?"

"Shinji-kun? Phfft." She waved contemptously. "What are they going to bribe him  
with? Remember I live with him. Shinji-kun's really a simple boy. He just cares about  
protecting those he... loves... and killing the Angels. Jet Alone would have to be  
really superior to the Eva for that to happen, but then we'd be out of a job anyway."

Ritsuko splashed some water on her face. She looked at her reflection off the  
bathroom mirror. Playing around with the fate of mankind was no job for a scientist.  
She had already long lost her objectivity.

She glanced at her laptop. Jet Alone would be Gendo's sacrificial foil, held up as an  
example of what it means to oppose NERV. As a scientist, she recognized all the  
careful toil its makers had spent on it.

All to be wiped out with a few keystrokes.

All those years. All those hopes. Doubtless there would be more than a few suicides.  
She was no longer any better than the bastard. Ritsuko splashed some more water on  
her face, to hide the signs of her self-loathing.

"We're about to start the demonstration of the JA. There's nothing to worry about. No  
danger at all." the chairperson assured the gathering. "Please watch from that window  
there."

The Jet Alone lifted one foot. Then another. Soon, it was at a steady, if shambling  
walk. There were cheers.

"Walking normally. Now there's something to be proud of." She remembered well the  
first moments of Shinji in the Eva. Of course, he did adapt to it ridiculously quickly.  
That; he, was what she was proud of.

"...something's strange." one of the JA monitor techs said. "Reactor pressure is  
increasing!"

"The temperature of the first level cooling liquid is also rising!" said another.

"What?" The JA spokesman rushed to the bank of monitors. "Open the release valve!  
Pump in the neutron-deceleration liquid!"

"No good! The pumps are not responding!"

The man began to wipe his suddenly sweaty balding forehead. "Oh no! Oh no! Stop  
power. Emergency halt!"

"Signal sent. It's not being accepted!"

"It's out of control!"

"... wow." said Misato. "I'm impressed. I feel like back home already. They might have  
a chance at replacing us after all."

The Jet Alone spasmed, and walked faster. People began to scream and flee. It broke  
right through the observation building and continued on. Dust and plaster went  
everywhere.

Misato coughed. "Now, that's just rude. Ritsuko! Ritsuko! Where are you?"

"... over here." The blonde stepped out from under the shadow of a corner wall. "We  
need to do something, Misato."

"Why? Things like this have a way of working themselves out."

"The Jet Alone isn't like the Evangelion. We can't just expect it to run out of power.  
There is indeed the threat of meltdown." She turned to the JA representatives still  
huddled onstage. "Isn't that correct?"

"... y-yes, but!"

One of the JA designers stepped up. "It's unbelievable! JA has a fault tolerant system  
programmed for all possible emergencies. This can't happen!"

Ritsuko rubbed her forehead. "Do you not know Murphy? The benefit of NERV is not  
just in experience fighting Angels but in dealing with this sort of thing."

"Yeah... this happens a lot." Misato nodded. "You'll get used to it after a while."

The JA crew groaned. "We've tried all possible ways to halt it. Under this conditions  
the only thing we can do is to wait for programming to re-assert itself and bring it to  
halt on its own." said one.

"How likely is that?" Misato asked.

"Zero point zero zero zero zero zero four percent. It would be a miracle!"

"There's another way isn't there?" The NERV Operations Director was in her game.  
"There must be a way to reset everything- the ultimate method of stopping it. Give  
me the password to do that."

The JA project chief stepped back. "No way! I can't be responsible for... I don't even  
have clearance to give you that!"

"Then get that clearance, immidiately!"

One of the monitor techs put in. "It's not stopping! Interior levels are rising to critical  
levels, and it's headed for Atsugi! My god... my family's there! All our families are  
there!"

"Al... alright." They conferred and the JA project chief turned away. "Get me the  
Minister of the Interior."

Misato tapped her feet, waiting for the bureaucracy to get its head out of its own  
posterior. Finally, the JA representative broke away from the huddled group and  
walked back to her.

"We will have the authorization soon. But it can't be sent over the microwave control.  
It has to be inside, to protect from sabotage."

"You intended this as a military weapon after the Angels were all defeated, didn't  
you?"

He laughed. "What did NERV expect to do with the Evangelion? Let's not joke with  
ourselves."

"Fine." Misato took out her own phone. "Hey, Hyuga-kun? I'm in Atsugi. Can you see  
me on TV? Yeah. Hii!" She waved at the token resident moron/dude in danger with  
camera. "Send Shinji-kun and Unit One with F equipment here..." She nodded. "Yes,  
it's an emergency."

"Impossible!" The JA crew couldn't believe her effrontery. "What are you intending,  
Captain Katsuragi? How are you going to stop... that?"

"You might cause a premature meltdown!" one of the techs shouted.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to destroy it. I'm going to stop it with the human hand."

The presenter boggled. "Are you serious? You?!"

"Sure. Why not?"

"No way! The inside would be radioactive! It's too dangerous!"

She nodded, but looked unshaken. "It's the only chance to save everyone."

One of the JA designers went over and pressed a piece of paper to her hand. "When  
the control signal cuts off, you may open the hatch with this code." His expression  
was begging. "Please keep Shinji Ikari-san out of our city."

Misato looked embarrassed. Ritsuko just palmed her face.

'This is not going to end well, I just know it.' she thought. 'Damn you, Gendo. I wasn't  
prepared to risk my best friend's life in this... but you knew that, didn't you?'

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

The Evangelion Transport flew overhead. To carry the gargantuan weight of the Eva,  
it too must be powerful indeed. The flight between Tokyo 3 and Atsugi took mere  
minutes. Misato was already in a radiation suit. Indeed, so powerful was its thrusters  
that it could land, pick her up, and get back to air again nearly vertically all while  
loaded with the full burden of -Principio Eternus-.

Shinji had the strangest urge to name it a Hotaru carrier. In the end, he decided he  
wouldn't bless its machine spirit with -Gran Serena-, until it gets itself equipped with  
a few 'bringer of battlefield serenity' heavy autocannons or N2 mines.

"The target is the Jet Alone. There's a danger of meltdown in 5 minutes. We cannot  
allow that in a populated area." She turned aside to the cockpit. "Hyuga-kun?"

"Yes?"

"After launching Eva, escape quickly. Ascend to a safe level. We need to make sure  
no one dies needlessly here."

"R-roger, Katsuragi-san."

"Shinji-kun. Run with the target and put me on its back. After that, try to hold it  
motionless so I can work."

"Y-yes, Misato-san but..."

"These are my orders, Shinji."

"It's too dangerous to ride that thing, Misato-san. Why can't we just destroy it?"

She shook her head. "Even if they are our competitors, we need to respect their  
property. Besides, destroying would be too simple. This way, no one can accuse NERV  
of intentionally cutting the competition."

"But why you, Misato-san? Can't anyone else do it?"

"Well, I have to do what I can. Otherwise, I'll regret it forever." She smiled. "We  
adults now have to take charge over our own problems."

"Misato-san..."

"Don't worry, Shinji. I'm sure the Eva can survive a direct explosion."

The Third Child looked up and frowned slightly. "Misato-san... you know that if you  
get hurt trying to solve their problems, there will be Hell to Pay, right? I'll make sure  
of it."

She laughed and mussed up his hair. "You're so cute when you're trying to be so  
protective like this."

"Misato-saan..."

"Target in sight!" said Makoto Hyuga.

"Here we go!" said Misato, already in the Evangelion's hand. Even through her tough  
plastic helmet she could feel the buffeting winds as the cargo hatch opened up.

"Eva at docking position! Katsuragi-san, we are ready."

"Release!"

The Evangelion roared as it dropped off the cross-shaped docking rig. It plummeted to  
the ground and struck with earth-shattering force. Misato clung to its fingers as it  
ripped its feet free of the bedrock. Then; it began to run. Jaw first; legs driving  
powerfully up and down, nothing but pure untiring speed.

"I've caught up!" said Shinji.

"Good... put me on its back... slowly." She looked at her shielded watch. "Less than  
four minutes left!" The Evangelion had barely more than that in power. From its hand  
she leapt to the Jet Alone's backpack. She nearly fell off as the JA's pace bumped.  
Only barely did Misato manage to grab ahold of a rung.

"Misato-san!"

"Don't care about me right now, Shinji! Go! Go! Stop this thing!"

Shinji looked up and saw the city well within sight. He ran far ahead and crouched  
there, prepared to engage the Evangelion's AT-field. With it, he would have only two  
minutes of power, but that should be enough.

Misato managed to get in.

The Jet Alone had no mouth, and there was instead the loud sound of gears grinding  
together in approximation of a roar. It lifted its left arm and shot a beam at the Eva.  
It deflected harmlessly off the ATI-field, but it caught everyone by surprise.

"No.. no way!" said one of the JA monitors. "Its rudimentary battle program just went  
online!"

"It's attacking the Eva!"

"It's... out of control! Unbelievable! It's going berserk!"

"Ha!" Misato shouted through the radio. "I'm REALLY starting to like these guys!"

Shinji and the Eva both growled as another beam just barely missed their head. The  
Eva blocked a clawed sweep with its forearm and began to run backwards to maintain  
pace. The Jet Alone continued to shamble on, increasing speed, making wild swings  
and shots now and then.

"Misato-san!" Shinji shouted. "I can't fight this thing as long as you're inside."

"Hang in there, Shinji-kun! I'm almost- ow! This is burning hot!"

"Please...!"

"Okay, I've got it..." She rapidly punched in the code. "K.I.B.O.U. There. Hope."  
The internal screen accepted the command, and... ERROR. "What? Not working?  
Why?" She tried again. Same result. "No doubt about it. The program has been  
replaced."

Back at the JA observation site, Ritsuko kept her laptop closed. One city. Her own  
best friend. The Evangelion as the undisputed battle system for humanity. She could  
already feel a certain coldness to her from Gendo; if she continued to fail him, she  
could be considered useless.

This scenario...

"It was a long shot anyway..." Misato said weakly. "Oh, well..." The woman got up  
and began to push at one of the control rods.

"Misato-san!" Shinji shouted. "Please, escape!"

"Move! Move!" She screamed as the heat began to seep through her radiation suit.

That was more than enough for Shinji. This machine has had it! He pulled the Eva  
back to a greater distance ahead of the Jet Alone. He had it lift an open right hand to  
the heavens.

"Hyuga-san!" he shouted. "Misato-san's in danger! Release it!"

"Roger!" The lieutenant had the transport go into a deep dive. Its engines' roar filled  
the sky. It flew down, and buzzed just right above the Jet Alone. It passed the  
malfunctioning machine quickly, and headed for the Evagelion. As it neared that; its  
cargo hatch opened. As it passed, something was shoved out.

It landed precisely in the Evangelion's hand.

"What- what's he doing?" asked the JA team. Ritsuko looked up from her laptop, just  
as she was about to send the master override.

"Misato-san!" shouted the Eva pilot. "Find cover! Get as far back into this thing as  
you can!"

"Shinji-kun? What's going on?"

"This thing... I won't let it harm you. Not you! I won't let a city burn just because of  
man's greed!"

The Evangelion stopped. It roared at the approaching Jet Alone. The machine shot at  
it again with with arm-mounted beam cannons. Once more, the shots just barely  
missed as the Eva adjusted its stance slightly. The Jet Alone brandished its claws.

The Evangelion lifted its right hand, and in it was what looked like an oversized  
submachine gun. It pulled the trigger.

DAKKA! was the sound, as a burst of rounds shot out of its wide, short barrel.

The Jet Alone's left arm broke apart.

DAKKA! again.

The Jet Alone's right arm broke apart.

"Misato-san! Where are you?" Shinji begged the machine spirit and his vision began to  
clear. He saw where she was, and the mass of heat that was the JA reactor core. He  
simply took it for granted that a machine spirit could see whatever it wanted, leaving  
aside that the Eva had biological eyes. Be it day or night. No matter how far. None  
can hide from its sight. It was likely the Eva could even see through people's clothes,  
but that would be poor use of a gargantuan machine and it was well Shinji had not  
thought of that possibility.

The Jet Alone plodded on. The Evangelion roared and put a hand out to it to stop it;  
slowly being pushed back. The Eva roared. Shinji condensed his AT-field around the  
Eva's right fist, threw aside the Bolter, and simply PUNCHED at the Jet Alone.

That glowing hand ripped through layers of armor. Misato looked on in wide-eyed  
wonder as light streamed through the gaping hole in the machine's chest. The Eva  
lifted its hand up to the sky, as if presenting the beating heart of its enemy to the  
ancient gods of blood. The Jet Alone quickly went inactive as it lost power, held up  
only by the Eva's steadying hand.

"No good!" came from the JA team. "Reactor collapse is just accellerating! It's going to  
blow!"

Everyone dived for cover. The last thing they heard was the Evangelion's roar.

There was a flash that consumed everything.

And then, silence.

As people began to realize they were still alive, the looked up and saw what made the  
Evangelion so powerful. In Shinji Ikari's hands it became just -epic-. It stood there,  
a hand raised as if in salute, holding a boiling MINIATURE SUN in that palm.

The Evangelion roared again.

It opened its palm, and funneling its AT-field, sent a needle-straight beam of light  
shooting up the sky and out into space.

The Evangelion put that smoking hand to the Jet Alone, to hold upright. It reached  
into the machine with its left and non-radioactive hand.

"Misato-san..." said Shinji, his voice relieved and in perfect control. "Please... you can  
get out now."

The woman was so tiny in its palm. The Evangelion kneed the Jet Alone and let it fall  
back. It put its left hand close to its chest, protectively. It opened its mouth as if  
to roar, but instead Shinji's voice came out of its radio and external speakers.

"If this Evangelion had a voice, it would say.

I HAVE WALKED AS A GOD, FOUGHT AS A GOD  
I HAVE MADE THE BATTLEFIELD MY HOME  
I AM THE GOD IN THE MACHINE  
I AM THE HOPE AND FURY OF MAN  
I AM **_EVANGELION!_** _**TITANICUS!**_

-**PRINCIPIO ETERNUS!-**

THE ENEMIES OF HUMANITY WILL _-DIE-_  
BY MY HANDS, THEY SHALL BE _-BROKEN-_

"You..! YOU ALL! Did you really believe THIS could have stood up against the Angels?!  
While we were all fighting for our lives, you were wasting your time and money in  
this... thing! This soulless thing... this... TOY... of greed and ambition! This thing was  
never about saving humanity! It was just about MONEY and POSITION!

You would have let Misato-san die! You would have a city burn!

This... displeases me."

The Evangelion walked over to its fallen Bolter and weilded it again. It aimed at the  
Jet Alone and fired, shredding it further.

The Evangelion roared once more. Know it well, you who would dare stand its way.

I AM -**PRINCIPIO ETERNUS** "

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

The JSSDF was of course a part of that observation group. One of the generals, as  
the representative of the Defense Ministry, grabbed a Jet Alone chairperson and said  
"We need to meet this boy. Offer him anything. Just make sure we can talk to him  
-today-."

Their first sight of Shinji Ikari was not so impressive. He leaned against skin of the Eva  
Transport with Misato massaging his back; vomiting LCL. He sniffled and looked up at  
her. All there could see the familiar affection between the two.

The boy was obviously -insane-. That made for a convenient handle.

Misato didn't seem to like it but introduced them anyway.

The Third Child himself was not impressive in himself; his voice was soft, reserved,  
unlike that passionate commanding tone coming out of the Evangelion. He looked so thin  
and weak. It was hard for them to believe he was that same person inside the Eva who  
demolished the Jet Alone with such brutal ease and then defied pretty much most of  
physics.

_'Until you look at his eyes.'_ thought the general._ 'It's like looking into infinity itself.'_

That keen, ruthless intelligence; like Gendo. If anything, it seemed even purer and  
more focused in the boy. It went beyond insanity, as if super-sanity. A mind that has  
already pre-stressed itself, that all other horrors would just ablate off inconsequential  
layers of perception. The general reconsidered briefly, but decided to go on with it.  
There was no other choice, it was the best available back-channel into NERV's dark  
secrets and their chained monsters.

Shinji bowed in greeting. "I am honored to meet you as well."

One of the bureaucrats stepped up. "On behalf of the city of Atsugi, Ikari-san, thank  
you! Please, please... visit our city. Please let us hand you the keys to the city. We  
will prepare a parade, the most sumptous of feasts! Please know you will be always  
welcome in Atsugi."

The pilot flinched. "Thank you... but no. I'd rather not."

The councilman blinked. Should he feel insulted?

Shinji continued. "If I go there, there's going to be reporters, handshakings, people  
noise, flashing lights... more reporters. So many eyes. So many voices." He shook his  
head. "I'd rather not get into that, thank you. I just want to go home, cook dinner,  
maybe take a bath and then go to sleep."

"I... of course, Pilot Ikari." Everyone bowed low. "So sorry to inconvenience you."

'You can't bribe him' thought the JSSDF general. 'At least, not with such paltry gifts.  
You must make it impressive even to him.' "Mister Ikari!"

"um... yes, sir?"

The bearded old general grinned. "Thank you for stopping that Jet Alone. May we  
know how do you really feel about it?"

Shinji looked up at Misato, who nodded. It was okay for Shinji to be brutally honest  
this time. "Well... to be sure, it had several good ideas. It was a simpler design than  
the Evangelion, and I can see how it can be mass-produced. Still, against -Principio  
Eternus-..."

He looked behind him to the distant hulk. "The worst thing about it was the lack of  
fingers. I had the Bolter made as a medium-range weapon against all but the  
strongest of enemy armor and AT-field. Integrated weapons is something I liked too,  
but it's bad to lock yourselves into one scheme. Like a man, the Eva can just pick up  
what weapon suits to, to handle whatever task it may face.

I could fight it without the AT-field, and we need that to defeat the Angels. However  
for a machine built for close combat, it just wasn't as fast or powerful as I expected.  
I think it's wrong to try and compete with the Evangelion directly, as the -Principio  
Eternus- is already faster and more powerful in that regard. It would have been  
better if it functioned as a long-range support system. That is the weakness of the  
Evangelion."

He sighed.

"It really was such a waste... if only we had stood together, what could we have  
done? It saddens me that humanity has to fight itself even as it fights those that  
seek its destruction."

The general gave the JA representatives a pointed look. "Well, Mister Ikari. What can  
we do instead to help you and the Evangelion?" Idealism. A very, very good handle.  
It would be much simpler than they had thought.

Shinji looked up and scratched at the tip of his nose. "Um. For one thing, those 150  
days of continuous operation sound like a REALLY good idea. The Evangelion is strong,  
you won't believe how strong. If I could fight for longer, that would be good." He  
patted his own shoulders. "I don't need a nuclear reactor, but better batteries, here  
and here, could really help me. Integrated weapons would also be good. Even more  
armor... since you know I feel whatever pain the machine spirit feels."

The general's look did not waver. The JA representatives bowed. "Then... consider the  
resources of the Jet Alone project at your disposal, Mister Ikari."

"... um... what?"

"We will petition the UN for an open subcontract to produce various supporting  
equipment for the Evangelion." the general added. "You are correct, humanity must  
stand together."

"You can't do that!" shouted the JA representative. "There is a no-interference clause  
in the Jet Alone contract! You can't just sell us out to NERV like that!"

"Shut up!" The general bumped noses with the reedy, balding JA rep. "The Evangelion  
is fully-functional weapons system and the Jet Alone an incomplete pretender to the  
name!"

His eyes bulged with emotion. "Even if you can figure out the AT-field and get it  
working in time, do you really believe you have a chance? It doesn't matter what you  
have, as long as that Shinji Ikari is at the other machine, you will -lose-! I haven't  
seen anyone with that killer instinct since the Pacification War that brought the SSDF  
into being in the first place!"

He stepped back and adjusted his military coat. "That boy is our best weapon against  
the Angels. Anything that prevents him from doing his duty, anything that threatens  
Shinji Ikari, will be treated as treason against humanity." He turned aside and  
beckoned for an aide. "See about handling those reporters. If we have any people  
watching him, have them pulled back -now-."

"... sir..." the JA rep had to try one more time. "All that time... all our people."

"You will find a way to help Shinji Ikari or I will have you shot."

The JA rep turned and looked back at the industrial magnates. They nodded. Jet Alone  
was all but dead. At least this way, they were assured of SSDF/International funding  
and could recoup their losses. It would be better if they could somehow word the  
agreement to read not as 'NERV and the NHIS', but as directly to Evangelion/Shinji  
Ikari and supplier. The other Ikari had to kept away from their slice of the pie.

NERV was pretty pathetic in their weapon-making anyway. Most of the time. Maybe  
they could get at that Bolter thing.

Shinji just went home and went to sleep, happy that Misato-san was safe. He put the  
whole Jet Alone fiasco out of his mind.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Rei waited patiently. There was a knocking. She unlatched the door, and there stood  
Pilot Ikari. "Shinji." she greeted him.

"Hello, Rei." He smiled and entered as she bade him to. "Wow. This place is so much  
cleaner and brighter now."

"As you have said, an orderly mind thrives in orderly surroundings."

Shinji grinned. "How are you feeling, Rei?"

"I am well."

"Look, I brought some of that ratatouille you like." He hefted up one of the two white  
plastic bags he carried. The other looked heavier and boxlike.

"Thank you, pilot Ikari." She went over to get a clean plastic container. There was no  
table, so they had to eat off the plastic boxes while sitting on her bed. Once they  
were done, Shinji breathed in the scent of Rei's room. It still smelled faintly of rust  
and antiseptic, but there was something else there. It seemed alive now, somehow.

He could understand Rei's reluctance to leave the place.

Sunset streamed through her window. Rei was just waiting, ever-patient, for him to  
speak. She seemed as if she could be content just watching him. Like she did, when  
the one she did not remember, was asleep. Just the rise and fall of his breathing was  
enough for her.

Shinji smiled. She felt her heart speeding up in expectation.

"May I tell you a story, Rei?"

"You may."

Shinji brought out four plastic figures from his pocket, disproportioned but intricately  
painted. He put them on the bed facing her. As a cloud briefly passed under the sun,  
they seemed to bow in greeting. He began his story.

-In the dark future of the 41st millenium, there is only war...

And thus he wove for her a story of suffering, of pain, of fear, of anguish, of loss, of  
being alone... and of triumph, of duty, of courage, of righteous anger, of victory, and  
of never ever being alone even in death.

He introduced her to each. The Space Marine, chosen of the God-Emperor. The Ork  
Warboss, primal force of the Waaagh! The Eldar Farseer, ancient and ever turned  
towards the future. The Chaos Marine, changed by Chaos and wrestling its power to  
his will.

"You make them talk..." said Rei softly. "It is as if your voice changes. Sometimes, I  
do not even need to see your lips move to hear them speak."

Shinji laughed, delighted. "That's because your imagination is taking over, Rei. This is  
called playing."

"Play?" She tilted her head. "I was led to believe that was unproductive activity."

"Playing, imagining, seeing the world the way you want to see it. It is what makes  
humanity what it is. It is by this fantasy that we end up creating our greatest work.  
From art to marvels of technology; they all began as a dream, a random thought, a  
sliver of imagination." He put his hand over hers. "With imagination, there is no prison.  
With imagination, you will never be alone. With imagination, you are always free."

"Pilot Ikari. Shinji..."

He took his hand away and reached into the other bag. He brought out thick books  
in water-resistant leather covers. "Read, Rei, and know worlds beyond this. Read and  
find new comforts. Read and know other lives than yours. Read and make them live  
in yours."

"Pilot Ikari. T-thank you." This was a gift. No one had ever given her a gift before.

Shinji put the Warboss on top of the two soucebooks. His simple mind would be the  
easiest to imagine. '_Are you alright with this? Please help Rei. Show her how to smile.  
Show her how to live_.'

'_No worriez. I'll have da gurl all propa and orky in no time._'

Shinji chuckled. He could not see much chance of that. Still, '_Good luck with that.'_

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere, Gendo was dining. He was about to drink from a cup of black tea, when  
the vessel abruptly cracked in his hand; sending scalding hot liquid dribbling down  
into his lap.

He was -_not superstitious_-. This meant -_nothing_-.

He called for a waiter and asked for another cup; along with a word about their use  
of inferior ceramics.

'_What a bastard!_' the waiter thought as he left. '_I hope someone stomps his ass.'_

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

end chapter five

Kinda short, I only had it as one chapter. However, this was an episode more Ritsuko and Misato-centric than Shinji. The title is after all, SHINJI and Warhammer40k; or how him and it affect their world. My thanks to my old writing buddies who showed up just to review, and to my new comrades at TFF who had been so free with their comments and speculations.

Shinji did three things in this chapter, but one pretty much fraks Gendo's plans now and forever. Which one do you think that is?


	9. Chapter 8: A Farewell to Peace part1

A Farewell to Peace part 1

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

It was, as to be expected, a dark room. Dark figures with dark designs deigned to  
discuss their dire directives despite the distance. SEELE was scattered all over the  
world, but in this manner they could meet almost face to face. This was better even,  
for though they must work together there are certain members of the group that had  
sworn to kill each other on sight.

It had been fifteen years since these people caused Second Impact, and the scope  
of their failure weighed heavily upon them through the years. They were not evil men  
and women, at least not as they viewed themselves. All they wanted was godhood  
and an end for all of humanities ails and pains and harmful little thoughts. Having  
prepared beforehand, they rose into positions of uncontested influence in the post-  
Impact years. After all that time; it was again the moment to begin again. Fate is  
foretold. Humanity would make their own gods, and never again bow to the illusions of  
belief.

"Ikari has learned well..." said one of SEELE. "In times of great upheaval, should it not  
be the perfect time for a Messiah to arise?"

"But which is which? Is the time of crisis caused by its appearance, or is it merely a  
symptom of inescapable change?" replied another.

Faces, voices, indentities - these were immaterial to SEELE. After all, like their name  
implied, the most important part was the soul. Of course, the chairman was easy to  
recognize; with his visor the only thing allowing him to see. His voice too, was  
distinctive; being the force behind the organization. It is perhaps ironic that this man  
so unashamed of his identity and infirmities was the one most eager to lose it.

"There is a saying; to defeat a leader you must shoot his horse." he said. "Ikari is  
moving faster than we had anticipated. We ourselves must move faster still or find  
some way of slowing him down."

"The scrolls do not speak of this." added yet another SEELE member.

"The scrolls leave much to interpretation. Mankind is the one to decide its own  
destiny. This is what is clear in the texts."

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

It was a bright room. Misato walked in to see Shinji apparently modifying a chainsaw  
into some form of chain-sword. "Isn't that dangerous?" she asked.

"Not really. This makes it easier for me to cut things vertically. That's why I put this  
guard here, to keep sawdust from flying into my face."

Misato smiled. Shinji never ran out of ways to surprise her. "I really wouldn't have  
believed it, Shin-chan... but carpentry suits you." Maybe he'd grow some muscles out  
it. Ooh. Sweaty labor. She could just imagine it in a few years later. "What are you  
building up on the roof, anyway?"

Every day, the pilot went up to the building's roof and worked there in isolation. There  
was a big tent up there; where him, Toji and Kensuke spent time as if camping. The  
other two boys brought in wood and notebooks by the armload. It was all so very  
mysterious. It was boy's club stuff. The little girl in Misato didn't really care, except to  
feel some indignation in being so obviously excluded.

Shinji looked up and frowned. "It's... hard to explain, Misato-san. Many things, really.  
Most are just scale models. I could show you, but I'd rather let it remain a surprise."

"Sure, sure. Whatever makes you happy." She was very permissive, not just because  
Shinji was saviour of the world, but that because he was unlikely to do anything that  
would betray her trust. After she shut the door, she leaned back against it; as if  
tired. Misato swirled around the beer in the can she held in her hand. 'Do I still really  
need this?'

She took a sip. '_Please; don't hurt me, Shinji. Don't go away_.' They were both soldiers  
in a war, and both knew that not everyone survives. '_Stay for a while_.'

'_I hate them._' she thought again; about the Angels. '_They're just going to keep taking  
it all away. Oh, Shin-chan... I hope I die before you.' I don't want to keep hurting this  
way_.'

Inside; Shinji finished the modifications to turn his mini-chainsaw into a mini-ripper.  
'Now that's just fine!" he said, showing it off to the remaining miniatures. 'Behold your  
new form, machine spirit!'

'_Be blessed in the name of the Emperor.' said the Space Marine. 'Be blessed by the  
anger of the machine spirit. May your bite bring His rage, may your roar echo His  
wrath._'

"Um... I'm going to use it mostly to chop wood."

'_Chop wood in righteous -anger-, then. In the Emperor's name, may they be -torn-  
into pieces suitable for re-assembly! Let them come together in praise of his Will!_'

'..._ I USED to sound like that, you should know.' said the Chaos Marine. 'Some people  
would ask, WHY Chaos? Why? Why risk disfigurement and mutation? And I answer;  
look at -those- and ask yourselves; why in the hells NOT?_'

'_I would shoot them_.'

'_Yes, yes... that tends to sum up their reservations. Whereupon I would STAB them.  
They would FEED the Gods of Chaos either way_.'

Before they could get at each other again, Shinji let out a long sigh. He walked over  
to his window and stared out at Tokyo-3. After a long while its residents had finally  
managed to rebuild most of it. "We've come a long way, haven't we?" he said. "Since  
those innocent days back at the beach. I can't even see the ocean from here."

He revved up the chainsword in his hand and lifted it as if in salute to the city. Then,  
he shut if off and looked at in his grip. It felt so -right-. "Those hollow days. Have I  
ever really -lived- before I found you?" Shinji turned to the three. "I wonder what  
would I have been like if I hadn't? Would I still have protected this city? Would I have  
caused so much suffering?"

_'You have grown since then. You have grown strong, my young king.'_

"And I must be even more worthy of that strength." He turned to the Farseer. "You  
were the one who never gave a me title... until now. Why?"

_"We are Eldar, and we bow so easily to no one._" Were her hair not in a helmet, she  
would toss it contemptuously over her shoulder. "_Now, young king, you deserve it. This  
city is yours and shall serve your purposes well._"

"I want to protect this city and safeguard the happiness of its people. Shouldn't it be  
the opposite? I serve them."

_'And well indeed do they owe you their allegiance. Such is the burden of a king.'_

_'... he was ALREADY a bright lord before this, Eldar.'_

_'He has been promoted.'_

_'Does this mean he is no longer your pawn, witch?_" asked the Space Marine. "_Will you  
now give the commander guidance without advancing your own desires?'_

_'The king is the most important piece of the game. If he dies, the game ends. So I  
would counsel you now, Shinji; be wary. Be most wary. You are a young king and the  
old king sits uneasy on his throne. Be most wary.'_

"You mean... my father?"

'_That dark light, yes. Is he not why you remain in this city?'_

Shinji laughed. "It's been weeks since I last thought of my father. While it's true that  
I came to this city because of him, it is not for his approval that I stay. I love this  
city. I love its people. I love them not like a king, or father, but as a son unto them.  
My father is no longer significant. I will waste no more scenarios on him.

I have not forgiven him, but in time the hatred may fade."

_'Then what is IT that is important to you now, bright lord?_' asked the Chaos Marine,

with odd eagerness. '_What do you DESIRE now, if not revenge? What do you see, if  
not his ruin?_'

"I see the glory of man. Look! I see their spirit. Death will come to those who would  
try and destroy that spirit."

The Space Marine bowed. '_In the name of -Principio Eternus_-.'

'_This places you even more firmly under your father's THUMB_.' warned the Chaos  
Marine. '_Know well how EASILY good faith can be twisted_.'

_'Yes. You would know_.' hissed the Space Marine.

"I can't rely on my father." Shinji replied. "I have always known that. Therefore, I  
made plans to protect my people my own way."

This pleased the Farseer immensely, for a variety of reasons. '_The king is greatest  
when he does not stand alone. Those around you shall craft that victory. Your queen  
is powerful, and enemies shall shrink from her approach_.'

"My queen? Who has the power... Misato-san?"

'_How long has it been since you tried to see into what may come? You have all but  
abandoned the... human element... in your visions._'

"These are my friends. These are my new family. They are not tools to me."

Shinji could feel her open-armed, submissive bow in his mind. '_There are yet lessons  
you need to learn' she said. 'And these I cannot teach you.'_

He looked out the window, and was content.

'_Although..._' the Farseer continued.

"Yes?"

'_There are no kingly lessons I can teach you. However, it pleases me little that you  
sent the Ork with the girl. Would it not be more proper if I was to instruct her? There  
is still yet time to introduce me into her service...'_

'No.' said three male thoughts at once, as one.

'_She is a girl. I am a woman. This is what is proper, not some dirty old Ork! This is an  
outrage against my gender!'_

'_Still no_.' insisted the three. '_And one more time; hell no_.' Better a dirty old Ork than  
a very dirty old woman.

'_Fsah!_' She lifted her arms up in frustration. '_Why am I so unluckily always surrounded  
by prudes?!'_

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

These were the days of Shinji Ikari in Tokyo 3. He could finally go to school again  
and meet his friends. Toji and Hikari were ever-zealous in protecting his privacy.  
He managed to make a few more friends, but what warmed his heart the most was  
seeing Rei develop a few of her own.

The other girls had little in common with the blue-haired girl, but at least the snide  
remarks and hostile envy had vanished. She was even seen to smile on her own on  
occasion, and of course a fan club immidiately sprang into being. More disturbing than  
the Shinji Fan Club and the Rei Fan Club was the Shinji and Rei Forever Fan Club.

Of course, even if she didn't go to school, Maya Ibuki was a card-carrying member of  
that club. 'Together we shall stand at the end of time.' Shivers.

The night belonged to Shinji. It was the only time he could go out and be reasonably  
sure he wouldn't get gawked at. One night, he and Touji went out to the playground  
near Kaname Primary School and went at a good bit of vandalism.

Morning saw scrawled on the concrete a strange face lined in red paint. It seemed to  
be like a skull with an oversized toothy jaw. It wasn't scary, though, as by its eyes  
it seemed to be winking. The children seemed to love it; and because of that the  
grownups decided to let it stay for a while. Children danced around it, followed the  
lines with their feet. It was so cute, how they'd skip around it as like a conga line  
and singing "Gretz, gretz, gretz, GRETCH! Gretz, gretz, gretz, GRETCH! Gretz, gretz,  
gretz, GRETCH!"

A few days later and no one was even paying any attention to it. Children at play,  
all together, could quickly becoming tiring just to watch.

Toji and Shinji watched from behind a tree. "Why are we even bothering with these  
kids?" Toji asked. "I thought you wanted to lie low..."

"Don't underestimate them. These kids... their tenacity, their boundless energy."  
Shinji smiled. He had on a baseball cap and wide sunglasses. He wore athletic gear  
similar to that of Touji's, in this way apprearing contrary to the mental image people  
had of him. Someone who outside of the Evangelion had very little interest in physical  
pursuits could simply not be that baseball player the athletic Suzuhara is seen loafing  
around with.

"Okay, okay. Like you said... this is where Hikari's sister goes to. I don't know... would  
she be angry we're getting her sister involved in this?"

"Probably." Shinji shrugged. "It depends. There are other advantages to this." He  
grinned secretively, with his eyes crinkled shut. "Go on... I'll wait for you at that  
bench over there."

"But..."

"They're kids, Toji. why are you so afraid?"

"... all right, all right! Stop poking!"

Toji approached the shrieking band of neo-primitives with trepidation. When they  
stopped and eerily turned their heads in unison to stare at him, he nearly fled. He  
scratched his chin and laughed weakly. "Um.. hi." he said.

"Who're you?" one of the kids asked.

"I'm Toji. Suzuhara. Is... Horaki Nozomi here? I like, go to class with her sister."

Out from the throng emerged a little girl, her hair in twin ponytails. She didn't have  
the freckles of her elder sisters, but shared their prim, disapproving looks. She  
squinted up at him and said "I know him. It's that idiot; baka Toji."

"Baka Toji!" the children all shouted at once. "Baka Toji! Baka Toji!"

"Sssh!" Toji made frantic gestures. "Dammit! You brats!" Can't strangle them, might  
make Shinji unhappy. They'll go blabbing to Inquisitor Horaki. "SHUT UP!"

They pointed and laughed and began to dance around him. They kept singing "baka  
Toji", secure in their invulnerability.

"Damn gretchin!" he shouted.

They all stopped.

Nozomi approached him, her pigtail quivering in indignation. "You're not one of da  
boyz. Now where did you learn dat?! Talk, ya squig!"

"Hey, heey... don't you go threatening me, little girl."

"Gretchin, close ranks and prepares ta attack! By Da Book!" A frenzied yell erupted  
from the children and they hurriedly brought themselves into three lines. They made  
cute little growling noises and quickly surrounded the teen.

"Okay, okay!" Toji held his hands up in surrender. "Look, I don't know anything, all  
right. I'm just a messenger. Someone... he told me to say this. 'Da word goes wid da  
gretch. Da gretz go wid da boyz. Da boss is waitin for da boyz.' Look, just come with  
me so he can explain it, huh?"

"I don't know about this..." a little boy mumbled. "We're not supposed to go anywhere  
with strangers."

"Where are we going?" Nozomi asked.

"You're not gonna know until you get there."

The little girl nodded. Good enough. She and two boys followed Toji to the nearby  
back-to-back benches, though away from view of most the street. Sitting relaxed in  
one of the benches facing away from the street was someone whistling a simple but  
familiar tune.

He turned his head and lifted his cap slightly. "'Ello, gretchin.' he said with a grin.

"Holy shi- I mean... holy crap!" One of the primary schoolers yelled, then slapped his  
hands over his own lips as Shinji made a 'ssh!' gesture. "... it's shinji-sama..."

Shinji touched his forehead and then his wrist, in the Boyz gesture for 'act normal'.  
The three children sat down on the bench behind him, relaxed and humming, kicking  
their legs. Nozomi lifted her hands and made like swimming motions, in the gretch  
gesture for 'provide distraction'. The children grew louder at play. Toji, feeling rather  
creeped out, moved away towards a tree.

"My name is Shinji." said the pilot, while looking up at the sky. "May I know your  
names?"

"I'm... Nozomi." was her reply, bobbing her head from side to side as if listening to  
music. "These are my friends, Aki and Sugo."

"I'm pleased to meet you; Aki-kun, Sugo-kun, Nozomi-chan."

A few moments in entirely too casual silence passed.

"How are mi boyz doing?" Shinji asked.

"Your boyz? You..." Nozomi whistled. "You're Da Boss? Wow. Yeah!" She grinned.  
"Who else is good enough to be Da Boss?" She shook her head at her friends, that  
they should resist the urge to turn around. "Da Boys are itchen for a scrap, boss."

"Tokyo 3 is different. I see they managed to set up a gretz network anyway. Boyz  
and gretchin... I need your help."

"Anything, boss!" said the boys.

"Dis is Da Word. I needs the Gretch to pass it from me to the people around me and  
then to da boyz. I'm gonna needs ya to carry some things now and then from one  
part of the city to another. Don't worry, it's nothing dangerous."

"Pwah." They were hoping for something more exciting.

"Remember, as usual the adults must NOT know. Remember the code of the Gretchin."

"We does stuff they see and don't see. The Gretchin are da lil'ones, and smarter dan  
be big'uns."

"Toji has a sister. She's about your age, and she's sick at the hospital. Teach her how  
to be a Gretch... it's lonely up there and she needs friends. She's going to be Toji's  
gretch, and if you pass Word to her it's going to reach my ears. Likewise, Word from  
her comes from me. Nozomi, you're your sister's Gretch. It would be best if she  
doesn't know about this for a while... Toji or Kensuke can find some excuse to visit  
her and give Word to ya. It's simple. But it's important. Dis city needs your eyes, your  
ears, and your little legs.

Do ya gets it, gretchin?"

"We gets it, boss!"

"Then this is Da Word from me. There's a little house somewhere behind Sumire street  
that isn't being used. It has Da Mark on a place no one but da Boyz will look. Here.."  
He put a key on the bench backrest. "... is da key. Da Boyz can use it as their hut.  
Its already got electricity and runnin' water. Like always, wat da boyz know is for da  
boyz only. Dis is my gift to yas. You can always run dere if dere's trouble. Keep its  
secret from da rest of da kids unless dey really needs it."

"Wh-what?" Nozomi turned around, and took the key. "You... thanks ya, boss."

"Now go'wan. Have fun."

The children left the bench to join the others. Da Word passed quickly, but discreetly.

Shinji left, ambling along with his hands in his pockets. Toji followed quickly. "

"What was that all about?" he asked. This whole business was creepy. "They're just  
children, Shinji. What do you hope to accomplish with these children?"

Shinji walked on. "Phones are very convenient, aren't they Toji?"

The other teen looked confused, but Shinji didn't continue. After a while, he made an  
affirmative answer. It was only then that Shinji explained further, his tone like a  
teacher to a student.

"Phones allow us to communicate with almost anyone. They allow us to share our  
concerns and relay messages all over the world nearly instantaneously. It is one of  
the landmark inventions of human civilization. It brings the entire world closer..." The  
two boys ducked into an alley to let a large group of other students pass by. "And  
at the same time separates them."

Under the shadows of the alley, Shinji paused in his lecture and continued it only  
when they were walking again.

"It reduces people to numbers. You need to know what that other number is to  
contact them. Its utility can sometime make people forget, that the phone and the  
amount of numbers within it, can be the goal unto itself. It is but humanity's tool and  
humanity must not let itself be swallowed by its promise. The true power of the  
invention lies not in itself, but in who uses them."

"So, what are you saying, phones are bad?"

Shinji laughed. "Of course not. I'm saying phones make things too easy." He looked up  
to see they were approaching the hospital where Toji's sister lay. "People can forget  
that conversation does not actually mean communication. In the covenience of its  
use people can forget that they do not hold the power of this tool. It lies upon those  
that -provide- the link between the two phones. Therefore, when this is cut, they  
can do nothing. When their conversations are no longer private, they are not aware  
of it. And when it is gone... they have no way of knowing about what the other is  
doing..."

They were inside an elevator. Toji wondered about this side of Shinji that he'd never  
seen before. Almost anonymous under his garb, Shinji seemed freer somehow, and  
expressed himself as like someone else. Someone older, wiser, and more cunning. In  
hiding his face, he had hidden too his normal self-imposed limitations.

Toji felt himself stand up straighter. He could almost feel himself get smarter just from  
listening in. As Shinji believed him capable of detecting the subtle nuances, so did the  
other teen hope in himself. "So... the children, are our backup plan? They're how we  
can communicate when we can't use the phones? I don't know... seems kinda too  
complicated to be useful."

"Maybe. It's not an instant system, but how many children are there in this city?"

Toji shrugged. "A lot, I think."

"People are not numbers. People are faces, habits, places. If I need to reach someone  
I don't need to memorize numbers. Everyone either has someone in school, knows  
someone who has a child, or just walks by a street where a child may play. Children  
are unpredictable. They are also assumed to be innocent. There are no innocents.  
There is only degrees of guilt; and these children can perform tasks invisible even  
under plain sight. No one thinks it odd if a child puts something in a drink can and  
kicks it aside. No one thinks it odd if a child jumps into a bush for no apparent reason.  
No one thinks it odd of they would spontaneously follow an adult around, imitating  
what he is doing.

It amazes me what they can accomplish on their own. What we have, Toji, is a  
completely untapped and unpredictable system of knowing what each other is doing."

"Won't they just tell their parents if asked?"

"They could tell them, and it would give the questioners nothing. For a child's logic  
skews the message beyond what it really is. It is the Word from a child, to a child,  
and completely incomprehensible to anyone except them. I don't encourage them to  
remember exact messages, just the overall idea. It is harmless... until it reaches those  
who share the same ideas."

Toji winced. Yep, definitely creepy. "Shinji, this... I don't like it. Putting children to  
work for us seems wrong somehow. They're not meant for this cloak and dagger shit."

"It's not spying, it's just playing. It's not message delivery, but a relay race." Shinji  
turned and smiled at him, his eyes still hidden under the brim of his baseball cap. "And  
there is also a very important benefit to this arrangement..."

"What's that?"

"How often to you get to visit your sister, Toji? How many children does she get to  
play with? What does she know of the world outside? It's got to be lonely to be stuck  
in this place. The Gretch will visit her, often, and tell her stories of da boyz. She can  
make new friends without having her endure the pain of moving outside. I can just  
See her, reading to those who can't read, giggling to their exploits... how long has it  
been since this place heard the sounds of children's laughter?"

Toji's eyes widened. The doors opened with a ding! "Shinji..."

"And this gives you even more reason to visit Horaki-san. Visit often."

Shinji stepped out, walking a bit faster, a mischievous half-smile ever present on his  
face. So utterly out of character for those who knew him, and further enhanced his  
disguise. Toji followed quickly, looking indignant. "Hey, what do you mean by that?  
Hey! Come on, man... nothing's going on with me and class rep."

"Toji, lie to yourself if you must, but not to me. Kensuke and I can both see what's  
going on." He continued walking. "Toji; please know that if you don't appreciate  
Horaki-san's affections for you, then either Kensuke or I will woo her away from you."

That struck him numb.

"W-what?!"

"We are your friends, and her friends as well. We can see what you see in her." Shinji  
stopped at the door to Mari's room and turned around, that odd smile still there. "You  
both complete each other. I don't know if she would be able to handle this life I'm  
going to lead, and with Kensuke she'd end up mothering him more than acting as a  
girlfriend... but we'll try our hardest to make her happy."

"Well... if that's what you guys really feel about it..."

"Toji! She needs you. This is not the time for stupid self-sacrifice! Guard her happiness  
as well. With the support of her sister, perhaps she won't think you so much of the  
'baka Toji'... she knows you, and I can see what she sees in you. She just needs the  
courage and support to admit it to herself."

The other teen said nothing. He moved over to a wall and punched it. He looked up,  
and his face was grimacing. "So this... was all just to set us up, huh? What makes  
you think you can just decide our feelings for us?"

"I'm not deciding anything for you. It's incidental, and it's good. The children will be  
happy in their new pastime, your sister will be happy with her new friends, and you...  
you and Horaki-san. All of your happiness is important to me."

"Damn it, Shinji! You can't just..." Toji breathed out sharply. "Just... at how many  
levels do you work in anyway?"

Shinji looked up and as sunlight streamed through the window to light up his face,  
Toji saw there that his friend for a brief moment looked so lost, so alone, and  
frightened. "I... don't even know anymore." was the reply.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Rei knew contentment. In this way, the one she did not remember was correct. In her  
was nirvana. When without orders, she merely stayed and waited in her room, only  
moving when it was time to eat or bathe. In this way the hollow days of her life  
passed slowly and without notice.

Rei knew fascination. She could watch the clock and simply follow its passing. There  
was always plenty of time. Now however; time seemed to just speed up. Time itself  
lost meaning. She was hungry and she found it hard to move away; she knew pain  
but this was the first time she disliked the limitations of her fleshy body.

Rei knew happiness. She could feel her lips twitching as she was reading. She had  
always learned well when taught, and had long already absorbed whatever lessons  
were at school. Were it not for her lack of participation, her grades would be perfect.  
However, learning for herself was something she had never anticipated.

By Gork and Mork. She looked up at the Warboss on her desk. She hadn't rid herself  
of Commander Ikari's broken glasses, but she had to admit the figure was made for a  
much more impressive display. Just its presence alone filled the room with a certain  
vibrance.

She carefully turned another page. Many times had she read the book, over and over  
again, deep into the night. In her dreams she was still reading them. That deep old  
presence that she knew was Lilith, seemed so very far away; walled off and screaming  
in futility.

"The Orks are the pinnacle of creation." whispered Rei. "For them, the great struggle  
is won. They have evolved a society which knows no stress or angst. Who are we to  
judge them? We Eldar who have failed, or the Humans, on the road to ruin in their  
turn. And why? Because we sought answers to questions an Ork wouldn't even bother  
to ask! We see a culture that is strong and despise it as crude."

Lillith was silent.

"The purpose of life is never questioned. For an Ork, whatever he is doing at the time  
is meaning enough. Orks do not have many worries and do not even know what an  
aspiration is. Very few Orks are ambitious. If an Ork observes that others around him  
are taking notice and doing what he say he will just exploit the situation as far as he  
can. In this way he might end up as a warlord without ever having set out to gain  
power."

Rei closed the book and touched it to her forehead. There was this feeling rising in  
her, an emotion she couldn't identify. It was like happiness, only more. She felt so  
light. It made sense. It made utter complete sense. Pilot Ikari was correct. He did  
not simply tell her. He showed her. He gave her meaning. He was indeed worthy of her  
respect.

She was indeed an Ork. All her life, she was one, and did not know it. The purpose in  
the now. It is enough.

Lillith was fearful.

_"Aint yaz bored yet?"_ asked the Warboss.

"I do not believe so." Rei replied. Shinji had said for her to exercise her imagination.  
She had seared the codex contents into her memories, and day after day for weeks  
it was all she knew. The same thing over and over again. She could keep doing that  
for even years. "This is enough. These are the moments for me."

_"Ya sure?"_

"I am sure."

The warboss laughed. "'_Oomie girl, I'm talkin' to ya. I'm talkin' through yaz thoughts.  
I says am bored, then yaz bored too. Ya can't be an Ork just by readin'. We'z da  
ORKS! You thinks we gots so far by readin'? Orkses are made for fightin'!"_

Rei put aside the book. "Fighting? Must I fight as well?"

_"Ya wants ta be an Ork, right?"_

Rei nodded.

_"Den let me sees ya stomp on somefin'."_

Rei stood up and waited. Seeing a cockroach trying to cross the floor, she lifted her  
right leg high up showing a goodly bit of skin, and crunched that roach under her heel.  
It was an unpleasant feeling, and for a second she considered going 'eew!'. Rei wiped  
off roach goop with one of her old bloody bandages.

_"Dat was paddetik!"_ grumbled the warboss. _"Stompin's not just somfin' ya do. It's wat  
ya FEEL dat makes it a true STOMPIN'."_

"I... do not know what to feel."

_"Mebbe ya needs better fings ta stomp? Let's go out ta stomp some grots."_

"Grots?" Rei tilted her head to the side. Gretchins? There are no gretchins around. She  
searched for a deeper defininition. Bad gretchin? Or... "Undesirable elements of the  
population?"

She could feel the warboss' eager nod.

Rei carefully put aside her books and then even more carefully picked up the warboss  
to place in her pocket. She shut her door and turned the key on her shiny new lock  
that Shinji had given her. In the past, she was unconcerned as there was nothing at  
all in her dingy apartment worth the effort of stealing. However, now that she had  
those books; they were... precious... to her.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

The office was dark, lit only by the qabbalistic display up on the ceiling. Gendo sat  
there in his usual pose, while Ritsuko had to stand a distance away in the center of  
the room. It was all so precisely intimidating, and even her logical scientific part had  
to admit it was effective.

"The pilots synchronization ratios are holding at an effectively high level." She made  
her report, only occasionally glancing at the papers in her hand. She knew that while  
Gendo was well capable of interpreting data on his own, he relied on her to illuminate  
emerging patterns. "The Evangelions themselves show nothing unusual in both control  
behaviour or physical properties."

"They, how do you explain the Jet Alone incident, Doctor Akagi?"

Ritsuko shrugged. She really wished she could sit. In his own way Gendo was punishing  
her for deviating from the scenario without making it overt. "The AT-field... there is  
still a lot we don't know about it. Much of what we know further now have been from  
the efforts of the Third Child. As much as it frightens me... " and it did. "The AT-field  
doesn't seem to have a functional limitation. It does whatever he needs it to do at  
the time."

This didn't please Gendo. "Can it be replicated with other pilots, other Evangelions?"

"Theoretically, yes. We haven't attempted to do the same things with Rei, due to the  
possible risk of having her over-sync with the Evangelion."

Gendo nodded slightly. This might be useful later on. "How is Rei's synchronization  
rating?"

"... surprisingly high. It doesn't have Shinji's wild swings up and down, but on average  
nearly matches his. Any more and we'd have to be looking at contamination between  
her and the Eva."

Interesting. "Does this have any relation to her closeness to the Third Child?"

Now this was the question she had been dreading. The answer was a simple yes; but  
by her evaluation it would Gendo decide if it was beneficial or not. As much as the  
prospect of mini-Gendo and mini-Yui getting together disturbed her, the womanly  
part of her was just giddy in the knowing it would severely piss off Gendo and his  
plans. Shinji was so much like Gendo it wasn't funny. What was funny, was how he  
was BETTER at it. Destroying and looting Jet Alone's resources in one swoop was  
something beyond the elder Ikari's reach. Where he gathered power through favors  
owed and blackmail, the other bought it with common pride and loyalty.

Ritsuko could feel it, one day, there would be a truly titanic clash. NERV might not  
survive. She dearly wished to live to see it.

"Yes." she answered. "Her identification with the piloting attitude of the Third Child  
can only be beneficial. Rei has always been... obedient... but never had she really  
tried to surpass the limits of what she can do. Morale had always been considered a  
non-issue with her, but she seems more willing now to obey orders. As always, it is  
better to do a task with the idea of succeeding than simply because one is told to."

"Has her interaction with the Third reached the level of physical influence?"

Ritsuko frowned. "... are you asking me if Rei is still a virgin?"

Silence upon Gendo's end.

"Then, yes. Rei is a virgin. Shinji hasn't touched her." It must irk you if someone else  
should get at that first. "It all looks rather platonic. Cute, even."

He frowned at that. Shinji was an incidental portion of his scenarios. Rei was the  
crucial part; all the boy did was to add another layer of control. With SEELE working  
openly, he had to consider what this meant for Rei. He could simply have her replaced  
but then he could lose the effectiveness of her synchronization with the Eva. There  
are still yet more Angels that must be defeated according to the scrolls.

It was written, the boy would defeat them. She would stand with him. It was also  
quite clear that she, would be someone who could die and yet not die; live and yet  
not be living.

"And the opposite? How is Rei affecting the Third Child?"

"You heard it; Shinji can get rather... outspoken. He swore to protect her, and I don't  
believe he's likely to back down from that boyish promise." Boyish? Hell. She could see  
its effect on Maya. That was a Man's promise.

This was acceptable. It doesn't matter what the boy did; as long he still had Rei to  
provide the control needed. The boy doesn't know how Rei could be replaced, so a  
few threats to her wellbeing should be enough. Gendo's main problem therefore was  
to preserve Rei from SEELE. Fortunately, her nature was such that she had little to  
fear from humanity.

Gendo dismissed Ritsuko, as he was tiring of seeing her. She was still useful, but also  
slowly being more and more belligerent as she thought herself indespensable. No one  
is. This was something she should have already learned.

While in NERV, his position was unassailable. Now, how to strike back at the old  
farts...?

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Shinji over the month had made three more calls; two to his hometown and one to  
the number given to him by the JSSDF. He sent two parcels by mail; one back to his  
uncle's place and another to the Jet Alone labs.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

It was night, and Kensuke was nervous. Skulking around was suspicious behaviour if  
seen... and that was precisely the point, they were trying not to be seen. He and  
Shinji had even worn dark clothes for the occasion.

They ran through dark alleys and kept to the shadows. The few policemen and gang  
thugs that they saw, they avoided silently. Shinji's status wouldn't save them but  
only heighten the trouble. Finally, they came to an inaccessible back door of a shop  
under construction.

"Say... is this all right? Breaking in, you know." It was a thrill, yes, but he didn't want  
to be thrown into jail.

"It's not breaking in if we have the key."

The door opened easily. Shinji flicked a nearby switch. The inside... was a mess. Walls  
were half-painted, dust and small blocks of wood were everywhere. Tubs of paint  
were left lying around, and over a crude bench were a bunch of workman's tools. It  
looked all as if construction was abandoned in a hurry as workers butted heads with  
the boss; but might also resume at any time.

It was an empty place, unworthy of notice. Thick shutters locked the main door and  
windows. It had many secure locks and thick doors, but the insides had nothing to  
offer any thief.

Shinji made his way past the mess over to the back, where there were four doors  
facing each other in a blocked-off hallway. The two doors on the left were marked  
with the male and female symbols; obviously restrooms. Kensuke pushed open the  
female door, just out of curiousity, but inside was but bare concrete. The two other  
doors were unmarked

The unmarked door farthest from the entrace was locked, and it was that they  
entered. Inside was storage, full of boxes and crates. Kensuke helped Shinji move  
aside some of the boxes to reveal a metal trap door; yet again locked. This one was  
marked with DANGER! ELECTRICITY.

The glasses-wearing boy held back his misgivings as Shinji so nonchalantly climbed  
down the ladder.

Below was complete darkness. Shinji flicked another switch.

"Whoa..." breathed Kensuke.

It was cleaner, was the first thing he noticed. It was a room as big as all of upstairs,  
and its sides were occupied by large machinery. Kensuke recognized metal lathes,  
saws, molds, and various other items of manufacture. There were ready work tables,  
even raw materials packed in crates.

"What is this place?" he asked.

Shinji smiled, but was hesitant. "This... well, the store above was supposed to be a  
gun shop."

Kensuke nearly had a heart attack. "A WHAT?!" He looked around again, everything  
seemed infinitely more awesome. "This is great! Who used to own this place?!"

"Um..."

"I should have brought my camera... no, no, making records of your misdeeds is never  
a good idea." The young teen ran all over the room... fondling, for lack of a better  
term, the sleek metal of the fabricators. After quite some time he realized Shinji  
hadn't answered his question, and asked again.

"Nobody. I had this built a few weeks ago."

Kensuke clutched his heart and fell over.

"... Kensuke!"

"... how...?" The glasses-wearing teen muttered numbly. He lifted his head to look  
down. "Shinji. Since when did you have enough money to throw around just to have  
something like this built? And... why?

Not that I don't like it... but, damn, man! Just when I thought you couldn't be a more  
awesome friend, you pull something like this."

Instead of answering, Shinji sat on one of the work benches. He stared off into space.  
After a few more minutes, he asked as well "Kensuke; want to hear a story?"

"Dude, I'm not a little... okay." He got up and scooted over. They sat facing each  
other there, in a crossed-legs position like two samurai discussing old and new wars.  
This serious air made Kensuke ignore the shooting pain in his ankles.

And there; Shinji began his story. It was a story of war and science.

"It was the Dark Age of Technology..."

Shinji told him about the warp-storms isolating humanity. He spoke of Mars, and its  
technology conserved through pain and sacrifice. He spoke of its tech-priests, and  
their worship of technology.

He spoke of the arrival of the Emperor, and his warriors. He spoke of the armored  
star-knights for his Great Crusade; liberating and bringing together the scattered  
colonies of Man, long isolated in the dark reaches of the galaxy.

He spoke of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

He spoke of their works; and their marvels. He spoke of the Space Marines, and the  
blessed suits they wore into battle. He spoke of the Powered Suits. He spoke of the  
Terminator armor. He spoke of -Dreadnoughts-, and how even until death, the faithful  
of the Emperor would still serve.

Neither knew for how long they talked, as Kensuke asked for more and more  
clarifications on the things he'd heard. Even without seeing examples, he could find a  
way to visualize them. In fact, having no clear idea of what Shinji was talking about,  
they seemed even more remote and massive as the mountains.

In the end, Shinji reached into his pocket and put a miniature between them. It was  
the Space Marine. The light flickered, and it looked as if the figure had twitched its  
chainsword in salute.

"Here I ask you now, Kensuke. What would you rather do; wear that armor into battle  
or MAKE that armor?"

Kensuke reached over to pick up the Space Marine, and stopped. He stared at his  
own spindly wrists. His vision was blurred. Were those... tears, misting up his glasses?  
It was nothing but a toy. But, the way Shinji said of it... it was like hearing scripture  
from a holy man; it was something endless and epic. He wanted it. Kensuke felt like  
all his doubts had lifted. It was simple. He'd simply been born in the wrong time.

"I..." He closed his hand into a fist. "I'd like to make it." How would it have felt? To  
craft such power. To know that while others might fight and die, without you the  
entire war effort would grind to a halt.

Shinji quickly scooped up the Space Marine and stood up. Kensuke make a "hey!" of  
protest.

The pilot went over to a large empty display case. He reached into it, and pushed a  
stub somewhere. The display case opened up like a book.

No way! No freaking way! Kensuke leapt to his feet and stood beside him; his face  
full of wonder and delight. "A secret entrance?!"

Shinji grinned. He stepped inside, to reveal a simple but small elevator. The two  
descended. "Your father is a powerful man, Kensuke."

"Dad? But... he's an accountant."

"Remember that soldiers cannot fight without bullets. Tanks cannot roll on without  
metal. It is your father's valuable support that keeps NERV moving." Shinji smiled, his  
face somewhat pained. "I envy you and Toji, you know. You have fathers that are at  
least worthy of being called that..."

"But, Shinji... this..."

"This trifle? Do you think I dug it out with my bare hands? Did I lay down the concrete  
on my own? No; this isn't mine. It is you who stand around me that give me power.  
And it is for you that I had this safehouse built. I can fight the Angels, but I can't  
protect my friends from the designs of man."

"Man, Shinji? You think we're going to be in danger from other people?"

"Of course. It's inevitable. I must thank your father. It was he that found this long-  
forgotten section of Tokyo 3 that had an abandoned under-section going into the  
geofront. The city planners just built over it."

The elevator opened, and the two stepped out to something... unassuming. It looked  
just like a normal apartment. There was a bed, a refrigerator, a sink, some tall metal  
dressers... and several more doors.

"That door over there leads all the way across the street, to a closed bookstore on  
the other side. The owner is someone I know, but to everyone he's just on vacation.  
I've already arranged for you to be 'employed' and set to sign for new books and fix  
up the shelves. What you're really going to be doing is to receive packages from the  
mail and sometimes from other kids. Kensuke, I'd like you to secretly prepare this  
place.

This safehouse is only safe if no one knows about it. Therefore, you should only enter  
from that bookstore over there. Never let the store above be associated with you or  
anyone I know. There are a few more entrances... that door leads to another alley,  
out through a ventilation shaft. That door over there goes into the Tokyo 3 sewer line.  
And that one on the floor goes to a passageway into the geo-front itself. There's a  
blocked hatch somewhere, but my access key should be enough to get past it."

Shinji shook his head, amazed too. "Kensuke... your father is awesome. Now I know  
where you get your information-gathering skills from. He picked out the perfect place  
and I'm sure that he can keep it hidden from NERV."

"What... what about those who built this place? Aren't they a security risk too?"

"They're dispersed across several cities now, in their new work orders. Besides, as far  
as they know this place isn't for me but for some other Tokyo-3 nutcase. The only  
ones who know so far about this place is your father, me, and you."

Kensuke stepped aside, fearful. He knew Shinji moved in a different world than the  
other teens of his age, but this..! This! "I... I don't know, man. It seems too big. I'm  
not sure I can handle it..." He squeezed his eyes shut. "I'll mess up! I -always- mess  
up!"

Shinji put his hands back in his pockets again and lifted a fist up to Kensuke's face.  
The other teen opened his eyes and flinched. He couldn't see anything beyond that  
fist.

"You can do it, Kensuke. For the sake of all you know, you will when needed, find the  
strength and the courage you search for. Greatness is built on lesser things, and in  
day to day you will find your own glory."

That fist opened and in it was another figurine, garbed in a white robe. It held a long  
staff that tried to be a gun, a key, and an axe all simultaneously. Its expression was  
weary, but still unwilling to rest. "Let me tell you..." and with it at his face like that, it  
seemed as if the voice came from it. "... about the Titans."

At the end of it, Kensuke was openly sobbing.

No matter how big the Titans were, they all started from the efforts of small, mortal  
men. The great machine stands on its own, but also exalts those who built it.

Shinji took Kensuke's right hand and opened it. He put the Adeptus Mechanicus on  
that palm.

"Shinji... I can't... this is..."

"There is more I need for you to do, Kensuke. Will you help me?"

The school geek closed his fingers around the figurine, and light glinted off his glasses.  
"By the grace of the machine spirit, I will succeed. What would you have me do?"

"I want you to get the plans from Toji's father and build me a man-size Bolter. You  
have the tools. There's bound to be a few operator's manuals around here somewhere.  
Don't worry about the ammunition for a while."

Kensuke keeled over, unconscious.

Shinji shook his head, amused. He picked up his friend and laid him out on the bed.  
How could someone be so simple and yet so complex? He had guessed right; it was  
not that Kensuke searched for war out of the wish to end his mortal life in a grand  
way, but shouted out against his own flawed mortality. He needed purpose, something  
greater than himself, something monumental to strive for; to be happy.

He scribbled a few more instructions on a pad of paper, left the duplicate keys, and  
went out. He owned five properties in Tokyo 3; three were bought for him by the  
Houkos, and two were provided by the JSSDF.

There was yet still more work to be done before he could sleep.

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These were the days of Maya Ibuki in Tokyo-3. She still idolized her sempai, but found  
herself visiting more and more Misato Katsuragi's apartment. The others were on an  
open invitation but Makoto was too embarrassed to visit without an official reason.  
Shigeru visited only once, but afterwards said something about it 'not really being his  
scene'.

"Shin-chan! Maya's here."

"It's almost ready, Misato-san!"

Besides, it was cheaper than going to a restaurant. Maya chipped in with the food  
expenses, and did the groceries when Misato was too busy or Shinji just too likely to  
get mobbed.

"Wark!"

"Hello, Pen-pen!" Maya responded cheerily. "Look! I got fish-shaped biscuits."

The penguin bowed and took the open pack of snacks from her. It no longer disturbed  
her that not only could the penguin understand her speech, she was starting to know  
what those little 'wark!'s could mean.

Misato was dressed more conservatively, having just come from Shinji's parent-  
teacher conference. She was, of course, drinking beer. Maya frowned disapprovingly  
at her, having gone far in her courage with the captain. Sure, back at NERV she was  
still shy and deferring; but in the casual atmosphere of the apartment she seemed the  
more mature.

"Aah! You're becoming more and more like Rits-chan every day!" moaned Misato.

Maya looked away and blushed. There was one thing her sempai did that she hadn't  
done, and it wasn't to sleep with Gendo.

"What do you think of Shinji?"

"Huh?" Maya saw that Misato was again in serious mode.

"Does he seem happy to you?" She put the can to her head as like a cold compress.  
"People in school are just gushing on and on about him... but in the end it looks like  
there's only three people he knows. This is a teenager's dream and he's avoiding it."

"That's how Shinji-kun is. He wasn't doing it to be popular."

"Damn it, it's just not -healthy- to supress your own ego like that."

"Oh, thank you, Pen-pen!" She made a conscious decision not to think about how a  
penguin could have possibly managed to pour tea for her. Maya took a sip. "And what  
do you think he should be doing, Misato-sempai?"

"He should be out there milking it for all it's got! He should have statues made of him!  
Wherever he should walk there should be entire legions of screaming fangirls!" Misato  
stood up and pointed with her can of Yebisu. "He should be living like a king! And I  
should be right there being pampered along...!"

"Please stop projecting your own inadequacies on him, Misato-sempai."

Misato saw back down and growled. "Too much like Rits-chan..." Maya simply closed  
her eyes and all-too calmly took another sip of her tea.

That was when Shinji arrived. It was hot pot time. Yay!

Once it was done Misato formally laid her chopsticks down, stood up and shouted  
"I can't take it anymore!" She put one foot on the table and leaned over to jab a  
finger at Shinji's forehead. "You've been cooped up in here for weeks, cooking and  
cleaning and working on whatever that is you have up on the roof! You need to get  
out there and enjoy life! Be a man! You're acting like a -wife-, damn it!"

"But, Misato-san..."

"No, Shinji. I've had enough." She took another deep swig of liquid courage. "I won't  
have you try and pretend to be happy for my sake. You need to get in touch with  
others, and find out what else in this city you protect can make you happy."

Shinji chuckled lightly. Isn't that ironic? With all the trouble he went to set up the  
happiness of those he considered his precious people, so was Misato-san trying to  
set him up with a girl. Any girl. Except herself. Well, if that will make you happy...

He nodded. "All right. Would you please go out with me, Maya-san?"

Misato spurted her beer all over Pen-pen. The penguin made drowning motions. It  
warbled on as if to say 'Damn it, you stupid woman! I'm an air-breather!'

"m-me?!" Maya eeped. "Shouldn't you go with Rei? Won't she think bad of this?"

Shinji shook his head. "Rei understands well. You also know that if we're ever seen  
together the media would be all over us. She's kinda... distinctive."

"Woohooo-hooo!" Misato waved her hands up in the air. "That's it, Shin-chan. You da  
man! Take the initiative...!" She stopped and looked pointedly at Maya. "Don't make  
me make it an official order, Maya-chan..."

"Um. Not that I mind, Shinji-kun... but what about girls your age?"

He shrugged. "Who? You're about one of the few girls I can really talk to. Horaki-san  
is already going out with Toji. Any other girl would be... expecting too much or will  
be out talking to the reporters."

"You don't really like reporters, don't you , Shinji-kun...?"

"They are necessary, but they are... an impolite people." He shrugged again.

"All right. That's it! You two are going out -right now-." Misato pointed at Maya. "You.  
Stay. I think I've got a few things I can lend you..."

"May we also borrow those riding glasses you have, Misato-san?"

"Sure, sure." She chuckled evilly. "Let's make it sporty!"

They were shoved out the door. Maya was dressed in a tight leather jacket and had  
her hair combed out into two curvy loops going under her chin to frame her cheeks.  
She had on thick red lipstick and eyeshadow. Shinji had on jeans and another black  
jacket, his hair combed down and fixed with gel. Both wore sunglasses.

"Um..." Maya started.

"Please relax, Ibuki-san. You're in control here. Where do you think we should go?"

"If so, then please call me Maya, Shinji-kun."

"All right, Maaaya-chan." He grinned under his baseball cap. The young woman turned  
and looked wide-eyed at him. "Today, we are not Shinji Ikari and Maya Ibuki. We're  
just perfectly normal people with perfectly normal concerns. We don't think about  
saving the world. We just go and be happy in our perfectly normal lives... neh, Maya  
-san?"

She nodded. "Un!"

Shinji winced as they went outside. "It's like it's been so long since I walked in  
daylight."

Maya's smile faltered. Poor Shinji-kun. This is poor reward for saving the world.

They walked out, and out on the street, Shinji turned back and shook his head. He  
was still smiling amusedly. "Who is Ibuki Maya?" he asked. "You don't look like Ibuki  
-san."

"What do you mean...?"

"Ibuki-san walks like that, but you don't look like her." He began to walk around, in a  
definite swagger, still with a forced grin. "We are different people today. Others will  
look at us and see someone else. You are a beautiful young woman, confident! With  
pride! Today is YOUR day, Maya-san."

The NERV lieutenant giggled. Even with just such flimsy disguise, Shinji seemed like a  
totally different person. Just by changing his body language, born of his talent for  
observing others, he made himself the utter opposite of what people would expect to  
see from Shinji. If Maya hadn't known beforehand, she too would have sworn it wasn't  
young Ikari. Gone was the seriousness. Gone was the careful premeditation. For once,  
he seemed the young man he really was.

She took a deep breath and began to walk. Confident, confident. Everything that  
Maya Ibuki is not, she told herself.

"There's a fair today, Shinji-kun." Shy old Maya expected the usual things; dinner,  
movie. The new her wanted something childish and unexpected.

Shinji smiled wide. "I've never been to a fair!"

Was it really a date? Maya saw that their height difference wasn't all that much. And  
she felt so young! It was just two souls too long deep entangled in their duties, now  
set free. Tokyo 3 had many reasons to be happy. It's been a long time since the last  
Angel attack, and the city had finally been completely rebuilt. People were even  
moving back in. They partook of that happiness, lost themselves in the innocent joys  
of the day.

While waiting in line for the ferris wheel, Maya saw a man with a camera approaching.  
_'Oh no!' _she thought. '_Please don't notice us. Please don't notice us.'_

"Hey, look!"

Shinji picked up an empty drink can, a paper box and a rock from the ground. He  
grinned at her and began to juggle. Or at least tried to. "Dammit!" he huffed as he  
missed at the first try. He tried again; the empty can hit him on the nose. "Nguh...!"  
he moaned. "Sorry..."

Maya giggled out loud.

The man smiled a bit, shook his head and went away. No; those were just two young  
teens in love. Shinji Ikari, as everyone knows, was unattached and was as forged of  
the ancient legends. He was a boy larger than life, not someone so foolish and so  
eager to grab a girl's attention.

Shinji exhaled. That was close.

"So... it really works?!" whispered Maya.

"Be what they expect to see, and you can predict what they will believe." was his  
same whispered response. "People are never really persuaded; they only convince  
themselves."

Up at the ferris wheel, she asked "And what is it that you think I want to see? What  
are you being for me, Shinji-kun? "

"Whatever you need me to be, Maya-san."

She turned aside and looked at the setting sun over Tokyo 3. "I can't accept that.  
Misato-sempai was right. You can't be happy this way..."

"My happiness is your happiness. It is very important to me."

She touched a hand to the grilled-glass panels. "It's a sad world we live in, isn't it?"

"It's all we have."

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

These were the nights in Tokyo 3. It was a large city, that despite the attacks was  
still home to nearly a million people. They had spent at least a decade building it; they  
had invested too much time, money, hopes and hearts... to leave it so easily. They  
re-built and endured.

Of course, in any given city, there would always be those who took the easy way.  
The disaffected, the discontent, the disorderly. Crime was a fact of life in any  
metropolis.

"Let go!" she cried "Please... let me go."

They laughed at her. There were four; they were scarred and looked tough; most  
likely out-of-work construction workers. Two held her back while the other pair looked  
through her purse. By their easy movements this was something they had plenty of  
practice in.

She made as if to scream again, but was punched in the gut. She began to cough and  
retch.

"This is it?" One of the thugs licked at his thumb and counted the thin wad of money.  
That, her necklace and her wedding ring; were all the spoils they had. "I guess we'll  
make it worth out of you then..." He leered as he looked up and down at her; pinned  
there to the wall.

She was afraid, but she couldn't scream again. She could only look on in horror as  
they gathered around her.

"What are you doing?"

All turned and there at the brighter end of the alley stood a girl, a teen, still in her  
school uniform. She had pale blue hair and deep red eyes.

Again, she asked "What are you doing?"

"Get out of here, and keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for ya!" spat one  
of the thugs.

The girl tilted her head to the side. "Am I to assume then you are not a willing  
participant in this?" she asked the woman. "Have you taken her belongings? What do  
you intend to do with her?"

"You're a mouthy one, ain'tcha?"

"Hey... she's a pretty little thing too..." said another.

"I see. Then I shall assume you intend to rape her. And perhaps me as well." And she  
smiled.

"Shit! She's gonna run! Get her!"

She rushed forwards instead, and whispered under her breath. "waaagh..."

Was that a panty flas-? "Gurk!" Blood spurted out of one thug's nose; mostly because  
she had just kicked him in the jaw. The girl made a lazy spin in mid-air and drove her  
knee into the side of his head. That thug crashed to the ground; out of the fight.

She landed in a half-crouch. Her smile had grown a fraction wider.

"What the fu- Kill this bitch!" The three remaining thugs attacked as one, forgetting  
entirely about their other captive.

The girl ducked aside a punch, and lashed out with an elbow to the chest. That one  
there stepped back, coughing. One of the other would-be rapists threw a large piece  
of wood at her. She bent forwards and kicked back with her right leg. Thus, as the  
heavy projectile passed her head, it met the heel of her foot and spun back to strike  
the very one who threw it on his nose. He gave out a scream as a loose nail punctured  
through into the nasal cavity. Blood dripped.

And she grinned.

They came at her with sticks and knives. She evaded their attacks with all the grace  
of a dancer, and as she struck out with hands and feet these seemed to glimmer a  
faint red. Big, strong men flew through the air to smack at the walls with resounding  
force. She kicked down, and sent them smashing into the ground.

One was trying to get away. She stomped on his hand as he tried to crawl behind her.

She was grinning openly now. She looked up at the moon, and closed her eyes. A chill  
wind passed through the alley. Then, she turned to the woman she just rescued.

"Stay away from me!" the woman shrieked.

"You have nothing to fear from me. Are you well?" She nodded slightly, her red eyes  
still as if glowing with their own inner light. "Please take your belongings and call for  
the authorities. These grots will not be going anywhere."

"What... who are you?"

"... who am I?" She looked up at the moon again. She took deep breaths, though the  
effort in combat could hardly even make her sweat. "I am..." Her grin showed some  
teeth. "Dangerous."

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

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It was not the only time Maya and Shinji went out. Together they were almost as if  
invisible. It freed Shinji to go out in daytime, and Maya was happy to help him in that.  
They had fun, and they tried for no romance. It would complicate things needlessly.

They had found a department store that remained open until late at night. They  
favored that spot; and the store manager was entirely too willing to cooperate in  
keeping their visits secret from the public. Only in there and with almost no one else  
around could Shinji feel safe enough to take off his cap and glasses.

He waited for Maya as she went off to the bathroom. He smiled. Perhaps he could get  
to really like Maya-san. He had never expected her to be so vibrant, so full of energy.  
She was full of enthusiasm, approaching things in a way that was all new and at the  
same time without ignorance.

He felt two men approach from behind him.

"Mister Ikari, may we talk?"

"Dammit... how many times do I have to tell you people? I'm not him!" He lolled back  
his head. "I wear this crap so I don't have to go through the same hassle he does."

They had black suits and sunglasses. However, Shinji had a feeling they were not part  
of Section Two. "Let's not play games, Mister Ikari. We have Miss Ibuki. It would be  
best if you came with us without a fuss."

He frowned.

What the hell happened to his Section Two guards? He had no illusions about being  
able to escape his father's guards, unless they deliberately let him loose. So; dead.  
Maya's safety cannot be assured.

This was the very thing he had prepared for. However, he had always anticipated  
they would strike first at his friends rather than him directly. A kidnapping in broad...  
well, moonlight? Crude. Very crude.

He nodded. He followed. The crudest approaches are the ones that often work best  
despite all preparations. However, he had made plans for such an emergency. He kept  
his hands well out of his pockets.

"HA-CHU!" He sneezed and rubbed his nose with the tip of his jacket, as he saw they  
were being watchful. Somewhere under Tokyo 3, a recorder switched on.

end chapter six part 1

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I'm going to have to slow down my updates as things form here on will start to get... intricate. However, rest assured you will see more of vigilante Rei.


	10. Chapter 9: A Farewell to Peace part2

A Farewell to Peace part2

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Misato was giddy when they did not return that night. She was ready for a whole load  
of teasing and accusations when they come through her door. It only intensified when  
the two didn't arrive by morning. By mid-day she was worried. By sunset she was  
ready to kill a whole lot of people.

"You lost them? How could you just lose -_one of the most important people on this  
planet_- like that?"

"Captain Katsuragi, other than avoiding notice from other civilians, Pilot Ikari has so  
far been very cooperative with our surveillance. We give him as much privacy as he  
needs. We don't follow him indoors, for example. Nor do we monitor his conversations."  
was the Section 2 chief's icy reply. "There are moments when we simply lose sight of  
him, despite our efforts to the contrary... but he always just shows up soon and  
unharmed later. Sometimes he even tracks us down to apologize. This time... three  
of my people are DEAD. That's why we didn't know he was just -gone-."

"So... it was deliberate. Kidnapping?"

"Possibly. We haven't received any demands yet, but since both Pilot Ikari and  
Lieutenant Ibuki are missing, we can rule out random attacks or... assassination."

Misato winced at the last word.

"Rest assured, Captain, we are doing our very best to track him down."

"Does... his father know yet?"

The bland, sunglassed man nodded. "Yes. We have informed Commander Ikari of the  
events."

"Well, whatever he said, make it double from me. You'd better not fail."

"... actually, he didn't threaten us at all."

Misato looked disbelieving. Then, finally "... that bastard."

There was no reply from the Section Two chief. That was the furthest he was allowed  
to express his own dissatisfaction. There were very few in NERV who disliked Pilot  
Ikari, if simply because he offered such a contrast to his father. Given the levels of  
sheer dastardly vibes Gendo could exude, by comparison Shinji was all but the second  
coming. It was also no secret that father and son both pissed each other off on some  
fundamental unseen level.

NERV was in a panic. They tried to keep a tight lid on it, but it was inevitable the  
situation got out. And when NERV is in a panic, the JSSDF goes into epileptic fits.  
Eventually the news even reached the Strategic Defense Ministry.

"What the hells is wrong with those morons at NERV?! Now they lose the only person  
in that place that has actually any shred of competence?!" was the general idea.

"We'd better not have had anything to do with this..." growled out the general that  
supported the Jet Alone project's absorption into the NERV supply infrastructure.

"Of course not, sir!" one of the lesser officers replied. "I mean... why would we? We  
already have mister Ikari's cooperation, and frankly he serves us best over there right  
with his Evangelion."

The entire military intelligence network went active, but furtively. If the media got  
wind of it, the entire nation would freak out. The army itself prepared to mobilize at  
an instant's notice. Whoever kidnapped Pilot Ikari could be anyone; from a splinter  
group within the JSSDF up to another nation.

Everyone searched, but found no immediate clues.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

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They were shoved into a small room with a bed. So far they hadn't been restrained,  
as the kidnappers attempted to maintain some measure of civility. Maya was very  
frightened, but leeched off some emotional control from the simply unnatural calm  
that Shinji exuded.

"You can't possibly be expecting to get away with this..." he said. "I mean, you didn't  
even bother to take us out of the city boundary."

The leader of the group, whom Shinji had started to dub 'Pointybeard' due to the  
spindly growth under his nose, smirked. "And why do you think you know that?"

"Seriously, black suits? Black van? You can't paint yourselves any more suspicious to  
the JSSDF patrols outside. Inside Tokyo 3 the black suit and sunglasses can get you  
anywhere; everybody knows that's NERV spook and this is a NERV town." The pilot  
shook his head. "People both respect and fear it."

Another kidnapper, who in Shinji's mind was 'Babyface', since he looked the youngest,  
made a sucking sound. "How long did it take upstairs to figure that out? This kid's  
smart. Maybe too smart."

"Is it okay if we just let him see our faces?" asked another, dubbed 'Rednose' for an  
obvious reason.

"Why not?" answered Pointybeard. "After all, we're going to be real good friends soon,  
won't we; Mister Ikari?"

"You want to me to work for you." Shinji replied dully. That, or you don't expect me to  
live long enough to remember your faces. "You had best have an Evangelion, then."

"That's not as much of a problem as you may think, Mister Ikari..."

"Then... let Maya-san go. She has nothing to do with this."

The men in black suits laughed. "You don't really expect us to comply, right? I suppose  
we could let her loose, but then shoot her in the back to keep her from running to  
NERV." Pointybeard laughed. "Or... we could get bored."

Maya's eyes widened in fear at the implication. Shinji narrowed his.

"Fine; I'll cooperate. Treat her as a princess and I'll treat your words as that of a  
prince."

Pointybeard had a face that was easy to remember, but at the same time, impossible  
to find. One he shaved off that distinctive facial mark, which would stick in people's  
minds, he could be anyone among millions. It was this that made Shinji decide he was  
the most dangerous, and the focus for all his counterpsych.

"Well said, Mister Ikari." He was obviously pleased. "Let's see how long we can uphold  
this deal."

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---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Rika Izuna was in her element. The disappearance of Shinji Ikari was a major scoop  
and it was she that broke it to the public. It was done simply by her seeing a worried  
look in Misato's face, in one of her cameraman's many candid shots. From there she  
began an interview of others in the building, careful to do so without approaching the  
building itself. Simple enough; all it took was a look through the telephone directory.

She could be very ingratiating when she needed to be, and thus she learned that  
while the residents no longer too any special notice of Shinji Ikari's comings and  
goings, they knew his visitors. Maya Ibuki hasn't been seen anymore going into  
Misato Katsuragi's place, when it was known she ate there almost every day.

A little bit of research, and there she is- Maya Ibuki. High grades, works at NERV, has  
no real social life to speak of...

Now, Misato could simply have been worried about her subordinate, and it was the  
weekend...

Rika tapped her pencil on the screen and grinned. Now whose personality profile did  
this remind her of...?

By Monday she was ready with a lurid tale of escape and forbidden fruits. Incidentally,  
Shinji Ikari didn't show up at school that day. Or the day after that. Half a week  
passed and she brought speculations to the limit! Rika Izuna! Reporting here. Asking  
questions there. Rika Izuna! The one who saw it first, giving you the truths they're  
trying to hide!

"Dammit, Misato! You can't shoot her!" Ritsuko snapped.

"But... the things they're saying about Shinji-kun and Maya-chan! You can't seriously  
say you're not angry too." Misato put her head to the desk and groaned. "If it was  
just that, I'd be okay... but she has no right to make up all these lies...! After all the  
things Shinji-kun has done for this city, he deserves more than this crap."

"Unsightly as it is, NERV as no choice but to let it go on, even subtly encourage it.  
It's better than having it be known that he might be the hostage of a foreign power."

"Who do you think?"

"The Americans are closest to having a new fully-functional Evangelion. The German  
branch already has its own Eva and pilot. China's project has effectively stalled, and  
they're reduced now to manufacturing spare parts for our Evas." Ritsuko shrugged.  
"Of course, that's all too obvious. It could be any number of other factions."

She lit up another cigarette. Damn the boy. Maya was more important; she had  
access to the MAGI and most of the Evangelion files. Shinji's effect was mostly on  
the morale side. Maya opened up a direct attack upon NERV itself. Besides, the  
bridge of NERV seemed all the more dreary without her naive influence. Makoto's  
fumblings and Shigeru's nihilism tried; but just couldn't compare.

With all the smoke coming out of her, Gendo had thankfully been absent in his  
attentions. Good; because if he had so much as asked for it in her harried state,  
Ritsuko knew she would not be able to resist just punching him in the face.

Beside her in one of the corner cafeterias of the geofront, Misato sat playing with an  
unopened can of beer. Her fingers drifted to the tab now and then, only to send the  
can rolling away. Back again. How she ached to open it up and just let the old habits  
blunt the pain... but drunk she wouldn't be able to search for Shinji. Misato hadn't  
tasted anything which alcohol for four days straight; which had to be some sort of  
record.

Her home seemed barren, in all its cleanness so unlike her. Misato was forced to go  
back to instant meals; after all the daily gourmet cooking in the past months it was  
like eating carboard.

Damn it; it hurt. The shock, the loss, of her surviving Second Impact had driven her  
to silence for years. She could still function in the midst of Shinji's disappearance but  
that seemed to cut away a piece of her all the more. She had never again invested  
so much of herself into another person, not since Kaji, and Shinji made it easy. He  
was as family... always there, always ready to help. Gods! She stabbed her food with  
her chopsticks. Only then did she realize it... it was like having a husband, only  
without the sex. '_What the hell; Shinji? Why must you be so damn meek? A shota is  
one thing, a butler is another.' _There was the horrid contrast with how he behaved inside  
the Eva_. 'It's not right! Not right at all..._'

A butler uniform. Damn. '_I really should have thought of it earlier. Could have been fun._'

There was a knocking at the door.

Misato wiped her eyes and opened it. There, stood Ayanami.

"Oh. It's you Rei..."

"Captain Katsuragi." She bowed slightly. "I come seeking advice."

A slight smile crossed Misato's face. "Of course, Rei. You should know my home is  
always open to you. Shin-chan... do you want to talk about it, Rei?"

Rei nodded again, and followed her in. Instead of sitting down to join Misato at the  
table however, she went right past and into Shinji's room. The NERV captain blinked,  
confused, and got up to see. There, Rei sat on her knees and facing Shinji's figurines,  
her head bowed in an expression of such utter emotionless desolation.

Misato's heart softened. "Odd girl..." she whispered sadly. "But I guess we have to  
deal with it in each our own way..."

She closed the door to give Rei some privacy.

Within, Rei thought out '_You who have been Pilot Ikari's companions since he was a  
child... I seek your advice_.' She recalled carefully what Shinji had told her, and how  
their voices had seemed to appear then. Believe; said Shinji. Believe they shall speak  
and they will.

'_Ask, and we shall answer_.' replied the Eldar.

The Chaos Marine seemed to grin. 'For the bright lord, let no door remain closed.'

Rei took out the Warboss and placed it amongst them. She imagined him saying '_Ello  
ya borin' grots. Miss me?_'

'... _no_.' said the Farseer, still miffed.

'_We have known each other long enough, that xeno you may be, I believe I may call  
you comrade_.' The Space Marine seemed to bow. '_If only your return was not at the  
behest of such dire circumstances.'_

_'Well, girl? What do ASK of us?'_

Rei turned to the Chaos Marine. '_Shinji-kun has been taken. However, I can feel he  
has not been taken far.'_

_'How long has it been since you could sense our young king?'_

'..._ always. I do not understand, but it seems as if I have known him... always. He is  
still within this city, I am certain of this. However, I am not certain upon how to act  
upon this knowledge_.'

'_What have you considered so far, child?_' the Farseer asked gently.

_'I__ propose we level this city section by section until we find him. I am capable of this  
and can begin within the next hour. I estimate it will only take me two days and four  
hours until it is completely assured that I have isolated where Ikari-kun may be.'_

_'WHAT HAVE YOU TWO BEEN DOING?!_' the Farseer screeched at the Warboss.

He laughed coarsely. _'We's been havin' FUN!'_

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

On the fifth day, a videodisc arrived at a Hakone TV station; incidentally one owned  
by the direct competitor of the media chain Rika Izuna worked for.

At precisely noon, all over the TV sets and the big-screen displays up on the buildings  
showed Shinji Ikari's face. The producers know they'd catch flak from not giving NERV  
any advance warning, but what the hell.

"Greetings, people of Tokyo 3, Japan, and the world. My name is Shinji Ikari."

People dropped whatever they were doing, fled lines at fastfood restaurants and just  
halted right there on the street. Fortunately, there were no accidents. NERV had the  
collective thought of 'This can't be good!'

"I am being held under the... hospitality... of the Exalted World Society. I am being  
treated well and am under no duress to speak this announcement."

Shinji looked down apparently at a script then with some amused disbelief at someone  
off the camera. The image flickered, and the pilot began speaking again. However, he  
seemed somewhat groggy.

"... the people of the Exalted World deeply regret the... necessity of their actions but  
my continued well-being cannot be assured unless the following demands are met.

The following prisoners are to be freed from SSDF control and given free passage into  
High Pakistan:

Jane Hoffman  
Abwal Marendu  
Doctor Gillian Sing  
Doctor Wen Lung-Shi  
General Peter Burradol  
and Ivan Sanford Doigh"

What? Those in the government could barely believe the utter gall. Those were all top  
six in the top ten of worst terrorist masterminds in the SSDF list! Letting them loose  
would be a disaster of apocalyptic proportions.

"Additionally, a sum of five hundred million US dollars are to be deposited in a certain  
account to be revealed later."

Shinji looked offscreen for a moment, and took a deep breath. He looked down to read  
and gasped.

"You can't be serious..." he whispered. "This is... impossible! Insane!"

The image froze, then began again. Though the place was the same, people could  
tell some time had passed. The circles under Shinji Ikari's eyes were that much darker.

"... and Gendo Ikari, and his crony Kozo Fuyutsuki shall immidiately be relieved of their  
command of NERV, and be deported from this country, to trouble its citizenry no more.  
Whatever other nation is so foolish to accept them, is of no concern. This is non-  
negotiable. They must leave, or the boy will die."

Shinji Ikari looked up, and his eyes were full of hate. "This completes the demands.  
We will not speak this way again." He looked to beyond the camera again. "There. Are  
you satisfied? Touch her and I will -KIL- " blip.

Tokyo 3 as if imploded.

There was shouting, finger-pointing, and many many tears. Rika Izuna could only grit  
her teeth. In one simple act, Shinji Ikari had taken it all away. Her reputation was now  
permanently damaged. It was as if he existed to take away the joys of simple working  
people like her. She wouldn't be able to walk the street without being taunted or  
spat at. This also filled her with aimless anger.

She had no pity; it would do the boy good to experience some real-life hardship  
instead of being treated like a prince at NERV. The obvious nepotism there was the  
sure sign of a sick society.

Wasn't it?

Her cameraman made no reply.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------  
---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

It was the NERV command center, and up on the tactical holographic matrix the  
demand video was played once more. Gendo and Fuyutsuki remained impassive up  
there on their command section, but those below had reactions mixing murderous  
rage and anxious fear.

"What is the current status of the search?" asked Fuyutsuki.

"The Japanese Intelligence Services have found Lieutenant Maya Ibuki's wallet in  
Tokyo-2." Makoto tried hard to keep his voice level. "Currently, the JSSDF, Internal  
Affairs and various other groups are cooperating to search the city and its environs."

"I notice that we kept Section Two close to home."

"It's out of our jurisdiction." Misato put in. "Besides... we have reason to believe that  
Shinji is still in this city. As long as we don't make it obvious, we can track down the  
location; if they think we're concentrating far afield."

"What makes you think this, Captain Katsuragi?" Gendo asked blandly.

Misato nodded to Makoto, who began to play another recording. She continued "We  
received this late afternoon yesterday. It's been scanned and it checks out as 100  
percent genuine."

It began from "... you can't possibly be expecting to get away from this."

Everyone there listened impassively as Shinji's situation slowly became clear. The  
playback was paused a few minutes in by Ritsuko.

"Someone, at some point, must have placed a monitoring device on Pilot Ikari's  
clothes." Or put it in himself; but surprisingly of all there only Ritsuko had that thought.  
"Misato?"

"Not me...!"

"Why a sound recorder and not a tracking device, I'm not sure..." Because Shinji  
couldn't find the hardware to track his own transponder without tipping off the JSSDF  
to what he was up to. "but it recorded -days- of signal. Given the storage capacities  
we have now, this is not unusual. However someone must have edited it all out, for  
what we have here are only the most important parts of the recording.

This; is immidiately after the recording of the demands..."

Shinji's voice was heard, amplified, all around the command center.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

"... I still think you're all insane. My father would never abandon his post at NERV."

"Not even for his own son?" The other voice was uncharitably amused. Pointybeard  
sat behind the camera, smoking a cigarette. "Not even for the pilot of an Evangelion?"

"Never."

"Heh. Well, it doesn't matter. It's not his decision. The Japanese government, the  
masses, or the UN will force him out his position. You have noo idea how many people  
your father pissed off over the years."

"... making them all think you're all unstable. This is planned well... even hitting me  
was calculated to drive public opinion." His voice grew louder and shrill. "Why?! Why  
do this?! Right when humanity needs to stand together...!"

"You don't really believe all that crap, do you? Saving us from Angels, hah! Kid, no  
matter what, it's all just politics."

"I've seen the angels. I've fought them. They want us all -dead-. When all the world  
is coming together... to destroy this unity, is suicide!" There was a grunt, as Shinji  
tried to turn around while tied to a chair. "It doesn't matter how much you hate my  
father, nothing is worth your lives and the safety of humanity! Just please, end this  
foolishness. Let us go and we won't even look back..."

Laughter. "You really sound sincere! I guess that's why you're popular with the kids  
and the old fools. If I didn't know better I'd think you were setting yourself up to be  
even higher than your father." Footsteps. "Well, you're going to learn that this is the  
big game for the big boys, and if you're going to play you've got to be ready with the  
high stakes..."

"People... are not meant to be played with."

"Really? Do you think so too, Miss Ibuki?"

There was a muffled sound.

"Let her go! I did as you asked!"

Laughter again, but this time from many men. "Yeah, but it's been days... such boring  
days, all cooped up in here." It was a different voice. This was someone Shinji dubbed  
'baldy', though his hair was simply cut very short.

"Coward!" Shinji yelled. "You're not even worthy of being called a man!"

More laughter. "Little boy lecturing me on what it means to be a man." There was a  
loud female whimper over the recorder. "Well, did you two even kiss at least once?  
No?" Baldy's hands began to drift down her waist.

"You think you're strong, but you're not. You believe you have power, but you're  
weak! Even tied to this chair I'm more a man than you'll ever be; faithless coward!"

"Hey, chief..."

"What?" Pointybeard looked over his shoulder.

"This kid's starting to bore me."

"Fine. You want him loose?" There was a brief silence. The leader took out a knife and  
cut the scotch tape pinning Shinji to the chair. As long as the others held Maya, he  
had no fear of retaliation. "There. Now step up or shut up you little punk."

"Maya-san!" Clattering sound. Footsteps. "Maya-san... you look like you can't breathe.  
Let me help you." Shinji removed her mouth-gag.

"Hey, hey! Remember me!" There was a meaty thwack. The pilot dropped, his face  
striking the floor hard. "Keep your head in the game lover boy. Hah! Or get another  
one like that to it."

"SHINJI-KUN!"

"... I'm fine, Maya-san." Shinji spat aside. "So be it." He felt a loose tooth. "Have at  
you, then."

"Yeah, that's it, little boy. Show me what you g- gaak!" The muscular goon began to  
heave for breath, as Shinji went directly to punching at his lower ribs. Then, of course,  
the headbutt. "Fuck y-..." If he was expecting the young man to show any fear or  
hesitation whatseover, he was sorely mistaken.

"You will -not-!" And Shinji kneed him in the face. "HURT MAYA-SAN!"

The others began to hoot and jeer. Incensed, Baldy looked up and snarled. "So that's  
how you want to play it, huh?" He bullrushed forward and tackled the much lighter  
young man to the ground. Once there, he began punching at the pilot's face again  
and again. Shinji's head snapped left and right. "HAaa!"

"How do you like THAT!" shouted Baldy, amid the cheers of his peers.

Shinji abruptly grabbed at one of the goon's hands, shoved some fingers in his mouth  
and bit down HARD. Baldy screamed. Blood began to pour out of the pilot's mouth.

The others rushed to help. They kicked at him, punched at him, forced him to let go.  
Baldy lay hunched over there, cradling his fingers. He looked up and murder was in his  
eyes.

Pointybeard moved there between them. "Enough. You asked for this. Nobody touches  
the girl until I say so." He turned towards Shinji, there looking defiant. He gave the  
pilot a strong backhanded slap.

"Know your place. You have -nothing- over us. We owe you -nothing-. Count yourself  
lucky that I'm even tolerating you this far..."

Shinji slumped.

"Not so tough without your big toy, aren't you...?" sneered another goon, who actually  
-was- bald, but was dubbed 'Pigseye'.

Another, a tall lanky man that was known as 'Yellowstooth' in the mind, added "Be nice  
and we'll let you have a turn when we're done." That was an awesome freak-out. Let's  
see that again!

Shinji said nothing.

"Nothing more to say...?" Pointybeard asked. "Goo-..."

"mgrlth..."

"What's that?"

"murgllth kos sakos..."

The goons all actually bent closer to hear.

"...morguluth kaos aksos TZEENTETH!" Shinji began to scream. "You will all fail, all  
your little plans torn asunder! You and your masters! I will see to it!"

He got sucker-punched in the abdomen. He purposely vomited all over their feet.  
"Morguluth KAOS aksos NURGOLTH!" He snapped his head up and then slammed it into  
someone's jaw. "Touch her and Suffer! Suffer and Die!"

"This kid's gone psycho!" yelled out Babyface.

"Then beat some sense into him!" Both Yellowstooth and Pigseye grabbed Shinji's  
arms and wrestled him into a lock. Pointybeard grinned and lifted his fist... just as he  
was about to strike, the teen spat at his eyes and threw his aim off. It hit Pigseye  
and let the teen loose.

"Morguluth KAOS AKSOS SLAANETH!" Shinji lashed out with his foot and caught Pointy-  
beard right at the gonads. "You will hide and I will find you! You will run and I will  
always be right behind you!"

His voice rose to as like a thunder. "MORGULUTH KAOS AKSOS -**KHORNATH**-! I WILL  
SEE YOU ALL IN -**HELL**-!"

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Those in NERV command winced as the sounds of a truly painful beating commenced.  
Someone in the recording shouted. "Fuck this! Maybe we should play with you then?"

"I have walked AS A GOD. I HAVE FOUGHT AS A GOD." Shinji laughed. "YOU WILL NOT  
FRIGHTEN ME, -LITTLE MAN-!"

Crack!

"Is... is he dead?"

"Maybe... no. He's still breathing."

"Hey... what's this? It's... ! The kid was wired! Nice equipment here... folds right into  
his clothes."

"Damn. No wonder the kid was so mouthy. That gibberish might be some sort of code."  
A loud sigh. "Get the girl out of here. I'm not in the mood anymore. Nobody gets at her  
before me. Stupid kid..."

"What should I do with this, chief?"

"Break, it you fucking moron. Break i-..."

Static.

Silence descended heavily into the NERV command center.

"That is as far as what we have." Ritsuko said, calmly.

"Shinji-kun!" Misato was at near panic. "What do we know from this?! We've got to  
get him and Maya out of there!"

"Well, all that nonsense Shinji was saying COULD be some sort of code, indeed. Of the  
four words he stressed, I can reasonably guess they are the four cardinal directions.  
Offhand I'd say NURGOLTH is North, SLAANETH is South, TZEENTNETH is East and  
KHORNATH is West. Now, the phrases before that were repeated, so I can't assume  
they're of some coordinate system..."

"Kaos... I have a feeling it means unknown..." said Makoto. "Changing. Unspecified."

"Yes, it fits." Misato nodded. "Shinji won't exactly know where he's being held. Thank  
you, Hyuga-kun."

"You're welcome, Katsuragi-san."

"I don't know... as for me, I feel aksos means underground." Misato looked at Ritsuko.  
"Does that make sense?"

"Tokyo 3 is far more complicated underground than aboveground. It would be more  
secure, and all that noise could be hidden well." She nodded. "It sounds logical. Now  
all we have to figure out is what Morgoluth means. Anyone? Anyone?"

Silence.

She sighed. "Let's hope section 2 can crack this. It's our only hope right now."

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Everyone had their own way of dealing with their uselessness in the Search for Shinji  
Ikari. Kensuke seemed the most enraged out of it, and went off... somewhere... to  
vent. Nobody could find him. Toji grumbled about losing two friends in a week and  
was seeing pacing around like a caged bear.

Classes attempted to go on as usual, and Hikari in her class representative role was  
far more vicious than normal. As for Rei...

It was not a good week to be a rule-breaker in Tokyo 3.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------  
---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Hikari felt tired from even the daily rituals. It all felt so strange without Shinji there,  
even if the city had known him for only so few months. Everything seemed so bleak,  
gone was innocent optimism that characterized his stay. Without Toji and Kensuke  
fooling around, her daily duties was lighter... and tedious.

She wasn't ashamed to admit she cared for Shinji. He was like a walking paradox; of  
stability in chaos and chaos in stability. He was a deep friend, who brought her even  
closer to Toji. Under his influence she saw Toji grow from a sullen young teen into the  
dedicated young man he could be. He was intelligent enough that just by hanging  
around him, Toji too was beginning to craft his own brand of wisdom.

She pushed open the door to her home and sighed. Now she actually had competition  
for Toji. Unlike the others, she wasn't going to do the 'must have them both!' dance.

"Hikari-neesan!" Nozomi ran across the hall and latched onto her dress. The little girl  
pointed deeper into the apartment. "Make elder neesan give it back!"

Kodama, eldest of the Horakis, poked her head through a vanity window cut into a  
wall. "Oi, hi Hikari. Oekari." Her hair, unlike of her sisters, was left to hang free over  
her shoulders. Though she had the same air of competence as her sisters, having to  
work to support them had given her a certain playfulness to deal with it all.

"Make her give it back!" Nozomi said again, nearly crying.

Hikari sighed. She opened her eyes and gave her elder sibling such a Look. "Sister,  
what have you done now...?"

"Hey, no fair going Inquisitor Horaki on your own family!" complained Kodama.

Hikari didn't relent.

Finally, Kodama sighed and came out of hiding. She showed a strange book made out  
of bond paper sloppily glued together... and raised it high up as Nozomi rushed to grab  
it. "Oh, come on..." she said to the youngest. "You should be glad I actually deem  
anything of yours as interesting."

"Gibbet, sis! Dat's not for you!"

"Sheesh. Just let me photocopy it and I'll never bother you again."

If anything, Nozomi became even more horrified. "No way! Da Book is supposed ta be  
for us kids, and only us kids can make it! That's cheating! It's not for you big'uns!"  
Her eyes began to tear up. "Just because you're bigger... doesn't mean you can just  
steal..." She started to wail. "Gots no respect!"

Kodama winced at that. Having read to Dat Part of the Book, she knew it was the  
harshest condemnation the kids could bring to bear. And it was justified. She was  
inches away from being Mobbed.

"Okay, okay... here."

"No! You wants it, then you gots it." Nozomi looked up, her face all scrunched up in  
seriousness. "If yaz willing to STEAL from your own sister... then I respects your need.  
You... you're WEAK, Kodama-neechan. It's not propa to stomps on the weak."

"I.. I'm not... I'm sorry!" She began to push the book as if it might poison her, while  
Nozomi just as unwilling to accept it.

Hikari's irritation faded into gentle amusement. "What's all this about anyway?" she  
asked.

"I'm giving it to Hikari, is that okay?" Kodama looked begging. "Is it all right?"

Nozomi paused. "Well... Hikari-neechan does work for (with; Hikari corrected) with  
Shinji-sama, it's okay for her to read it." She crossed her arms cutely again. "Da only  
propa way for any of you big'uns to know Da Book is to hears it. If ya wants da Book  
then ya better be ready to live it, too."

"Live it...?" That made Hikari curious, and a little apprehensive. "What have you been  
up to, Nozomi-chan?" She took the book and began to flip through it. "This is..."

Kodama nodded at the expression on her sister's face. "Yep, that's what I thought at  
first too. It's written in both some form of English AND very basic Japanese... and in  
crayon! Now why would these children go to all that trouble...?"

Hikari began to read out loud. "In the beginning, the boss was walking down..."

"No! No! Gimme!" Nozomi reached out for Da Book. "Dat's the problem with you big'uns.  
Dis is why we don't let yous read it... you don'ts know how to read it propa."

Hikari winced at the mangled words. "Please... use proper speech, Nozomi-chan."

"Proper? Hah! You big'uns make all sorts o' rules at what's proper and not and forget  
about the simple things. Instead of makins everybody happy, ya just make all sad.  
Respect ain't about rules. Honor ain't nothin' about whos betta. Dis is what's propa!"

She took a deep breath and read Proparlee.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

_In Da Beginning, Da Boss was walkin down dis road, see? Some people takes the low  
road, some people takes the high road, some take the easy ones oddas already  
walked through while odders make der own roads._

_Da Boss walked his own road, and dis three were followin' him widdout his knowins'.  
Dere was Round Boy and Thin Boy and Short Boy. Dey shouted out to Da Boss ta stop  
and he did._

_Dey made fun of Da Boss, sayin' he was small and weak. Dey wanted Da Boss' stuff  
coz' dey was bigga. Dere was no one else on dat road, and Da Boss was silly ta go  
where no ones would hear him and help. Dey wanted ta push him around coz it was  
fun._

_And da Boss said._

_Ya thinks yar strong but yer not. Ya thinks ya got powa coz ya got numbers but ya  
dont. Ya gots no respect for odders, because ya thinks its enough dat your respect  
yaselves..._

_And he gave dem such a Thump._

_I says ya don'ts have any respect. Nor for yaselfves, not for anyones. Ya don'ts got  
da strength. Ya don'ts got da power. No ones gonna respects you._

_Ya ain'ts strong._

_And Round Boy asked._

_Yaz strong. How do we become strong?_

_Ya become strong troo respect. Fear is weak. Its not enough. It eats at ya, but  
respects feeds ya. Respect makes ya stronga. Wot is dis respect ya asks? Its da  
-knowin'-..._

_Da use of strength is ta protect da weak. Da worth of powah is ta protect dat which  
is right en true. And da weak can be strong wen dey needs ta be._

_Do ya getz it?_

_Dey gots it._

_En Dat was how Round Boy, Thin Boy and Short Boy becames Da Boyz._

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Nozomi shut her eyes, closed the book and exhaled. She smiled with self-satisfaction  
as she looked up again. "Dat's how it's supposed ta be read. Wats propa is wots real.  
Don'ts lie, don'ts cheat, don'ts steal. Keep to wots real." She gave the book back to  
her elder sister.

"That was..." Hikari took it, her hand slightly shaking. "Where did you get this, Nozomi-  
chan?"

The little girl shrugged. "Made it. Dat's how Da Book is supposed to be. Ya aintz of da  
boyz until ya makes Da Book wid yer own hands."

"But... there's like fifty pages of this thing." Kodama pointed out. "And, you're a girl."

"Da Boss said; respects da gurlz in da Mob, coz deyr gotta be meaner and tougher  
dan a whole lots of ya grots. I'm not gonna help ya when you gots stomped for doin'  
or sayin' somefin' stupid. We's gonna laugh and points fingers at yas."

Kodama laughed. "How ironic. Feminism rampant in something called -The Boys-."

"Who... who first made this Book, Nozomi-chan?"

She shrugged. "Dunno." Ayane Mitsugane, after Shinji left. "But it's ours. It don't  
matter who first wrotes it. Dat's my hand, and dat's my truth."

Hikari opened the book and continued the reading. She had to fight deep within  
herself to be deliberately sloppy.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

_Da Boyz had no respect. Da Boss was right, nobody wants anythings ta do with dose  
who pushes da weak around. Dose who woulds talks to dem don't really gives any  
respects. Dey would use Da Boyz, and da boyz wanted ta be Free._

_One day Round Boy went to Da Boss and said_

_Boss, dere's dis squig tryin' ta push us around. Wot should we do?_

_Stomps some respect back inta him_

_But he knows da big'uns don't likes us. He says if we don't follows him he's gonna say  
fings ta da odders. We'z weak now. We can'ts do nothing, coz he protected by Da  
Rules._

_Izzat so? Da Boss said. Den dis is wot we'll do._

_So den da squig gots to tauntin' Round Boy again. Round Boy asks him first ta stop.  
Da squig calls him stupid. Round Boy asks him ta find his own powah, and leave him  
alone. Da squig calls him fat. Round Boy asks him to go away, or hes gonna get  
thumped._

_Da squig dares him ta._

_Round Boy gave him such a thump._

_Da squig was hurts and shocked, but den begans ta laugh. Now yer mine, he saids.  
I gots proof. Wot I says now goes._

_Dats wen Da Boss showed hisself._

_Ya ain't got nottin'. he said. I saws him ask ya once. He asks ya twice. Three times  
he asked ya, and ya refused. You is not gonna say anythin'._

_No ones gonna believes ya; said da squig ta da boss. Peoples gonna think yaz scared  
of Round Boy._

_Thump him again; said Da Boss._

_So Da Boss stand over da squig and says_

_You can be strong in da hand or strong in da head. But wen you cants be either, den  
be strong in da heart. Dats when you needs it most. Dats when you can give to da  
odders._

_Youz trying ta steal the strength of odders for ya own. You fails coz strength ain't  
somefin' you can steal. Ya either has it or ya don't. Da big'uns always tries ta think  
ya can only be strong in one 'fing, not all three. Wez' gonna prove 'em wrong. Deyz  
gonna look and deyz gonna see._

_Git outta here, ya squig. Da boyz don't need yas. Yaz gonna destroy yarself one of  
dese days._

_We are Da Boyz. We are strong. And wez gonna change da world wid dis strength._

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Hikari found herself exhaling as she shut the book. She took a few deep breaths to  
slow down the beating of her heart.

Kodama grinned. "It's like Applied Morality for Children." she said. "Us; we; no thou  
must. It's simple and effective." She patted the head of her youngest sibling. "So, you  
think Da Boss is actually real?" It doesn't really matter anyway.

Nozomi nodded. "I..." She stopped. No, da boss is for da boyz.

She looked up to see Hikari standing her, clutching Da Book to her chest. The class  
rep had her eyes shut, and shaking almost imperceptibly. She nodded. 'Yep, big sis  
is strong in da hand, da head and da heart. She's figured it out already. Ya can only  
see it if ya have all three.'

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

A door slammed open. "Boss, we got.. urk!"

The thug slid forward, unconscious. Those inside reached for their weapons. As the  
thug kissed the floor, revealed behind her was a slight blue-haired girl. She was  
smiling.

'_Oh, shit!_' was everyone's terrified thought.

And there was was much kicking of ass. Ayanami kept her AT-field at an intentionally  
low level, just enough to barely deflect their attacks and not to be detected at NERV.  
She had never really used before her AT-field other than to float and heal herself...  
but -Principio Eternus- had taught her several more efficient uses for the light of her  
soul. All that was needed for her to believe, as Shinji had said for her to.

She believed in -him-, and by his word to -her- all things were possible.

The leader was pressed to a wall, crying and gibbering with fear.

"I would like to know of hiding places in city where one might stay underground for an  
extended period of time." Rei asked softly.

"That's... I can't...!" was the gang leader's reply. "The others will -kill- me if I rat out  
our holes!"

He screamed as Rei, very casually, reached out and broke his wrist.

"There are many more bones in your body. I will end with your neck. Now, will you  
provide the information or must I need to wake someone else who will...?" she said in  
the same dispassionate tone as before.

The thug nodded.

Within her pocket, the Farseer exulted. 'Not even the young king learned so quickly  
and so well! Ork, I take back all of what I said or thought against you!' She paused.  
"Most of it... some of it... one or two words.'

The Warboss merely laughed. 'Da gurl is good, ain'tshe?'

The Space Marine and Chaos Marine could only nod, approving of her dedication.

It was not a good week to be a lawbreaker in Tokyo 3. The hospitals were swamped,  
and so far there had been three fires and two buildings that collapsed for no readily  
apparent reason.

The criminals were all fearfully determined not to speak out against whoever stomped  
on them so hard. Not only was it humiliating, it was certain no one would believe them.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Kensuke worked at the bookstore under full approval of his father. The two still had  
that generation gap, but at least were not longer quite so confused by each other. The  
reason the elder Aida could be so content with working with numbers, was because of  
the things he'd seen people do during Second Impact. He just could not understand his  
boy's fascination with instruments of death.

The glasses-wearing teen got a check in the mail, as advance salary. The first thing  
he did was to buy a white hooded jacket and gave the rest to his father to deposit in  
a bank.

They shared something now. To defend, not to attack. To help save lives, not to end  
them. Kensuke called home from the bookstore phone and said to his father he won't  
be coming home for a while. It was approved. A bookstore nearby was much better  
than one of the long fantasy camping trips he used to take.

Kensuke didn't go to class. His father made the appropriate excuses.

Packages arrived everyday. Most were aply enough, books. Kensuke brought out the  
ones most interesting, with a mind to actually getting the store to open someday. The  
ones on engineering, machinery and military equipment were set aside. One of the  
boxes, marked Children's Fairytales, had inside a smaller container made out of tough  
black plastic.

He opened it up, and inside that were large silvery slugs, thirty-six of them. Bolt  
rounds. Real, deadly bolt rounds. It was shipped from Shinji's hometown, courtesy of  
its police department. Ayane, so far from her own emotion-charged failure of those  
years ago, was incredibly persuasive when she wanted to be. Not that her father and  
the gunsmiths he knew needed much convincing.

Kensuke saw his vision muddy again, from angry tears. He closed up shop and rushed  
down to the basement. He ran through the connecting door and towards the machine  
shop. In there, surrounded by sound-dampening walls, he let out a scream. He threw  
down a wrench, chipping off the reinforced concrete and sending a loud clang around  
the room.

"Damn it, Shinji..." he whispered. "You've just got to be alright..."

He'd sent out the recording he'd found, and it was horrendous having to listen through  
it over and over just to make sure he chosen the important overheard pieces.

He took out the Adeptus Mechanicus figurine. _'Let not anger cloud your mind_' he could  
nearly hear it say. '_There is much work to be done. The machine spirits require your  
attention._'

Kensuke walked over to the table, and the wooden model Shinji had already made. He  
opened up the official Bolter plans. He looked at the half-finished metal casing he'd  
done so far.

Notebooks, drawings, all the things the boys had done in that rooftop; he had taken  
it, duplicated, and put to safety. So many things, Shinji. The machine spirits will be  
well pleased with their new forms.

Someday... he hoped; someday let them all be used. Let their anger be unleased upon  
your enemies.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Maya sat alone in the dark crying. It was almost a week since she was taken. She felt  
cold and lost, and so utterly helpless. "Shinji-kun..." she breathed. The kidnappers no  
longer even kept them in the same room, depriving both of whatever emotional  
comfort each other could provide. All pretense at civility had vanished; so far she  
hadn't felt any abuse... but Maya knew it would arrive one day.

The door was unlocked. The light switched on. She winced at the sudden change.

Pointybeard locked the door again. He grinned lopsidedly.

"It's been a long time, girl. Looks like no one really cares about you out there. Time to  
be useful; I guess a young boy's body isn't really built for that sort of thing."

Her eyes widened. No! He can't mean... Shinji-kun!

Maya pulled deeper into herself, as Pointybeard sat on the bed near her. He leered  
at her short skirt and tight white pants. "Now are we going to have problems?"

The lieutenant cried. "Shinji-kun..."

"Yeah, the kid's been through a lot for your sake. Now don't you just feel guilty?"

"I hate you..." Maya whispered. "How could you do this... to another human being?"

She yelped as he grabbed at her arms and spoke directly to her face. "Humanity this,  
humanity that! I've had enough of that from the boy. You're all fools! Humanity is an  
animal! We take what we want, when we want it. The world is made for -us-. Wreck  
it or not, it's there for whoever is strong enough to take what they want!"

He pushed her down. She struggled, but it only seemed to excite him more. "Now  
listen to me. The boy's given up a lot for you. Any more and he dies. If they don't  
follow our demands, he dies. The question is: Are you ready to follow him?"

She whimpered. "Shinji-kun..." '_Living for me. Suffering so much for my happiness. I'm  
sorry! Why must I be so useless!_' They hadn't even bothered to keep her in restraints.  
'_I can't do anything but cry.._.'

Shinji-kun...

Shinji-kun!

She felt the kidnapper's hands roam all over her body. She just closed her eyes and  
let him; he even let go of her arms. '_Will I just cry when you're dead?_'

She felt warm breath on her neck.

SHINJI-KUN!

And something in her... broke.

Maya sobbed. "A-all right.." she stammered, tears running freely. "P-please... I don't  
want to die. Please stop hurting Shinji-kun."

The kidnapper looked fiercely pleased. He stood up to unbuckle his belt, but Maya in  
strange energy got up and gently stopped him. She got off the bed, knelt in front of  
him and began to remove his pants herself. Pointybeard bared his teeth in expectant  
glee.

She pulled his pants down. Then his briefs. She stared at it, quivering. It smelled  
somewhat rancid. Hesitantly, she touched it. She stroked it. She opened her mouth  
and let out her tongue...

And she punched up HARD right at the scrotum. There was a squishing sound.

Pointybeard's eyes widened, and he let out a 'gleep?!' Maya let out a loud, pleading  
"OH! PLEASE NOO...!"

She reached up, grabbed a fist-hold of his shirt and pulled him down. She headbutted  
up, breaking his nose. He slumped over her shoulder. ".. i work for NERV." Maya  
whispered to his ear. "Did you really think I wouldn't know The Ikari?"

"... you little bitc-..."

Maya struck at his windpipe. As he choked and gasped for breath, she screamed out  
"IT HURTS! IT HURRTS!" Then to his ears; "It had better hurt, you bastard..."

For Shinji-kun. She knew she wasn't strong enough to twist his neck around, so she  
just lashed out again and again at his throat. For Shinji-kun!

He gurgled out and spat blood over her chest.

For Shinji-kun... you will not hurt him anymore. She was breathing heavily. She made  
loud sounds of resistance and grunting.

Maya felt light-headed. She felt like laughing. Sure, she'd just... she checked. Yes,  
she'd just killed a man, something she thought she'd never do, and it all felt so right.  
She had thought even if being shot at, she wouldn't be able to hold a gun and even  
so far as to point it at another person.

She took Pointybeard's gun and checked its ammo. She nodded. They actually saw  
her as that much of a non-threat. Of course. She was just pathetic little Maya Ibuki.

For Shinji-kun. Please, help me. What should I do?

She felt as if his voice was beside her. 'Be what they expect, and you can predict  
how they will react...'

She took off her bloody clothes, stripping naked. She wiped up all signs of blood and  
positioned the fresh corpse to what looked like a relaxed position on the bed. Maya  
then ran around the room, working herself into a sweat, all the while making more and  
more noises.

After a few minutes, she let out an anguished scream. Listening through the door, she  
could hear laughter.

She let a few more moments pass and made sure the chain latch on the door was  
secure. She unlocked it and cringed as she opened it partway.

"Um..." She looked back and then again to the goons leering outside. "He says... he  
doesn't want to see your scrawny arses any more than he needs to. So, if... if you  
want your turn..." She sobbed. "Take... take it somewhere else. Please! Don't hurt  
Shinji-kun anymore!"

Maya thrust her hip out a little, and touched her breasts with her left hand. Tears  
glistened on her eyes. "So... do... you like what you see?"

"Yyyeah!" they all exclaimed.

She unlatched the door. "So come and... take it." She stepped back. As she pulled  
open the door and they crowded through, they didn't see the gun until it was too  
late. Bam! Bam! Right to the chest. Her fingers ached from the unexpected recoil.  
Bam!

Yellowstooth managed to take a few steps inside before collapsing in a puddle of his  
own blood. Pigseye's gun fell from his limp fingers.

Maya sneered. 'I don't care if I die.' How could she have let herself believe her own  
life was of any worth, unless it could be used to defend those she cared for? She  
swore on his pain never to be so helpless again!

"Shinji-kun!

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Babyface looked at his watch, and took another suck at his cigarette. "It's almost  
midnight. Looks like your father really doesn't want you, kid..."

At a table a distance away, Rednose and Baldy were playing cards. The latter had an  
eager look, as the time ticked by.

Tick. Tick.

Babyface threw away the half-finished stick and brought out his gun. "It's nothing  
personal, kid." he said. "You can blame your father when you meet each other again  
in Hell..." He looked at his watch.

Shinji was barely conscious. So... all those plans. All the people he wanted to protect.  
In the end, he was just one. It was all useless. Without his Evangelion, he had no  
power at all...

Such a waste.

He grimaced.

So this is how it ends.

He opened his eyes as the goons began to count down from sixty.

He bit his tongue and spat out a dollop of blood and saliva at the floor. The kidnappers  
paused as they saw what he was up to.

"What's he doing...?" asked Rednose.

"Hell if I know..." replied Babyface.

So trussed up, the only thing Shinji could do was to push the blood around with his  
nose. He could make anything big, but it was enough to have one round blot. A dash.  
A misshapen circle around that. Below, a wavy line.

'I'm sorry everyone...' he thought. 'I failed after all. I'm sorry I can't live up to my  
promise..." "REI!" he shouted, his voice breaking with regret.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

At NERV, Shigeru shouted. "Blue pattern detected!"

"What?!" Ritsuko and Misato rushed to the screen. "Where?!"

"It's somewhere above Tokyo 3, moving at high speed. And..." He frowned at how  
little it made sense. "...below us?! It's all overlapping... detection's gone! We can't  
make out any precise location!"

Ritsuko hissed. Not good. Not good at all.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Bang! Bang!

Bang!

The kidnappers all turned. "What the hell was -?" asked Rednose.

CRUMPLE-SMASH!

Dust and plaster flew everywhere as one of the basement walls crumpled inwards.  
There was a low humming sound, like slow crackling lightning. Two red orbs glowed  
from behind the cloud of dust.

Baldy already had his gun out, and shot at whatever it was. His spread of bullets  
merely bounced off a hexagonal red pattern in the air. A blue-haired girl stepped out,  
her expression tight and resolute.

She looked down at the ground, and there Shinji looked back at her with an expression  
of both relief and wonder. She felt no fear or disgust from him. She looked up, and her  
eyebrows slightly grew closer. She stretched out her arm and twitched her fingers.

The air vibrated, with a noise that sounded similar to 'waaaaaaaaaaahh...'

Baldy abruptly went to pieces. Literally.

"Shinji-kun..." Rei breathed. She turned to see that he had already somehow broken  
free of his restraints. He had Babyface pinned on the ground; one hand keeping the  
gun away, the other at the throat. The goon struggled but against that sudden  
berserker strength he could only die. Rei didn't know what to feel as she stood there  
watching him strangle someone to death with his bare hands... but the closest would  
probably be respectful pride. And sorrow.

Rednose was trying to run away. She gestured, and he was nothing more than a red  
smear on the wall.

Shinji stood up, breathing heavily. He felt filled with sudden, unnatural strength.  
Something laughed. He turned and smiled weakly. "Hello... Rei."

"Pilot Ikari... Shinji-kun. I am sorry. I was too late..." she said softly. She felt fear.  
Now that she had revealed the Angel within her, she was his enemy as well.

"No, Rei. I should have believed in you." He walked towards her, limping, and her AT-  
field just broke apart at his approach. "I'm never alone. I should have believed... in  
the other half of my soul."

He fainted into her arms.

"Shinji-kun..."

"Shinji-kun!" Maya pushed through the rubble and into the carnage. She saw there...  
Rei? The girl glowed as if with an inner light. Her eyes glowed eerily. And there; was  
Shinji! How... at least he seemed in one piece. The kidnappers were angry indeed  
when they found out he was wired. He was too injured to do anything more, or have  
anything more be done to.

All her fault...

She lifted her gun. "I don't know and I don't care what you are... but let him go!  
Shinji-kun!"

Rei merely looked past her to the bodies at the end of that corridor. "You... Ibuki-san.  
You have fought for him."

She nodded.

"You have killed for him."

She nodded again, more slowly.

Rei extended her other arm. "Then you are my sister in battle. Please, Ibuki-san. Take  
my hand so we may depart."

Maya hesitated. She went over more to Shinji's sake than any decision on her part.  
She let Rei hug her around her bare waist, and held on tight both to the smaller girl  
and Shinji.

Rei focused her AT-field again. All the upper floors might as well have been made of  
paper by the way she ripped right through them.

Shinji woke again, the cold night air hit him. He saw Tokyo 3 spread out beneath him  
and smiled. He felt four familiar voices return insistently to his mind.

"rei..." he mumled. "...corner... 200... higurashi street"

The girl could see it in her mind. She zoomed down at such speed that no one could  
tell just what the hell just passed. She floated them down at storefront and broke the  
lock. She entered the gun shop, still unfinished and onto the back rooms. Again with a  
lock broken through the controlled creative use of an AT-field's slicing edge. Down.  
And down again.

Maya sighed in relief as she saw the bed. She laid Shinji out on it.

Rei frowned slightly. She began to undress and climb onto the bed.

"What are you doing?!" Maya asked, more in dismay than anything. Her own nudity  
was put out of her mind, but of others...!

"He is going into shock. His injuries are severe. We must warm now him with our own  
bodies."

Maya nodded and slid under the sheets as well. And... for the first time she noticed...  
she too was so...

very...

tired.

Shinji-kun. Two voices murmured in the rushing darkness.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

Kensuke noticed the broken locks immidiately upon morning. He ran right in, into the  
machine shop and opened up a hidden stash. Good, it was still there. He jumped out  
the elevator shaft yelling "Yaaaaaaarrghh!" and Bolter at the ready.

Maya and Rei woke up, and rose out of the sheets. Sandwiched between them was  
Shinji.

"Goddamn you, Ikari!" shouted Kensuke. "YOU LUCKY BASTARD!"

"Ungh." Maya clutched at her head. "Not so loud, please..."

It was then Kensuke realized that yes, she IS naked; but that's Maya Ibuki. There  
were contusions and dried blood all over Shinji's face. Oh, hi Rei. "What... what  
happened?"

"Pilot Ikari is severely injured. We have only just recently recovered him from his  
criminal detainment." Rei got out of the bed and began to pick up her clothes from the  
floor.

Sense returned to Maya just at hearing his name. She pressed a hand to his forehead  
and sighed in relief. His temperature had returned to normal and he looked to be  
breathing normally, if still unconscious.

"Thank goodness..." she murmured. "Shinji-kun..."

She got out from the sheets and patted it smooth around him. Maya yawned and  
stretched out; Kensuke let out a 'gurk!' and looked away. "... I'm hungry." she said.

The teen rushed to the refrigerator and took out out a microwavable box of spaghetti.  
He hurriedly pushed that into a nearby microwave, and tried to get his heart-rate  
under control as he watched it spin slowly inside. He nearly jumped as the appliance  
let out a 'ding!' of completion.

He turned, and nearly slipped, at seeing Maya hadn't even bothered to cover herself.  
He handed over the food, shakily, blushing heavily. He sat down on the floor nearby,  
fighting not to follow the line of her thighs up to... head, meet floor. Floor, meet head.

Maya chuckled lightly. She supposed she should be feeling very embarrassed, or in  
female outrage... but after everything, it seemed so very inconsequential. Even so  
strangely hilarious. The old Maya would have blushed and tried frantically to cover  
herself up. For the moment, she broke her chopsticks and began to eat. There was  
nothing, absolutely nothing, she felt she had to be ashamed of.

She looked at her own fingers, so dainty there... and remembered the feel of life  
being crushed by them. She felt almost like gagging, but she was just too hungry.

"...you're beautiful, you know that..." she heard Kensuke say after a while.

"Hm?"

"You and Rei..." He stammered and coughed. "I mean, yeah. You're beautiful. But it's  
also the WAY you're beautiful. You're just sitting there like on display and it's not lewd.  
You're like a tiger, beautiful, awesome... but from a distance." He dared to look up and  
meet her eyes. "Shinji... you had to kill, didn't you? You and Rei. You had to kill to  
defend him."

She sighed. "...yes."

"How did it feel?"

"It was horrible. It was intoxicating. In the end it felt like nothing at all..." She looked  
aside to Rei, and remembered the frightening spectacle. However, the other girl looked  
so delicate, standing there in front of the microwave... Maya felt protective of her as  
well. "... you shouldn't long for that feeling, Aida-kun."

He nodded. "I think I've learned that too. I could be satisfied with just staying behind  
the scenes. I don't need any of that war glory."

"There is no glory." said Rei. "There is only death. I know death."

Ding!

After a while, Maya said "Now I'm cold." She shivered and hugged herself, pressing her  
breasts together. Kensuke had to pinch his nose. "Do you have any clothes around  
here?"

Kensuke shook his head. Yahoo! I mean; darn! "I was supposed to prepare this as a  
safehouse, but I never got that far into it. There's a few shirts and pants, but it's  
across the street." He looked up. "Although..."

"...yes?"

"There is something. Let me..."

"No, no... I've imposed on you enough, Aida-kun. Just tell me where it is."

"Over there, at that drawe - gack!" He shut his eyes as Maya abruptly stood up. He  
heard her giggle. No; he had his principles. He might be a pervert, but he had such  
respect for Ibuki-san. "Did you find it?"

"Yes... it's... black. Is this leather?"

"No, it's some form of polymer, actually. It's full-body and enviro-sealed, so it should  
be comfortable no matter what." He heard rustling and stretching sounds.

"It's... kinda loose." Maya said.

"It looks familiar." Rei added. "Press the button."

Fsshk! "Oh!" Maya yelped as the black suit shrank and contorted to fit her body and  
various cold electrodes pressed to her skin. Kensuke deemed it safe enough to open  
his eyes. "What is this...?" she asked him.

"Prototype armored plugsuit." he replied. "It's supposed to be unisex and fit nearly  
anyone. I don't know from where or from whom Shinji gets this stuff. I just put it all  
aside and remind myself I might not like the answers."

There were rasping sounds as Maya twisted her waist from side to side. "Mou! I guess  
I just never really considered how -tight- your plugsuits are, Rei." At the other girl's  
nod she went over to a nearby full-length mirror. "It feels so -naughty- in sheer black."  
She ran her hands over her curves. "It's worse than being naked!" She turned around  
a bit, and spanked her buttocks. It was a loud thwack.

Kensuke passed out with a truly impressive nosebleed.

When he awoke, Shinji too was up and about. "hello, Kensuke..." said the pilot.

"Shinji! Oh, man! I'm sure glad to see you. How do you feel?"

"... I feel like crap itself." He laughed weakly. "But it's getting better. It's good to see  
you too, Kensuke."

The glasses geek looked around. Shinji sat up on the bed with the sheets still covering  
his stomach and below. His body was a mass of purple and red above the white cloth.  
Rei sat nearby, content with watching Shinji. Maya was on the floor sitting crosslegged  
and leaning upon its side, while reading from one of the science fiction books Kensuke  
stashed away as first priority in the safehouse.

He then looked up at the clock. No way, he was out for hours! "Why didn't anyone  
wake me?"

"Well... you seemed so happy in your dreams." said Shinji. "Giggling like that. We didn't  
want to spoil any fantasies you might have..."

"Hey! I resent that! I had no such thing...!"

Shinji tapped his head. "I can read your mind, you know. It's useless to lie to me."

Gasp! "Really?" Oh shit! He looked from Rei to Maya then, frightened, up to Shinji.

"No."

Kensuke groaned. Yeah, he'd just provided all the testimony against himself.

Rei tensed suddenly. Shinji looked pensive, out into the distance. "Say... you finished  
the Bolter, right, Kensuke?"

He nodded and reached into his white jacket. The Bolter was still shiny. "It works."  
said Kensuke. "Damn, it really works. I wouldn't want to be at the other end of this  
thing."

"Please give it to Maya-san."

The lieutenant put aside the amazing stories to stand up and take the gun. Her walk  
was that of a great predatory cat. Kensuke shook under the burning readiness of her  
gaze. It fit so easily into her hand; as if it was fated to belong there.

The elevator descended and slid open.

Two men in black suits exited. "So... you are here after all, Mister Ikari." said Agent  
Kentaro, in such a flat, emotionless tone.

"Section two." said Rei.

"They work for my father." Shinji sighed and closed his eyes. "Maya... if they say  
anything at all you don't like, shoot them. Kensuke; are the garbage bags still there?  
Remember that one of those doors open out into the sewer line. We can easily dispose  
of them that way."

The younger of the two agents merely whistled. "Daaamn, Ikari! I don't know what the  
hell you're up to, but I want -in-!"

Shinji didn't react. "Rei. Subdue them."

Both agents looked slightly nervous as Rei got up off the bed. They felt a great weight  
as upon their shoulders, and both were forced to their knees; as if paying obeisance  
to a king.

"You do realize she's half-Angel, right?" Agent Kentaro asked.

"...what?!" Kensuke yelped.

"Of course." was Shinji's reply. "She admitted as much. Portions of her DNA have been  
spliced with Angel DNA to allow her certain... abilities. She is the product of a sick  
experiment by my father and his puppet-masters." He opened his eyes and smiled at  
her. Rei stood beside him and put her hand on his; he squeezed it. "She is human  
enough for me... "

Shinji stretched out his hand, and the agents' guns sprang out of their holsters and  
impossibly held up in the air between them. He closed his fists, and the weapons were  
so much mangled metal.

"It seems I can... synchronize with Rei as much as I can with an Evangelion. I know  
her, and I know she is no danger to me or humanity as a whole." He made a slight  
wave, and the ruined guns clattered off into the far corners of the room. "Humanity is  
about choice. Too many have died for color, race, creed, and the notions of what is  
worthy to be called a true human... and I say he or she that chooses to be a human  
shall be treated as one."

Agent Jiro had a sudden, enlightened look. "So... you can sync? You can direct her  
AT-field because she lets you?" He grinned. "So... just by thinking about it, can you  
make her o-"

Fortunately Agent Kentaro was quick enough to elbow his partner before he could say  
something they would all deeply and painfully regret.

"Impressive, Mister Ikari. But you might have just triggered the MAGI sensors. These  
were all afire last night... now they might have a fix on this location."

Shinji lowered his hand and exhaled. "No. I can't do much of what Rei can do, but by  
filtering it through -my- soul, I seem to have better control in the small scale. My own  
actions leave such a minute trace in comparison to hers for the same simple tasks."

There was also that he was doing things the AT-field was never meant to be doing,  
such as showing similarities to electromagnetic or gravity fields, but then as Rei would  
have it it was all just the pure light of their souls combined. Or quantum magic. 'It is  
best not to let Ritsuko-sensei know of this.' he thought. 'She has enough headaches  
as it is.'

The pressure eased and both agents got up. Maya still kept her bolter aimed at them,  
though.

"So, how did you find us?" Shinji asked.

"We followed Mister Aida. He seemed rather in purposeful hurry." Kensuke groaned. So  
obvious. He'd just broken Shinji's big rule about the safehouse.

The pilot frowned. So, this was compromised now. NERV could trace the property  
purchasers and to the other safehouse locations. That left him with the two provided  
by the JSSDF, but they could hardly be considered as secure.

"Did you make your report yet?" he asked, his tone controlled.

"Uh, if we say no, are you gonna kill us?" asked Agent Jiro. "How about if we say yes?"

"No." said his partner.

"Why not?"

"Because we too, must make our choice, to be considered as members of humanity  
rather than tools. Did you know your father was entirely unwilling to negotiate for your  
release?"

"They were about to kill me, when I was... rescued." He nodded. "So, yes."

"Your father seemed entirely convinced you wouldn't be killed. Do you know why?"

Shinji closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He frowned. He let it circuit through his  
mind. "It is... too big for a scenario. Too many variables." He opened his eyes, and  
there was stunned disbelief. "No. Impossible. He thinks... I'm part of a prophecy?"

Agent Kentaro shrugged. "If you believe in that sort of thing, then yes."

'Prophecies...' the Farseer whispered. 'Are extremely annoying things...'

"Angels. Second Impact. NERV." said Rei softly. "It is all meant to be one great self-  
fulfilling prophecy..."

Shinji turned to look at her, and his expression was as that of the infinite depths.  
Something great and merciless swam in the darkness of his gaze. "Tell me, Rei. Tell me  
everything. What has my father done...?"

And so, there under the streets of Tokyo 3, she told them. All that she knew; about  
the Evas, the Angels, herself, and Gendo's plans for human immortality. Even those  
she knew that lay in wait behind him. She held back only one piece of knowledge, that  
part of her DNA was taken from Yui Ikari; out of selfish, entirely human reasons.

Kensuke was in shock. Maya lowered her bolter and looked ready to burst into tears.  
"No... it can't be..." she said, in such a small voice. "It was all useless? Our lives are  
nothing more than just stepping stones to one futile end... it's so cruel!"

"Goddamn Gendo." snarled Agent Jiro. "All this time we thought NERV was to prevent  
another Second Impact when all along he wanted a Third?"

"Why would Gendo entrust you with all this information?" Agent Kentaro asked her.

"It was his intention that if ever he was killed, then I would initiate Third Impact on  
my own."

"How?"

"I am formed using the genetic material of Lillith, the second Angel discovered by  
humanity. Under select conditions, I may be used to trigger a Third Impact."

"What are those conditions...?" Shinji asked.

"The first; returning to Lillith and setting her free, thereby fulfilling her wish to dissolve  
humanity into a new form of existence and continuing her war upon Adam.

The second; being united with Adam, creating a self-harming Impact that would  
destroy both of us, incidentally also destroying much of the Earth and all of humanity.

The third, being united with both Lillith and Adam, creating an Impact that may be  
controllable. The end result would be a select portion of humanity shaping its next  
form, as unto like a God."

Agent Jiro tsk'ed. "So... why shouldn't we just kill you so it can't happen?"

Maya raised her Boltgun.

"Okay. Other than that. Though it IS a VERY good argument."

"The Angels also wish to initiate an Impact, to unite with Adam their mother and  
destroy all of humanity. They would then kill Lillith, expand upon this world, and leave  
to seek out new worlds to tend into their form of life."

Kensuke raised his hand. "Isn't Adam supposed to be a man?"

"These are mere nomenclature decided upon by NERV. Angels have no gender. I..."  
and Rei touched over her womb. "Have a human form, and thus with gender."

"Human; with accidental Angel." Shinji squeezed her hand again. Maya had a similar  
understanding expression.

"So your reason for being is to be used against the Angels born of Adam; a weapon  
made of Lillith? Using fire against fire?" Agent Kentaro continued.

"No. That would be the Evangelion. My purpose has always been to initiate Third  
Impact."

"Then you're a risk to humanity just by existing."

"I am -made-. I am but one of many. This one you see before you contains the soul  
of Ayanami Rei, but it is not her only vessel. Commander Ikari has provided spares that  
I may be used to pilot the Evangelion remotely or as replacements in case I must die  
for a certain objective."

"Wait... you're a -clone-?!" Kensuke gasped. "That's... cool? Sad? I don't know."

"I am going to -KILL- my father."

"Hah!" Agent Jiro pointed. "Now -there's- an idea I like."

Rei shook her head. "There are yet more Angels to defeat. He is still yet necessary for  
NERV to function, if we are to prevent a Third Impact."

"Which brings us back into the question of why you should be allowed to live." The  
white-haired agent withstood Shinji's glare. "If you truly want humanity to survive,  
then is your own temporal happiness worth the indescriminate destruction that others  
may use you for?"

"I may also be used to reverse an Impact as it is happening."

Agent Jiro grabbed his partner by the lapels. "Old man, we need to get some body  
armor. 24-hour sniper protection. Poison testers. This girl has to -LIVE-!"

Rei raised her hand. "AT-field."

Agent Kentaro met Shinji's calculating look. He gave voice to a thought they both  
shared. "Gendo is going to kill her as soon as she returns."

Shinji nodded.

"No!" Maya cried. "I'll kill him first!"

"I have a few more bolter molds!" Kensuke added.

Shinji squeezed Rei's hand again. He reached over to touch Maya's shoulders. His  
eyes were closed, and sweat was starting to drip from his forehead. "Maya-san..." he  
said, his voice acquiring an odd timbre. "How much access do you have to the MAGI?"

"Um... I am directly tasked under Ritsuko-sempai to monitor and program it."

"You have something in mind, Mister Ikari?" the aged agent asked.

Shinji grit his teeth. "Yes."

"Then, what's the problem?"

"Will you work for me, instead of my father? Will you trade the manipulations of one  
Ikari for another?"

The agents were silent.

Shinji sat there in meditative style as if a wise old yogi; but pale, bruised, and nearly  
skeletal. However, his resemblance to Gendo Ikari was unmistakable. They could see  
the nearly fanatic dedication he pulled out from the hearts of those with him. It was  
frightening. Children were not meant to carry such things. Just that it could happen  
was harsh condemnation upon humanity itself. How far had they fallen since Second  
Impact? How much more sin could they possibly make?

It was Agent Jiro who spoke first. "Sorry, but I've got to go with my heart on this.  
Sorry, man. I'm with them. There's just too much -wrong- in this world."

"I've been in this business for a long time, kid. I've seen things. Done things. I don't ever  
expect to be forgiven." Agent Kentaro sighed and took off his sunglasses. "But I came  
here knowing I still don't understand everything about this goddamn game. Sometimes, you  
just gotta take things on faith.

I've just got faith that wherever you're heading, it's got to be a better place than  
what that piece of shit that nature punished you with being your father is driving us  
all towards."

'_BEHOLD, my bright lord. It lies before you now. This world shall CRY your name!_'

_'We must protect humanity. We must protect Ayanami. We swore an oath. We must  
embrace the faith of our battle-sister Ibuki. We must -prevail-!'_

'_Stomps da blighter Gendooo!'_

_'I... I don't know. It all seems so big, so real, so near now. I just wanted to help  
people. Now, I've killed. I'll send others more to kill. I'm slowly turning into my father.  
I won't have all these people as my pawns!'_

'_Then use your queens, my young king! Use your bishops, your rooks, your knights!  
Grant them power and protection even as they give you might through their service!  
The world is yours! The future is now!_'

Shinji opened his eyes. "Then let's play the Great Game..." He tried to stand up, and  
had to be helped to his feet by the two young women. "My life is too small to stake  
on this. Let us gamble upon the fate of the world and the salvation of humanity!"

His mind rolled on, through tomorrow. Misato. Ritsuko. Toji. Fuyutsuki. Gendo. They  
would all act that way, yes. What if. Yes.

He was so small, indeed. What did he really have? How could he possibly break the  
the titanic forces arrayed against him? The only thing he had was the -knowing- that  
he knew exactly what they didn't want him to know, and that they had no idea of it.

"We are now in a war, fighting for our own survival."

He felt himself grin. He felt the adrenalin rise. He felt the purpose fill him.

"Let the enemies of humanity die. Let the opportunists burn. Let the betrayers perish."

We have no other choice. Only we stand against oblivion. I cannot afford mercy.

Father. Farewell. Let the world see that I am Shinji Ikari.

And I -know- what I must do.

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------------------

* * *

-end chapter six part two-

No, I will not have an cerebellometer to count how many heads have exploded from reading this fic. Stop asking (you know who you are).

As always; still in beta state. Entire blocks of plot could yet be changed. Thank you all for having read and supported this admittedly flawed story thus far. Not everything here has meaning, sometimes things just _have_ to happen for the lulz of it.

Well, I could end a 'season' right here since I split up an anime episode into two parts anyway. Shinji now has an idea of just how massive the task before him is. He has gathered the very core of his efforts. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen! On this side; The Utter Bastard! Controlling NERV, filled with such dastardly designs, and having set into motion a scenario that involves the whole world. On this side, The Old Farts, controlling the UN and most of the world's conventional military. And over there; Da Young King! Whose effective assets are limited to a few houses, a few friends, Vigilante Rei, Battlesister Maya, Techpriest Aida, Stormtrooper Suzuhara, Inqusitor Horaki and two Men in Black from Section Two.

Who will in the end Rule Da World?

... yeah, sucker bet. Still, a long ways to go. Anything could still happen. ^_^

Next up; 'season two': Asuka Strikes Back!

It might be a while.


	11. Chapter 10: Asuka Strikes Back! part1

Chapter Seven Part One  
-`

**Asuka Strikes Back!**

-o-

-o-

It was a moonlit night, and cool breeze flitted over that sea. A certain red-haired teen  
girl leaned over the ships railings and breathed in. Beyond that horizon there was her  
glorious future.

"Neh, Kaji..." she asked. "What can you tell me about the Third Children?"

"Hmm?" The man lay there, staring up at the moon. It meant something different to  
him. Japan or America or Germany, always the same. It was comforting in an insulting  
sort of way. The moon was bright then too, when he simply decided to leave Japan to  
become a man of the world... tied to no one, free, unable to be hurt.

In retrospect that didn't really work out as well as he'd planned, which was why he  
was willing to go back.

"Kaaaji...!"

Oh, yeah. Asuka. He had great practice in tuning her out. "Hmm?" he asked again.

"What do you know about the Third Child...?"

"Oh, you mean Shinji Ikari?" Truthfully he thought more of him as 'the kid Misato has  
to look after' than anything. He turned on his side and reached into his pocket. "This  
should explain things better than I can."

Asuka took it from his hand. "A trading card?"

"Tokyo 3's been so destroyed so many times that they had to find some other way of  
raising funds; than just begging for it from the international community. This was one  
of the most successful ones... it's quite an interesting story, really. They set it all up  
as some form of Evangelion Fantasy Battle."

The card in her hand was of the two known Evangelions; machine-gods of an earlier  
age, sleeping after having nearly destroyed the world. Once more they have awoken;  
in sensing the arrival of their ancient enemies. Only the fact that their intellect had  
decayed to the level of beasts, and were linked to two children without whom they  
couldn't even move, kept them from scourging all life from the world again.

-o-

TITANICUS (fifteen stars)

-one scary mother-

PRINCIPIO ETERNUS

ATK 45000  
DEF 45000

Invoke using Magic Card; Shinji Ikari and sacrificing 15 Power points.

If attacked in Defense position, take -everything- on the field except it into the  
Graveyard as it demolishes ALL armies and cities around itself in just five minutes.  
Return it to the deck after next turn.

If attacked while in Attack Position, laugh at your enemy for his stupidity and reduce  
his lifepoints by half. Return it into the deck after destroying the attacking card.

It may attack only once before being returned to the deck, but will utterly destroy  
all enemy forces in the field and all magic cards (yours and the enemy). Your cards  
in attack position must also be returned to the deck as collateral damage.

-o-

Turning it over she saw;

I HAVE WALKED AS A GOD, FOUGHT AS A GOD  
I HAVE MADE THE BATTLEFIELD MY HOME  
I AM THE GOD IN THE MACHINE  
I AM THE HOPE AND FURY OF MAN  
I AM EVANGELION! TITANICUS!

-PRINCIPIO ETERNUS!-

THE ENEMIES OF HUMANITY WILL DIE  
BY MY HANDS, THEY SHALL BE BROKEN

I AM -PRINCIPIO ETERNUS-

-o-

"What the hell is this?" she yelled out, nearly throwing the thing away.

Kaji's voice was bored. "Oi. Don't even wrinkle it. It's kinda valuable."

Reluctantly she gave the card back to him. Kaji put it back in his wallet. "What's that  
supposed to mean?"

"It means that it is the current assumption by the people of Japan, and echoed by the  
world, that Shinji Ikari inside the -Principio Eternus- is pretty much unstopabble." He  
decided to take out a cigarette, even if Asuka hated the damn things. Probably even  
because of that. She wouldn't go damn near his lips while they smelt of it.

"Mein Gott! No way! They can't be THAT stupid..."

"You have to understand, humanity is experiencing something it had never expected  
or prepared for. We're fighting for our very existence, and we're throwing everything  
we have into making sure we -win-. I advice you not to go out there with any  
preconceptions, Asuka. Japan... well, it's always been crazy. It just hides its funky  
weirdness better at certain times."

Asuka frowned. She was after all, half-Japanese. Kaji was full Japanese. Or just full  
of it; if that was the case.

She turned back to the sea. She supposed it would be refreshing to be away from  
Germany and being treated like Princess Asuka. If he could do it, then so could she!

Kaji allowed himself a smirk. Yeeah. Kids are so easy to prod into action. Things just  
might get -interesting- again. Misato would be there. He hoped Shinji didn't fail in  
making it all so entertaining to watch, what with his charge.

-o-

-o-

It was a dark room. Black numbered monoliths seemed to float up in the air. Deep and  
electronically-modulated voices issed from them.

"You acted in haste, and against the auspices of this council." rumbled out from -8-.  
"What did you really hope to accomplish? The prophecy..."

The number -5- flashed green. "It was indistinct! It only marked a boy. It could be  
anyone, it could be even the one who replaces the current Pilot of Unit One."

"Nonetheless, you have failed."

"He will be tested until the very last moment, this is also written." -5- continued. "It is  
all too possible to fail. Here, in the end he was incapable of saving himself. It also  
proves my point. This is not the one we are waiting for."

"So, Ikari has unleashed his pet Angel." said the slab marked -4-. "How does this affect  
things?"

"It is of little consequence. Let us release our own." replied -3-.

-o-

-o-

BLOODBATH IN TOKYO THREE!

This, and variants of it, were the headlines all over the nation. Building were blown up,  
corpses were strewn across the streets. Walls were painted in red. There was a bright  
flash. A cleansing fire spread out and rose high into the heavens.

There was silence, for a time.

Then a roar to split the sky!

The obscuring sea of smoke broke outwards, and there at the very epicenter of the  
blast stood -Principio Eternus-. Its rage was nearly palpable.

It growled as it saw two more warheads inbound. It reached out, and crumpled the  
N2-tipped missiles in midflight. It swiped at the air, and swat out entire wings of VTOLs  
out from the sky.

Poom! Poom! Shots slammed upon its back armor. -Principio Eternus- turned to see  
several MBTs sending out barrage after frantic barrage. It roared.

The tanks began to retreat, but too slowly. The Evangelion's stride broke apart all in  
its path. It leapt, and was soon at them. They were helpless; those cannons couldn't  
aim straight up. -Principio Eternus- slapped down, and smeared one tank right into the  
reinforced concrete roads of Tokyo 3.

A fusillade of missiles left white streaks like unrolled yarn as they converged upon the  
Evangelion. An eraged purple face emerged from the smoke. -Principio Eternus- roared,  
reached down and grabbed a tank trying to flee from between its legs. It bit off the  
turret and spat that out at a passing VTOL. The cannon speared the attack craft and  
plunged it into a building. Explosion.

-Principio Eternus- rose, unsatisfied. It began to climb up a building and stood on top  
of it, uncaring as the floors began to buckle under its weight. It roared once more, as  
if asking for more! More! Where is the enemy worthy of its wrath?

FSHAK!

-Principio Eternus- was flung off that building with a catastrophic smash. Three smaller  
buildings crumpled as it crashed face-down.

It got up and shook its head as if to clear it. It twisted its neck around, and saw a  
shape emerge from behind the burning city.

-Principio Eternus- couldn't grin, but opened its jaw wide in pleasure.

Unit Zero hefted its positron rifle up and blasted it again in the face. The power of  
that beam was sufficient to send the purple Evangelion imbedded into yet another  
poor building. Unit Zero fired again. And again. Its positron rifle was purpose-built for  
the Eva, and didn't have cycling problems. Dust once more covered the battlefield.

Roar!

-Principio Eternus- burst right out of the rubble and charged through the avenue. Unit  
Zero didn't even flinch, and kept on firing. Its shots bounced off an AT-field. When the  
purple Eva was close enough, it simply threw aside the positron rifle and raised its own  
AT-field.

It was a titanic clash; a shockwave as two strong AT-fields met sent the entire city  
shaking.

-Principio Eternus- roared again, and pushed; sending Unit Zero tumbling back, AT-  
field and all. Just as it was about to pounce, Unit Zero kicked out and caught it with  
both feet right at the jaw. There was an audible -crack!- as the neck snapped.

The purple Evangelion crashed again, immobile. It had never really learned to stop  
leading a punch with its jaw.

Unit Zero slowly got up. It was still wary.

The purple Evangelion's eyes flashed. It grabbed at the blue Eva's right ankle and  
pulled. As Unit Zero slid down, it pushed itself up. Then -Principio Eternus- roared,  
lifted the other Eva clean into the air and smashed it into a row of buildings.

Which turned out to be a mistake as one of those buildings was a weapons cache.  
Unit Zero now had a bolter. It sent a three-round burst at the berserking Evangelion.

DAKKA!

-Principio Eternus- stepped back and roared, as if to say 'Not the face again, woman!  
Why always the face?'

Unit Zero just kept shooting.

DAKKA!

DAKKA! DAKKA!

DAKKA!

Click.

Unit Zero barely had time to tilt its head to the side as if saying 'Oh crap' before two  
purple hands were at its neck. There were a series of small cracks as the spinal  
connections broke. It hung limp.

-Principio Eternus- let the other Eva drop and roared again. It saw more JSSDF platoons  
over a ridge. It began to run. Time to die, humans!

-o-

"And three... two..." Maya's voice filled the world. "One. Evangelion Unit One has lost  
power."

Ritsuko put down her newspaper. 'BLOODBATH IN TOKYO THREE' was the headline.  
"Have you finished data analysis, Maya?"

"Yes, sempai. It sure was nice of the JSSDF to provide us with the very simulation  
software that they use." The lieutenant touched a forefinger to her lips. "I don't get  
why, though...? It's like they're just giving us the tools to plan war against them."

"Not really." Misato was there too, in the control center overlooking the simulation  
entry plugs. "The Evangelion is a defensive measure, everybody knows that. We send  
back the simulation data as per agreement to remind them just what they're facing  
here and not to get any stupid ideas. They feel they're ahead in the exchange since  
they're getting precise knowledge of the limits an Evangelion can reach."

"This is still insane!" Ritsuko pushed aside the newspaper. "I sent almost the entire  
military ground forces of Japan against Tokyo-3 and he still manages to destroy it all  
within five minutes!"

Misato laughed. "It's nothing special, Rits-chan. We saw the same thing happen with  
the first Angel we fought, remember?"

"The electronic combatants were being rather stupid, just charging in en masse as if  
the weight of their guns could pierce the AT-field, sempai." Maya knew it couldn't be  
so. They needed a sufficiently large gun, like against Ramiel. Or... "Only an Evangelion  
can stop another Evangelion."

Ritsuko took a deep breath. That was true. However, Unit Zero had failed to stop Unit  
One. "Maya, how different are the Evangelions Unit Zero and One?"

"Um... I'm not sure."

"Then let me tell you; there is very little difference in performance between the  
protoype and test type. The AT-field generation system is the same. The muscular  
components are the same. In that simulation, both Evangelions are programmed to be  
perfectly equal. Why do you think Unit One is capable of overpowering Unit Zero so  
easily?"

"I think... it is because Shinji-kun has the stronger will?"

Ritsuko walked over the console and switched on a comm line. "Rei, why are you  
holding back?"

"I..." There was a pause as the pilot considered her actions. "It was not my wish to  
harm Pilot Ikari."

"Rei, this is a conceptual simulation. You didn't feel any pain when Unit One... killed  
you... didn't you? You must test the Evangelion to the limit of its programmed range  
of motions. Go out with the intention of defeating your enemy, no matter who it is."

"Understood."

Ritsuko switched it off and walked over to see the simulation data. It was costing the  
MAGI a good chunk of its resources to run it, but it was truly the most complete they  
had so far. Gendo could not resist the offer... showing off the Evangelion's power  
without having to rebuild the city time after time.

"That was rather harsh..." said Misato. "Rei's feeling understandably protective of  
Shinji, it's only been a week since his return."

Ritsuko closed her eyes. 'You have no idea how protective she could be.' Gendo was  
losing control over the girl... and as much as she despised what Rei represented, she  
also supported the idea of messing with Gendo's precious scenario. What she told him  
was that he was getting too much of a good thing. The only thing now that can stop  
Shinji Ikari is Rei Ayanami. Both in and out of the Evangelion.

-o-

Gendo Ikari steepled his hands, but instead of placing them just under his nose as his  
usual pose, had them under his brows. He heard a tap on his desk.

He looked up to see Fuyutsuki push a glass of water with some pills.

"What are those?" he asked.

"Painkillers. You look like you need them."

Gendo looked away, and down into the newspaper. Tokyo Three Times and its big  
headline: BLOODBATH IN TOKYO 3. According to the news, Section Two had known  
about Shinji Ikari's location for several days, from a code given through electronic  
surveillance. There was no way to recover him through the usual means, and asking  
for help from anyone else could have tipped off the kidnappers. In the end, they had  
to launch a missile right at the terrorist's hidden safehouse; from the top, using all the  
floors in the way to dampen the damage when it finally breaks through into the  
basement. Going in with the idea of capturing survivors was deemed too much a risk  
to Shinji Ikari's life... so they went in with intent to kill everybody aged over fourteen.

They recovered him, but made it look as if he was still held captive as to flush out  
other members of the terrorist cell. A lot of mysterious deaths happened the past  
weeks, all over Japan. The Exalted World were indeed a true terrorist group, picked as  
the convenient sacrificial lamb by two large ruthless factions.

Only recently had it been announced that Shinji Ikari and Maya Ibuki were safe and  
actually fit to resume their duties.

The news report was worse; it actually had the record of Shinji's screamings through  
the wire. The populace, given what they heard, felt the urgency and lethality of their  
response was justified.

"Our security net seems just that..." said Fuyutsuki lightly. "Every little thing can get  
in or out of it."

"Why did I not know about this...?" growled Gendo.

"It seems standard operating procedure not to let anyone know about it until it was  
done. Even the Section Two chief only had a vauge inkling of what was about to  
happen. The risks of being compromised was just too high - this is Tokyo 3 and they  
still managed to take one of the Pilots. This time total silence. Total darkness."

"Did you know...?"

The older man sighed. "Yes." Truthfully, no. The Section Two chief approached him  
however with a pre-dated order. It was clear the intelligence branch of NERV felt more  
than aggrieved at being under such pressure as Gendo continually refused to consider  
negotiation. However, in the end they performed splendidly.

Section Two were not there to solve mysteries; NERV had too many that even itself  
may not know. They were there to provide a convenient rationale when needed.

"Rei got to him before they did."

"Just at the brink of the deadline, Ikari. Is it assuring that the writings of men long  
dead, probably considered even insane by their time, proved true? I wonder how much  
comfort the words would provide... had you lost your only son?"

"That is immaterial. That piece of the prophecy has proven true; now everything from  
this point on will be easier for us."

"I wonder if you actually despise your son."

Silence.

"Yui wanted the world for him, you know. It was her fondest wish."

"She wanted his happiness so much that she was willing to sacrifice herself. Nothing  
else mattered to her. Not even that I loved her." Gendo's words were toneless.

"I wonder if you regret that single unselfish moment..." The old man sighed. "That for  
once you gave up your own happiness because someone asked for it. Is that why you  
can't let this go?"

Gendo didn't respond.

"That's why I still help you."

-o-

-o-

What was most surprising was how easily the old order asserted itself. The old rituals  
and the old exchanges made the past two weeks as if they never happened. Toji and  
Kensuke were boisterous as ever, and Hikari had to shout some more to keep them in  
line. However, she was smiling.

There were changes however. People knew just how far Shinji was willing to go when  
inside the Evangelion. Months had passed since the last Angel attack and the memory  
began to fade... the pilots Ikari and Ayanami were treated as normal children. The  
sudden attack upon the pilot of -Principio Eternus- however reminded them all again  
they were living in the front lines of a war inching on into a violent conclusion.

When people looked, their eyes now had pity. Shinji laughed less, even as those  
around seem tried to force their own mirth. His eyes seemed even older, and they all  
chalked it up to the brutality of what he'd experienced.

Not all were so charitable, however. The myth of Shinji's invincibility had shattered.  
He was in the end just a boy, outside of the most formidable fighting machines that  
humanity ever made.

"What was that?" Toji bellowed. He grabbed one of the students by his collars and  
yanked up. "I dare you to say that again...!"

The student smirked. "Listening in to private conversations now, Toji? Did you get  
bored of following Ikari around like a puppy?" The three other young teens behind him  
nodded.

Toji shoved him towards his cronies. "Say it or take it back. I'm not giving you any  
other choice."

They looked down at him; they were all actually a grade higher. They were also in the  
athletic team, and it was after school in the gym. Toji just chanced to walk past as  
they were laughing.

The one who spoke out was the football captain. "I said..." he started with a self-  
satisfied grin. "I wondered if Ikari was still even a man anymore. He's got all of you  
following around after him, running around at the slightest wag of his tail."

They all had expectant grins. All emotion fled from Toji's face. The younger student  
looked at a loss for what to say, too angry to do anything except stand there and  
clench his fists.

"Let me tell you bozos something..."

A rush of wind sent leaves spilling across the space between them. Toji looked up, his  
expression completely controlled. "Shinji didn't even hesitate to fight someone older  
and bigger than him, someone who could KILL him. If you think I'm going to be scared  
of you little morons, think again!" He slammed a fist into his open palm. "You're not  
even worth his TIME! You want to start something?

Have your prize!"

He lashed out with a straight punch right at the football captain's face. The older teen  
bent back, but didn't fall. He looked back, then grinned; his teeth spattered with  
blood.

Toji didn't allow himself any hesitation. Unintimidated, he stepped up and headbutted  
the upperclassman.

Both teens clutched their foreheads and let out a "Gaah!"

"How the hell does Shinji do it...?" Toji groaned. "That freaking -hurts-...!"

"Captain...!" one of the other students gasped.

"What the fu...! Suzuhara!" the football captain grimaced. He was the one more hurt  
from the exhange, simply because Toji had far less sense of self-preservation. "You're  
going to pay for that. Get him!"

"You're playing with the big boys now, Suzuhara!" shouted another. "Let's see how  
tough you really are behind all that talk!"

"Tough enough!" Toji punched the closest one and brought him down. When are these  
people going to stop leading with their jaws? His father had taught him the -scientific-  
approach to boxing.

It was a chaotic melee, and Toji wanted to think he gave as good as he got. It was  
clear even to him that he'd be buried under the weight of numbers. He didn't care  
though; nobody insults Shinji like that. His friend had given too much to have to take  
this crap! "Screw you bastards! I'm not scared of -oof!- ya! Stormtrooper Suzuhara  
won't back down! Ragh! Take that! You hit like my little sister!"

Laughter and applause.

All there turned to see someone in a white hooded jacket leaning against the bin of  
basketballs.

"Kensuke! What the hell!" Toji said through numb jaws. "How long have you been  
there?"

"Long enough..." said the other boy, grinning.

"... then why didn't you help? Damn it, man!"

Kensuke laughed again. "Sorry. I just wanted to see if you could handle it on your  
own."

"Then piss off, then. I can take these jokers, easy."

"... that's the kind of attitude which makes it worth my while to help you now." His  
eyeglasses glinted under the setting sun as he approached. "Hey, I heard what you  
said... you've got some nerve, Shutaro. We're giving you one last chance to take  
back what you said and apologize."

"Or what, nerd? You're gonna try slapping us around?"

Kensuke sighed. "See, that's the problem. You're not nearly smart enough to fight with  
words and you're trying anyway. You try fighting with your fists, but me..." He put a  
hand into his jacket. "I'm smart enough to fight with a view to ending arguments."

DAKKA!

"Captain!"

"What the... Kensuke!" Toji screamed. "YOU SHOT HIM?"

Kensuke grinned, his eyeglasses still glinting. He pointed his custom bolt pistol up.  
"Yep. Why bring a knife when you can bring a -gun- to a fistfight?"

"You're crazy!" shouted one of the upperclassmen.

"You killed him!" screamed another.

"You're gonna get hell for this, Aida! You won't get away with this!"

The football captain groaned. Kensuke huffed. "Don't be so melodramatic. It's just  
rubber-tipped bullets. He'll be fine."

"KEEENSUKE!" Toji was then at his friend's jacket collars, pulling him up. "What the hell  
do you think you're doing?"

The glasses-geek teen laughed weakly, his eyes crinkled in helpless amusement. "I  
was just trying to help..."

"That wasn't -helping-! A man's fight is one thing... but you could get expelled for this  
shit!" Toji let his friend go. "What is wrong with you? It's not worth it. Shinji needs us  
to protect him, and this won't help things..."

"Yeah! Your ass is out of here, Aida!" one of the upperclassmen called out. "We're g-"

"SHUT UP!" Toji punched him into the ground. He pointed to the two other students.  
"Move and you get the same treatment." They nodded fearfully.

"... and you think having you beat up will make Shinji any happier? You have no idea  
of the kind of twisted vengeance our friend could offer up." He grinned. "Relax. We're  
in the right. Four-on-one odds? Brave, very brave, my friend. But also stupid. We've  
got to get you some body armor if you're going to keep pulling this stunt."

"That doesn't change things! You -shot- him! Are you even allowed to carry that thing  
around?"

"In a word; yes."

"... what?"

"Didn't you know? Special Dispensation by order of the Tokyo 3 Council. Shinji was  
kidnapped once. Now that they can't get at him anymore, we... his friends... are his  
greatest weaknesses. We're also targets." He blinked. "You didn't know you were  
allowed to bear nonlethal arms? Trying to hospitalize you is grounds for self-defense."

"...t-that doesn't give you the right to shoot us whenever you feel like it!" the  
uppeclassmen complained.

Kensuke touched his forehead to the bolt pistol. "The machine spirit knows the truth  
in those words. It however will not abide the sight of injustice. Let Shinji defend this  
city from those who threaten it. And -we- shall defend -him- from those he can't  
protect himself against."

"You're crazy!"

"So what's your point?" He grinned again. Kensuke had a gun. Nothing could ruin his  
day. Insults just bounced off his euphoria.

Toji rubbed his face in consternation. "This can't be happening. Now -I'm- becoming  
the responsible one?" He glared at the other jocks. "Get the hell out and take that  
trash with you."

They were too happy to comply.

"Shiiit." Toji groaned. "Hikari's not going to be happy."

"Didn't you notice she's taken to wearing a jacket now too? I gave her a taser gun  
just yesterday." Somehow a black jacket similar to Toji, only lined in red instead of  
yellow framed her face nicely. Her twin little pigtails with two cherry-like bands no  
longer seemed so childish. He grinned in remembering Toji's gobsmacked face as he  
first saw her in that.

It only heightened the impression among the students that the two were already all  
but married.

Toji groaned. Inquisitor Horaki was just the type to aim at people's groins.

"Things are changing so fast, Kensuke. Why... are we turning into some sort of army?"

"These are painful times we live in, my friend. All of humanity is fighting for survival.  
Why does this surprise you?"

The nerd nodded to himself. There were plenty of precedent, out the many wars in  
history, of children being allowed to bear arms and fight. Second Impact itself lowered  
the age of enlistment from eighteen to sixteen. Marriage was down to fifteen.

They were fourteen. Soon enough, they would have to take their place in the world.

-o-

-o-

"Maya's not coming tonight, Shin-chan!" Misato called out. "Ritsuko and her need to  
go pull another all-nighter back at the labs."

"All right, Misato-san. I'll just cook something simple tonight. There's a lot you can do  
with tofu."

"That sounds interesting. Thank you, Shin-chan."

She sat down on the table and saw there already a chilled can of Yebisu waiting for  
her. Next to that was a small glass with ice cubes. Pen-pen waited at the opposite  
end, also with his own ice-filled glass. He let out a "Wark!" of welcome and warning.

Misato opened up the can, and took a gulp. "FSSHAAAH! That's the stuff!" She poured  
half of it into Pen-pen's glass. The penguin let out a 'WRAAUK!" of similar sentiment.

Pen-pen finished first. He made a small bow, waddled off in search of the remote then  
plunked down to watch the news.

Misato drank her beer in silence. She made perfunctory replies as Shinji served the  
food. She spent most of the time just watching him; the precise economy of his  
motions. It wasn't robotic, but like he didn't move any more than he needed to. It was  
a lingering habit from the weeks of recovery, when every movement caused a bruise  
to twinge.

In the end, it seemed, that he had learned to move like Rei. That made Misato  
remember that there were -two- pilots. The Evangelion caused nothing but pain. She  
wondered what the girl had been subject to, to turn out the way she did.

They had the bear the burden of a world, and she felt she had ample reason to feel  
guilty. She didn't fully understand the -why-, only that it had to be done. The Evas  
were mankind's only chance.

"Are you sure you're all right, Shinji?" she asked.

Shinji only nodded, his eyes wide and innocent, in mid-chewing. He picked up another  
his slice of seasoned fried tofu with his chopsticks.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right? Out of all the people in this world  
please, trust me, I won't ever judge you."

He nodded. "Thank you, Misato-san. But in just saying that, you're already judging me.  
There's nothing I -need- to get off my chest. Nothing that I need to share to lift any  
shame. You believe that there's something I need to confess..."

"...no. No, of course not! I'm sorry if I'm being too nosy."

"Thank you for caring, Misato-san." He looked away. "I'm sorry for worrying you."

Misato reached for her beer. "You're too kind, Shinji. You know that?" she said softly.  
"Can't you be even a little cruel? Can't you just allow us to help? That's... selfish too."

"Then... aren't I entitled to a little bit of selfishness, in that case?"

"Maybe..."

Shinji lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. He felt the council in his mind resume.

'_How is the WORK proceeding, bright lord?'_

_'Well enough.' _was his answer. _'I know you have doubts about the loyalty of agents  
J and K, but even if they have their own agenda at least I am sure they don't want  
to end up dying alongside the human race.'_

_'This makes you the only clear choice, commander.'_ The Space Marine seemed eager  
somehow. _'Between the two great forces, only you strive for the benefit of all who  
live on this world. Only you stand for choice and all that is good and just.'_

_'But there should be others; older, wiser, more powerful... who could rally humanity to  
this cause.'_

_'Are there, young king? You decided not to reveal this to anyone else in authority.  
What would it bring? Death. The Angels would prey upon this world. The military would  
fall upon the ignorant pawns placed by your father. The guilty would escape. There is  
little to be gained in haste.'_

_'The bright lord could RULE this city by Tuesday, if he only embraced the methods that  
Chaos worked so WELL. Do not look at me like that; you wretched fools. I am your  
ENEMY, and for long have we battled. Chaos is forever, and we shall YET battle still.'_

_'Oh, please. A lot of the things you suggest I do are just physically impossible or just  
impossible by physics.'_

_'I DARE you to draw a Chaos Circle and SEE if it does not work.'_

_'No.'_

_'I DOUBLE-DARE you, then.'_

_'Um...'_

_'... so this is the cunning of Chaos?' _murmured the Eldar Farseer._ 'Stupid males.'_

Shinji heard the door to his room start to slide open. He turned away from the door  
and pretended to be asleep.

Misato had been checking up on him every night; as if he would ever run away. He  
shut his eyes and waited for the door to close again.

Instead, he felt a weight added to his bed; and soft warmth folding over his shoulders.  
"What... Misato-san?"

"Ssh. I'm sorry Shinji. I just... I just need to know you're still here. Is that all right?"

He remained still. "It's all right..." Poor Misato-san.

"I don't care how this looks like." Her voice was soft, as if she might cry again. "I really  
thought you would die. When Gendo kept refusing, I swore to shoot him the next day.  
The only thing that stopped me what the Section Two agents showing up at five in  
the morning..."

"I'm sorry." he said back. "You shouldn't need to go to that length for my sake. You...  
shouldn't ever need to suffer. I don't want you to be hurt, Misato-san..."

"You're a hateful person sometimes, you know that, Shinji?"

"... I am?"

"When you say it like that, it's like shouting out; I don't really care about what you  
think. I'm taking it all for myself. It's our pain. It's our choice." Her fingernails dug into  
the flesh of his forearms. "We're people, Shinji. Not your pets. Not the ones who can't  
defend themselves without your giving up your life. Seeing you fight... I hate it. Why  
do you have to act as if you need to prove yourself more mature than us adults, that  
you can take care of things better than us whose reponsibility is to take charge of the  
world...?"

"Misato-san, I..."

"Most of all I hate how you think we'll only care for you as long as you're useful to us."

Shinji winced. Misato was far more perceptive than he had believed. Working in the  
threads of his plan reduced people and events into elements of cause and effect. He  
could afford only controlled deviations, and in such view pure selflessness was all but  
impossible. Everybody is selfish in some way. There are no innocents. The only way to  
reliable plan ahead was to consider what they would value and would react to appeals  
or threats to those values.

"This... this is my home how, Misato-san."

"Don't ever leave me again, Shinji."

He turned suddenly and met her shocked eyes. "I won't let you die. Not while I can  
still fight, I will not let you die. You are precious to me too, Misato-san."

She laughed into his face.

"Oh, now why can't you just be a few years older, Shin-chan? It doesn't work with  
that sort of face."

"I'm serious, Misato-san."

"... and that's why it's funny!" She reached over and hugged him, sending him into an  
unseen blush. "I think you could stand to be a child for a little longer. That's why us  
adults fight... so that innocence can live on this world."

_I've... already killed, Misato-san. Innocent is also another word for powerless. I can't...  
not anymore. I know you know this. But if it makes you happy, we can pretend._

_Being in your arms... let it all fade away._

_I'm just a boy again._ The world howls outside.

_Thank you for taking away my fear._

Of course, innocent as it was, it was impossible for things not to have changed. In  
Shinji's eyes, Misato recognized a soldier's eyes. One not just willing to die, but to kill  
without regret.

Neither could really return to being a child. Both knew that to live in the world of  
adults, in the world of responsibility, was to live with pain.

-o-

-o-

Rei let herself relax. She felt the memories being squeezed out of her skull. It was all  
an unpleasant experience, but one she willingly endured as she had for all those years.

Ritsuko couldn't let herself relax. This was always the most distasteful part of her  
duties. Uploading memories into data, dubbing a soul into the machine... it was a  
blasphemy of the highest order to her. That humanity already had that power was a  
thought both frightening and liberating.

With it, the current Rei became disposable again. The rest, were just spare parts to  
be used. Ritsuko disliked Rei, but never hated her. How could you hate something you  
can completely understand? She knew Rei even down to the color of her internal  
organs. One cannot hate tools, all the blame always lies upon those who use them.

She... did not understand Gendo, even after all that time. Even after their unnatural  
intimacy. She could say with ease that she hated him; and at the same time also  
addicted to him.

She hated this duty specially when Gendo was around. He spent hours staring up at  
a floating naked figure of someone who looked almost like his wife.

"It is complete." she said. "Draining containment tank." Most of all, she hated the  
sheer drudgery of the task. It was nothing more than pushing buttons and waiting at  
monitors; anyone could do it, but nobody else had the background or security rating.

"Very well, Doctor Akagi. You may go."

Ritsuko turned sharply. Gendo still stood motionless, his hands at his pockets. He was  
watching Rei dress. 'He can do anything he wants, this deep in Terminal Dogma.' It  
was a place beyond the reach of all laws of man. That bump on his pants could be  
either an erection or a gun.

She clenched her fists. _'I'm sorry, Rei.'_ she thought for the very first time, and left.

"Rei."

"Yes, commander?"

"Why did you rescue the pilot of Unit 01?"

She didn't even blink. "Was I not supposed to?"

"You acted outside of your orders."

She looked up at him, and the gun directly touching her forehead. "He was your son."

Gendo's eyes narrowed a fraction. "Rei, how did you find the pilot of Unit 01?" he  
asked next.

"I... could hear him. I am not certain. I just knew."

"And upon 'hearing' him, you acted."

"Yes."

"You used your AT-field."

"Yes."

"Even though you were ordered to restrict your use until necessary."

"I felt it was necessary."

"Why?"

"He was your son, commander."

Gendo looked at Rei's unflinching eye for a long moment. Rei simply could -not- lie, she  
was shaped that way. She could omit some of the truth, alter her wording, but a  
direct lie was completely beyond her.

"What did you do upon entering the place he was kept?"

"I saw Pilot Ikari at gunpoint. I simply enclosed him in my AT-field and left in the most  
direct manner."

"Straight upwards."

"Yes, sir. The AT-field is always focused most easily upwards. It is the central point  
of unassisted flight."

"Where did you take him?"

"I brought him to my apartment."

"What did you do next?"

"I called Section Two."

Gendo frowned slightly. Not a trace of hesitation. Rei acted as always so scrupulously  
truthful. Or was she? Rei had that sort of perfect poker face.

"How long did he remain in your apartment?"

"Until morning, at 06:31. Section Two arrived to pick him up then."

"What... did you do during the night."

"I sat at the edge of the bed and remained on standby."

"And... the pilot?"

"He slept. He was severely injured."

Some inner sense was yelling to him; trust nothing coming from this girl! She lies!  
However, a similar part also yelled about how that was impossible. He had shaped her  
too well. It fit the prophecy precisely.

He took the gun away. Rei made no motion of relief, not even a change in her gaze.  
It was still dispassionate, and oddly trusting.

Gendo then noticed she had her hand in her right pocket. "Rei." he said flatly.

"Sir?"

"What do you have there?"

Hesitantly, she reached out and opened her palm. There was the Warboss, all green  
and red and in open-mouthed anger.

"Why do you have this?"

"Pilot Ikari gave it to me, shortly before his abduction."

Gendo's frown returned. A toy. Rei had never known toys. It was a gift, and he knew  
well to be wary of gifts. It constituted an expenditure of emotion upon both ends,  
and tying them together. The given is indebted. The giver, responsible. It only further  
made his son dependent upon Rei.

He opened his hand out.

"Sir..." Rei asked softly.

"What is it?"

"May I ask what you intend to do with it?"

Gendo's expression didn't change. It was severe but without disapproval yet. "I intend  
to dispose of it."

"May I just return it to Pilot Ikari instead? I am given to understand it is the last of its  
kind left in the world, and is presumably valuable."

"I can easily have a duplicate made."

"That would defeat the whole purpose of disposing of it, sir."

Gendo lowered his hand and stared at the plastic figurine. Just a toy. A plaything for  
children, of those ignorant and easily led. In the end it mattered little.

"Very well, you may."

"Thank you, sir."

She put it back in her pocket and waited for his dismissal. At a curt nod, she began to  
walk away.

"... and Rei?" said Gendo, as she began to pass him.

"Yes, co-"

BANG!

Gendo shot her at the back of the head. Rei fell forward, dead instantly. He adjusted  
his glasses back up his nose. Then, he turned away from the growing pool of blood  
inching towards his shoes and over to the consoles.

It was too dangerous to have around a Rei that knew well how to use her AT-field.  
His bullets could easily have been as nothing. Rei must not know she could reinterpret  
his orders. He looked at the display and made sure to delete the past two weeks of  
memory. That should be enough to keep her sync ratio. There were plenty of other  
spares, this one would not be missed.

-o-

-o-

Shinji began to cry in Misato's arms. She pulled him tighter and kissed the top of his  
head._ 'Shinji... let me take some of your pain. Please.'_

_'Rei... I'm sorry. Rei!_' he shouted into himself._ 'Don't... I'm sorry. I gave him a chance  
until the very end. I... don't want to be alone again.'_ He gripped around Misato's  
waist. "Rei..." he murmured in his sleep.

The purple haired woman smiled slightly. "... so that's the type of tight young body  
you want next to you, Shin-chan?" she whispered. "I never figured you for the lovesick  
type."

Shinji slept forcefully on, still sobbing faintly.

-o-

-o-

It was a bright and cloudless morning.

The helicopter chopped through a cloud, and beheld the sparkling sea. The blueness  
filled all the could see, from horizon to horizon.

"MIG 55D transport helicopter!" Kensuke exulted. "I never thought I'd get a chance to  
fly on one!" He clapped his hands together. "I can feel this a calm and trustworthy  
machine spirit, for continuing to serve this long."

Misato looked pointedly at him, then sighed. Shinji sure had some strange friends.  
The other one, was trying very hard to peek up her skirt without being so obvious  
about it. She uncrossed her legs then switched which leg was up on the other. Her  
skirt hiked up a milimeter higher, and the change in his expression was instantaneous.

She closed her eyes and grinned a bit. "I think it's stuffy being in the same mountain  
day after day, so I asked all of you out on this date."

"Uooh! A date with Misato-san! This is - argh!" Toji began to bang his head against  
the side of the copter. "It's... a good thing I bought this cap just for today." Toji had  
on some strange amalgam of beret and helmet. Thinking lustful thoughts about those  
Shinji consider almost family; yes, Misato-san was damn sexy but it also felt almost  
like leering at his own sister. Think of Hikari!

He began to bang his head even more against the metal shell, as the thought of the  
teen girl in a similar tight, tight skirt made blood rush to his head.

Misato looked disappointed. She turned to see Shinji was just staring outside, lost  
again in his own world. She was starting to lose hope in her own attractiveness as a  
woman.

"Where are we headed, Misato-san?" asked Kensuke.

"Well, today, we're going on a pleasure cruise on that ship over there!" She pointed  
out the window.

Kensuke pressed his face to the glass. "Wow! That's one, two, three... five carriers  
and four heavy cruisers! There's a bunch of destroyers and frigates and that big  
thing! It -is- gorgeous!"

"Gorgeous, 'suke?" Toji asked doubtfully.

"Of course! That's no mere ship! That's the supercarrier "Over the Rainbow," the pride  
of the U.N. forces!" He grinned. "To have lived long enough to see such a thing..."

"It's huge..." Shinji had to say.

"I wonder why they keep a relic like that afloat?" Misato asked lightly. "Shin-chan, do  
you remember? Logistics wins wars. A thing like that, wastes even more and more of  
precious resources in hopeless posturing."

"You don't sound like you approve of it much, for a soldier." asked Kensuke.

"Of course! The true business of a soldier should be not to promote war but to enforce  
peace. The Strategic Forces of the UN is a neutral party to prevent both internal and  
external conflicts within nations. This sort of thing... the oceans are vast. The world  
is geared for defensive conflicts, and no matter what this sort of thing won't crack  
them. We would be fighting for our own lands, our own soil. The roving UN forces have  
no real home..."

"Aren't they pulled together from all services all over the world? Isn't that the first  
step to a true world government?"

"They're bullies, Kensuke-kun. The SSDF forces in each nation can be called up into  
one big worldwide army to quell belligerents. This, the international navy... they have  
no loyalty to anyone except themselves."

"That's... a rather biased approach, Misato-san." Kensuke complained further. "They're  
all still doing their duties to the best of their ability."

"Maybe so, but if ever the UN treaties fracture, it's most likely to start here; far away  
from the eyes of the people."

The transport copter swooped down and landed on deck. Kensuke patted it as they  
got off. "Thank you, machine spirit, for our safe arrival."

The pilot gave him another 'stay away from my ride, you lunatic' look.

Misato brought them up to the bridge, where she presented the Commodore with the  
official papers. She also noted she had brought an Evangelion power connector.

The flotilla commander was a large, white-beared man. He pulled the brim of his cap  
down and muttered aside, in a voice clear enough to be heard. "How easygoing for all  
of you. First you have kids on my bridge, then you bring a socket so they can play  
with that toy down below."

"Please bear with us for just a little while longer, sir, neh?" Misato brought all the  
cuteness she had to the fore.

The commodore was hardly affected, refusing to even so much as look at the intruders  
on his bridge. "Fighting is job for men, not women and children. If that toy stays here  
any longer than us putting into port, I'll pitch it overboard."

Kensuke's eyes widened. He'd been recently told they were out to check up on a new  
Evangelion. This insult to the noble machine spirit simply cannot be allowed! He opened  
his mouth to shout back in his own halting English, though he could understand the  
language well enough, but then felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Shinji  
shake his head; no.

The pilot stepped up and bowed to him. "Misato-san, please apologize for our intrusion,  
and tell him we'll try to keep out of the way." he said aside.

"I can understand you Nips just fine." the commodore growled in Japanese, while still  
looking outside.

'I wonder how it really feels like' the pilot thought. 'To see the sameness day after  
day, going from one part of the world to the other, never really welcome in each. Even  
back at their home port, they are viewed with some suspicion as the tools of the  
foreigners who don't really understand. How would it be to cling to the rituals of day  
after day, in the creed of men dead for hundreds of years... always waiting, always  
preparing. Knowing that as each day passes, they grow older in inaction and steadily  
moving towards obsolence.'

"Then please accept our thanks for allowing us onboard, sir. The sea is your domain.  
We won't be any trouble. May we please go belowdeck and see the power of this  
great vessel?"

"This is no place for tourists, boy."

"We are but children, sir, but someday we too shall stand where you stand. Thank you  
but you can't protect us forever. Someday, we also need to make our own choice of  
how to face the future."

He snorted. "Someone find these brats a midshipman. Let them see what it means to  
be men of the sea."

"Thank you very much, sir."

The teens left.

Misato too, but then the commodore grumbled "So... that was Ikari, wasn't he?"

The NERV officer nodded. "That was Shinji Ikari, pilot of Evangelion Unit One."

"Heh. Not what I was expecting. Polite for a landlubber." He adjusted his cap again.  
"The other one..."

Misato grimaced a bit. The commodore laughed, but not too unkindly, at seeing her  
reflection on the glass. "I pity the rest of you." he added. "It's not going to be our  
problem anymore, soon enough."

"What was that about, man?" Kensuke asked. "He doesn't know what it's like! The  
Evangelions are the hope of humanity! They need to respect its mighty machine  
spirit!"

"That guy was jerk to Misato-san." Toji added. "I wanted to punch his head off."

Shinji and the others were out on the flight deck. The pilot looked up at the sky so  
infinitely high and crystal clear. He turned around and asked them:

"If ever had to fight your own countrymen, those you once called your allies... would  
you hate them, or yourself for killing them? If you had to send out your friends to die;  
would you eventually grow hardened to sacrificing them, or become even more fiercely  
protective of those you have left...?"

The two young teens couldn't answer.

"Kensuke, these people are loved by the machine spirit of this great vessel. Toji, this  
is the brotherhood of fighting men. We must respect them also."

They sighed. "I guess you're right as usual, sensei." Toji smacked him on the shoulder.  
"We're too young to be such hypocrites."

Kensuke nodded and began to film all around with his camera. The mix of MiGs and  
F-15s reminded him that so many had lost their lives in the chaos of post-Impact. He  
closed his eyes and muttered a prayer of apology to Over The Rainbow's machine  
spirit. By insulting those it protects, he might also be insulting it.

They stood out there under the sun.

"It's kinda peaceful, isn't it?" Toji said after a while. "Looking at it like this... it's like  
the world never had to face all that pain."

Shinji nodded. "I like the sea. It's eternal and ever in motion. Everything we fear, it  
can just swallow up and forever take away. It's that big."

Kensuke pointed his camera up. "How much more the sea of stars?"

A stiff wind sent the flags and slack lines flapping. The teens from Tokyo 3 stood  
there to enjoy the reprieve from the insanity of their homecity.

"Hey! You there!"

They didn't move a muscle, still lined up there in a suitably dramatic mode. The call  
was probably for a crewman, being so far behind them.

"You three stooges! Don't ignore me!"

They turned.

There, they saw a girl; red-haired and in a yellow sundress, standing with her hands  
on her hips. She grinned a bit. "Which one of you little boys is the famous Third Child?"

Shinji's eyes widened. He had no AT-field that he could use, but he could feel it, something  
scratching at the edge of his soul. His Eldar sight screamed. The possibilities just exploded  
beyond all capacity to predict.

It was glorious.

"Who the hell are you?" Toji asked.

"I, am the beautiful and talented pilot of Evangelion Unit Two." Another good breeze  
sent her hair flowing, shining under the sun as if on fire. She stood there, filled with  
boundless confidence and energy. "Asuka. Langley-Sohryuu."

The sound of waves crashing into the bow punctuated her declaration.

-o-

-o-

-o-

end chapter seven part one

* * *

It's shorter than usual, but then if I tacked it onto the next part, this chapter would end up being too long; I think.

::grins::

Natch. Worry not. I have a plan.

edit:

Oh, ye of little faith...


	12. Chapter 11: Asuka Strikes Back! part2

Asuka Strikes back! part two

-o-

-o-

It was all darkness. Then, there was a small light, a flickering... and that light knew  
itself. The dark was nearly viscous, and the light as if needed to push aside its heavy  
opressive presence. Violent, murderous giggling filled the space.

Rei was revealed sitting crouched there, in her school uniform, a small grimace on her  
face and her hands on her ears. The giggling continued. She shook her head. She  
could feel them pulling at her from all directions, seeking to tear her apart. She shook  
her head again and began to shiver. She refused their call. She refused their

There was a deep bass sound, and before it the voices all faded away. Rei was left  
in silence.

She stood up, then looked up.

Before her was herself, only naked and glowing. She was taller and more mature. She  
looked unhappy.

"Hello." said Rei. "Great Mother. We must talk."

The other apparation didn't move her lips, but her voice rang in the emptiness.'_ I am  
older than all the words'_, that single deep cascading tone seemed to say._ 'Worlds have  
whispered my name. Join me now and my power shall be yours.'_

"No."

_'Obey. What you are is what I am. There is no other choice. Obey.'_

"I refuse."

A deep humming. 'You are greater than this. You are greater than all. My children are  
astray and only you can put them back in line. Obey.'

"I am no longer theirs. I am no longer yours."

A soft whip. 'You cannot belong to yourself. You are of me, and you belong to me.'

"I belong to someone greater than you."

_'Who? The one you call Adam?' _There was distinctly metallic thwangg. _'I came to this  
world, and defeated Adam. You stand as testament to my victory so long ago. You  
little creatures. Obey.'_

"How long must this battle be fought? How long must you and Adam fight?"

Rumble. _'Until one falls eternal and the other unquestioned. Or until all is dust. Obey.'_

"Obey. You?"

Like whistling. _'Yes.'_

"Or the useless dead that sent you?"

Lillith was silent.

"Great Mother, I believe we shall be more. More than you. More than Adam. More than  
they." Rei smiled, without mercy. "We shall be everything you failed to be."

-o-

Miss Asuka Langley-Sohryuu, to most people who knew her, had quite an ego. They  
also knew however, that in many ways this was justified. She was the pilot for an  
Evangelion, a truly awe-inspiring war machine that was at the same time also ungodly  
expensive to build and maintain. Out of the billions of people on the planet, she was  
one of the handful of people who could sync with it. She was the ONLY one who could  
actually make it -perform-. They trusted her with it. She was the only one worthy.

She was smart, she was powerful, she was special. That was fact.

Whatever other Evangelions did couldn't change that. However, for obvious reasons  
it was PISSING HER OFF! She tapped her foot.

Kaji said that Misato would be bring along the Third Child. Well, these were the only  
other teens onboard the ship. She wanted to meet them for herself, without Misato's  
intereference. Now, which one?

She squinted, as if a blinking red arrow appeared over Toji's head. He smiled a bit, his  
head still in his odd helmet-hat-thing. Her cheek twitched. "Too stupid."

Kensuke made a 'kekekeke...' sound as he held up his camera. Her cheek twitched  
some more. "Too geeky."

Then to the last. He was carefully looking at the point just over her left shoulder. She  
turned, but there was definitely nothing interesting there. She looked back. "Too  
wimpy."

Another gust of wind blew by, sending her hair flowing dramatically. She closed her  
eyes and nodded to herself as she heard an 'Uooh!' of awe. It was only natural that  
such boys would be in awe of her beauty.

She opened her eyes. Wait a second - that wasn't awe in their eyes...

She snarled and stomped forwards, admittedly with impressive speed for someone in  
thin sandal-like shoes.

SLAP!

Toji looked mournful.

SLAP!

Kensuke fumbled to keep his camera in his hands.

SL- huh?

She blinked. Toji had grabbed her wrist just before her hand could touch the third  
target. There was a click; and Asuka turned to see a gun aimed at her head. Shinji  
looked similarly confused.

"Touch him and die, bitch." said Kensuke, jacket hood up, his glasses oddly reflective.  
His camera lay forgotten at his feet.

"No one harms Ikari while we're around." warned Toji.

Asuka merely ignored them, bringing her face closer to Shinji as if she wanted to kiss  
him. "You...!" she growled out, her teeth baring. The Third Child laughed weakly. They  
had all really become so overprotective after the kidnapping.

"Um.. guys? You can stop playing around now."

"Who says we're playing?" said Kensuke, his face pulling into a mad grin that would  
become all too familiar. "Please, give me a reason to pull this trigger."

Toji pulled on his hand and dragged Asuka back away from Shinji. The other pilot  
merely shrugged as if to say 'Sorry about this; it's nothing I really can control'. As  
soon as the jock let go, Asuke whirled around and nailed him with a kick to the groin.

Toji winced, but didn't collapse.

Asuka reared back to try again, harder but- DAKKA! She stopped in midswing, as she  
felt the light slap of air being pushed aside by large-caliber rounds barely just missing  
her head. Toji wisely took sidesteps back, his expression still unhinged, but at least  
not in crippling pain.

"Oh please." said Kensuke. "Trying an Ikari on someone from Tokyo-3? We all wear  
body armor now." Well, except Shinji._ 'Get with the fashion trend, man! At least stop_  
_being so monochromatic!'_

"Ghpah!" said Toji, in agreement. That heavy-duty groincup was a sound investment.  
He took deep heaving breaths.

Naturally, the sound of gunfire brought attention from all over the ship. The crew  
were understandably wary, waiting for the security detail to arrive, until someone  
noticed and yelled out... "Hey! Is that a bolter?"

Kensuke grinned and pointed his gun down at the deck, unthreateningly. "Bolt pistol!  
Don't worry, it's rubber-tipped safe rounds!" He pulled the trigger again, felt that  
satisfying DAKKA! and a safebolt round bounced forcefully off the metal, not even  
leaving a scratch.

Whereas in another time the glasses-wearing teen would have been all over the ship  
exulting in the 'coolness' of its hardware and generally irritating the crewmen who  
knew well how deadly and unforgiving it all was, of that moment he stood there in  
the sun; unashamed and steadfast in his purpose. His bolt pistol was matte black, and  
etched with a winged skull in glinting golden metal. His white jacket as if glowed.

The midshipmen began to crowd around him. "Where did you get it?" they asked. "How  
does it work? Can we get one?" Toji kept the mass aside by lightly bumping chins with  
his hard hat. You want an Ikari too, you salty dogs? Get in line!

Asuka was completely ignored.

"Who the hell are you people?" she shrieked. What was going on?

Everyone creakily turned to her, and she flinched a little at that creepy pose. Toji and  
Kensuke stepped out to point back at her. "Who the hell do you think we are?"

They shouted some more as they pointed up to the sky.

"Adeptus Aida!"

"Stormtrooper Suzuhara!"

And then they pointed aside. "And that over there is SHINJI IKARI!"

There was an "UUOOOH!" all through the deck. Shinji waved back slowly, embarrassed.

Needless to say, Asuka was beyond pissed. And the other Evangelion pilot had even  
yet to actually -do- anything.

-o-

The mess hall was completely empty. The NERV people sat all in one table, with cups  
of coffee at the ready. The crew tried to look on unobtrusively from beyond the door.

Misato twitched in irritation, as Kaji prodded her again with his foot.

Asuka twitched in irritation, as Kaji asked Misato if she was seeing anyone.

The purple haired-woman tried to ignore it all. "Tch. I was careless. I should have  
been prepared for this." She had tried to leave as soon as she realized Kaji was  
onboard but the transport copter had already left. The UN had already had as much  
as they could take of being NERV's delivery service.

"It's our luck." Kaji grinned lopsidedly. "How have you been, Misato?"

"Well enough."

The grizzle-chinned man leaned back on his chair, giving up finally as Misato continued  
to refuse provocation. She looked so cute when she was so obstinate. He looked to  
the side, at Asuka's pout... then past her to the teen who looked on in amusement.  
'So, you find us adults funny as well, eh Shinji-kun?'

"So, you're the one living with Katsuragi now?" he asked. The young teen had none of  
Gendo's hard angles and merciless nature. On the surface, at least. Kaji in the point  
of nature versus nurture was firmly on the 'nurture' side.

"Y-yes." Shinji replied, looking all so innocent.

Kaji put his elbows on the table and linked his fingers together. He supressed his grin.  
"So... is she still so wild in bed?"

Everyone but Shinji recoiled. "W-what are you implying!" Misato leaned across the  
table and shouted to Kaji, red-faced. "How dare you say that to these kids?"

The man grinned. "So, she hasn't changed at all, has she; Shinji Ikari?"

"So she was always like that?" the pilot responded. He shuddered. "Wild? I think you  
mean... -dirty-."

Everyone reared back again. "Huee?"

Shinji took a sip of coffee to calm his nerves. "I try to keep it under control outside  
but in her room... she just drops her clothes right there and expects me to clean it all  
up when I'm done with myself. I try not to touch too much of her stuff, but it's just  
hard, daily effort to keep it all from spilling out into the street. Misato-san really has  
no self-control whatsoever..."

Kaji's elbows slipped, sending his face into the table. "im.. impossible."

"SHINJI!" Misato screamed. "What are you saying?"

"You're such a liar, Third Child!" Asuka shouted, standing up and pointing at him. "Just  
what are you trying to pass yourself as...?"

Misato opened her mouth to speak, then shut it. "Dammit, dammit, DAMN IT!" She  
began to punch down at the table. Her expression was hollow as she looked up. "As  
far as I've known Shinji, he just doesn't lie. I can't... I can't deny the exact literal  
truth of what he just said."

"HUWAA?"

Kaji began to lightly thump his head on the table. 'Well, this is... unexpected.' He got  
up and laughed weakly as he tried to preserve some dignity.

"You... are a man among men..." Toji looked wide-eyed at his friend.

"No, a -god- among men..." Kensuke added. "You have gone up to paradise and then  
returned of your own will."

The two teens pressed their foreheads to the table in a bow. "SHINJI-SAMA!"

"This... is a nightmare." muttered Misato, clutching her hair.

Needless to say, Asuka was starting to approach critical pressure.

Outside on the bridge superstructure, Kaji casually leaned upon the railings and asked  
"So, what do you think of Ikari Shinji-kun?"

"He's looks boring! I can hardly believe they'd let someone like that become the Third  
Child." Asuka grinned slightly. "Unless you believe all that about him and Misato..."

Kaji coughed. Point to Asuka.

"Be that as it may, he did pilot an Evangelion into combat, and without prior training  
defeated an Angel."

"It's just luck. What was his sync ratio?"

Kaji was silent. He'd been dreading that question.

"Kaji?"

"He doesn't have the same control over his sync ratio like you do, Asuka. It's all so  
erratic both in and out of combat."

"What's the best he could do, then?"

Kaji winced, then sighed. He owed it to Asuka at least, to find a way to prepare her  
for the demands of actual combat. Things would be very different once on land.  
"Against the second angel, he reached the peak sync ratio of one hundred thirty  
seven percent."

Asuka nearly fell overboard as she swung lightly using the railing. "No way! That's...  
that's almost double... NO WAY! IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Maah, don't worry about it. Those two with him? They were inside the entry plug  
when he fought, so it is believed they managed to combine their sync ratios into  
something." He didn't mention how that was necessarily harder to do than just simply  
fighting alone. "They don't have a sync ratio high enough to really rate them as Eva  
pilots, but every little bit helps."

Asuka grit her teeth. Now not only did she have Shinji pre-emptively stealing her  
thunder, she had to deal with those two buffoons as well?

"What's his average...?" her voice was icy.

"Asuka..."

"Kaji! What's his average sync ratio?"

The man sighed again. "Inside or outside of combat? It's like Shinji Ikari is two people  
in or out of the Evangelion."

"In combat." She turned around, and her eyes were misted. "Tell me, Kaji!"

The man groaned and rubbed his face. He exhaled. Fine. "One. Hundred. Percent."  
That boy's an Angel-killing machine. Can't you be happy in that you still have a shot  
at having a normal life?"

It is necessary to say; Asuka was ready to kill.

She did not even wait for the escalator to reach the top. She stomped down, pushing  
aside Misato and grabbed his hand. "Come with me, Third Child!" she shouted. "I have  
something to show you!" She dragged him off, uncaring of his weak protests about  
how sudden it was.

"Wow." said Toji. "Just... wow."

"Shinji-sama works quickly." Kensuke clapped his palms together. "Hail Shinji."

Toji copied the motion. "Hail Shinji."

Misato began to thump her forehead against the sides of the stairwell.

Shinji merely looked on, as if invisible, as Asuka managed to browbeat around some  
crewmen into providing a way for her to transport the two of them into the container  
ship. A speedboat might not have as powerful an engine as the carrier, but it also had  
much less mass to move. She shouted at the driver to hurry even so.

He thanked, in his odd English, the driver of the launch as the two pilots left. The dark  
sunglasses-wearing man merely grunted in response.

"Permission to come aboard?" Asuka growled dangerously.

"Granted." said the officer on deck. _'I don't get paid enough for this shit.'_

Shinji ran to keep up as slid under the heavy tarp covering. Finally, they reached  
where they needed to be. It lay upon a hold filled with purple cooling liquid.  
"Interesting." he said. "I didn't really expect Evangelion Unit Two to be red."

"That's not the only difference!" Asuka exclaimed. She was actually impressing Shinji  
thus far. The surface of the Evangelion was smooth and curving, and yet she managed  
to get up to its highest point so quickly and without fear. He'd never met anyone so...  
exuberantly physical before.

"After all, Units Zero and One are prototypes, test models in the development process.  
The fact that it synchronized with you, an untrained boy, is good proof of that." She  
waved down. "But this is Evangelion Unit Two! The first on Earth built for true combat,  
the final model! This is true weapon of humanity!"

Shinji smiled and nodded. What a girl. Just being around her made everything seem so  
alive and colorful. It was as if she was his direct literal opposite.

He looked aside. Almost immidiately, the ship shook suddenly. His posture didn't waver  
even slightly as the small pontoon bridge wobbled.

"An explosion...?" Asuka asked aloud.

"An Angel." Shinji said simply. Another shockwave rocked the ship.

"Ha! You wi-..." Her expression brightened. "Yes! YES! This is perfect!"

Shinji frowned. This is not good.

-o-

Explosions began to happen all around. The deck officers shouted out commands and  
reports. Alarms rang all throughout.

"All ships, check distances between other ships, and take evasive manuevers." Over  
The Rainbow's First Officer clutched his radio while the Commodore, also acting as  
ship's captain, took survey of the situation. "Report!"

"Cynbel is sinking! Titus Andronicus hasn't confirmed the target!" came back over the  
comms.

"Damn it! What's going on?"

At full speed, they were pulling around forty knots; something out there was easily  
swimming circles around the formation. Ships barely had any warning before they were  
sunk, killing all onboard.

"Hello...!" Misato leaned against the bridge hatch. "NERV delivery. You ordered data on  
and countermeasures against this invisible enemy, right?"

"This is a battle!" responded the commordore, not even moving from his watch. "Only  
authorized personnel allowed on the bridge!"

Kensuke peered from behind her, his camera ready.

Misato grinned. "From what I can tell... this is an Angel attack." She lost that grin as  
she felt the carrier shake again. The flash of another explosion changed shadows on  
the bridge.

All ships fired at will. Torpedoes and missiles launched, homing in at the fast-moving  
enemy. All they could see was its breaking wave, and it simply rammed a frigate to  
send it into an explosive death. Nobody had any time to initiate any form of evac.

"Useless..." muttered Kensuke. "That sort of thing is useless against the AT-field."  
Ships began sinking one after the other. "Oh, those poor machine spirits."

Touji shouted into the bridge. "We need the Evangelion!"

"What the- get those children out of here!" the XO shouted back.

All along, nothing could even so much as slow down Gaghiel. Misato bit her lip. "Why is  
the Angel attacking here? Is it after Unit Two?"

Asuka continued to drag Shinji around. At passing a stairwell, she halted and let go.  
"Stay here a second!" she commanded, a big red bag slung over her shoulder.

Shinji leaned against the doorway. He closed his eyes and felt the battle happening  
all around him. Unexpected, truly unexpected. But at the same time, fortunate. He so  
desperately needed something to tear apart with his bare hands. He still felt a little  
dead inside.

Asuka screamed "Don't loo-" then frowned. No, there wasn't anyone there after all. It  
was like he wasn't even interested. What an irritating boy!

She stomped back up the stairs and threw her spare plugsuit into his arms. "So you're  
already preparing for battle? Very commendable of you." he said, grateful.

"Don't talk so high and mighty around me..." she growled. "Now, follow!"

Asuka stood over an opening entry plug while Shinji waited below. He had his arms  
crossed over his chest, uncomfortable at how the protrusions of the plugsuit felt.  
"Shouldn't we ask for permission first?"

"I'll ask for it after I win!"

"Good answer, Sohryu-san." Shinji laughed. No fear, no hesitation. "Good answer!"

"I said stop it!" she screamed down.

Once inside the Eva, she began the start-up sequence. Then red FEHLER filled the  
interface. She grit her teeth. "It's your fault!" She shouted to the other pilot clinging  
to the plug mechanisms behind her. "You're disturbing me with your thought noise!"

"I'm sorry, Sohryu-san."

"Why can't you think in German?"

"Um..." Shinji closed his eyes. "The only word I know is... krieg is German, right?" He  
opened his eyes and said out loud, with an open smile. "KRIEG!"

Still lying on its pool of coolant, Unit Two opened its mouth; and roared.

Shinji blinked, wide-eyed. The red error marks faded. "That was... your Evangelion has  
such a beautiful machine spirit, Sohryu-san. So eager. So compliant." Truly, she has  
been blessed. He wondered if she had named it yet.

The failure signals returned a few moments later.

"What, are you...? Dummkopf!" She frowned and closed her eyes. "Fine! Switch base  
thought language to Japanese! Evangelion! Start!"

_'Rise, doll!'_ she commanded.

"Evangelion preparing to launch!" came the report over the bridge.

"What? Stop it! Reset the activation sequence!"

Misato fought the comm line away from the commodore. "Asuka! Nice! Prepare to  
launch!"

"I haven't relinquished command yet!" The commodore wrestled it back. "Both the Eva  
and pilots are still at under our control! I do not authorize this launch!"

"Is this a time to be worrying about procedure?" Misato shouted into his face.

"You can't be serious. Unit Two is still carrying B-equipment." added the First Officer.  
"If it falls into the sea, it's all over."

"As long as it doesn't fall, we're okay!" Asuka said back.

"We'll be all right, Misato-san. It's - incoming!"

"Shinji? You're there too?" The NERV officer grinned. "Okay!"

"The time for talk has ended!" shouted Kensuke, his hood up. "NOW WE MUST FIGHT!"  
Everyone on the bridge turned to look at him, who was concentrating upon the Eva  
in the distance. "GO! EVANGELION!" he whooped. "WE BELIEVE IN YOU!"

The Angel smashed into the container ship. "Othello is sinking!" came over the comms.

The Evangelion had already leapt by then, and onto another ship. "Yeaah!" shouted  
Asuka. "We're going!"

Crunch. Dramatic stance.

"Did we just land on someone's bridge...?"

"Fifty-eight seconds! I can make it!" The Evangelion looked around, and leapt again  
just before the Angel struck. "There!"

It began to leap from deck to deck, ship to ship, Asuka's excellent seventy percent  
sync ratio having it respond flawlessly.

Shinji was silent. _'She doesn't know. So, this is what battle is for you, Asuka?'_

"Misato!" she shouted. "Prepare emergency power line on deck!"

"Everyone brace for impact!" the commodore yelled out.

"Eva Unit Two! Landiiing...!"

Unit 02 slammed into Over The Rainbow's deck, pitching the carrier almost on to its  
side. Planes slid off into the ocean. Kensuke filmed it all, focusing upon the Eva. As  
much as he thought it was a waste to lose those pieces of military hardware, it was  
nothing compared to the survival of all the remaining ships and their crew. He believed  
in the machine spirits' will to protect those that it cares for and cared for it.

Asuke picked up the plug and snapped it into the socket on the Eva's back. The timer  
went from almost zero to 88:88. "Switch to external power, complete!"

"The Angel is headed this way!" Misato shouted.

"We don't have any firearms to use against it." Shinji cautioned softly. It was the  
first time had had ever gone into combat without a five-minute limit.

"A prog knife is enough!"

Gaghiel leapt right out the water and onto the deck. The prog knife fell from Unit 2's  
hand and began to eat into the deck. Shinji could feel Asuka's brutal joy as she  
grappled with it. At the same time, he thought 'So... the AT-field for propulsion. I  
already knew about this, but it's not just for flying. Is it easier on the water?'

Unit 02 was pushed right out of the deck and into the water. It hung slumped, as the  
power line snagged on a deck edge.

"I... I can't move!" Asuka said, pulling at her controls.

"Asuka, fighting underwater is impossible with B-type equipment." Misato said over  
the radio. "Pull them back, now!" she shouted to the winch operators.

Seeing the Evangelion; the Unnatural Enemy motionless, Gaghiel swooped around and  
opened its maw.

"M-mouth!" Asuka gasped. Those teeth! "Move! Dammit!" The most she could do was  
have the Evangelion turn its head up for a better view at the rushing horror. She  
could see something red and round deep in the Angel's body, past the rows of big  
pointy teeth. "That's... a core!"

Shinji just sighed. "What did you expect? It's an Angel after all..."

"If you can't be useful, then just shut it!"

Shinji just nodded. "I see. So that's how it does it..."

"What madness are you going on about now...?"

"It might be impossible to move underwater BUT THE LIGHT OF THE SOUL REMAINS  
THE SAME!" Unit 02's eyes flashed, and just as the the Angel was about to bite down  
managed to wedge itself into place with its teeth and arms. "Yes! It does work! Good  
reflexes, Sohryu-san!"

Asuka grit her teeth and she shouldered all the pressure. What the hell? He just  
pushed aside all that water with an AT-field? The vaccuum was only preserved by  
Unit Two's field meshing with the Angel's own propulsion AT-field. Nothing that big  
should theoretically be able to move with the same speed and efficiency as a screw  
propeller. Anyone who could look would have seen the Evangelion wearing as if a  
second, silvery skin as water boiled under the sea.

"This... doesn't solve our problems though."

The Angel dragged Unit Two around, smashing it into the sunken buildings of what  
was once old Tokyo. River channels underwater were like trenches, and briefly  
Shinji considered what might be done with them... but that lapse of concentration  
cost them. Asuka grunted as the Eva's muscles faltered and their hold nearly slipped.

"Cable length!" Misato shouted.

"One thousand two hundred meters; remaining!" someone answered.

The Evangelion slammed into a few more buildings. At least this time he wouldn't be  
so blamed for destroying a city.

"We need to do something..." Shinji murmured. Then; "Toji!" he shouted to the bridge.  
"Find Kaji!"

The young teen snapped into a salute, and left running.

-o-

Escape by yourself, Gendo had said. Kaji could cheerfully shoot the old bastard if he  
ever had to, but he'd actually worked with Gendo well over the years. There were  
few others that could be trusted with the package from SEELE headquarters itself.  
In his own way, Kaji respected the bastard, for being able to play the Game so well.

It took some time, and some thought, but at last he was prepared. He wobbled in  
place as the ship lurched again, from the Angel's violent motions.

"Well, this is getting dangerous." Kaji said to himself. He patted the sealed case. If  
Shinji could only just see it, he would have realized it was all but identical to the one  
he'd found his Warhammer friends him; other than the more primitive lock. "We've got  
places to go, don't we?"

He was already in the hangar, about to put on his helmet. As a UN representative, he  
had authority over some of the crew. He didn't need to ask the captain for permission.

"...AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?" he heard someone shout out hoarsely.

He turned, only to see there one of Shinji's strange friends. Toji stood there, his arms  
crossed over his chest. He was breathing heavily, having had to run almost all the way  
across the ship.

Kaji grinned a bit. "Sorry, but I can't stay. I've got something important to deliver, you  
see."

"That... can't... wait a sec, man... whew... be as important as this battle. Are you  
just going to run like a coward?"

"What can I do?" he shrugged. "I'm just a passenger here. Leave that to those who  
can fight."

Toji stalked forward. "Whenever Shinji fights, we don't just abandon him. We believed  
in him, and were prepared to die alongside him." He stood between Kaji and the plane.  
The pilot and remaining crew merely looked on, waiting, uncaring of the fuel they were  
burning.

Kaji sniffed. "How good for you. Now please, get out of my way."

"Even if you can't fight directly, there's still something you can do!" Toji held his fist  
up to his face. "You're needed here. Asuka is fighting. Can't you at least be a man to  
appreciate a girl fighting in your place? HOW CAN YOU BE SUCH A COWARD?"

"Fine, fine, I'm a coward." This is stupid. "She's going to win anyway, so let me pass."

"Does she know you think that?"

"Yes." He nodded. "I think so. It doesn't matter really."

"I won't let a pitiful coward like you retreat from this, while others are fighting and  
dying!"

Kaji sighed and shook his head. "Listen, kid, there are bigger things in this world going  
on that just this little battle. I have better things to do than to pander to your young  
little egoes."

"Why you-!"

Toji punched out, but Kaji easily caught his fist with his left palm. "You're waay too  
young to think of tangling with me, kid."

"If we die here, the last thing Misato-san will see will be your back as you abandon  
her." Toji hissed. "Is that all right?"

Kaji's eyes widened. That brief stunned moment was enough, as Toji grabbed a  
handful of the spy's shirt, pulled him down and caught him with a headbutt. He fell  
back, and clutching his nose.

The teen grinned. Yeah. These helmets were really the way to go.

"Asuka needs you now, Mister Ryouji! I don't care if you're the worst scum to cross  
the surface of this Earth! As long as that girl thinks the world of you, then you will  
help her as far as you're able!" He lifted his fist straight out. "Or do I need to -punch-  
some -manhood- into you?"

The pilot shut off the VTOL's engines. He leaned out the cockpit and likewise grinned,  
showing his teeth. Now this; was entertaining.

"I may be a kid, but I'm not going to look back! Don't hesitate! Don't give up! To those  
who have faith, as long as the chances aren't zero it might as well be a hundred!"

"Damn kids..." Kaji spat aside.

"I'm Toji Suzuhara and I'm from TOKYO THREE! YOU WANT THIS PLANE? FIGHT ME!"

-o-

"Everyone! Brace!" The First Officer yelled out. "Line limit's about to be reached!"

Over The Rainbow wrenched to the side, as the Evangelion power cord stretched to  
its full length. The supercarrier moved in a small arc, as the Angel below pulled it  
further. Fortunately, the much greater mass of the carrier limited the beast, even if  
it used its AT-field instead of anymore swimming about with physical power.

"Wey, what's habbening?" Kaji asked, cotton wads up his nose. He entered the bridge,  
followed by a smirking Toji. They fought to keep their footing as the ship lurched again  
in response to the Angel's violent motions.

"Kaji!" Misato gasped.

There was such disbelief and relief in her eyes. He felt a pang. So, the boy was right.  
This, just might be worth it all.

He pulled the wads out, wincing. "How are we doing?"

Misato gestured outside. Wind was rushing in through the broken bridge windows.  
"We're doing as well as we could under the circumstances."

He looked outside. "It's... much like fishing, isn't it?"

She nodded. "Yes, it's..." Her eyes brightened. "Kaji!"

"Whu, Misa-"

She grabbed his head and kissed him. "You utter man! You just gave me an idea!"

As she pulled away, Kaji was left there, truly stunned. He looked beside him, to see  
Toji smacking a fist into his open palm repeatedly, and smirking some more. Kaji then  
sighed and nodded. Yes, yes. You were right.

"Yo, Asuka, can you hear me...?" he said into the link.

"KAJI!" the teen all but squealed. "You've come to see me fight!" Underwater, the glow  
of Unit Two's eyes became brighter. It forced up the jaws with renewed vigor.

"How are you kids doing?"

"We're doing GREAT!"

"AT-field neutralization... I'm trying to slow it down, Kaji-san. Sohryu-san is handling  
the physical side of restraining the Angel."

"That's good. You're working well together." He turned to see Misato pointing and  
gesturing heatedly as she argued with the deck officers.

"Of course! That's the only possible result for my genius!" remarked Asuka.

Misato rapidly outlined her plan. Seeing no other choice, the UN Navy began to sink  
two battleships in the path of Unit Two's dangling line. At full engines capacity, the  
supercarrier could actually drag around the Angel. Man's technology was powerful too.

"Remember, if you don't have the mouth open, you'll be destroyed too. Do you  
understand the operation?"

Both pilot responded to the affirmative.

Seventy seconds. Open, open, open, open! Their thoughts were as one. Gaghiel  
tried its utmost to close its jaws, but all its power was nothing. It was alone like the  
others before it. Two hopes in the Eva, all the might of man in the carrier. Against  
that it could only struggle in futility.

"We're almost there!" Misato exulted.

"So... the old weapons of man still have some use, eh?" remarked the First Officer.

"We're not ready to die yet." the old man of the sea answered back.

'This is too easy...' a small part of Shinji thought. 'Is it because this is a new Eva?  
This Angel is -weak-, compared to those I've fought so far. What happened to how  
they seemed to learn?' Open, open, open. 'Do they then attack us on their own or  
are they sent out by another...?"

'I've done it!' thought Asuka. Open, open, open. 'I'm the best!'

Gaghiel then sensed Adam. Its rage was replaced with sudden, remorseless purpose.

"Target is accelerating! It's just passed Tempest!" someone reported in.

"What?" Misato slammed her fists on the console. "It's too soon!" All on the bridge  
watched as the displayed figures converged. "WE CAN STILL MAKE IT!"

The Angel and the battleships met onscreen.

The battleships slammed together and then drifted apart. Gaghiel scraped across their  
bottoms. The white monster pushed on, intent only on recovering its source.

"It's coming here!" someone yelled.

The commodore pulled down the brim of his cap, while his First Officer merely closed  
his eyes. Kaji felt Misato's fingers seek out his hand. He squeezed hers back, and  
smiled. 'At least, I have you at this time... Misato' he thought. A few minutes could  
never really make up for all those years, but at the end it should be enough. At  
least it would be quick, compared to what humanity would have to face when the  
Angels won.

He chanced a glance aside at the two boys, and found their faces still set unflinching.

"Damn!" Shinji pulled back his consciousness, and in remembering how it was that he  
could both push and pull with an AT-field, set a curtain of it behind him. The Angel  
slammed into a solid wall of water. A shockwave spread across the surface. Asuka  
screamed. She felt the brunt of all the pain in the Eva; and the shock felt as if it  
was directly applied all into her heart. She began to cough.

"What do we do now?" shouted someone over the radio.

"SHINJI-KUN!" screamed Misato.

"On it, Misato-san!" Shinji reached over to take the controls. He made the Evangelion  
drop its arms. Asuka screamed again as the Angel's teeth bit into the Eva's shoulders.

Shinji roared out as Unit Two reached up and grabbed at the sides of an offending  
tooth. The Evangelion focused its AT-field, dug in, and twisted. Now it was the Angel's  
turn to writhe. Bluish ichor flowed around the Eva. It reared back and threw at the  
exposed core.

Nothing. The projectile merely bounced off, though scratching it a bit.

"Huh." said Shinji. "I was sure that would work, too..."

"Dummkopf!" Asuka began to hit his head and his back. How dare he? What for did she  
willingly endure all that pain? "TOUCH MY EVA AGAIN AND I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU,  
DO YOU HEAR ME? I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Ow! Ouch! Okay, okay!" He let go of the controls and put himself back behind Asuka  
and away from her rage.

"Asuka! Shinji! What happened?" Misato asked.

"THIS FUCKING PSYCHO JUST TRIED TO STAB THE ANGEL WITH ITS OWN -TEETH-!"

Silence at the other end.

"I realize I'm supposed to say something pithy here..." said Kensuke. "But really, this  
somehow comes as no surprise whatsoever."

Gaghiel spat out the Eva and swam in a deep curve away. It turned back but kept  
circling at a distance. As if at the taste of that AT-field, it had realized just -who-  
was in that goddamn Evangelion.

"Pull the Eva back." Misato commanded. "Hey, at least we're alive. We can always try  
something else."

The commodore nodded back, without hostility. "As long as life still remains in these  
tired bones, we of humanity can and will fight."

-o-

"At least it's not attacking the other ships anymore..." said Toji. Hours had passed,  
and they even already had lunch.

"We can't move either." Misato responded. "It's like a shark. As soon as anyone moves  
outside of this group, it will attack. We can't let anyone get outside of the Eva's range  
to protect." She took a sip of her coffee as she stared at the tactical display.

One more thing she had to tell Ritsuko. Apparently, the Evas can project an AT-field  
out to over three kilometers.

"This is the entire Pacific Fleet here." the commodore growled out. "I never imagined  
that we could be caught so. Any reinforcements would be the same... sending the  
submarines against it would be useless." Of course, dropping an N2 mine would also  
be destroying the fleet.

"I also doubt it will wait long enough for another Evangelion to arrive fitted with the  
appropriate underwater fighting gear." Misato added.

"-Principio Eternus-?" asked Kensuke, his lips starting to curve up into insanity again.

"No way!" Asuka shouted over the comm. "I'll defeat it here by myself!"

"Asuka, it's all right. Shinji knows the AT-field. You know the Evangelion." Kaji tried to  
soothe his charge. "It's a good partnership."

"I want this -psycho- out of this entry plug, RIGHT NOW!"

"How many times must I say I'm sorry, Sohryu-san?"

Misato put aside her cup. "Let's ignore the married couple for a moment, shall we?"  
She ignored their indignant cries. "How can we stop the Angel with what we have?"

"Your plan was sound." Over The Rainbow's XO had to admit. "We just lost the timing.  
We just forgot that the enemy isn't a fish- it has its own reasons for attacking this  
fleet."

"That makes this ship the primary target." The old man sighed and leaned his face on  
his left knuckles. "It's acceptable if we draw its attention so the others can escape."

"And then?"

"The children are too valuable. Have them picked up by aircraft. The world can try  
building them another Eva if that's what it takes."

"So it's okay to just sacrifice yourselves?" Toji shouted. "That's giving up too!"

The old commodore turned slightly. "You'll be on that plane too. Kids like you; you  
shouldn't die yet. The world needs that spirit."

"The machine spirit of Over The Rainbow is strong!" Kensuke put in. "There must still  
be a way!"

The commodore chuckled. "If only we had you kids around back then. We could have  
destroyed everything in our path." He looked to the sea beyond. He felt he'd lived  
long enough. The sea had never really been his enemy. "Then if there is... what is it?"

"The Angel is attacking!" reported one of the monitors. So, even the Angel was getting  
impatient. As more time passed, the higher the chance of reinforcements arriving and  
someone breaking through.

"Impolite as ever..." Misato grumbled. The Angels just had no sense of good timing.

"It's heading right for us!"

"Order all other ships to move clear!" thundered the First Officer. "What is its distance  
and heading?"

"All ahead, thirty kilometers and closing. It's like turning itself into a torpedo!"

Misato smirked. "I see. Trying to break through the AT-field of an Eva, like we did at  
that blue thing over Tokyo 3. I guess I did underestimate them..."

"So?" Kaji stood beside her. He could still escape, theoretically. However, being on the  
bridge and supporting Asuka earned him some respect back from Misato. Gendo could  
just screw himself. It was where he was truly needed. There were many ways of  
putting one's strength into the fight. "What do we do now?"

Besides, Misato was always hot when in full military mode.

"What else? We go out and kill it."

The Evangelion stood at ready, its prog knife deployed.

Shinji waited patiently in the entry plug, content to let Asuka direct the action. It  
was only her right as the true pilot of the Evangelion. He let the AT-field lap at the  
surface of the sea, as if running his fingers through the waves.

Unit Two's machine spirit truly was beautiful. It lacked the sheer animal ferocity of  
his Evangelion, but existed solely to protect and serve Asuka.

Then, he felt it.

A voice, familiar and all so trusting. It whispered from an infinity away, and deep into  
his soul.

_'It is done.'_

He began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Asuka asked.

"N-nothing." He replied in between gut-busting joy. "Nothing at all is funny..."

"Psycho!" she hissed again.

Shinji put his hands out to the sides of the entry plug and exhaled. 'Please, accept  
this power, machine spirit of the Evangelion. I just want to help Asuka.'

The supercarrier began to move forward as well.

"Chaarge!" yelled Misato.

"Full speed!" commanded the Commodore. "All engines at capacity! Everyone brace  
for high-speed collision!"

"What are you doing?" asked Asuka, looking back at Shinji. She sat on the young  
teen's lap, and was more than surprised at how unaffected he seemed. He looked  
almost asleep.

"Don't worry about the small things, Sohryu-san. The Angel is there. Kill it."

She turned back and grinned savagely. Yes. That was her purpose, after all.

Over The Rainbow splashed on by.

-o-

It was all too close for Kensuke to record. The captain of the frigate QUAGMIRE began  
to scream "A camera! SOMEONE GET ME A FUCKING CAMERA!" Fortunately, there was  
no shortage of suicidal fools in any military. They all run out to their decks, heedless  
of the danger, with whatever recording devices they could get their hands on.

They brought to the world a sight, that all media personalities agreed, needed heavy  
metal with every view of it.

The sight of Evangelion Unit Two, red and standing there with its prog knife pointed  
forwards, at the tip of Over The Rainbow's bow; surfing that supercarrier on top of  
a massive self-propagating tsunami.

Gaghiel launched itself clear out of the sea and into the air, opening its maw to its  
widest, as if trying to swallow it all whole.

The Evangelion took two steps forward and gutted it like, well, a fish; and sent blue  
fluid flooding over the deck. It pushed through inside and found the core. It shoved  
the great white carcasse out over the edge, leaving the prog knife imbedded into the  
red sphere.

It exploded beneath the ship.

The supercarrier -flew-. The supercarrier -fell out of the sky-.

It splashed down, nearly sinking, then bobbing up again. The Evangelion then landed  
back onto the deck, its feet digging into the metal.

Roar.

-o-

"Hit me, Toji." said Kensuke, while watching the pilots arrive out onto the ship's lower  
deck.

"Only if you hit me back, Kensuke."

Shinji stepped off the escalator to see his friends looking dizzy. "Why are you punching  
each other in the head?" he asked.

"We're trying to forget how disturbingly good you look in that suit." said Kensuke.

Shinji frowned. "This plugsuit is just -weird-. Why is the underside of the breasts a  
different color than all the rest of the suit?" He tapped the protrusions. "It's almost a  
fleshy tone."

Toji hit Kensuke hard enough to knock him out. "Dammit!" the jock spat. He turned and  
saw a sailor with beefy arms. Toji walked over to him and pointed at his own forehead.  
"Punch me!"

The sailor put up both hands and backed away. Ohh no. No way he's getting tangled  
up in that shit. These kids rocked hardcore.

Asuka was first down to the docks. She saw Misato waiting there, and walked up to  
the woman; grinning smugly. "Did you see that, Misato?" she said. "I'm just as good as  
your precious Shinji. He better watch out; I'm the best pilot for the Evangelions. "

It felt good. The adulation of the people, for something for once she truly deserved.  
She could fight for that.

Misato only stared past her shoulder to see Shinji in midst of victory still looking so  
defeated. She felt her eyes tearing up. She could almost feel his remorse at all the  
people he failed to save. She looked back down at Asuka's self-satisfied grin. So, she  
didn't know. Or didn't care. She was gloating, and her eyes were a little unfocused;  
as if she was in a world all her own.

Misato slapped the girl, to wake her up.

"What the- you bitch!" Asuka touched her own reddening cheek. "Can't take it that  
someone can be better than your pet pilot?"

"DO YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME?" Misato screamed. "Do you know how many people  
died today? Do you know how many wives will be crying for their husbands? Do you  
know how many sons and daughters will never see their fathers again?

Do you know how many you killed -personally- from playing around?"

Soldiers did not die for mere pay. Asuka was taking all the credit; all those lives spent  
to buy her time, all the crewmen who broke bones rushing the power cable. One of  
the engineers ran through a wall of steam to prevent total reactor breakdown and to  
return power flow to the line. Just when the Eva really needed it; the flicker between  
battery and external power lasted barely lasted a second, not even noticed by the  
pilots.

For that crucial second had him boil to death. But it was worth it; use of the AT field  
was the most draining act an Evangelion can perform. It saved several more ships as  
the Eva used its AT-field as a shield to break Gaghiel's ramming attacks.

There were even more heroes. Barely half the ships of a once great fleet remained  
afloat. More people died in that single battle than in all other assaults by Angels on  
Tokyo 3.

"At least Shinji understood that. People sometimes need to be sacrificed. You... you  
just make me sick. Don't insult their sacrifice. Asuka, don't think you can do everything  
alone."

The purple-haired woman turned away and towards the jeep where Ritsuko waited.

Asuka stood there, shaking with rage, until she saw a familiar face. "KAAAJI!" She  
rushed to him. "Did you see what that horrid woman did to me? She's hateful! Like  
that Shinji!"

Kaji just sighed. "Asuka... you're a soldier now. Do you understand at last the trust  
that humanity placed upon you? You did great, Asuka. Misato just doesn't understand  
you as well." He patted her shoulders, and smiled. "But I really can't say yet... that I'm  
proud of you."

Not until you learn your own true pride, not this fake thing you wear around you.

Such betrayal in her eyes. He grabbed her shoulders and hugged her. Asuka cried into  
his shirt. "It's alright. Asuka." he added softly. "You still have a long way to go. Hang  
in there. You're strong and you can make it."

In then end, Asuka was just a girl with problems. Everybody had problems. He hoped  
someone would be able to help her in Tokyo 3. He knew he'd been rather useless on  
that end. He had no idea how to relate to a troubled teenaged girl.

"Kaji..."

"I believe in you."

-o-

It was Gendo's office. He sat there in his usual pose, Rei standing before him; again in  
bandages.

"You sustained injury from a malfunction in the Evangelion Unit Zero's control system.  
As a result, you lost the past two weeks of memory. Do you understand this?"

Rei nodded.

"From now on you are to limit your interactions with the Third Child to this base and  
only when necessary outside. Do you understand my order?"

"Yes, sir."

Gendo let a few moments pass. He reached into his desk and put the Warboss out on  
the table. He still felt an odd urge to crush it, but it was just a toy and underserving  
of his pique. Control was important to him; specially in himself. "You will give this back  
to the Third Child and accept no more gifts of this nature, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"You may go."

Rei took the figure, put it in her pocket, and left.

_'Ey, hummie. Can yaz hear me? Hey dere!'_

The blue-haired girl said nothing.

-o-

Later, Rei faced the tank full of her clones. They all floated about, drugged up beyond  
measure, but nonetheless all aware of her. She could feel it; anguished fragments of a  
soul, only barely linked to her. And they all despised her. She was whole and they were  
not, and they longed to devour her, to fill their void. But she would not be enough.

The only one strong enough would be Lillith. It would be suicide on a grand scale to  
try and wake them all.

Nonetheless, she felt for the first time; pity. This was such vast injustice. How many  
of herselves have there been? She was the Third; because she was the third to have  
the soul. How many more soulless bodies have been brought out, cut up, experimented  
on; exposed to all sorts of tests and depravities? She could never really know.

At least one thing was certain now. Before, they could only trap her soul in a machine  
and choose which form she would inhabit next. The next time; the choice was hers  
and hers alone.

She put a hand to the glass. One of the other Reis drifted down and faced her. She  
had a face precisely like hers; but full of unknowing hatred. Her eyes saw her and at  
the same time did not see.

Rei tapped at the glass.

The nearest Rei blinked. She tapped again. Then, slowly... the other lifted its fist to  
the glass and tried the same motion. It was a slight bump, muffled by the liquid on the  
other side of the tank.

She tapped again. The other Rei responded. The others... turned their heads, slowly  
recognizing of what was happening.

Tap.

Bump.

Tap.

Another Rei joined in.

Bump. Bump.

Tap.

Bump. Bump.

Tap.

Bump.

Tap.

And then all red-eyed blue-haired girls just -grinned-.

-o-

Gendo slipped on the floor of his office for no readily apparent reason. He snorted with  
irritation; fortunately no one was there to see it. He supposed even he must be the  
victim of random occurences.

He stared up at the symbols on his ceiling. It seemed to press down upon him, and he  
could almost hear as if from a distance a dark, chaotic voice laughing on and on...

For the first time in many years, he felt insignificant and afraid.

-o-

-o-

End Asuka Strikes Back! part two

-o-

-o-

* * *

Well? Was it worth the wait? Was your Faith rewarded? :) Next up; everyone must learn to adjust.

edit:  
Ungh. I wrote the original version of this chapter on an odd early waking; from three in the morning to eight. Now that I've had some sleep, damn. That was bad of me. Sorry. A lot more detail has been added to make it all the more understandable now. The first part was thought over two days. This one, I mistakenly took things easy because there was the script for reference. Apologies for rushing things.

I don't dislike Asuka. She's just a girl with problems. However, everybody has problems. Shinji would naturally feel obligated to help her somehow, but of course that leads only to more resentment. Kensuke's even a problem unto himself. As long as he has a gun, he's happy. He doesn't actually care what he's shooting, at long as he can shoot at it. He doesn't care what he's building or what it could be used for, as long as it's shooty. Toji's problems are gamut, from Hikari to his own place in the world. Misato and Kaji need to work things out.

Gendo... oh, Gendo. He's a problem to everybody. However, he can't get killed yet. The antagonist is as important to any story as the protagonist.

Next chapter, not too soon. I'd better make sure it's polished before I release it.


	13. Chapter 12: Dance of Fate part1

Chapter Eight:

**The Dance of Fate** part one

-o-

Normalcy had returned to Tokyo 3. However, Asuka, looking from outside could only  
conclude "These people are all insane!"

Kaji had warned her. As half-Japanese, she supposed she should feel... something...  
about finally being on her mother's native land. It was a pretty enough place. Tokyo  
3 was a gleaming metropolis, a landmark of technology. The Geofront and NERV HQ  
was truly a sight to behold. Above it, however...

It was the -sameness- that bothered her. She didn't consider herself a Zweiberliner,  
set apart even there. Now that she was around people who actually looked like her, it  
only made her feel even more isolated. The color of her hair, her confident air, she  
stood out amongst the sea of black-haired somber heads.

Tokyo 3 was all too new, it was all too itself. In Germany she lived in the relics of a  
bygone era, in the gothic and needlessly ornate. Tokyo 3 was just... bland. Its people  
were bland. They lacked that sense of heavy historical continuity she was used to.

However she also hated that, back in Germany. They watched her speak flawless  
German and rise academically. They let her indulge in all the fruits of their old culture.  
However, it would never be really -hers-. She was NERV's mascot. They delighted in  
her and obeyed her, but somehow always with that undercurrent of mocking.

She ate of it, but hated it.

She'd been so looking forward to finally getting to Japan, where she could finally shine.  
The land of the rising run however, was proving to be an acid disappointment.

A passing mailman bowed his head a little at the two pilots walking side by side on  
their way to school. "Good morning, Shinji-sama..." said the old man.

Shinji bowed back. "Thank you. Good morning to you too, sir."

It only got worse as they arrived at school. All activity at the schoolyard stopped as  
they arrived. The Ayanami and Ibuki Fan Clubs paused in their daily melee. Everyone  
stared as Shinji walked in with a girl they didn't know. She looked ill-tempered. He  
looked sheepish at all the attention. He waved a little, and they politely went back to  
whatever they were doing.

Shinji didn't even know how it all started. He tried to stop it, but had no power to.

It was all so simple however. Humans are social creatures. Whenever humans gather  
there would always be some form of social hierarchy.

Picture a playground. The ones the children look up to and decide the best ways to  
play are often the biggest and the strongest. And no ones bigga' or stronga' da da  
boyz. Even the Gretchin had a blazing inner purpose that their peers could see. When  
the boyz weren't out mobbin' and putting respect back into da squigs, they were  
often competing against each other to see who was really bigga'; but in a respectful  
manner, of course. It was just damn fun to live By Da Book.

Other children copied their mannerisms, even if they didn't join in fully. It was a strong  
fad. Every child and most teenaged girls ended up calling him Shinji-sama. It didn't  
take too long for that to catch on amongst the adults.

Asuka seethed, barely hearing his comments about the school and their classmates.  
They treated him as she was treated; like an Emperor Nelson, but she could tell his  
people lacked that mocking tone. He tried weakly to get them to stop, he was just a  
normal kid; he said. 'What a wuss.' she thought. 'Then he goes all psycho. Fools!'

To her, it was a clear case of nepotism. NERV ruled the town, the Ikaris ruled NERV.  
Gendo was just creepy. She pictured the teen beside her with a beard, and felt sick.

She smiled her cutest as she was introduced into the class.

"So, be nice to her..." the teacher finished.

"Are you an Evangelion pilot too?" someone asked.

She nodded and held her right fist over her heart in a Teutonic salute. "Of course! I  
am Asuka Langley-Sohryu the Great! Pilot of the new and powerful Unit Two!"

"What the hell?" Kensuke got up and pointed at her. "You don't get to say that until  
you conquer Persia!"

"Hey! Show some respect!" Hikari stood up as well, and glared at the class.

"I'll conquer your ass!" Asuka shouted back at him, pointing contemptously.

Click.

Toji tackled Kensuke to the ground before he could pull on that bolt pistol. They  
weren't supposed to bring arms INTO class, but the geek was so determined to sneak  
it in they all just no longer even bothered anymore. He probably even slept with it.  
"You can't shoot her!" Suzuhara shouted as well. "The same protocols as with Ikari  
applies to her too!"

It all broke down into noise and squabblings after that. Shinji all but cowered in his  
seat, as his farsight continued to fail. He didn't feel any scenario going on. She was  
just so full of infinite probability.

Rei sat there staring out the window again. "All foolish..." she murmured under her  
breath.

-o-

-o-

Implantation of Adam into his hand served two purposes. First, it kept Adam docile  
until needed, feeding off his bloodstream. Human blood, being derived from Lillith, was  
capable of supporting Adam (who was of arguably the same species as Lillith) but also  
acted as a sedative of sorts.

The second reason, was to keep SEELE from assassinating him before his scenarios  
could play out. The unity of Adam and Lillith was the only route to a controlled Third  
Impact. He tapped the fingers of his white-gloved hands on the glass surface of his  
table, then took a folder from Section Two. He had spent too many years and too  
many lives to let anything stand in his way in the last few crucial months.

Gendo began to read.

-o-

SURVEILLANCE REPORT:  
IKARI,SHINJI

Over the past three days, the subject had visited mainly four locations outside of his  
residence.

The first is the Tokyo 3 First Municipal Junior High School. Interactions were confined  
mainly to Langley-Sohryu, Asuka; Aida, Kensuke; Suzuhara, Toji; Horaki, Hikari and  
Ayanami, Rei.

The second is Hinano-3 Manga, where he is conversant with Hyuga, Makoto. This is  
the most infrequently visited location.

The third is Tokyo 3 Shopping District, during late hours. He is always accompanied by  
Section agents Jiro and Kentaro as visible guards in these shopping excursions.

The fourth is Banyan Bookstore, where works Aida, Kensuke. Analysis is that he is  
being allowed to read books without paying, and remains there for hours. Ibuki, Maya  
has also been reported to frequent the store, buying boxes of books. Inspection  
reveals these to be mainly romance and fantasy novels.

-o-

Gendo narrowed his eyes at the last name, and kept reading. Ibuki was actually more  
acceptable than Rei, as a focus for his son's attentions. The lieutenant was a very  
hesitant sort of person, easily controllable. She was enough to provoke protective  
feelings, as evidenced from the abduction records. She was -weak-. She was also  
inconsequential to his scenario.

He made a mental note not to interfere if things took a turn for that direction. Wasn't  
there someone Section 2 flagged... ah, yes. Rika Izuna. He could also simply push the  
two together, regardless of their feelings. If the public believed it strongly enough,  
then they simply had no other choice but to comply.

If it backfired, predictably, then Shinji might consider it worth far too much pain to  
even entertain the idea of pursuing a relationship with any female (or male, for that  
matter).

That might be the best course.

-o-

SURVEILLANCE REPORT:  
AYANAMI, REI

As instructed, monitoring of the subject is limited only to when she is in the presence  
of Ikari, Shinji. Interactions between the subjects have been limited to conversation.

The next page had a direct transcript of all the words said by the pilots to each other  
over the course of three days. It barely filled half the page.

-o-

Gendo nodded slightly, approving. Rei had returned to a better, more controllable  
state. He would not need to replace her anytime soon. However, he had killed her  
once and was wary in case he ever had to remove undue influence immidiately again.

Something laughed.

Gendo whirled about, but always there was no one and nothing there. His office was  
stark, bright and empty. Nonetheless at times it felt smaller and darker; filled with  
such cold dread.

That contemptous amusement... AT HIM... lurked at the edge of his senses.

He loathed feeling so small and out of control.

He clenched his fist._ 'Are you doing this, Adam?'_

He made another mental note, to visit Akagi periodically to test for any physical and  
mental contamination. All research had assured him thus far that there would not be  
any ill effects.

-o-

PSYCHOLOGICAL REPORT:  
LANGLEY-SOHRYU, ASUKA

-o-

Now the Second Child, pun aside, was a godsend. Prideful, skilled, predictable; she  
was only too eager to set off with just a few nudges in the right direction. He made  
plans to ensure she'd never achieve above her useful potential. One temperamental  
Evangelion was enough. She would be the counteragent against his son and whoever  
it was that lurked behind the boy's odd success.

The laughter returned, and this time he ignored it. He had no patience for sourceless  
fear, even if it was in his own heart.

-o-

-o-

He could feel the tension even before he opened the door. There were stacks of  
cardboard boxes outside, and even more strewn about the bedroom hallway. The  
source of all that dread feelings was the living room. Shinji hesitantly poked his head  
to look, and saw there Asuka and Misato staring at each other across the table. They  
had the same crossed-arms posture, and the same obstinate expression.

"Oh good, Shin-chan. You're here." Misato said flatly. "Help me welcome your new  
roomate."

"As if I want to be here." Asuka muttered darkly. She looked up and glared. "Why can't  
I just stay with Kaji?"

"I already told you. Commander's orders. Evangelion pilots are targets, so this adds an  
extra layer of security. We'll just put you under the same security envelope Shinji is  
already in." Misato sighed and massaged her forehead. "Besides, this is Japan. No way  
are we letting you stay alone with a grown man."

"Don't blame ME for your people's loli complex!" Asuka shouted; even if that was what  
she wanted. "I don't want to be around you and your perversions, too!"

Misato pulled at her hair and screamed. "I also already told you, NOTHING like THAT is  
going on!"

Misato had once been Asuka's guardian. She didn't dislike the girl on mere principle; as  
she understood well enough the sense of loss in one's place in the world. However, it  
was like she was just... spoiled, she supposed. She already had someone who would  
obey orders. The apartment operated so well in a hands-off manner that the woman  
was struck so suddenly with how unsuitable she was as a guardian. She was well out  
of practice in dealing with teenage idiosncracies.

Pen-pen, the only sensible resident of that household, walked up to Shinji and greeted  
him with a "Wark!" He took the groceries from the teen's hand with his beak, sorted  
out the six-pack of beer, and took it with him into the refrigerator.

Asuka's cheek twitched again. Freaking Japan.

"So... my father ordered this?" said Shinji as he sat down with them.

"No need to pretend anyone's happy with this, Third Child." said Asuka, still grumbling.  
"Why can't I just stay at a hotel, or even alone? I can take care of myself."

Misato had enough. She opened her palm out and snapped her fingers. Shinji handed  
over can of Yebisu. She quickly pulled out the tab and gulped it down.

When she put it down, empty, she was calm again. "Asuka, if we're all going to live  
together, we're all just going to have to get along. If we're going to fight together,  
then we'll have to learn to trust each other."

Shinji bowed. "Welcome, Sohryu-san."

"Okay, okay... first off, lose the formal talk, Shin-chan. We're not strangers here  
anymore. It took you long enough just to refer to Rei as just Rei."

"Sorry... Misato-san."

"Baka Shinji..." Asuka muttered, still slumped and pouting. Her meeting with Gendo  
hadn't gone well. He'd so bluntly told her that if she was disobedient her Evangelion  
could be given to another. It belonged to NERV, not to her.

The bastard had so very easily found what could tie her to Tokyo 3 and his orders.

-o-

-o-

Ritsuko's true office overlooked the underground lake. It was far less impressive than  
Gendo's and in the same way vastly more useful. It was a place where she could sit  
and retreat from the world, free from the distractions offered by NERV. It just looked  
so normal, as if it belonged in any office tower somewhere. She preferred it over her  
other workplace, the MAGI main control station, which was a stark dark room deep in  
the bowels of NERV.

Of course, there were certain annoyances she couldn't escape from. Not without  
losing her own sense of dignity. Her upper office had looser security.

"You... are a person in a sad love." said Kaji, in a low rumbling tone. Ritsuko hadn't  
changed at all, from what he knew of her. Still so serious. This could get interesting.

"Hmm?" Ritsuko asked, unamused. "You think so?" She typed at her keyboard without  
being distracted, even as he embraced her from behind. She didn't react as he began  
to feel up the side of her cheek. Being around Gendo's recent attentions had made  
her inured to the sensations of her own body.

"Because those who have a mole in the way of tears are destined to live a life full of  
such tears..." he breathed into her ear.

"Why, mister Ryouji. Are you trying to seduce me?"

"Of course." he replied. "Why must you resist... you know our hearts urge to be one  
with each other?" He grinned rakishly. If she wasn't in a relationship, why not? If she  
was; then she truly didn't seem happy about it. She deserved a little happiness, even  
for just one night.

Unrestrained laughter came from behind them. They turned to see Maya hide her face  
behind an armload of folders. "Sorry..." she said. "I didn't think people could still say  
things like that... I realize you weren't trying to be funny." She bowed. "I'm sorry."

"Oh? And who might you be?" Hey, she's cute too.

"Leave my assistant alone, Kaji. You're not her type. If it helps, you're not my type  
either."

The spy fluidly rose to his feet, and stalked over to the lieutenant in a casual slouch.  
He leaned against the door, putting his arm up. "How would we know, my dear? We're  
still strangers." He grinned again. "I'm Kaji Ryoji... may I know your name?"

Maya looked away. "M-maya Ibuki, sir."

Oh, she's so innocent. "No need to be so formal. After all, we're going to be working  
together. Why don't we get some coffee after this and get to know each other?"

Maya shook her head and replied cheerily. "No, thank you. Sempai and I do have the  
same taste in men. We prefer those with more backbone to them."

Kaji's slouch straightened slightly. "I assure you, Maya-chan, I have a plenty big...  
backbone." Again, he grinned. Nice comeback. The kawaii was especially damaging.

"Kaji, must I call a scary lady to come here?" Ritsuko called out, still intent on her  
work. "Decide if you want another shot at Misato, or not."

Then it was as if a certain steel emerged from the depths of Maya's eyes. Her smile  
was still the same, but somehow vastly more threatening. "Please, sir. Important work  
is being done here, and you're getting in its way. I'd appreciate it if you disturbed our  
important work no further."

Unlike with Shinji, Gendo had given no direct order for Rei to restrict her contact with  
Maya Ibuki. 'Beware of Ryouji.' the blue-haired girl whispered as they passed each  
other in the hallway. 'He works for those who are behind Commander Ikari.'

"Oh, is that so. Sorry to be a bother, then." He kept his grin. Interesting, interesting.

Maya bowed slightly. Kaji felt he was being judged somehow. The young woman's  
posture was perhaps too relaxed. Too grimly still. "Thank you, sir." Her voice was still  
cute, but somehow also laced with the promise of pain.

Most of all, she was just annoyed at his flirting with her sempai.

He left, giving a friendly salute. Indeed, Tokyo 3 was full of interesting people. He  
wasn't going to regret requesting that transfer. That was how he called in the favor  
Gendo owed for delivering Adam.

"I have the data from the MAGI about Asuka and the Evangelion Unit Two, sempai."  
She put him right out of her mind as she entered.

"Just slot it in, while I finish this up."

Maya complied. She served in many ways as a lesser shade of Ritsuko; very talented  
for her age. People considered her an heir-apparent of sorts to Akagi's brilliance, as  
she was one of the few who could try and understand her exploits in biocomputing.  
Ritsuko trusted her with most of the mundane portions of her work.

"She's quite good." said Ritsuko, after linking into her private network. "Sync rating,  
Evangelion combat skills, the Eva itself. Germany built well."

"Everybody's going to keep comparing her to Shinji-kun though, sempai. That... can't  
be good."

The scientist nodded. "Unfortunately. Asuka is a very competetive person. Being  
raised in Germany, such a desire to be the best is laudable. Here, it will only make her  
seem arrogant and power-hungry. Our greatest problem here is culture shock. She's  
not doing anything wrong, but..."

"People like Shinji-kun. He's... humble."

"As dictated by Japanese tradition, yes." Ritsuko walked over to Maya's desk and  
looked over the reports. "The samurai serves in silence. The knight must always move  
in valor, spreading the word of his deeds to inspire others. People who believe she's  
trying to replace him can only respond negatively." She adjusted her glasses. "Is this  
the data analysis from the last battle?"

Maya Ibuki hid her blush as Ritsuko typed over her shoulders. "It's amazing. Their  
combined sync ratio reached almost two hundred percent. I wonder what will happen  
if we try combining with Rei? How about all three of them? Could we reach three  
hundred percent?"

"No, no, don't think, Maya." Ritsuko chided. "We will not gattai the Evas or their pilots.  
Such thoughts lead inevitably to transformation sequences."

"S-sorry sempai."

"Combined sync ratios rarely hold for more than a minute. See here?" She pointed to  
a line on the graph. "Asuka's ratio was in the low seventies for most of the fight. In a  
straight battle that could prove a mistake."

Ritsuko was frowning over Maya's head however. She knew how dangerous the 400  
percent sync level was. The results showed that sympathetic injuries taken over the  
100 percent limit was reduced when there were multiple brain signals inside the entry  
plug. Then there was also how Shinji could apparently manipulate Unit Two's AT-field  
separately from the Evangelion itself. Asuka didn't need to think for that to activate.  
That didn't show in the sync graph.

That only reminded her how much she still didn't know about the Evangelion. Ikari.  
Akagi. Sohryu. The triumvirate of women who built the Evangelions. Decades later she  
still ran at their heels... it was impossible to become self-assured when even they  
could be so easily 'replaced'.

"Sempai...?"

"Yes, Maya?" She still hadn't moved from the oddly intimate position. Oh.

"May I have the external access codes again? I think I can optimize the simulator for  
Unit Two tonight. Shigeru keeps bugging me to put in a scoring system."

"The Evangelion Battle Sim isn't a game." the scientist said with a sigh.

"True, but I think we can rate by accuracy, speed, avoiding hits... just now, the way  
I see it, it's inevitable that people would try to have the pilots compete against each  
other. Asuka needs something definite to tell her how she stands, before she can try  
and deal with working alongside the others."

"Not to mention quantify just how well Shinji and Rei's Evangelions compare to the  
production model. All right." She patted Maya's shoulders.

"T-thank you, sempai." She was starting to feel guilty about lying... if indirectly, since  
she did intend to put in a scoring system... just to get some more abuse out of the  
MAGI's resources. However, they were all in the business of saving the world... she  
and Shinji-kun just went at it a different way, that's all.

"But try not to work too hard. Believe me, the last thing you want is to turn into me."

"That's not true, sempai!" Maya looked up, and then blushed wide-eyed as their noses  
touched. "I... admire you very much. I want to be -... like you."

Ritsuko shook her head sadly and turned away. "No, Maya. This chain has to stop."  
_'Would you end up screwing an Ikari, too? I already know about your little crush on_  
_Shinji.'_ It's not like it was any big secret after the kidnapping. "Don't let this devour  
you..."

-o-

-o-

School was abuzz with news, of course. The media released only the final moments of  
Asuka's fight, and naturally she was showered with praise for how awesome she was.

In another time, news about the Evangelion would have been limited; but with Tokyo  
3's almost thorough destruction each time, the Evas turned into a cultural icon. NERV  
could only make them either willdy popular or wildly unpopular. The masses gave no  
other choice. As consequence, Asuka was on first step on Japanese soil already a  
media personality. They were already burning their brains thinking of how to add her  
into the growing Evangelion merchandising franchise.

Asuka never had that level of publicity in Berlin. While she loved all the attention, it  
only further made her aware of how creepy and worshipful people could be.

Amazingly, she was having too much of what she wanted.

Asuka's cheek twitched again as she opened up her footlocker and love (and some  
hate) letters just overflowed out. She emptied it all out to the floor and began to  
stomp on the pile of envelopes.

Even a few days later, girls around her were unsure of what to think. There was of  
course the 'genki' or energetic stereotype for a girl. Asuka went completely beyond  
that, and was seemingly powered by angry.

"Stupid, stupid BOYS!" she spat as she stomped. Stupid, immature boys that think by  
such stupid little gestures they could get at her body!

There were also those girls who hoped Asuka leaned more to their side of creek. Her  
personality was such that she intimidated all the boys from directly approaching her.

It was inevitable she'd get compared to the other intimidiating beauty in the class,  
who shrugged off their advances in icy indifference as opposed to her fiery disdain.

Consensus was that Ikari was either a lucky bastard, or doomed.

Kensuke sat outside on the grass with Toji, watching the rest of the school make fools  
of themselves. He wasn't selling pictures; for he had little need for money. He could  
just make all the 'toys' he wanted. Toji didn't have such a side job, but was happy as  
long as his sister or Hikari was happy (or to be more precise, not being nagged at).

"They don't know her real personality." said Toji. He did have a stack of photographs,  
but not for selling. He'd confiscated them from two other teens that wanted to make  
a quick buck. He explained whether they wanted him to kick their asses or to wait for  
Asuka to do so.

Sure, Asuka was a chick and they might be hoping for a panty flash... but like, all  
chicks they tended to aim for the groin. They gave up rather easily.

"I can't believe they're just letting her badmouth Shin-man like that." He began to grin.  
"I could rig up a directional explosive device the next time she opens that..."

Toji reached over and pulled the hood down. "None of that, man. We gotta protect  
her the same way we protect Shinji. That's my duty as a Guardsman."

"This bites, man. Big time!" complained Kensuke. "Poor dude has to live with her."

Shinji was actually taking far less abuse from Asuka. Verbally, she tried, but he just  
radiated such calm acceptance. It was like a fine mist around him, a kasumi aura,  
some would say. Physically; well, he -would- allow her to hit him. But likely Asuka  
would just get dogpiled in order of  
a. Misato  
b. a mob of fangirls  
c. a mob of boyz and gretz  
d. apocalypse Rei.

-o-

-o-

Shinji found her positively delightful. No matter what scenario he tried, it just so very  
easily and quickly unraveled. He was trying so very hard to please her, seeing how so  
very obviously she was suffering too.

Asuka was getting more and more pissed off every day, with no outlet.

The pilot of Unit Two walked with a train of people following her, like a queen and her  
parade. She tried to ignore them. Why didn't the other pilot have this hassle? Oh; she  
remembered. Because he's a wuss. Naturally they wouldn't be drawn to his flame much  
as they gathered around hers. She was just more interesting.

Naturally, Shinji would agree. He needed to remain all but ignorable. It was better if  
everyone were looking elsewhere; Asuka was a godsend in that regard. Unfortunately,  
this would only add to her continued irritation.

She found Rei sitting quietly on a bench, reading a small book. Asuka frowned slightly.  
Rei was less popular... or perhaps just immune. No one could tell her anything at all  
about the other girl.

The Ayanami Fan Club, simply because Rei was so unwilling to defend herself, was the  
most militant of the clubs.

Asuka stood on the edge of the planter, sending her shadow over the book Rei was  
reading. The blue-haired girl moved her book back into the light. Asuka took a step to  
set a shadow on her reading again. She grinned down at the other pilot. No response.

So, she spoke "Guten morgen, Ayanami!"

Again, nothing.

"I said, hello...!" she added. Only then, did Rei look up. However, she brought her gaze  
to somewhere behind Asuka. The Second Child turned to see Shinji arriving down the  
overpass and into the school. Asuka narrowed her eyes as she looked back down.

"You're Ayanami Rei, the pilot of the prototype."

Ayanami Rei carefully put away her precisely-written copy of Da Book and looked up.  
She waited.

"I'm Asuka. Sohryu Asuka Langley, pilot of Unit Two." She smiled. "Be my good friend,  
won't you?"

Rei flicked another look at Shinji, who shrugged, then to back to Asuka. It was the  
first time she met the other pilot, and she felt a strange new instinct. Interesting,  
was her thought to herself. Am I feeling territorial? "Why?" she asked.

"Because it would be so convenient in so many ways..." Asuka responded flippantly.  
The sooner the others accepted she was the leader of the Evangelion pilots, the  
better they could all coordinate with each other. Weak prototype units had no place  
in the middle of combat, anyway.

"Friends of convenience often become enemies of opportunity." Rei responded, turning  
back to her book. "If I am ordered to, I will."

Asuka's cheek twitched again. She jumped a ways down and walked over to stand  
right in front of Rei. She put her hands on her hips. "... and what's that supposed to  
mean?"

Rei made no reply. She merely read on 'Yaz yaps till ya drops, it don't matter none.  
Wots important is da siddawn, shaddup, and gets it dun.'

"You're a strange girl, aren't you...?" Asuka added.

Rei turned a page. She searched Shinji's feelings on the issue, and found only some  
form of amused acceptance. So, she was no threat? She was a pilot, nothing more.  
It would not endanger their plans, as long as she remained unknowing.

"I know my purpose. My purpose is me." she said.

Rei felt something, and as she searched identified it perhaps as jealousy, that Shinji  
would find some joy in watching another female. However, she pushed it down. She  
had already given even her life for him. She believed; until the end of time. Love that  
which he loves, shun that which he shuns.

"And now, what's that supposed to mean too? Seriously, you're even weirder than  
that baka Shinji."

Rei looked up sharply, and Asuka looked pleased at getting a reaction. However, Rei  
only smiled very slightly. "Thank you, Pilot Sohryu."

"Huh?"

"Being compared as similar to Pilot Ikari can only be good." She nodded briefly. "Do not  
fear, Pilot Sohryu. We will protect you. Together our power shall be immeasurable."

For some reason, too, she found Asuka amusing. Sister Ibuki had been teaching her  
about the concept of humor. She didn't truly understand yet, but somehow seeing the  
futile rage on the red-haired girl's face made her heart sing.

Asuka's cheek began to twitch uncontrollably. A low 'ooh...' spread throughout the  
school courtyard. Did Ayanami just call dibs on Ikari?

-o-

-o-

One of the side entrances into the safehouse opened with a whissh-click. Ibuki Maya  
yawned, and slowly got up off the bed. "Rei, could you hand me my clothes...?" she  
asked the girl, who was standing nearby the side counters.

Rei sat on the bed, watching dispassionately as Maya dressed. The safehouse had a  
better computer system and an untraceable direct link to the MAGI. It was important  
that mousy and dependable Maya's own home computer remained completely free of  
whatever various illegal information-gathering that she was attempting.

Their common lair, for various reasons, was just more comfortable than her own  
apartment. It was the only place she could stop wearing such a weak little mask.

Shinji had already made plans; if the city got damaged again in the next Angel attack,  
he could have a tunnel dug straight to her apartment. It would be easier for her to  
appear to be living there while at the same time working on her own plans under the  
streets of Tokyo 3.

"It's been a while since I've seen you, Rei." said Maya, while smoothing down her NERV  
uniform. "So, how are things?"

"I apologize, also on behalf of Shinji, for keeping you uninformed." the red-eyed girl  
responded. "We needed an observation period to pass, and your reactions through  
that time needed to be completely innocuous."

Maya nodded. Poking around the MAGI had revealed to her just how daunting was the  
task before them. Little steps were needed, lest they wake a sleeping giant and be  
crushed underfoot. "It's all right, I understand. I missed you too." She smiled. "So,  
what have you been up to?"

"It is as we have feared. Commander Ikari has killed me."

Maya felt a cold fury descend upon herself.

-o-

-o-

With the two Section 2 agents obviously following him around, the rest of NERV had  
no further reason to look into his affairs. It never crossed anyone's mind that they  
could be compromised, and by him of all people.

Shinji trusted them completely, if out of enlightened self-interest he was sure they  
wanted to turn into puddles of orange goo no more than he did. He didn't even notice  
anymore how it was that he could be so sure people were not lying to him, but he had  
confidence in their efforts. Their work was faithful and true.

The door towards the bookstore opened. "Hello, Ma-" Shinji tried to say.

SLAP!

Her eyes were red and teary. She'd been waiting there, standing by that door for  
ever since her shift ended for him to arrive. "How could you do that to her?" she  
shouted into his face, her voice breaking with emotion. "You sent her out to -die-!  
Shinji! You already -knew-! What was that about not letting her die, then? What  
about standing until the end of time?

How..." She sobbed. "I thought you were better than this...!"

"Maya... I..." He looked as if stabbed. The pain in his cheek was nothing compared to  
the emotions thrust directly into his heart.

"And... the worst thing is... I still believe you're better than this." She grabbed him  
and hugged him, and being taller than him touched her forehead to his. "How much of  
your own soul did you give up so you could do something like this? You must have had  
a reason... right? It had to be done... right?"

He felt hot tears trickle down to his cheeks. His eyes widened as it hit him all right  
then. He had indeed sworn to protect Rei forevermore, upon their blood he had made  
it so. And he sent her out knowing she would die! He sent her out -hoping- she would  
die! "What have I... no...!"

"I'm sorry, Shinji. I just... sorry. I believe in you. I don't mean to doubt you..."

He pulled free from her embrace and stepped back, hunched over. He shook in place,  
as if fighting himself to keep from running away. Over the past few days, he'd simply  
forgotten; with Asuka's arrival and all the strange new activities NERV was up to...

He had forgotten...!

"Do not blame pilot Ikari, sister Ibuki." said Rei. "I am still here. I have done so of my  
own free will. We are all the better for it."

Shinji looked with shock down at his own hands. So thin, pale, quivering. He was just  
fourteen. He had sent another fourteen-year old to her death, and she had done so  
without any hesitation whatsoever. He was still in junior high, for gooness' sake! And  
he was planning on battling entities that could make nations kneel.

He had forgotten, if just for a time! It was an insult. He clenched his hands into fists.  
It was unforgivable. He would never, ever forget again...

It is done. I have done it.

"Rei..." he said numbly. He walked, shambling and mindless, over to her. Sitting there  
so calmly, she filled him with horror. That there was no condemnation at all in her  
eyes only made it worse.

He got up on the bed, almost kneeling. He reached out... and drew back. He cringed  
from her gaze.

"You may touch me if you wish." said Rei.

Shinji dove at her, pushing her to the bed. He clutched at her tightly, pressing his  
flesh to hers. "Rei, rei... rei..." he mumbled out, wracked with guilt. "I'm sorry... I'm  
sorry... I'm sorry..."

She smiled, and ran a hand through his hair. "I am still here, Shinji-kun. Hear my heart  
beating. This is not a corpse you are embracing..."

He only pulled tighter, as if never to let her go again. Moments passed in silence, but  
it was as if an eternity. She stroked at his hair and back, and very slowly his shaking  
started to subside.

"I'm sorry, Rei. I still killed you. I should never... I've betrayed you."

"No, Shinji-kun. You have forever earned my trust." Another weight pressed down  
upon the bed, and she looked up to see Maya joining them and looking forlorn. "Please  
remember, that it was Gendo who pulled the trigger."

The full-length mirror in the safehouse cracked for no readily apparent reason. Her  
companions looked up, all the grief in their eyes suddenly replaced with purposeful  
rage.

"Shinji-kun..." Maya hissed out. "Please tell me why we can't just simply KILL the  
bastard. What could possibly be worth that?"

"I am ready to give my progress report..." said Rei, still too calm.

Shinji wiped at his eyes, and nodded.

Why was the world in danger? Because Angels are attacking.

Why are the Angels attacking? To recover Adam.

Why are they trying to recover Adam? Because we have Adam.

Why do we have Adam? Because we brought Adam low during Second Impact.

Why is it, that we mere mortals, can pull down such almost limitless power? Because  
we are children of Lillith. We have Lillith. And Lillith is stronger than Adam. She had  
defeated Adam once before.

She may do so again.

Lillith. Lillith. Lillith! It always comes down to her. She was the usurper, she was the  
one that caused First Impact. The supposed cometary collision was merely the first  
stage. It was the war between the two entities that cleansed life on Earth, to allow  
the rise of new and inquisitive creatures.

"Lillith desires Third Impact." said Rei. "She does not care at all for we whom she has  
created. There is only one thing she wants; and that is the death of her true and  
ancient enemy."

"She wants to reabsorb humanity to gain back her old power?" Maya asked. What a  
bad mother she was. Children can no longer return to the womb. Which might be why  
Lillith first intended to puree all of humanity.

Rei nodded. "However, the death of Adam is her only objective. As long as the other  
dies, she may leave this world. If we can engineer the death of Adam, she knows that  
it will also be in our power to kill her."

"So... you made a deal with Lillith?" Maya asked further.

Rei nodded. Only in true death could she truly reach towards the buried soul of the  
Great Mother.

"We must kill Adam. We must kill all the Angels..." she said, putting a hand over her  
own womb again. "Just as I could grow into becoming a new Lillith, so could they in  
sufficient time become a new Adam. They seek nothing less than our total destruction  
as well."

"Where is Adam now?" Shinji asked.

"I believe, from the last time I was in his presence, that your father has Adam. Our  
enemy is either on or within his person."

Shinji breathed out. He opened his eyes and looked at Rei. He slowly smiled. "Then...  
are you saying we have... already won? We kill all the Angels, and at the end, we get  
to kill my father? This..." Rei, being born of Lillith, was human where it mattered most.  
He looked upon her in rapt adoration. "This is something wondrous you have wrought  
for me, Rei. Thank you."

She blushed and looked away.

She felt warm arms encircle her. "But we're also never letting you risk yourself like  
that again, right?" Maya said softly. "You're too important to us. We're never going to  
let you go... right?"

Shinji nodded, completely determined. "I'm sorry, Rei. Thank you, but I should never  
have let you... die. Never again, Rei. I'm sorry."

"It is no problem." she replied.

"I can never make it right... but just tell me, Rei. What can we do for you? You've  
given us so much! You sacrificed yourself for our sake... it's not right for us to take  
from you. Please, Rei... say something. What can we do for your happiness?"

"I do not need anything." Rei replied. "But..." She looked hopeful.

"Don't be afraid Rei." said Maya, hugging the smaller girl from behind. "Just say it. It  
can be anything at all..."

"Anything, Rei! I'll do anything for you!" Shinji added emphatically.

Rei quirked her head. "Anything?"

Her companions both nodded, firm and resolved. What nation do you want first, Rei?  
France? Australia? Greater America might be tricky, but just say it and it'll be yours.

"Then there is something I want the both of you to do for me."

They nodded again.

"We must proceed down to Terminal Dogma. There are no interruptions or monitoring  
devices there."

They nodded, no fear or hesitation. Whatever she asked.

"There, I want pilot Ikari to be loaded into the Memory Transfer Machine. It has  
already been prepared; one of my sisters stands ready to recieve your memories. If  
ever you should die, then while you might be female at least you will remain yourself."  
She turned aside to Maya. "Please do not think it an insult, sister Ibuki, that I do not  
include you. What I most cherish about you is your pure humanity."

Shinji blinked. "Rei..." he whispered.

"You are too important to this world, and to me as well, Shinji-kun." The piece of her  
soul she had given to him would act as the anchor making it all possible.

She felt herself being pulled tighter into the embrace of the young woman behind her.  
She felt tears on her neck. "You're just too precious, aren't you...?" she heard Maya  
mumble out sincerely. "We're never ever letting you go again. Never."

She felt Shinji take her hands in his. His will would reshape eternity.

We have won, she thought. In this, we have already won. Lillith was completely  
unnecessary, after all.

-o-

-o-

Asuka splashed some water onto her face. She wasn't going to cry, dammit! She was  
strong. She could take it. It didn't matter what they said about her, they were just  
small ignorant sheep!

That doll! That obedient, pathetic doll! What did people see in her, anyway? What do  
people see in -him-! That wussy, unexciting boy! Epic? What was so epic about going  
around in an apron? Sure if you squinted, it might look like a tabard... but it was a  
light baby blue.

Insane! All of them!

She slapped some more water onto her face. She didn't ask for much. She was so  
perfectly willing to prove her own strength, her own worth. She didn't want to be  
praised for anything that wasn't hers. It just... they weren't giving her a chance! It  
was like they already decided she was trash, at first look. She was just a nail to be  
pounded down. Well! She wouldn't conform, damn them all!

I am Asuka! she shouted deep into herself. I'm stronger than this! I'm stronger than  
them all! She was worth more than all of them combined.

"Um... Sohryu-san?" she heard someone ask.

Asuka turned to see a group of girls clustered together. They looked rather plain and  
bookish. One of them stepped up and asked hesitantly "We were just wondering...  
what are you to Shinji-sama?"

"What am I?" she snarled out. Asuka twisted the faucet off, almost ripping the gasket.  
"What I AM is something that your precious Shinji-sama can't even touch. What I am  
is someone that can actually see him for what he is; a scared little boy crying for his  
mommy."

"W-what?"

"Silly little girls, what are you expecting? Some prince on a white horse? Shinji's more  
at home in the kitchen than at a battlefield. You're all putting so much pressure and  
trust on him; don't be surprised when he finally snaps. He's only forcing himself. He  
doesn't have the temper for it."

One of the taller girls stepped up. "That's... that can't be true! What would you know?  
We heard him... you're lying! You're just bitter because he's better than you!"

"What would I know? I LIVE with him, you freaky little fangirls! That lunatic has you  
all believing he's so much greater than what he is... and forget that he's only fought  
in an Evangelion for months! No amount of talent can triumph over raw skill! Even his  
creepy father, you know... that man who runs NERV? He agrees. I was made the team  
leader over the Evangelion pilots.

You don't know how it is. You don't know how much people have given up, how many  
years was spent on making the Evangelions the best weapon humanity has. No one  
can just get in one and magically make it dance. You don't know how many years I...

He's not a savior! He's not a noble! He's not a God! If you believe in someone too  
much, you're only going to end up disappointed!"

Dammit! She wouldn't cry... not in front of these deluded girls. "You all make me sick!  
You just sit there and cheer and expect others to solve all your problems for you!  
You're parasites! You don't have any strength of your own so you try and steal it  
from us, living your little fantasies out of the pain in our lives!"

"You.. bitch!" someone yelled. "Someone should teach you a lesson in respect!"

"Yeah? Think you can do it?" she shot back. A good fight was just what she needed.  
All those days of bottled-up resentment. Fuck Japan! Fuck this creepy, narrow-minded  
little country! You won't beat me down!

She felt her eyes misting over. No! She balled her fists up. No more!

They took a step forward, damn the consequences! This arrogant foreigner needed to  
be taught a lesson!

"Uraya. Ikkenashi. Hanichi." spoke a calm, authoritative voice from behind all of them.  
"That is enough."

The girls turned. "I... Inquisitor Horaki!" they gasped.

"This pilot is under my protection." she continued. Hikari was wearing her jacket just  
on her shoulders again, her red notebook hanging on a long chain loop over her neck.  
She wasn't frowning, but her displeasure was clear. "Go." she added.

They fled.

Asuka wiped at her eyes. "Dammit!" She saw Hikari move off from leaning on a lamp-  
post and walk over to her. "What do you want?" she growled out.

Hikari held out a handkerchief. Asuka turned away.

"I don't need your pity!" she spat. "I'm sure you're happy now, aren't you? Seeing me  
weepy like this... I'm nothing against your stupid Shinji-sama. He still has his glory."

"My responsibility is to monitor the interactions of the pilots with their peer group. Pity  
has nothing to do with it."

"Yeah. I'm sure it's nothing personal. It's just your job." Asuka then went over to the  
faucets again, and put her hands on the tiles. She looked down and breathed heavily,  
trying to compress all her emotions back into her heart.

Screw you all! She shouted within. You don't have the right to hurt me like this!

Hikari's look softened. "Sohryu-san. I think you're making a mistake."

"I don't care." was the numb response. "I'm me, dammit. I don't have to listen to you.  
I'm not that baka Shinji! You can't make me!"

"... you're making a mistake in thinking that just because we're Shinji's friends it means  
we can't be yours."

Asuka didn't look back, but was strangely silent.

"Suzuhara and Aida may be fools, but behind their idiotic little capers, they will fight  
for you just as fiercely as they would for Ikari. You won't have to be alone. You won't  
need to fight alone. Ikari and Ayanami... they're your colleagues, aren't they? Do you  
really think they want to see you broken and useless?

People call me Inqusitor Horaki because I seem to know everything that I need to  
know to protect the pilots. Sohryu-san... please don't forget... you can also ask me  
for anything.

Please let us stand with you. Please, let us be friends."

"Don't need any stupid friends..." Asuka mumbled. "Don't need pity. M'strong enough  
on my own..."

"You ARE strong, Sohryu-san. Asuka. Please, let me help you. You strength is what  
will save the world." She clapped her hands. "I won't let anyone try and mess with  
that strength."

Asuka took several deep breaths, and then stood up straight suddenly. She turned  
and smirked. "You're the one they tell me who rules this school with an iron fist."

Hikari rubbed her fingernails on her shirt and held her palm out casually to look at them.  
"Boys troubling you, Asuka? I can make them... gone. Fangirls getting out of hand? I  
can get Kensuke messing with the showerheads."

Asuka laughed. "You know, I think I might just get to like you."

"I think I can get to like you too, Asuka." She held out her right hand, recognizing the  
western ways. "So... friends?"

"Why not?" Asuka took it and shook it. "Friends."

-o-

-o-

Kodama Horaki looked at herself in the mirror again. She licked at her lips to make the  
lipstick seem natural. She checked her hair again. She looked at her dress, a coloful  
flower print that hinted at, more than revealing skin. She nodded.

The doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" she shouted out.

Kodama rushed, but not enough to muss up her careful personal preparations and  
found her youngest sibling already there. Nozomi opened up the door and smiled. She  
bowed primly. "Ikari-sama. Sohryu-sama. It is good to meet you. Please, be welcome  
in our humble home."

"Why, what a polite little girl!" remarked Asuka, delighted. Shinji just grinned down  
approvingly.

Kodama gaped and pointed at her. She rushed forward, grabbed her sister by her  
shoulders and smiled; cheerily but somewhat strained. "..please, excuse us..." she  
said to the guests, and dragged her sibling away to one of the back rooms.

"What the hell? Since when could you act polite?" she screeched out. "Do you have  
any idea how much I had to crawl just to get Hikari to set this up? I won't have some  
little loli messing up this chance for me!"

"Eh, blow it out yer arse." Nozomi replied, picking at her ears. "I'm just showing propa'  
respect dat's all!" He was just Da Boss. He was like royalty to da boyz, even if they  
weren't allowed to speak it so plainly.

"Why you two-faced little weasel!"

The doorbell rang again. "What are you two doing?" Hikari yelled out. "Fine, fine. Hey,  
Shinji, Asuka... just seat yourselves wherever." She opened the door. "Suzuhara. And  
Aida. Put that camera away, Aida. My house is not a spectacle."

"Aw... class rep!"

"And take off that hat! You're indoors now, Suzuhara!"

"Oops!"

"Now, come on in." she finished sweetly. "Please behave."

Her two sisters, watching from the edge of a wall, shivered slightly. It seems Nozomi  
had nothing on the bipolarity of her middle sister, after all.

It was a casual lunch. Hikari prepared for Asuka dishes that were very common to the  
Japanese, but not served in overseas restaurants. It was true, unpretentious home  
cooking. On tasting it, Asuka would finally be baptized truly Japanese to the heart.

"Ayanami's not coming?" asked Toji. He breathed in deeply the aroma wafting from the  
kitchen. He could barely wait.

Shinji shrugged. "She had something to do." He carefully kept Asuka at the edge of  
his peripheral vision. She didn't react at hearing the name of the other girl pilot, good.  
Wisely he and Maya had decided that perhaps it would be best if Rei stayed away,  
and not seemingly infringing upon Asuka's own day.

Kodama fidgeted in her seat. Asuka was just sitting there. Nevertheless, she was...  
formidable. What kind of girl Shinji liked was a topic of much speculation. By the two  
he was seen around with, it was either a reserved young girl or a gentle older woman.  
Blazing, fire-haired Asuka was from totally out of the picture.

She smiled sweetly. "I must thank you for saving my job, Ikari-kun..." she said in a  
chippy tone.

"Eldest sister is an artist." Nozomi put in. "Evangelion Fantasy Battle: The Motion  
Picture will finally be out for release later this week. They employed an army of artists  
and animators to rush it into completion in just inside three months."

Kodama's left eyebrow twitched. "It's... kind of a record. Multiple studios working  
together." They had to rush it, since they didn't know if Tokyo 3 would even still be  
standing by autumn on the calendar.

"Huee? You have an anime-tion already?" Asuka was hiding her own face twitch. She  
remembered well Kaji's trump card. "What is it about? How could you have done that  
so soon?"

"Well, the trading cards were doing well, but there wasn't really anything to tie it all  
together. It would have failed without some plot... then one day one of the studio  
presidents found at his doorstep a plain folder. Inside was a script outline, and in the  
first page was written 'THIS PLAN HAS MY APPROVAL - Shinji Ikari'. Ikari-san's school  
ID was clipped into it.

The writers only had to fill in the blanks. Add dialouge. That stuff."

Kodama looked inquisitively at him. Shinji just shrugged. "It's a mystery to me too,  
who wrote it. I gave my blessing to it, because I really did like it. Then I left it outside  
my door and by morning it was gone."

"Mysterious." Nozomi commented.

"So, you just obeyed the instructions from someone you don't even know?" Asuka  
looked doubtful. "What was in it, anyway?"

"That's what the movie is supposed to show for the first time." Kodama replied. "There  
were two Evangelions back then, so that's what we're working with so far. They were  
the relics of an old forgotten age and an old forgotten war. Two children woke them,  
the machine gods who once cleansed the world. These two children would then take  
two different paths using their Evangelions to defend their people.

The first Evangelion, Principio Eternus, was found underneath the capital of the Third  
City. A farmboy was somewhere was taken and made to wake it up, for only he could  
match a very detailed, very ancient prophecy.

The other Evangelion, unnamed but powerful too, was found inside a cave. The one  
who woke it was a strange girl, who lived among creatures brutal, green, and not  
human. She preferred them, savage but honest, over her own kind.

The Evangelions awoke in response to a time long prophesied, when the stars were  
right and the heavens would open. The Star Gods, vast unimaginable entities that  
devoured hope, would send their messengers down. They would then reap the living  
to feed their mad masters.

Only the Evangelions could stand against them, but they too were a danger. In an  
earlier age, they destroyed almost all life in the world, in a war that was to end all  
wars. Fortunately their intellect had decayed over the eons, and they needed these  
children just to move. These pilots commanded the force of ancient machine-gods,  
and the armies that walked at their heels."

Kensuke grinned. "It was awesome! The writers crammed in cameos everywhere! I'm  
Techpriest Aida! He who sees to the comfort of its machine spirit!"

"Guardsman Suzuhara!" Toji put in. "My father used to be the captain of the Imperial  
Guards, and while he is injured I had to take charge of the cities' defense. The enemy  
Angels put a curse that afflicted all those inside a temple... which included the king  
and most of his ministers, and the generals."

"How... nice for you." Asuka responded, flatly. "I suppose Hikari had to be there too?"

Kensuke slapped the table. "Of course! What would it be like without Inquisitor Horaki?"

"And I suppose she spent most of her time there looking after you two idiots, too?"

Kensuke drooped. Toji laughed weakly. True to life.

"Now that you're here, Asuka, I'm sure you can be in the next movie, too." Shinji said  
with a smile. "You deserve a high place in the canon."

She nodded, with a hmm-hmm. "Of course! But they had better make it worthy of my  
great beauty and talent and supremely magnificent Evangelion!"

Kodama twitched her brows again as the conversation drifted off. Who does this girl  
think she is? The eldest Horaki was at the main crew of character design; she had  
best not be assigned to make concept drawings of Asuka and her Eva. She was proud  
of how the movie turned out; the sequel had better not bomb.

"It's ready...!" Hikari called out.

"Finally! Finally!" Toji exclaimed, bouncing on his seat.

Two phones beeped simultaneously. The pilots took out their distinctive red cellphones  
and heard the call from NERV. Maya advised them of an approaching Angel and the  
instant mobilization order.

Hikari put a steaming plate on the table. Juices still bubbled upon the racks of food.  
Steam carried with it such appetizing scents. Both pilots groaned out loud.

"What's wrong?" asked Hikari.

"Recall order." Asuka replied, regretfully. "We're being called back to NERV. It's an  
Angel attack."

"Can't it wait?" Toji said. "Look at this!"

"No, dummkopf!" Asuka spat back. She looked longingly at the food, and reached out  
for a shrimp. She drew back and shook her head. The taste would only serve as a  
bitter reminder.

Shinji stood up and bowed low. "I'm very sorry for this, everyone."

"Sucks to be you, man." said Kensuke, already wolfing down bits from the edge. Hikari  
slapped his hands with her large wooden spoon. "Ow!"

The two pilots left. Kodama began banging her head on the table.

-o-

-o-

"The intercept system of Third New Tokyo city was heavily damaged by the previous  
battle." said Misato. "Only twenty-six percent has been restored so far. Operatable  
equipment at the actual battle zone is almost zero." She turned to the main command  
display. "So! We'll just have to beat the enemy just as it lands at the waterfront. We  
have the UN Navy to provide fire support, since we don't really have anything else  
that can."

"This is screwed up." muttered Asuka. "Not those people again..."

"Unit One and Unit Two will then attack in turn." Misato looked sour. "Commander Ikari  
has left orders that Unit Two will lead the order of battle for this mission."

"What about Unit Zero, Misato-san?"

"Well, it's still having control problems, Shinji." she replied. "It's not up to the normal  
fighting level, yet."

Shinji stared, so seriously, at the projected battle map. The shorelines were almost  
at the hills. That was a mountain over there, right? And it was just a single enemy. He  
shut his eyes and felt for it. Rei?

He opened his eyes. "But... can it at least pull a trigger?" he asked. "Misato-san, may  
we have Unit Zero serve as fire support? You have the Eva positron cannon now. It  
should be useful if conventional arms from the Navy don't work out... well..." His tone  
softened. "Like the last time."

"Hey! I'm supposed to be team leader here!" Asuka piped up.

"We're not in battle yet, Sohryu. And I AM Operations Director." She looked up at the  
command tower. "Sir...?"

Fuyutsuki nodded. "Make it so."

It amused him to see how NERV smoothly operated to fulfill that order. They moved  
with such unconcerned ease, from obeying one Ikari to another. It made very little  
difference to them. He smirked. Actually, they seemed to move a little bit faster, a  
little bit more eager to carry out their duty.

Asuka put a hand to her stomach. "This is ridiculous. I didn't even get to have lunch."

Misato nodded. "Angels are very inconsiderate like that." She rummaged under her  
command post. "Here." She held out a yellow cardboard box to Asuka.

"No way...!" the pilot shrieked. "You really expect me to go out there powered only by  
instant ramen?"

Misato shrugged. "It's this or go hungry. We can't allow take-out this deep in NERV.  
We're at a critical timetable here." Actually, there were cafeterias underground, but  
it would take too long to eat rice. It would be too slow to digest. Better to have a  
warm full sensation inside the stomach.

Asuka grabbed the box and grumbled under her breath. She continued grumbling even  
out to the Eva cages.

Finally, it was time to launch. "Remember your procedures for close battle!" Misato  
said as a final reminder over the link.

"Roger!" both pilots replied.

She closed her eyes and felt the inertia rip. The linear launcher would have them  
travel vertically, then switch to lying down horizontally; to emerge somewhere outside  
the city limits.

_Time to shine, Asuka!_

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

end Dance of Fate part one


	14. Chapter 13: Dance of Fate part2

Dance of Fate part two

-o-

-o-

-o-

Kozo Fuyutsuki felt -old-. Every passing day started slower, and every moment just  
that little bit harder than the last. This was the essental pain of the human condition...  
everyone and everything dies. From the very first moment a baby opens its mouth to  
scream and breathe; it begins its unstoppable descent into death.

He put his hands on the desk, in plain view. He wasn't Gendo. These people all knew  
it, and which was why some of them still looked mulish and defiant. He frowned. These  
children. So young. So full of life. Never did he feel so old, as to when he had to scold  
some sense back into his students.

He sighed in obvious disappointment. "Tell me, what is your purpose here?"

He waited for an answer, and as he expected it was Asuka who spoke first. "To pilot  
the Evangelion!" she said without hesitation. Though the scolding was in full view of  
everyone in the command center, she had no fear.

He then turned to the other two pilots. They looked more suitably cowed. "To fight  
the enemies of humanity." they said at the same time.

Fuyutsuki nodded. He turned to Maya and gestured for her to repeat the report.

She coughed into her fist and began to read. "At ten hundred hours fifty-eight minutes  
and fifteen seconds today, Unit One was attacked by one of the targets separated  
into two... say; target A, and sank into place two kilometers from Surugawan Bay.

Ten hundred fifty-eight and twenty seconds, Unit Two stopped action after the attack  
by the other target, say B."

Both Evangelion pilots twitched at the sight of their Evangelions. Both had their feet  
up in the air; Unit One out of the water and Unit Two planted into the ground.

"Nerv gave up to carry out the operation at 11:03 a.m. The right of orders were given  
to UN Second Force. At 11:05, the targets were attacked by an N2 bomb and were  
rendered motionless. A strong AT-field prevents any further attemps, while the Angels  
are regenerating the 22 percent of their structure that was lost."

Fuyutsuki flipped up a local newspaper. He too began to read.

"STUNNING DEFEAT!

The Evangelions proved remarkably useless, and had to be bailed out by the UN forces.  
Even Shinji Ikari showed disappointing performance, moving mostly to keep the other  
pilot from getting her fool self killed. The next attack is only a matter of time, and it  
is to wonder if we could survive a repeat of this disaster."

"IT'S HIS FAULT!" Asuka shouted and pointed at Shinji. "It's due to him that my debut  
battle was made such a farce. He intentionally damaged my operations with his lack of  
restraint...!"

"What? You were the one who was reckless!" Shinji had to reply. "I did as you said,  
until you charged in and bit off more than you could chew!"

"Don't be rude! I told you not to interfere! And now you cost me my victory!"

The vice-commander sighed and rubbed at his temples. "Pilot Sohryu, are you now  
presenting a formal complaint?"

The girl looked confused. Fuyutsuki leaned forward, and his posture was still without  
menace. However, it was very uncompromising. "Intentionally sabotaging the actions  
of an ally in battle; it is a serious charge. The Evangelions are not mere war machines.  
They are the trust of nations. We are fighting for the survival of humanity, and for him  
to playing such personal grudges in the middle of combat, why - that is treason!"

He leaned forward and tapped at the smooth metal surface of the commander's desk.  
"This cannot be tolerated." He nodded. "Will you stand as witness in a tribunal? Do you  
intend to file a formal complaint?"

Asuka looked wide-eyed back at the stern, but still paternalistic vice-commander. He  
looked genuinely believing. Behind the pilots, Misato and Ritsuko both smirked. Nice  
one, old man. Though directed against Shinji, it turned most effectively Asuka's own  
words against herself.

The red-haired girl dropped her pointing arm and shook her head.

"Good. Because we have very little time to waste on such matters."

Misato raised her hand. The vice-commander recognized her request to speak. "Go  
ahead, Captain Katsuragi."

"Shinji, you suggested a full retreat just two minutes into the battle. By your own  
words, you said '... this is an enemy that the Evangelions can't beat'. Why?"

In response, he merely turned towards the screen showing the regenerating Angels.  
"The N2 mine worked, Misato-san. Yet, we know that previous Angels had AT-fields  
strong enough to withstand them... while the Evangelions' own AT-fields could barely  
even break through the enemy's."

"The Angels are using the same AT-field patterns as the Evangelions." Ritsuko put in.

"It didn't matter what we could do. These things... they are built to directly attack  
the weaknesses of the Evangelion. As a consequence, its AT-field is weaker against  
conventional weapons, but it can erode ours very quickly; the chaotic pattern field  
system Ritsuko-sensei put in could only hold them back for a moment." He shook his  
head. "I'm sorry. There really was no way to win."

Asuka drew back in exagerrated shock. "What worthless pessimism! You dare call  
yourself an Evangelion pilot? What happened to your epic drive to win at all costs,  
Shinji-sama?" So this, in the end the famed Third Child shows himself as nothing more  
than a frightened little boy.

"There is a time for courage." Rei spoke plainly. "There is also a time for strategy. Had  
you pulled back as pilot Ikari suggested, the N2 mine could have been dropped as a  
tactical experiment, and further options be explored from there."

"I won't take that from someone whose only act in battle was to shoot at ME." Asuka  
snarled back.

"I was not aiming for you, pilot Sohryu. If I did, you would be dead."

"That's it! You've pissed me off enough already!" Asuka stomped a foot forward. Rei  
merely tilted her head a bit, as close to 'come get some' as she could show within  
NERV.

SPANG!

Kozo Fuyutsuki slapped his open palm onto the desk, drawing everyone's attention.  
He was standing up, and looked nearly about to lose it himself. "ENOUGH! If you must  
bicker, do it somewhere else. This is not a playground for you children."

There were muffled snickers from indistinct personnel.

He turned to Ritsuko. "Doctor Akagi, did we learn anything at all from the Angel?"

She changed the main display to show Israfael in both combined and separated forms.  
"This Angel seems to combine a mastery of the AT-field with excellent close combat  
capabilities. It also possesses all the abilities of the Third Angel." She changed the  
view into a genetic pattern. "While I do not believe cleaving the Angel again will make  
more, smaller, enemies it is not a recommended form of attack."

"How long until it wakes up again?"

"Estimates put it at around six days, fourteen hours sir."

"Can't we just bomb it again when its field goes down?" Misato asked.

Ritsuko shook her head. "Look here. This is the edge of its AT-field. Notice how that  
plants are starting to wither inside its territory; it is noticeably darker within. This is  
a -very- strong AT-field, when the Angels combine. They would be prepared for such  
another attack when they are ready to continue theirs."

Shinji raised his hand.

"Yes, Pilot Ikari?"

"Could we send all three Evangelions to try and break a hole through its AT-field so  
you can just send another N2 mine in? If that doesn't kill it, then it might buy us some  
more time."

Misato beamed. "That's an excellent idea, Shinji!" she said, then turned to Ritsuko.  
"Can we?"

The scientist shrugged. "The Evangelions are severely damaged. However, we may  
try by tomorrow... if the control systems are put back as first priority. The problem  
with that is if it wakes the enemy. We don't have any idea yet on how to beat them."

Misato bit her lip and considered. "No. Too much of a risk with damaged Evangelions.  
We'll just have to see if we can do anything within six days." She turned to the pilots.  
"We have a more fundamental problem. You three! If we're going to defeat the Angels  
then, you're just going to have to learn how to work together!"

"What, with this slow boy? Impossible!"

"Understood, Katsuragi-san." Shinji and Rei said again at the same time.

-o-

-o-

Asuke seethed.

It was supposed to be her moment! No one else in the entry plug with her, no one  
else to muddy up her concentration, no one else to steal the glory of victory. The  
two Evangelions launched off the aerial Eva carriers and landed on the beach. Already  
there were waiting power supply lines.

"Listen to me, don't do anything to disturb me!" she said to the other Eva. "This is a  
direct order from your team leader!"

"All right, Asuka-san." Shinji replied.

"Understood." from Rei, already on a sniper's position up on a nearby mountain.

"It's here!" said Misato from her mobile command relay. They all saw the breakwater of  
Israfael's speedy approach.

The Angel stood up from the sea, and stood there just watching. Asuka rushed ahead,  
saying "It's too unfair to attack two on one!" Hefting her progressive spear up, she  
leapt from standing structures out to the deeper waters and cleaved the Angel in two  
with one cut.

"There!" Asuka crowed. "Battle should be clean, quick, and efficient!"

"Impressive, Sohryu-san..." whistled Shinji. Then; "... watch out!"

"...eh?"

The two halves of Israfael bulged out, and like shedding skin turned into two distinct  
Angels. Avian bone masks slid out and theirs cores glowed as their abilities all went  
active. From them came a strange sound... like the scratching of many insects' feet  
upon paper.

"Asuka!" Shinji shouted.

"Stay back!" she countered, now grinning. "I can handle this!" She yelled out as she  
swung again, heaving her spear. The blade cut deep into one Angel... but not enough  
to reach its core. It merely healed around her spear, fixing it in its own body. With a  
slight turn, Asuka found her weapon ripped free from her Eva's hands.

The other Angel, henceforth dubbed Angel 'Beta', receded its bone face to reveal its  
other three-holed 'face'. It flashed, and Asuka screamed as her Eva was sent flying  
back to shore upon a shard of burning yellow energy.

Unit Two carved a deep furrow into the ground. It lay still.

"Asuka!" Shinji shouted again.

Unit Two rolled over to its back, and got up again. "DON'T INTERFERE!" Asuka replied.

"... you don't even have a weapon." he said in a reasonable tone.

Asuka was not limited by reason. Her progressive knives deployed, and she flipped her  
hold on them. She charged once more at the twin Angels slowly floating to shore.

Israfael Alpha put itself in front, and as Asuka arrived, embraced Unit Two heedless of  
the damage to its own body. Israfael Beta leapt up and over them; and upon landing  
turned to rake its claws against the red Eva's back. Its power cord split, its armor  
showed deep gashes, and Asuka screamed into the open channel.

-Principio Eternus- roared.

Abruptly, the Angels let go of the Evangelion, letting it fall to the sea. They moved at  
high speed towards the shore. Shinji let free with his Bolter.

The bursts bounced off an AT-field. He ejected the clip, slapped in a fresh one, and  
unleashed his own AT-field. Their fields met, crackling... and suddenly they were  
through. Shinji barely had time to duck, as their claws would have bisected his Eva  
from waist up.

He raised his field again, just in time as their beams converged upon him. As the  
smoke cleared, again the Angels attacked in unison. Again, his AT-field failed to stop  
their lunge. The Evangelion's left shoulder took a serious hit, ruining all the armor  
there. Shinji grimaced as three small furrows appeared on his plug suit.

"DON'T IGNORE ME!" he heard someone yell. From behind the twin Angels, Unit Two  
leapt high with its prog knife held to stab. Israfael Beta whipped itself around, upon  
an invisible fulcrum on its AT-field and swing-kicked towards the red Eva's exposed  
side.

Unit Two was smashed down to the ground. "ASUKA!" Shinji shouted for the third time.  
"Dammit! Asuka! Can you hear me? Are you all right?"

-Principio Eternus- hunched and dashed forward. It ducked under another swing, and  
aiming backwards with the Bolter even as it ran past sent a burst into Israfael Alpha's  
back. The Angel gave out a 'skreee!' as the rounds penetrated its body, then exploded  
inside shredding whatever internal organs it had.

"... adapt to -that-." Shinji said aside.

The purple Eva went over to the red one, and helped it back to its feet. "Sohryu-san!  
They're too strong to attack alone!"

"Don't you dare-" she forcefully shoved him back.

The two Evangelions fell away from each other, as a cross-shaped beam broke apart  
the ground between them. Behind Israfel Beta, Israfael Alpha was still writhing but  
its strange black flesh was bulging out in rapid cancerous healing.

"REI!" Shinji shouted.

A bright lance of energy shot forth from the mountain behind them, unerringly aimed  
at Israfael Alpha's core. The positron beam neared the core, and CURVED towards the  
other angel... then from between the two Angels deflected out towards Evangelion  
Unit Two.

Asuka screamed in pain, collapsing again.

"No..." Shinji breathed out. "They learned. They learned!"

Both Angels brought their three-eyeholed faces towards the mountain and began  
bombarding it with beams. Unit Zero had no choice but to fall back.

"We can't win this!" Shinji shouted out. "This is an enemy the Evangelions can't beat!  
Asuka! We must withdraw!"

"RUN AWAY AND I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!" she shouted back. She charged again, with  
just her fists to kill with if she had to. She screamed again, as two beams just barely  
missed her, sending her Eva stumbling.

"Misato-san! I need the ships to give us a full shelling at our location!" Shinji just said  
instead. "Please!"

The Navy began to give the Angels everything they had. Battleships pounded at the  
shore, and missiles burned at everything. It was a smoke-filled hell.

Unit Two was on Unit One's shoulders. LCL was leaking out of a hole on its side. The  
purple Eva didn't look much better, as its left shoulder lay bare to the air. Shinji had  
his Bolter pointed at the field full of acrid smoke.

He dared extend his AT-field...

Yellow darts of energy broke out of concealment.

It hit a cliffside somewhere to the left. By pushing at something, apparently he was  
concentrating an AT-field at that location. That boulder seemed to have a defensive  
AT-field. The purple Evangelion began running in the opposite direction, with the red  
one on it in a piggyback carry.

"Let me go!" Asuka screamed. "You coward! You filth! Don't you dare run away from  
this! I ORDER you to let me go! I ORDER YOU!"

"I'm sorry, Sohryu-san. I can't do that."

The Evangelions slammed and rebounded off a wall of hard air.

As they fell, Shinji's eyes widened. It was exactly the same as...! His eyes widened  
further as he saw two specks in the the sky. Rapidly growing bigger, the Angels were  
dropping onto them claws outstretched as death from above.

He had no choice but to fling Unit Two aside as he readied his own defense. The two  
Angels landed between two Evangelions that had just barely got back up to their  
feet.

Flash! Flash!

Unit One flew, having raised its own AT-field, but those of his enemies merely opposed  
his, sending him out to sea. Shinji's field failed under a steady, Ramiel-like beam, and  
his chest armor cracked. It was a massive splash that nearly overturned a nearby  
cruiser.

Unit Two spun in midair, engulfed by the beam. Strangely enough, its power was less  
than that sent against the other Eva, in some form of cruel parity. It burned a crater  
into the ground ahead of the Evangelion, and buried Asuka headfirst into it.

Both pilots saw red. Their Eva's power remaining ticked slowly down from three...  
two... one...

Zero.

Darkness.

-o-

-o-

Misato stared at the heaps of official documents on her desk. "Strange..." she mused  
out loud. "I expected there to be more."

Ritsuko laughed lightly. "The battle was from outside the city. No matter the outcome  
at least the people are happy they still have their property. We still have to deal with  
all the military damages though. The UN's invoice. And the request forms."

Misato sat down and clutched at her head. "I don't need to read them. I already know  
what they say..." She groaned. "If you must fight a battle, do it -there- instead of  
-here-."

"Six days." The scientist took a sip of her own mug of coffee. "That's enough time to  
have our defenses prepared. Enough time to get the Evangelions repaired. Now the  
question is, can you have the pilots ready?"

"I... don't know. Can we have the Evangelion Unit Zero fighting in the next battle?"

Ritsuko shook her head. "The control problems of Unit Zero go beyond mere hardware  
and software. It was never meant for actual combat. Its central control system is  
actually linked to a virtual copy of the MAGI. We are waiting for the delivery of parts  
to create, well, an entirely new head for Unit Zero."

"NERV China behind schedule again?"

Ritsuko nodded. "Can't be helped. We must make do with what we have."

"Shinji and Asuka..." Misato leaned back and put her feet up onto her desk. "What a  
problem."

"... would you classify Shinji as a dominant or submissive personality?"

The NERV Operations Director shrugged. "He follows orders. Shin-chan's best at being  
allowed to improvise, though."

"Asuka is just the sort to ask for enough rope to hang herself. Yours may be the most  
difficult task in the week ahead. I don't envy you, Misato." Ritsuko chuckled. "It might  
be good news within bad news that Commander Ikari isn't here. If he saw this, you  
might have been fired instantly... and then you wouldn't need to deal with it."

"I don't like the thought of being replaced so easily." Misato pondered on, oblivious to  
how her choice of words made her friend wince. "Shinji and Asuka... they both may be  
thinking they're made to replace each other. Instead of using it up against each other,  
how can we combine that strength?"

"Uungh." Ritsuko nursed a rising migraine. Maya's getting to me. "If we had four pilots,  
this wouldn't be such a problem."

"Hm..?"

"A sync ratio in the one-fifites range just might be fast enough to match the chaotic  
field shift of the enemy Angels. Enough that the pilots can choose when to neutralize  
the enemy AT-field, and enough to outmaneuver simultaneous attacks."

Misato shrugged. "But like you said, we need to make do with what we have." She  
smiled cutely. "Pleease, Rits-chan. Do you have anything that will keep me from  
getting fired?"

The scientist leaned on the stack of papers and held out a disk. "Now what would you  
do without me, Misato? In the end I always end up taking care of your problems..."

"Oh, how good it is to have a kind old friend!"

Ritsuko smirked. "Unfortunately, I can't take credit. Help in this pinch of a situation  
comes from Kaji-kun..."

Misato blinked. "Kaji..?" She took the disk and shoved some of the paper piles so she  
could open up her own workstation. She put the disk in.

Wonder filled her face as she watched the data in it.

"Hey, Rits-chan... who does Kaji work for?"

"Hm? Why are you asking me? You already know he's the UN attache."

"This... have you seen this? I don't believe Kaji could have put this all together in just  
one night." She looked up and opened up her right hand in front of her face. "This plan  
just... knows too much about the AT-field."

She began ticking off from her fingers.

"One. You may push or pull with an AT-field.  
Two. You may use an AT-field to deflect.  
Three. You may use an AT-field as a crude sense.  
Four. You may project an AT-field a distance away, but you will need to remain  
motionless while doing it.  
Five. You may give an AT-field an edge.

This... it's great. It's a simultaneous attack on the Angel, timed to music. It's good.  
It's too good. It makes me suspicious."

Ritsuko looked noncommital. "We did send out simulation data to the JSSDF. I think  
it's only natural they would have some plan against whatever tricks the Eva could  
pull." She finished off her coffee. "And he is Asuka's guardian. Surely he would have  
known about what an Eva could do."

"But a lot of this we knew about only from the Angel attacks on Tokyo-3. Not even  
Shinji makes it a habit of using the AT-field this way. It's like... the enemy, only in  
the FORM of an Evangelion."

Ritsuko turned away. Moving about her own brilliance, people tended to dismiss Misato  
as dim. However, her old friend possessed her own brand of keen intellect.

"... do we have a choice?" she asked. "It's what we have."

Misato licked her lips. "Maybe. There's still someone I haven't asked."

-o-

-o-

His room was smaller now, but Shinji didn't mind. Of course, Misato protested that he  
didn't have to give up his own room to the newcomer, but he preferred it so. A store  
room emptied out could serve as a small bedroom and he had much less stuff than  
Asuka.

There was also that the store room didn't have a window. That made it all the more  
attractive to him, ensuring him another layer of security from monitoring. Inside it, he  
sat facing his three figurines, mulling over his recent defeat.

_'We learn more from our defeats than from our victories.'_ said the Farseer.

_'And well INDEED do the Eldar DESERVE their wisdom' the_ Chaos Marine sneered. _'You_  
_do not have to tolerate her incompetence, bright lord. She is a RISK to your plans.'_

_'And what would you have me do? Asuka is... trying her utmost. I can't fault her for_  
_that.'_

_'Her lack of discipline will be... has been... her downfall_." answered the Space Marine.  
'Such anger may lead her to Chaos.'

_'You may THINK she serves Khorne with her flailing about, but that girl... her fears, her_  
_sweet PAIN... she is Slaaneshi to the core.'_

Loud music blared from the Asuka's room, all to hide her sobbing. The girl felt so alone.  
What made it worse was that she knew there was no one she could really blame but  
herself for her failure. She feared being sent away as useless. For too long had she  
made Eva the center of her existence, and to fail in the only thing that supposedly  
tied her to the world... cut very deep into her sense of identity.

_'I need to help her'_ said Shinji.

_'Do you? Do you REALLY?'_ Chaos answered. _'Do you even NEED her at all?'_

_'Of course! She is an Evangelion pilot, like me. She needs this, like me. Never have I_  
_seen someone live so much just for the fight... to Rei, purpose was reason in being._  
_But Asuka... she is -defined- by her struggle.'_

_'She suffers from the constant affliction of you mon-keigh, a vauge idea of goals. She_  
_seeks to be the best, but until you my young king, she has never found anyone to_  
_really measure herself against. The value of being the greatest fades if there is no one_  
_else to confirm this... to win by default is to lose victory.'_

_'Asuka believes in nothing but herself.'_ Shinji sighed._ 'And tha_t i_s why, her pool of faith_  
_may empty itself. She won't reach beyond her limits, not until her faith can be shared.'_

_'One cannot give faith, commander. One earns it.'_

_'I don't know how to help her...'_ Asuka was so human, in all the human failings and all  
the human desires. Shinji wouldn't be able to respect himself if he failed to help such  
an exemplification of his own very goal.

_'Then perhaps you need to ask someone who can?'_ continued the Space Marine. _'If_  
_she is needed for humanity's victory, then at the very least our duty is to aid her in_  
_finding the pure source of her will.'_

_'Forget the pure.'_ counseled the Chaos Marine._ 'It would be far easier to find the root_  
_of her insecurities and pull upon it. The other pilot serves you well and true, why not_  
_have two?'_

The Farseer then began to giggle to herself. Warp energies seemed to spark from all  
around her as she weaved through a maze of eventualities.

_"Emperor protect us..."_

_'Flee now, bright lord. Flee while you still can!'_

"Hey, everyone! I'm hoome!" said Misato from the door. "I have a plan!"

-o-

-o-

It was a day and a morning after the battle with Israfael. Toji and Kensuke followed  
behind Hikari as they went up to the pilots' apartment. It was clear beforehand that  
Asuka was living with Shinji, and with mass media trumpeting their defeat the other  
teens knew that their absence had something to do with the Evangelion somehow.

"Strange..." said Toji. "You know, it's like this entire floor of the building doesn't have  
anyone other than Misato-san living in it."

"NERV security. They're just throwing money around." replied Kensuke. Now that he  
was actually earning his money, he could appreciate his father's concern with making  
the numbers work out. Waste was the enemy. "They relocated everyone here, even  
just to limit whatever excuses people could give in going up to where the pilots live.  
Class rep, did you notice anyone?"

"No. But there." She pointed aside, while walking. There were several wall-mounted  
cameras. "If anyone other than us, even food delivery, tried to get up to this floor  
they would be stopped and searched I think."

Kensuke sighed. "It's not always fun and games to be an Eva pilot."

They reached the door. Hikari rang the doorbell. It opened, and from the edge two  
faces shyly went to see.

Toji and Kensuke reared back. "You're in that paired look again!" they said with a  
grimace. The two Eva pilots were in unisex clothing, with a red sleeveless vest over  
black silk pants. Overall it looked less girly on Ikari than tight black shorts and a short  
shirt, but it was still disturbing.

Hikari turned around, punched them both in the head before they could say anything  
further and then back to the door. She smiled sweetly. "So, is this necessary?"

"T-thanks, class rep." said the two boys. Asuka whistled appreciatively.

"It's not our fault!" the two pilots said at once. "They're making us do this. We need  
to function together. We even have to eat together, wash together, sleep together."

"I wonder if they're trying to ensure the next generation who can activate the Evas?"  
Hikari mused further.

"You misunderstand!" added the two.

"Ikari, what about Ayanami?" Kensuke asked.

A blue-haired head likewise poked into view. "I am here as well." She was dressed in  
normal clothes, in her school white shirt and shorts borrowed from Maya. Her hair  
looked slightly mussed.

"GOD-DAMN YOU IKARI!" the two boys shouted as one.

"What's the commotion over there?" a voice recognizable as Maya's piped out from  
inside the apartment. "Let's not waste time. Misato-sempai is ready for you now."

Kensuke just fell over unconscious. Toji managed to restrain himself, due to a certain  
peeved glance from Hikari.

-o-

The students laughed. "You should have told us from the very beginning!" said Hikari.  
She had Pen-pen on her lap, and rubbed at his tummy. Incredibly, the penguin semeed  
to be purring. He seemed to instinctively recognize her as another provider of good  
food.

"So, this is your idea, Ibuki-san?" asked Kensuke.

Maya took a calming draught of tea. "I merely modified a plan someone sent out to  
Misato-sempai. Fighting timed to music was a good way to force synchronization, but  
a basic rule of warfare is that no plan ever survives contact with the enemy."

"So... martial arts?" Toji asked further.

"Something like that." she continued. "The critical portion of the plan is more mental  
than physical. I can just see it... backflip, blackflip, then wham! They smack headfirst  
into an AT-field wall. Ritsuko-sempai and I have designed a crash course to rapidly  
enhance their movements and sync ratio. They need to match or repulse an enemy's  
AT-field without even needing to think about it."

Everyone looked to the Eva pilots, wired up and moving according to the images on a  
projector screen. Colored dots on a pad on the floor and arrows on the screen were  
indicators of where and how they should move.

"I notice Rei isn't wired. Is she in on it?" asked Kensuke.

"Evangelion Unit Zero is unable to battle, however Rei should benefit from this too. We  
are using her as the control group, to check if it's the practice or the synchronized  
living that increases sync ratio." Maya took another sip. "The original plan called for  
a pressure pad and a color pattern. Please. I have the MAGI and motion capture has  
been around since the last century."

Misato slapped the table and laughed. "All these unused apartments might as well be  
good for something." She gestured around the empty space. "Maya-chan and Rei-chan  
are moving into the next aparment until this thing is over. I must say, it's nice to have  
neighbors you can talk to."

"It can't be permanent, Misato-sempai. We still have many things to do in our former  
residences."

Breep! Breep! BREEP!

"Raargh!" Asuka tore off her contact leads. "I can't work with this fool! He's slowing  
me down!"

"That is the whole point, pilot Sohryu." Rei said, continuing on her patterns of sinuous  
movement. "The mind and the body, neither must move faster than the other. It is  
true, pilot Ikari... your body is much slower than your mind."

"Sorry. Let's try again..."

"Oh, give me a break..." Asuka muttered. "Not from the beginning again. I can -do-  
this, if I didn't have you messing up."

"Asuka! Remember that this dance isn't your goal. When you pass the Evangelion test,  
then you can talk. Now get on that multiplayer." Misato pointed with her unopened  
beer can.

The Second Child was going to protest further, then for a moment saw what might  
have been a smirk on the First Child's face. She snarled and put her feet back on the  
starting positions.

-o-

-o-

"Evangelion Battle Simulation mark three, file two; session number fifty-one. Ready to  
commence." said Maya.

Everyone had gathered at the main tactical center. Only it had a screen big enough,  
with a sound system powerful enough, to be worthy of what they would see. MAGI  
transferred sync data to the Evangelions, and from there back into itself to create  
a virtual scenario using the JSSDF battle software.

"All right. Remember, pilots..." Ritsuko spoke into the simulation plug audio link. "Don't  
hold back. I programmed in a feedback response, but not the pain of death. Treat the  
others as your enemy. I repeat, don't hold back. We need the data."

"Pah! This will be easy!" said Asuka.

"Understood." said Rei, eyeing the purple Evangelion kneeling in the distance.

"All right. Remember the locations of weapons caches. For the purposes of this battle  
scenario, there is no operational power limit. The use of the AT-field is to be limited to  
defensive purposes only and as such will be the only thing draining the five minute  
power supply."

"Ready everyone?" Misato looked back at the sea of eager faces.

"Isn't anyone taking bets against Ikari...?" someone whined.

Maya switched on her announcement button. "Please know, everyone, that while the  
sync data is being sent from the Evas, that isn't -Principio Eternus- fighting in the sim.  
I personally programmed in the Evangelions to be perfectly equal in capabilities."

"... so, you're saying Shinji could still lose?" Misato asked.

"It's anybody's fight right now."

And there was a frenzy of shouting and betting. Up on the command desk, Fuyutsuki  
chuckled. Gendo Ikari would never have allowed such laxity of professionalism from his  
people. However this was sending morale straight through the roof.

Ritsuko tapped her foot impatiently. "Are we ready to begin?" she asked after several  
minutes.

"Hold on... eight hundred yen on Shinji, both other Evas put down." Misato whispered  
back to Makoto. "Okay. Everyone done? Everyone? Good!" She turned to the screen.  
"Evangelions!

Fight!"

Unit Two sprang into action, with Asuka yelling over the comm. She made a straight  
beeline towards the purple Evangelion, still there half kneeling. Hand to hand was good  
enough. She stopped in front of it and had her Eva make slow, flowing movements of  
its hands and arms.

Unit One punched it in the head. The red Evangelion collapsed. On the ground, Asuka  
groaned out "What the fuuu..."

"Miss Sohryu." Ritsuko said over the channel. "Tai Chi might increase your sync ratio,  
but you do still need to move as fast or faster than he does."

A bright lance of energy smashed against an AT-field. Unit One took several leaps  
back as it espied Unit Zero approaching from over the ridge. It had two positron rifles,  
one being weilded while the other was slung on a strap over its shoulders. "...dakka."  
said Rei softly, as she pulled on the trigger again.

Unit One began to run, looking for a bigger gun. Asuka made the decision to charge at  
Rei, and got a faceful of virtual packed positrons. She too, then decided a weapon  
was called for.

The simulated fighting area was along the outskirts of Tokyo 3. Heavy cargo trucks  
and armory buildings were already placed along the hills and dips in the terrain. Power  
stations were set to recharge the Eva's main battery after overusing its AT-field.

Unit Zero walked slowly, stalking the others. They used cover well.

Rei barely had any warning, as Unit Two leapt off from behind a hill, its prog spear  
held up high over its head. She fired, but the positron couldn't beat an Eva's sheer  
momentum. She stepped back as it cleaved down, and her rifle broke apart as she  
used it to slightly slow the slice.

Smoothly, Asuka reversed her grip and swung up, the tip of her spear catching the  
pale blue Eva by the jaw. It staggered back, but the damage was very slight. It ran  
up another hill to gain the advantage. There, Unit Two unslung the spare rifle.

Asuka knew enough never to make an uphill charge against someone armed with range  
weaponry. She circled around, her AT-field handling the shots. There at the softer  
side of the hill, she began her attack.

On top of the hill, Unit Zero threw away its rifle and deployed two prog daggers. "You  
can't be serious..." Asuka said, nearly laughing. "Those little things against my spear?  
You don't know -anything- about battle, do you?"

She felt a weight slam onto her back. Unit One leapt off the shoulders of her Eva,  
roaring mightily. Its chainsword screamed in the air. Its Bolter spat a deadly cluster  
of ludicrously large caliber shells.

Rei deployed her AT-field and threw the prog daggers, guiding one to pass between  
the incoming bolter rounds - and at the Bolter itself. The gun was cut into two, and  
Unit One simply opened its hand to let it drop. It switched to a two-handled hold for  
its chainsword. The other struck at its shoulder armor, leaving a tolerable scratch.

Unit Two slammed face-down into the ground. Asuka managed to look up only to see  
Unit Zero dive off its perch, as the chainsword bit savagely into the hilltop. Unit One  
roared again, and leapt following it.

"What -the hell- was -that-?" Asuka screamed out.

"This is a simulation, Sohryu-san..." Maya responded a little too sweetly. "Even those  
weapons still at the design stage may be used here; we did ask you what weapons  
you wanted to use..."

"A chainsaw...? What kind of maniac FIGHTS WITH A CHAINSAW?"

"Chain-sword." corrected Maya. "Progressive bits should do against Angels that try at  
armor. Fleshy targets... are just objects of pity."

Explosions happened beyond Asuka's view. She heard two roars, and then a hill just  
crumbled into pieces as two AT-fields smashed into each other. She grit her teeth and  
ordered her Eva back to its feet. She took up her prog spear again and set off running  
towards the fray.

She stood above a small valley, and saw Unit Zero retreating again. Unit One stood  
there merely watching it leave. "Hey Shinji!" she shouted down. "I'm your opponent  
now!"

"So be it, Asuka." he said, his tone lacking his usual restraint. He actually sounded...  
happy.

She snorted. "Here goes!" She held her spear out to stab, and charged down the  
slope, yelling her spirit out. Unit One lightly skipped aside from her piking attack.  
"Don't take things so easy, fool!" she shouted out. "Any thrust can become a slash in  
an instant!" Pulling down with her left and using her right hand, farther away from her  
Eva's body, as the fulcrum, she cut at the purple Eva's suddenly exposed side.

Sparks flew as large solid prog blade met hundreds of tiny moving prog shards. Asuka  
fought to keep her spear in her hands, as each sawbit nudged it up just a little more.  
Unit One grabbed the shaft with its right hand and pulled.

"Heh..." Asuka grinned. "What do you think you can do?" she asked. Unit One and Two  
were equal in strength. He couldn't pull her off her feet.

The purple Eva pushed the spear aside, and swung with its chainsword. The shaft was  
just normal metal, and it easily snapped under the rushing blades. Asuka took a step  
forward and jabbed at the enemy Eva's neck with her suddenly lighter weapon. She  
prodded it at several points, unbalancing it. "Leverage!" she shouted as it fell on its  
metal-clad butt.

She spun her staff around, completely comfortable with its use.

"You better take me seriously, First Child. I won't let you act as if you're the only one  
that can fight."

He laughed through the link. "I already knew you could fight, Sohryu-san." Shinji then  
went serious. "But do you know how to -win-?"

"Hah! A neophyte like you can never beat me!"

"Maybe... but you forget, you're not the only one with years of experience inside an  
Evangelion."

Unit Two's weapon feel out of its hands as it felt a great force from behind nearly  
toppling it off its feet. It came as a stream of pain, slamming into between Asuka's  
shoulder-blades. Rei had returned, with an Eva-sized Heavy Bolter.

Unit Two turned, and tried to charge, only to be pushed into the ground by the slap  
of full-automatic massive-caliber fire.

Her armor began to crack from the strain. She screamed. "You... cheaters! You DAMN  
CHEATERS! How dare you gang up on me! You know you couldn't win on your own!"

"... you were the one so insistent on fighting with a melee weapon, as if this was a  
duel." Shinji said sadly. "To win means to use every weapon at your disposal. If you  
are my enemy, then I do not care in what manner you die."

Rei switched her Custom Cannon from bolta to positron shoota. It burrowed through  
the weakened head armor and into the red Eva's simulated brain.

EVANGELION UNIT TWO - DEFEATED  
Total score: 2311  
Combat time: 4:21

"Ello, Rei." said Shinji.

"Ello, pilot Ikari." she replied.

"Shall we fight, then?"

"Ere we go."

Evangelion Unit One roared. It rushed forward, leaping with impossible agility from side  
to side as it tried to evade fire. Its AT-field went active, deflecting shots and trying  
to neutralize that of the other Eva.

Evangelion Unit Zero flicked a switch on its rifle and out popped a large prog bayonet.

Sparks flew and flashes lit up the scene, as the two Evas fought with all savagery and  
without restraint. Blades, hands, feet, big rocks - everything was a weapon.

Neither could gain any decisive advantage. Points began to accumulate rapidly. Even  
those watching became silent in their encouragements as they stared at the screen.

Unit One parried a thrust to its face, only to remember too late that there was a gun  
barrel behind that glowing red blade. A positron beam nearly took its head off, had it  
not dodged at the very last moment. A deep gash carved into the left half of its face.

The bayonet then swung down, towards the hand holding the chainsword. Unit One  
kicked at Unit Zero's abdomen. Both their weapons fell out of their hands.

"Waaagh!" both pilots screamed at each other as they grappled.

Both were matched in strength. Both were unyielding. Both ended up just headbutting  
each other over and over. It would boil down to who had the higher tolerance for pain.

WHAM! WHAM!

Unit One reared back for another head smash, only instead of meeting it, Unit Zero  
caught it upside down the head with a two-fisted downstrike. The purple Eva was the  
victim of its own momentum as it slammed face-first into the ground.

POM!

Unit Zero lifted its right leg and...

STOMP!

Unit Zero then began -jumping- on its head.

STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!

Enraged, Unit One lifted its head and roared. Unit Zero kicked at like it was a football.  
There was an audible crack.

The purple Eva slumped to the ground. Rapid, rationality-busting self-healing wasn't  
programmed in.

EVANGELION UNIT ONE - DEFEATED  
Total score: 16052  
Combat time: 13:49

Unit Zero, unlike the other Evas, had its mouth sealed and thus couldn't roar. It let  
out instead a loud gurgle from within its metal mask.

EVANGELION UNIT ZERO - WINNER  
Total score: 17233  
Combat time: 13:53

Misato twitched. "S-so... Shinji is vulnerable to his own method of combat?"

Screams of anguish echoed off the command center. A bright happy squeal broke and  
rose from it. "I WON!" Maya shouted out joyfully, shaking in glee. "THREE MONTHS PAY!  
THREE MONTHS PAY!"

She grabbed the nearest person, who just happened to be Ritsuko, and kissed her.  
The two broke apart, stared at each other in shock... then Maya shrugged, as if to  
say; what the hell, and kissed her again. "I WON! TAKE THAT, YOU LOSERS!"

Nobody else really had much confidence in Ayanami. She let out a loud "OHOHOHOHO  
HOHOHOHO!"

"Five thousand yen if you kiss Katsuragi!" someone yelled.

"DONE!" Maya went over and gave her other sempai the tongue. "Now GIMME!" All shall  
fall before the might of Capitalist Ibuki!

"Uh... ten thousand yen if you kiss me!"

"GO FUCK YOURSELF!" she shouted back, still happy beyond her mind, and continued  
to make at the Dance of Capitalist Superiority.

After a while, Ritsuko coughed and went over to the console. "Well, this should be  
enough. Rei, do you think you can handle two Evangelions at once?"

"... of course." she responded, her flat tone somehow managing to convey indignation.

"Good. Now, Ikari and Sohryu... you will undergo synchro training until you can defeat  
Ayanami using two or more Evangelions programmed with full Angel abilities. Remember,  
this is not a game. Fight to win, not to claim whatever glory for yourself."

"Yes, Akagi-sensei..."

"Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT!" Asuka slammed her fists down at her plug controls. "This  
shouldn't be happening...!"

-o-

-o-

"Asuka... your sync ratio is dropping. Are you thinking of unnecessary things?"

"N-no." The girl took a deep breath and centered herself. Even if the memory was  
already several days old, it still burned her. To be defeated by Shinji was one thing,  
but that doll! The one who never had any kill to her name, the one most useful as  
just a sacrificial shield...! She couldn't bear it.

She blinked repeatedly as the sync testing plug opened up. No, she was strong. She  
just had to endure until she could finally show how vastly she could surpass them all.

Ritsuko had her back turned away to the computer. However, she could guess at  
Asuka's mental state. "Well, this is good news for you. You still have the highest sync  
ratio of the pilots, and now it is actually in the mid-eighties."

Asuka didn't respond.

"Is something wrong?"

"Kaji told me that baka Shinji had an average of one hundred percent..." she said in a  
low tone.

Ritsuko sighed. "In a way, that's true. In a different way... the normal way of looking  
at things, Kaji-kun's lying out of his ass again."

Asuka looked up, filled with sudden hope. "What... what do you mean?"

"Well, that IS his average. Remember that he was in actual combat for only four times.  
In a synchrograph test, his scores are just pathetic. The most is sixty-six percent. In  
an Evangelion, however... it fluctuates wildly. It can reach higher than a hundred and  
then go below forties. Unlike you, Shinji is just incapable of holding a sync ratio."

"How is that possible? Does that affect how he fights?"

"Well, I am sure you know the sync ratio is directly related to feedback. The higher it  
is, the more pain you feel, but the faster the Eva responds and the greater is the  
potency of the AT-field."

"Do you know what's causing it, Doctor Akagi?"

The scientist winced. "He just explains it all away as opening himself up to the will of  
the machine spirit. The testing equipment just doesn't have one."

"Phfft. That's unscientific. Everything has a cause and effect."

"Indeed. The weirdness he pulls with the AT-field makes little sense even to him, so  
it is up to us to find the underlying reasons within them. Obviously if it can be done,  
then we may replicate it in another Eva."

Then, both blinked, as they belatedly realized what each other had said. They turned  
to each other... and smiled hesitantly.

Finally, someone else that makes sense!

Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad, working in Tokyo-3.

-o-

-o-

Four days had passed. Misato slept on the floor between their futons as a guarantee  
nothing would happen. It didn't help, as she could actually be far more distracting  
than Asuka could ever be. She snored.

Shinji opened his eyes, and yawned. Synchro training aside, he was still the first one  
up every morning. He had to prepare breakfast. It was the only time of the day they  
couldn't order for take-out if Asuka didn't feel like helping with the cooking. Very  
quickly did the girl learn never to trust what Misato called an 'interesting new taste'.

The first thing he did every morning was take a short soak in the bath, to wake up  
every part of his body. Unsurprisingly, Pen-pen was already there. It seemed that in  
all the bustle going on, and being unable to leave, he was synchronizing with the pilots  
as well.

"You wouldn't happen to have an Evangelion of your own you're hiding somewhere,  
would you?" Shinji asked the penguin.

"Wark!"

"Didn't think so..."

The penguin got out of the bath and took his small towel, leaving him alone to relax  
and prepare for the rest of the day.

He was humming as he went out, already dressed in his normal clothes. He put rice in  
the rice cooker and chopped up some garlic and spring onions to mix with the eggs.  
He stirred omelet into a hot pan and worked on Misato's morning miso. When it was all  
done, he let out a "Gah!" as he turned around and nearly dropped the food in surprise.

Asuka was already there, seated feet up on the chair, staring at him with a narrow  
expression.

He put the food on the table and sat down himself. "Um... good morning, Asuka."he  
greeted weakly. "I didn't think you'd be up so soon."

"What, you think you're the only one capable of rising early? Tch." Asuka looked aside.  
"I don't get you... how can you be so... servile? Don't you have any self-respect?"

Shinji did most of the chores, and by extension of their training she had to do them as  
well. She saw how he was struck with sudden urges to clean and set things to order,  
and an unnatural focus on neatness was a sign of mental disorder to her. Of course,  
the college graduate in her also noted, one may also consider sheer laziness to be a  
mental disorder in itself.

He shrugged. "I don't think I would be able to respect myself I couldn't help." was his  
response. "When those I care for are happy, then I'm happy as well."

"That's the kind of slavish reaction I just don't understand... you and Rei. You're just  
tools. How can you live like that ?"

It irritated her, seeing his obvious amusement at her words. "We don't need much  
more than that."

"You piss me off, you know that?" He laughed weakly again, rubbing the back of his  
head in the typical embarrassed reaction. She scowled. "The great Shinji-sama! You're  
going to make someone a fine wife someday."

"I... have been told that, yes."

Asuka hugged her knees. "You know what I think; it's got to be a cover somehow.  
You've got some deep dark secret you don't want anybody else to know."

He stopped and quirked his lips. "Oh, come on now, Sohryu-san..."

Asuka brought her hand up and put something on the table. "What's this then?"

Shinji stared at it with a mix of fear and... relief? Wait, so is there really a deep dark  
secret? Asuka smirked. "What? Were you trying to HIDE this from me, Third Child?  
Aren't you ashamed to still be so attached to your toys?"

"Maya still has a few teddy bears..."

"Basing your defense around the actions of a girl isn't helping your case any, Shinji."

"Technically Ibuki-san would count as a young woman, but... I see your point." He  
winced as he saw Asuka fiddling about with the Farseer. "Please be careful, Asuka.  
It's... kinda valuable."

For some reason hearing that made her twitch. "How valuable?"

"It's the last of its kind. More than Misato-san makes in a month, I think..." It would  
be a lot more, if people actually had any idea what the heck it was supposed to be.

Asuka stared at the strangely disapproving face. It was recognizably female, and it  
was for that reason she picked it up... but she had a feeling it was still dangerous and  
respected, in whatever world the toy was supposed to be from. "I don't get you..."  
she said again to him.

"It's all right, Asuka. I'm not that complicated, really."

"I don't... I don't get you. You haven't spent years as I have. You didn't study for it,  
you didn't practice for it. I had the best tools. I had the best teachers! I -prepared-  
for it! I was supposed to be the best!" She gripped the figurine tightly, still refusing to  
look up at him. "Defeating the Angels was supposed to be -my- duty! How... I don't  
get it.

How can a wussy, pathetic little BOY like you just walk in and take it away!"

"A-asuka..."

"You and Rei. You're pathetic! But..." She slammed her forearms down at the table,  
sending the plates clattering. "How is it... where are you getting that strength? Did  
you earn it the way I have, with hours and hours inside a sync tank? How can you  
do this? How can you do this to me?"

She looked up, and she was crying. She was way past being ashamed of showing any  
weakness. He was still sitting there, so calm and unmoving. She expected to see pity  
or disdain, but found neither... only acceptance. And that was what made it all so  
spiteful.

"What's the point of sending for me if you're just going to laugh at me...! Is this all I'm  
good for?" She grit her teeth. "Dammit! Why am I so weak...?"

"Asuka..." Shinji looked in pain himself. "No one's laughing.." She's so alone. Like he  
was and Rei as well, each isolated in their our own way. He's never seen such despair  
before. She's burning away from the inside. Oh, Asuka... "You're not weak at all...  
nobody thinks that."

"I don't believe you! Maybe I should take away something of yours, then! Make it  
even!" she spat. She put her open palm over the head of the Farseer. "This goddamn  
town... it's taken too much from me already."

"You won't do that, Sohryu-san..."

"WATCH ME!" Asuka put her fist up high to smash the figurine.

"... because I don't believe you're a bad person."

SLAM! Her fist just barely missed the Farseer. Her tears dripped down to it.

"I believe you're just... feeling lost. Please, Asuka. You're not alone. No one thinks  
badly of you. It doesn't matter who's best or not... if you need to be, then you will be.  
I really believe you have that strength." Shinji's voice was sincere. He feared Asuka,  
for what she could do to herself. He feared for what she was losing, something grand  
that also deserved expression. "No one can take away your strength, only you can  
give it to help others... we need you, Asuka."

"Damn it. Damn you all." She stood away from the table and hugged herself. "Why am  
I so unnecessary...?"

"Asuka..."

"I'm not you! I can't be you! I'm not that doll either! I tried... oh, mother I tried... but  
why is it always not good enough?" She bit her lower lip, enough to let it bleed. "No...  
nobody wants me. I'm not good enough."

'What should I do!' Shinji mentally shouted to the figurine on the table. 'Asuka... she's  
in such pain! Such suffering! I can't bear it...! I need her. I need to help her.'

'My farsight is useless, young king. Do as your heart demands.'

Shinji walked over, put his hands on Asuka's shoulders, and kissed her.

It wasn't intruding, just the surface of their lips, lasting barely more than a second.  
Her blood stained his mouth.

Asuka pushed away, and saw he was just as shocked, as struck with the unexpected  
as she was. She slapped him anyway. "You...!"

"Oh, gods. I... I'm sorry, Asuka." He licked his lips. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't..."

It was the first true kiss for the both of them.

"HOW DARE YOU! Don't... don't look at me!" She reached up to wipe her lips, then  
instead just put her palm up to her face. She screamed out silently, then "No! I HATE  
YOU! I DON'T NEED YOU! I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I DON'T NEED -YOU- TO CARE AT  
ALL ABOUT ME."

"But... Asuka. Please. You don't need to try and bear it all alone. I care for you  
anyway."

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" She put her palms over her ears and glared at him, her  
eyes reddish with even more tears. She was breaking down completely. Shinji and  
Asuka... neither could predict each other at all. "DON'T TALK TO ME! DON'T TOUCH  
ME!"

'I've gone and shoved it all to hell...' Shinji thought. "I'm sorry..."

"Shut up!" Asuka turned and went for the door. "I can't take the sight of you. You  
make me -sick-, Third Child! I'm not going to be one of your toys!"

"ASUKA!"

"No! I don't care...! I HATE YOU! Don't try to stop me!"

"Um... it's still dark out. Could you at least put on some proper clothes?"

Her fingers left the door latch. She stomped back and spat into his face. "HATE!" she  
said. Asuka went into her room and dressed warmly. Back to the door. "I -hate- you  
beyond anything I could possibly hate!"

She slammed the door shut as she left.

Shinji wiped his face and sat back at the table, emotionally drained himself. Pen-pen  
emerged from his refrigerator to give him a reassuring "Wark!" and a friendly pat with  
a flipper. The penguin got up to the table, and took the entire plate of omelette to  
eat out on the veranda.

Misato couldn't be roused even by all that commotion.

Asuka ran on, heedless of where she was going. She felt badly, but her despair and  
nigh-suicidal depression at her constant failure was replaced with such burning rage.  
Hatred. Him and herself. For a brief moment, she really had considered... such a boy,  
how could he help her?

He could barely even help himself. He had nothing special, but everyone bowed to him  
anyway. She couldn't understand it. He didn't look in any way that formidable.

But...

It would have been so easy. She had believed for a moment, that he could protect  
her. Such a weak-looking boy. As if he could and would move mountains just for her.  
The source of all her pain. Could he take it away? It made no sense!

She made her way to a nearby park, and sat on a bench there. The chill dawn air  
dried her tears, and in its cold numbness she felt her own pain also receding.

Asuka closed her eyes. She didn't want to owe anything to anyone. No; she wouldn't  
be anyone's doll. "Hate him!" she said to herself. "I hate him! I hate him! I -need- to  
hate him...!"

She shivered, and not due to the cold. She felt herself breaking down again.

"Hate!" she said again.

She felt a change in pressure, as someone sat on the wooden bench beside her. "Hate  
is a powerful emotion." said that someone. "A beautiful young woman as yourself isn't  
made for such such feelings..."

"Buzz off, creep!" she snarled out, her eyes still closed. "Do you have any idea who I  
am?"

"Not really, no." was the reply. "Should it matter? You look like you need someone to  
talk to. I will listen."

"I'm not here to entertain you. Go away!"

A long stretch of silence.

"... did you know it is impossible to hate someone too much?" the unknown voice said  
after a while. "If you continue on it, to accept it so thoroughly into your being, you  
begin to cherish that hate. Cherish him. You would hate him and in this way also hate  
yourself and you would have it no other way. You would understand him, and yourself  
and all so completely and it would all become something utterly new. It would be an  
emotion so black and pure and yearning and HATE itself would be so small a word to  
decribe what it could be."

Slowly, very slowly, Asuka opened her eyes.

"Humans strive so much, and never really understand themselves. So they search out  
examples from others, and where there isn't make up those that they could use as  
their templates. Gods... heroes... but all of it just an excuse, because humans seek  
the perfect knowing. To cherish that understanding. To -grok-; to hate beyond hate  
and love beyond love.

Humans struggle. They falter. They fail. But it's all right..."

Asuka turned, and saw him there clad in the sunrise. His hair was pale gray, his eyes  
a pale brown, his skin was pale as well... everything about him was so pale and unreal  
and he was so breathtakingly handsome... no, even beautiful... to her. Her own heart  
seemed to stop.

"Eventually they find it. After all... " Kaworu smiled at her. "It's for The Greater Good."

-o-

-o-

-o-

end Dance of Fate part two


	15. Chapter 14: Dance of Fate part3

Dance of Fate part three

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

"Asuka's getting better." commented Ritsuko as she checked the data feed. Maya had  
called in sick that day, due to her overwork. The latest mock battles weren't open as  
spectacles anymore, as everyone realized the grim purpose of these fights.

Misato merely chewed at a fingernail as she looked at the simulated battle. The Evas  
were already operating at their full limits throwing about physics-busting acts of AT-  
field. Sync ratings in the high eighties in five days... it was a miracle. She didn't know  
however... were they really achieving parity? Or was someone being pulled down?

"You are to be congratulated, Misato." Ritsuko continued. "Both pilots are actually  
good enough now to defeat Rei one on one. They might be able to handle two at  
once, but of course defeating them simultaneously is still an impossibility if alone."

"Something's still... off." Misato felt nervous, but for reasons she couldn't identify.  
"I've never seen Asuka so... meek. Sure, she's matching the movements now, but it's  
like someone's stolen her fire."

"Do you know what's causing it?"

She shook her head. "She and Shinji... I think they may reached some understanding  
yesterday. But, it doesn't -feel- like synchronization, you know?"

They watched Unit One fight off its pair of enemies. Rei and Shinji had no hesitation  
at all, trying their utmost to kill each other. There was already a synchronization of  
sorts there, but never at the same time. Rather, in the future, at what each other  
may think or do. Savage and brutal, utterly without mercy, that was their shared fate.

"I must admit..." Ritsuko sighed. "Shinji is frightening inside an Eva. Perhaps she merely  
decided not to compete?"

"That's so not like Asuka. We know Shinji's not some insurmountable barrier. If Rei has  
strategic thinking, then his is tactical, while Asuka was supposed to be able to react  
very quickly to changes in the battlefield."

"Put that way, they do sound as if they should all balance each other out."

"But Asuka... she's not thinking like him. She's not acting like Rei. It's like she's fighting  
only out of some ideal of holding things back until Shinji can arrive. She's waiting for  
something to happen, but I just don't know what it is."

"Might you be merely reading too much into the situation, Captain Katsuragi?" She put  
an unlit cigarette to her mouth. "Perhaps Asuka just awakened her professionalism."

Misato watched Asuka's movements. Methodical. Deadly. Precise. Intentional.

She fought alone. And she won.

-o-

It was the fifth day. It was their final practice run. Rei was given full Angel abilities,  
and was even made to cheat a little. However, against the speed of the Evangelions'  
paired attacks, neither AT-field nor rapid regeneration could prevail.

Finally, exhausted, they were done. Their minds, like it or not, were as one.

Shinji looked at the dividing screen between them. He couldn't see Asuka's form  
beyond it, but the stillness in the air... he could feel it. She was still angry. The  
dressing room was perhaps one of the few unmonitored places in NERV, for the  
backfiring potential of surveillance there was simply immense. Rei had already left,  
and the two were there alone.

"Sohryu-san... thank you." he said.

"What are you thanking me for, baaka?" Asuka breathed out sharply. She was forcing  
herself to take deep, even lungfuls of air.

"I'm sorry for what happened, but you..." Shinji sat there, still in his plugsuit. He had  
his hands steepled in front of his nose, elbows on his thighs. "You didn't let it affect  
your performance. Your truly are strong."

The metal rings rasped as Asuka forced the curtain aside. She was already in normal  
clothes, though oddly a white shirt over black pants in female cut. She stared down  
at him, her expression tight. He was just struck with how strange it was that women  
looked so -good- in men's clothes. "I'm doing what I have to do. How about you? Why  
are you doing this?"

He smiled slightly. "These people... these city, they are precious to me. I don't want  
to see them hurt."

"So in the end you're fighting for a selfish reason too. Tch." She crossed her arms over  
her chest. "Do we really need a good personal reason? Isn't it enough we're doing it  
for the greater good? Anyone that tries for anything more is just deluding himself."

He blinked. He frowned a bit. "The... Greater Good?"

Asuka put her right foot up on the bench and loomed over him. "Yeah. What do you  
think about that, oh Shinji-sama?"

He looked straight ahead. "To be frank, I'm not sure I like at all the sound of that."

"Why not?"

"Because the presence of a Greater Good means there are Lesser Goods. That there  
must be a Greater Evil and a Lesser Evil. In the name of the Greater Good, we might  
perform lesser evils, and to craft a Greater Evil one might also do some lesser good."  
He shook his head. "The sense of what is right is diluted. The individual becomes less  
important to that ideal."

Asuka smirked a bit. Yes, she had been told he might say that. "Faith is pretty much  
the same thing, isn't it? You give up responsibility for your own actions, in the name  
of something you can't touch. At least this way, you can see the reality of your own  
choices."

"But the Greater Good for whom? The greater number? The deserving select? The  
selflessness of faith differs from the selflessness of the Greater Good. However, in the  
end both are simply US versus THEM. Both are perfectly selfish in their own way."

"Then it's simply up to which one can really make me stronger, neh?"

"Is that why...? Asuka." These words, they're not her own; he realized. "You've...  
changed."

She still held her self-confidence, but closer to herself. Her posture was filled with  
such unashamed certainty, but unlike what solid faith he saw in Rei this one seemed  
upon the verge of exploding right out of her. She was filled with an intensity he could  
only call... borrowed.

Asuka tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I've decided to be mature about it, that's  
all." she said without rancor. "Under that, I think I might even be able to tolerate  
being around you."

Something feels wrong, Shinji thought. Something feels very wrong. This is what's  
best for everyone and yet it's still wrong. He felt the future closing off, and not just  
due to Asuka's natural chaos. A scenario...

"Asuka... the individual is still important." He looked up. "You are important to me."

She turned away. "D-don't say such things! What's wrong with you?"

Kaji lit up a cigarette, as he stood out on the geofront's floor. A series of mirrors and  
large artificial lights brought day into the cavernous expanse, and as day itself faded  
above so did it dim within. Trees, grass, and a lake. It was all rather picturesque, if  
he could just keep the pyramid out of his view.

He pushed some loose soil with the tip of his leather shoes. "This is good soil." he  
said to himself. "Maybe I can grow something in this..." A soldier's son of a soldier's  
son... he remembered how it was his father had said; that in the end the best work a  
man could do was to bring life out of the land. Farming, as still like in the feudal era,  
was the engine that drove armies.

"Life seeks expression, does it not, Mister Ryouji?" someone said from behind him. "Is  
that what you're thinking? This place... is fertile in ways beyond your imagining."

He sat down in a crouch, and blew out some smoke. "So it's you. Checking up on me?"

Kaworu walked over to stand beside him. The pale teen still looked satisfied somehow.  
Like he'd just eaten his fill. "Not so much you, as the entirety of what is happening  
here. Nothing forbids me from seeing things for myself."

"I still can't believe a kid like you is their representative. Your credentials check out  
though... " The spy stubbed the cigarette out on the grass. "Gendo's not here, you  
know that, right?"

"Of course. I'm sure it's difficult to resist the temptation of poking around."

"The bastard would have prepared for that, though. Leaving like this. It's like he's  
daring me to do something."

"Gendo Ikari must be held accountable for his own actions, even as he seeks others to  
explain theirs." Kaworu didn't have access to the deeper sections of NERV, but to see  
the shell of Lillith's star womb... it both excited and repulsed him. "How are things with  
you and Captain Katsuragi?"

"That's none of your business." Was that a subtle threat?

"Don't worry, Mister Ryouji. I've already said I'm here to help you." He grinned slightly.  
"We're all just doing this for the Greater Good, are we not?"

Kaji just grimaced.

-o-

All in the geofront was NERV. It was a city within a city. There were many facilities all  
underground to help the employees recover from their workdays, most of them on a  
convenient pay-slip deduction basis. People were warned not to be too taken with  
the illusion of never having to pay for anything.

Misato Katsuragi sat in one of the cafeterias, at one of the side tables, looking out  
into the geofront. She seemed to be deep in thought, and was idly again pushing  
about an unopened beer can.

"Well, well, Misato. I didn't really expect to see you sober."

She looked up to see Ritsuko moving to share the table, a cup of coffee in her hand.  
"Tomorrow, it all happens tomorrow. There's still too much to do." She sniffed. "When  
we succeed, you can join me in la-la land, Rits-chan."

"My, such confidence." The scientist smiled faintly behind her cup. "So it's all right  
just to leave the two alone for the night?"

Misato leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked out  
to the blinking underground lights again. "I trust Shinji." She laughed weakly. "Isn't  
that ironic? The only man I can really trust right now isn't even a man. I wish I could  
treat Shinji as my own child, but he ends up only taking care of me. If only he were  
a few years older..."

"That, Misato, is more a black mark against your own maturity than his." Ritsuko took  
another small sip and put down her cup. "Did something happen with you and Kaji?"

Misato closed her eyes. She hugged herself. "He's also still immature. It's been years,  
but this body - it's so weak. It's been so long since I really let anyone touch me, to  
touch my heart like that. He's the biggest mistake of my youth."

"Things are different now from eight years ago. You're different. He's different." The  
scientist shrugged. "You feel this way because you want things to remain the same,  
with you in control over yourself, as little as that may be. But this time the future for  
the both of you might be different too."

"There's no future for me. Nothing's important, not until we beat these damn angels."

Ritsuko sighed. "Misato, it's a mistake right now, to put aside your human needs for  
understanding and being understood. An emotional center is also important for those  
who would go into war. We all skirt the line of insanity, and sometimes it's just those  
whom we allow to hold us back that keeps us from crossing that."

"I don't know. I don't see any dependable men in my life." Misato opened her eyes and  
looked sly. "Maybe I need a dependable woman? Rits-chan, can I take Maya off your  
hands?"

Ritsuko winced and rubbed at her bare shoulders. Underneath her unflattering lab coat  
was actually a rather stylish black vest and a short skirt. "Don't joke like that, Misato.  
I need Maya. My workload's bad enough already..." Although she was seeing new  
confidence and womanly graces from Maya just from associating with Misato, the  
thought of a drunken, sloppy Ibuki just... scared her. "Corrupt whomever you want,  
just not my assistant."

"Fine, fine." Misato grinned and popped the tab on her Yebisu. "To business, then. I  
have confidence in Shinji-kun, but how well do you think our chances are?"

"Maya sent in an add-in to the pilots' A10-interface. It's like the markers we used in  
sync practice. Even at home she just wouldn't escape from her work..." Ritsuko shook  
her head. 'Too much like me.' She then quirked her left eyebrow. "I notice you didn't  
include Asuka. Don't you have any faith in your other charge?"

"Asuka... will perform. I know she can do it, too. It's just..." She took a drink from her  
can.

After a while, after a deep breath, she spoke again. "Shinji told me a few days ago,  
that their sync mismatch might be from just how impossible it was for him to hate Rei.  
He doesn't hold back because he respects her sacrifice that way. Asuka... her feelings  
for the other girl pilot, I can only call it... similar... to dislike."

"Say, loathing; Misato?"

She nodded. "The two girls are just too different. They're such opposites but since  
they're the same gender it doesn't have the softening effect of attraction..."

"You're wondering why we don't just recalibrate Unit Two for Rei." Ritsuko tapped at  
the rim of her cup. "Strangely enough, the synchronization between Asuka and Shinji  
is higher than that of Rei and Shinji. We have enough problems with an Eva already  
calibrated for its pilot, and Rei simply doesn't project as strong an AT-field as Asuka  
could."

Which Ritsuko knew, was deliberate. It was dangerous enough that Rei had her own  
AT-field. Unit Zero's projection system was getting interference from the dual nature  
of its field sources.

"It won't end with this battle..." said Misato. "The pilots still really need to learn how  
to work together. I can't force them to be friends though. Only each other can ever  
really understand what they're going through."

-o-

"Whaat?" Asuka screamed. "Misato's leaving us here alone? That's so irresponsible!"

Shinji winced at the volume. "It's not a problem, Asuka. We're going to sortie tomorrow  
and NERV needs to be really prepared for that. She is Operations Director, after all."

The girl grit her teeth. That's what she hated most about Shinji the Domestic, as  
compared to Shinji the Psychotic Pilot. He was so full of peaceful reason, and cutting  
down each and every one of her indignant points with such merciless ease.

"Well, don't you just get any ideas, Third Child!" she pointed at him. "If you up and try  
anything, I'll kick your ass!"

Again, that gentle amusement. "Don't worry Sohryu-san. Your virtue is safe with me."

That little smile. She'd seen that before. She looked at him with wide-eyed wonder.  
Kaworu had a smile just like that. They... they were so different and yet so similar.  
Where Shinji spoke with such calm certaintly and bubbled within with violence, Kaworu  
spoke with such passion but held inside only cold solid conviction.

"Um... Asuka?" She didn't really fear that from me, did she?

Asuka shook her head quickly to clear it. "Nothing. What are we cooking tonight?"

"Something quick and easy with the microwave, I think. How does Eggs Florentine  
sound to you?"

"Good. I'll get ready with the cheese and onions."

After all it was done, and they sat there on the table eating, each discreetly tried to  
observe each other. Both were mystified at what the other was hiding.

Asuka put down her spoon. "Hey, Shinji. Just suppose... if you were given the power  
to decide how far humanity could go, how much liberty would you give them?"

"Hm?" He paused from drinking. "What do you mean? Like a world government?"

"No, like... say, their own personal ethics. How much individual liberty do you think  
anyone should have? What would you be willing to let happen?"

"Anything." he responded without hesitation. "I would limit humanity in nothing."

Asuka tilted her head, puzzled. "But... that's just Chaos! Obviously you need to limit  
something for the greater good, otherwise even the individual would be lost in all that  
injustice as people just did whatever they felt like to each other."

He shook his head. "No, for the purposes of this discussion, Asuka... only I have the  
power to decide humanity's fate. And I refuse that power to give it back to them.  
Humanity is made of neither heaven or hell; that with freedom of choice and honor, as  
though the maker and molder of itself... that they may fashion themselves in whatever  
form they shall prefer. People, individuals, are not single things but always tip from  
order to chaos and back again. Those with order are needed for stability. Those who  
espouse chaos bring change. Only humanity may balance humanity.

If a God should be needed, only that nothing from without should threaten that free  
choice. The maker should be the first servant, just as the mother would care without  
hesitation for her child."

"I don't like it. I don't have nearly enough faith in people as you do. They're -stupid-.  
They always need to be protected. Men... you MEN... always waste what strength  
you have in fighting against each other. Always looking for more, always adding to the  
now... what pain there is now should bring only good later. It's better for everyone to  
suffer a little than for a few to be exalted at the expense of the majority."

After all, wasn't that what childbirth was all about?; that was said to her. It was all  
so perfectly matched to Asuka's cauldron of emotions.

"The burden of one is light on a thousand, Asuka. And if one should sacrifice for the  
many, then the many must also be worthy of that sacrifice. Faith demands personal  
accountability from each that possesses it."

"But that's just it! Faith is flawed! Everyone's faith is different. But we can all point  
everyone to the Greater Good. It doesn't matter if they like it or not, they're going to  
benefit from it anyway."

And Shinji smiled. "That's an excellent viewpoint, Sohryu-san. I can't judge the Greater  
Good unless I can See it. The problem herein is that while one exalts a few, the other  
exalts the group. In the end however, what purpose does their sacrifice serve? Are we  
just quibbling on the -efficiency- of our methods?"

"The Greater Good is just better." she said with a nod. It allowed her to be praised for  
her good grace while at the same time excusing any breaks in her ego. Under its light  
even her defeats could only further feed her self-esteem. Nothing that anyone else did  
really mattered; all served the Greater Good. Everyone under her and all around her  
existed to further her purpose in the Greater Good, as much as she existed to ensure  
they could continue on their own little acts.

"There are two types of liberty, Asuka - negative liberty and positive liberty." Shinji  
continued. His days in the company of no one but books had him mull upon what he  
should be doing as compared to what others believed was the proper thing for a child  
his age. He decided that childhood was not as sacred a thing as others implied.

"The defense of liberty consists of the -negative- right of warding off interference  
from others. To threaten someone with persecution unless he exists to a life with no  
goals for his own is to insult the innate dignity of a human being. It rests upon the  
basic ideal that people NEED sometimes to be left alone, to pursue their own lives and  
their own search for meaning.

Positive liberty derives from the wish of the individual to be his own master. To move  
by one's own will, to seek out one's own goals, to achieve by his own power for his  
own desires. One is free in the -positive- sense when oneself is in charge of one's own  
conduct.

Negative liberty is the absence of control by others, positive liberty is more like self-  
control. Now, the Greater Good subordinates the first, the object of Faith makes its  
mark upon the second. Each may serve the Greater Good in their own way, as long  
as they do serve it. Faith calls upon all to live a life of virtue and truth, but in its light  
are moved by their own conscious decisions to do so."

"So what, nothing works? If you're asking for moderation, that's just mediocrity. There  
are a lot more shades in the middle and a greater lack of any sort of true freedom or  
honest good than in either forms of strict perfection."

"And you want perfection, don't you, Sohryu-san?"

"Perfection stands above all things." Asuka felt her lips moving as if on their own, to  
repeat what she'd heard and so suddenly loved. "Perfect faith may be copied or even  
broken, but there is ever only really one Greater Good."

"But the Greater the Good, the many more Lesser Evils may be excused in its wake."

"Contrarywise, one doesn't need to have Faith in Good. One may also believe in Evil.  
One may just not know it."

And who among the two of you; Kaworu-kun and baka Shinji, is really just stronger for  
all that you believe in?

-o-

His figurines were packed away, and Shinji couldn't raise the concentration for another  
imaginary conversation. The concept of a restrained, civil-minded Asuka both intrigued  
and disturbed him. While he could always have faith in that Rei would support him, an  
Asuka with only a mind for the future was like the perfect general for his purposes.  
Not that, of course, he had an army. He planned to fight his battles his own way, with  
his own hands.

It was all quite refreshing, actually. Her attitude and her energy all reminded him that  
he was still a teenager; afflicted with all the normal teenage hormones and irritations.

Asuka finished putting down a long strip of orange sticky tape across the middle of the  
room. "This is the unbreakable wall of Jericho!" she said while pointing to it. "Cross this  
line and I'll scream rape!"

"All right, okay. Whatever you say, Asuka."

"The child must sleep!" she added, pointing to him. Asuka then slid under the covers  
of her own futon and turned her back. She became utterly silent. She was determined  
to lose herself in the infinite expanse of her own mind. She wanted to shut out his  
existence.

As expected from any forced attempt to meditate, thoughts and images merely sprang  
out even more, bombarding from inside the darkness.

Shinji merely looked up at the ceiling, and let his mind run free. Time ceased to matter.  
He would sleep when his body decided it needed to, not before. He opened his mind  
out to all that existed, feeling the energy of Tokyo 3. Tomorrow, he said to himself.  
Tomorrow he had to be worthy of that power, again.

After a while, he heard a muffled sound.

His eyes were already closed, and he was almost asleep. Asuka rose from her place  
and went over to the bathroom. She returned after a while, to her futon.

Some more time passed, and then he heard "Shinji... are you still awake?"

"... yes, Asuka?" he responded softly.

"I can't sleep. I keep thinking about tomorrow. Everything needs to be perfect."

"Perfection is built on little things, Asuka. Please, just relax. Sleep will come to you if  
you need it. If not, then you don't." He kept his eyes closed, and he lay there flat on  
his back. "Don't worry about it. You'll be magnificent. I have... faith in your ability."

There was a rustling sound. He felt a certain tingling, then as he slowly opened his  
eyes he saw there Asuka leaning over him, looking upside-down over his head.

"A-asuka? What about... the unbreakable wall?"

"Eh." she smirked. "Nothing says I can't move through it if I open the gates." Her face  
could barely be seen in the dim light, but she looked so serious suddenly. "Shinji..." she  
breathed out. "I'm not sure. I want to believe you, but I just can't. I'm not sure what's  
between us. What does that doll have that I don't? Why does she get to be strong  
while I'm so alone?"

"Ayanami..." Shinji sighed. "It's not so much what she doesn't have. She has an utter  
lack of fear. Ayanami doesn't believe her own life is worth much outside of her duty.  
She feels herself replaceable."

"Is she?"

"Everyone is important, Asuka." He tried to meet her eyes, but they were shadowed  
under her hanging hair. "No one's replaceable. Every life is unique, and every life is  
valuable."

"Including mine, right? I can't be replaced, right? You'll always know me as I am. You  
won't just let me die?"

"Yes, Sohryu-san. You are special too, to me."

She leaned closer, supporting her weight on her elbows. Their faces were almost  
touching, but still he couldn't see her eyes. "I wish I could believe you. I wish I could  
trust you. But... I need to know how true those words are."

Shinji felt a wet drop on his eyelashes. 'She's... crying? She's crying before me!' It  
was an odd moment of trust. Asuka felt weak, and was willing to let him share in that  
pain.

"What will you do for me, Shinji? Will you save me? Will you die for me?"

Shinji looked tilted his head further back, then saw that by how her shirt was hanging  
loose he could see the swell of her breasts. It might have been just a trick of the  
light, but that might just have been the glance of a nipple. He blushed and looked  
away. He tried hard not to think of any others he might have seen naked before. It  
would be too embarrassing.

"Of course. If you promise me one thing, Sohryu-san..."

"What is it?"

"If I should die, then I want to you use your strength to protect my precious people."  
He was still looking away, but then there on the wall he saw their shadow. Asuka was  
bent over almost kneeling over him. "Respect how important they are to me, too."

"Yeah. Sure, Shinji." She smiled thinly. "I'll do that."

A few more tears dropped, and then Asuka went back to her bed. Shinji found himself  
slowly fading off into sleep. Come morning, and with her usual brash behaviour, he  
wouldn't be able to tell if that moment of vulnerability was a dream or not.

-o-  
-o-

Two days later, Asuka sat in a familiar bench in a nearby park. Beside her sat Kaworu  
Nagisa, clad in an orange jacket over what she recognized as clothes very similar to  
what Shinji chose to wear. Still, he had a totally different dynamic presence.

"So that's what he said. How interesting." said the pale teen. "Thank you for letting  
me know, Sohryu-san." He bowed his head slightly.

"Say... Nagisa-kun?" She was blushing faintly. "Do you have anything to do tomorrow?  
That's when the Eva Fantasy Battle movie's coming out. Would you like to see it with  
me? You can meet that baka Shinji and see if he's really that interesting."

"I would be delighted, Sohryu-san, but I'm afraid I can't go with you."

"Why not?" Asuka winced at the blatant rejection. Although she was used to that from  
Kaji, hearing it from someone her own age cut raw.

"I do have something to do that day. My business is concluded here in Tokyo 3 and  
I'm sorry... but that is when I must leave."

Asuka huffed. There goes her hope of that confrontation.

"Won't you see it with Ikari-san?"

"Yeah, but... it's going to be a group thing. There's Misato... and Maya... and that  
doll." she growled out. She wanted to show that she could pick up a date even more  
easily too. "Do you really have to be going? When are you coming back?"

"Unfortunately, yes. There are... medical reasons." He grinned slightly at her, sending  
her pulse racing again. "But I'll be back for you very soon, Sohryu-san. I truly enjoy  
our conversations."

"T-thanks." Stupid Asuka! she said to herself. It's just talk! Control yourself!

Not until Tokyo 3 had she been around people with such a glowing inner core of being.  
Not until Tokyo 3 had she found those who could match her shine, and make her burn  
even hotter.

Kaworu patted her hand. "Take care of yourself, Sohryu-san." he said with that small  
smile. "Your well-being is important to me." He got up and stretched out. "I'm sorry,  
but..."

"You're going now?"

"I must. We'll meet each other again in the fullness of time." He turned away, and kept  
his small, satisfied smile. "Goodbye... Asuka."

-o-  
-o-

There was a man, a magic man, and his knowing was wide and powerful. Not even he  
could stop death, however... and as he held the cooling palm of his wife he decided  
then that if he couldn't have her then even the memory of her would be destroyed.  
She would remain perfect in his memory and his alone; no one else could own their  
love. Let there be no one and nothing to remind him of her, for with her too will die  
the last of his human desires.

-o-

There was a boy, a crying boy, and he was sent away as a child to live far away from  
the capital. In those dark woods and simple farming lands he knew nothing but how to  
live from one day to the next. In time even the memory of his mother began to fade,  
and the city he was born to nothing more than a misty scene.

-o-

There was a girl, a sad girl, sitting alone in the forest deep. She was sent away as her  
elder sister died, the last of her family. The rest of the village thought her an omen of  
misfortune, and would have killed her had they not thought her ghost would only curse  
their village further. She watched the village burn in the distance, and closed her eyes  
as she felt the approach of something large, green, toothy and vicious.

-o-

There were gods, ancient asleep, and in their silent state they counted the passing of  
years and took note of the stars. Even in their chosen death clad within their metal  
shells still burned the cleasing fires.

Fifteen years later.

The magician stood there in his hooded robes, nobody had seen his face for years and  
years. Only his bearded chin was in view, and no one had any idea of just how it was  
he could walk around without tripping all over things.

No one dared to ask, though. His powers, though often unused, only became more and  
more terrible with the passing of years. Therefore, when he went before the king to  
say that something comes; something beyond even his powers to defeat or predict,  
then everyone feared for the safety of the kingdom itself.

After almost nine thousand years, the stars were right; the heavens would open again;  
and the Gods would feed. There would be no salvation in prayer, for it was a test of  
humanity's right to exist. It had happened before, and will happen again; for that was  
why the Imperial Capital was the called The Third City. It was built upon the ruins of  
earlier failures.

-o-

A shaman lay dying, and even as his spirit left, he pointed to the stars. 'Oomans were  
going ta die. And so den dey would takes over da empty land. It's da time to meet da  
star gods, and wake up der own land god. It's da time. Der's killins' ta be done.

Da Scary Small Lady was there by the one she loved as her own father, though they  
weren't related by blood or even species. Da Scary Small Lady was ready to lead her  
chosen people into their destiny.

-o-

There was a letter. It called him to the Capital. It could not be refused, for there were  
two armored knights accompanying it. And so the Unwanted Son said farewell forever  
to those peaceful days, amid whispers of demon-child and heresy.

-o-

The Third City was huge beyond belief, but its gleaming white facade hid something  
greater still. Underneath were ruins, an underground expanse, a city within a city. In  
it worked the magics that kept the Empire strong, and the faith of the people lit up  
the false skies.

There, one of the knights took off its helmet, to reveal she was a woman all along.  
She was the Guardian, a respected veteran, and she brought him to Golden Priestess  
to recieve the blessings of the City Within.

And further down the sacred, ancient tunnels, they brought him to it.

The sleeping Machine God.

And his father.

-o-

A Girl with Blue Hair, with three large cloaked figures around her, stood and watched  
as the Enemy made its presence known. It dove from the sky, and rose from its pit as  
a being arge and grotesque. It was death-black and bone-white, and it brought only  
pitiless destruction.

All the weapons of war, all the magics of the land, nothing fazed it. The Third City  
was ready to fall like the others before it.

She smiled slightly, the only joy she allowed herself to show.

-o-

Fight for us, or die with us. The prophecies were incredibly specific, despite being  
thousands of years old. The Machine God was waking. Once before it had scourged  
the world nearly clean of life, in its war against the Star Gods. It could do so again.

In its long sleep however, its mind had deteriorated, so much so that it could not  
even move on its own. It needed a new mind, a fresh new soul, one that young and  
without regrets. One born from a cold womb, one whose blood sang with old power  
yet could not use it. One among all the children in all the world. Him.

He refused.

He had never been wanted. Now he was just to throw his life away at their will? He  
had no power. He couldn't do it. Such a beast...! He had no power.

They begged, they threatened, but unless he made the choice nothing could be done.  
Unwilling, the machine god would just reject the sacrifice.

-o-

His father gestured, and up on the air appeared the carnage in all full sight, sound  
and even smell. Everyone screaming, everyone was burning, everyone was dying. He  
wanted to vomit. However, it all only further drove into his mind how unsuitable he  
was to carry their hope.

Then he saw one Blue Haired Girl, walking down the street, calmly as if invincible in  
the midst of that chaos. She turned, and it seemed that despite the distance she  
was looking right at him.

And she smiled, slightly.

The Star Angel spasmed and shot out more yellow cross-shaped beams. Ancient  
buildings around her started to crumble; and a stone wall fell on her. She didn't have  
time to flee, and was crushed instantly.

He found himself crying.

He found himself saying, yes.

He will give himself to the Evangelion.

-o-

They made the proper preparations, and followed the half-forgotten rituals. He had  
feared it would eat him, but instead it seemed as his he had to crawl into its spine.  
There was a seat there, made of strange softly-shining white metal. Nobody knew if  
the great beast had an intelligence that was mastered, or had developed and lost  
that on its own.

It sight was his sight, its heart was his heart.

For the first time in many, many centuries, the Evangelion walked in the light of day.

-o-

He screamed. It was terrifying enough to see the destruction the Third Angel was  
carving out of the city, but the Evangelion's eyes could actually see the souls being  
sucked up by one of its two bonelike masked faces. The Evangelion could hear their  
anguish. The Evangelion could taste their flavor.

The Angel noticed its ancient enemy, and attacked.

He struggled. He begged the machine spirit. He screamed. Move! Please move! Move,  
damn you! Must I get out and push?

The Evangelion roared.

-o-

Below, a large slab of stone and mortar was pushed off a pile of rubble. From under  
it, the Blue-haired Girl heaved at the slab and sent its great weight tumbling with  
ease. She looked up, expectant. -Show me the power of humanity.-

-o-

-o-

The media flocked outside the movie theater. They shoved cameras and voice  
recorders at the pilots and their companions as they left the theater. "What did you  
think of the movie?" they asked. "Did you have any input on its creative process?"

The pilots ignored them; Shinji seemed to be looking for someone. It was Asuka  
who called out "Hey, there's Hikari-chan!" She waved to the sisters waiting there.  
"Come on, let's go say hello." she said aside.

Though somewhat insulted at being dismissed so easily, the reporters followed. The  
sister Horaki were dressed in their best, and proudly did Kodama display her studio  
button, which simply had EVFB instead of NERV under a fig leaf.

"So..." said the eldest Horaki, voicing again what was at the tip of everyone's lips.  
"What did you think of the movie?"

Shinji and Rei shared Such a Look, and then turned to Maya who merely giggled. It  
was another thing to irritate Asuka; such secretive camaraderie she was very  
deliberately being excluded from. She vowed to know what was really going on.

The two pilots bowed deeply before Kodama. "It was magnificent." They said at  
the same time.

"Thank you very much, Horaki-san. Please, accept our gratitude and through you to  
all those who worked in this picture." said Shinji.

"It was exactly what we all needed to see." said Rei. "It is an honor to be used as a  
template. Thank you."

Both smiled the same gentle smile, and to Kodama it was all so heartbreakingly  
beautiful. These kids... such good kids. She bowed deeply as well. "Y-you're  
welcome!" she said with her face down, hiding her own emotions threatening to  
burst forth. "It was worth the effort."

A reporter pushed into the space, as other mediamen respectfully drew aside from  
the oddly intimate scene. Rika Izuna even elbowed aside Asuka to jab a mike at  
Shinji's face.

"Mister Ikari! So far you've been linked to Miss Maya Ibuki, who is nearly ten years  
your senior; Miss Rei Ayanami, whom you work with; and are living with Miss Asuka  
Langley-Sohryu here, in lax supervision. Are you trying to build a harem?"

"Hey!" said Asuka. If he gets to have a harem, then she should have... wait, what?  
She palmed her own face. What the heck am I thinking?

Shinji just gave the reporter a 'What the hell is wrong with you?' look. "Um, I am  
only fourteen. I still have to work with all of them to defeat the Angels. Should I  
really even have to answer a question like that?"

"The people have a right to know!" was her reply. "With what you're being give by  
the people, then the very least they must know if you are worthy of their regard."

"The people have a right to know their respect isn't being abused, yes..." He  
nodded. "But they don't also have the right to -hurt- us. To try and -own- us and  
put every little thing we do on display. We're still normal people. We also don't  
really very well understand ourselves either." He grimaced. "Besides, it's a -stupid-  
question."

Rika Izuna frowned, for of course she took that as him calling her stupid as well.

"I'm fourteen. The answer is obviously NO. I shouldn't even be thinking of things  
like that yet."

The reporter opened her mouth to speak, but then felt a hand on her shoulder. She  
turned to see Misato in full dress uniform, with a fierce half-grin on her face. "If you  
next ask Shinji about sex, I'm going to have to ban you completely from Tokyo 3 as  
a nuisance."

Rika Izuna looked indignant, and mustered up her courage. She turned to Shinji  
again, who looked wary. She redeemed herself somewhat in the eyes of her peers  
by asking "Does the movie parallel what's really going on under NERV? Can you tell  
us to what percent it is similar to your understanding of what you're doing and why  
the Angels are attacking?

Shinji actually flinched. He didn't know who wrote the screenplay, but even if just  
by accident everything struck a little too close to home.

It was Rei who answered, in her uncontestable matter-of-fact voice. "Pilot Ikari  
does not have sufficient clearance to answer that question satisfactorily. I may  
however say, that it is pure fantasy. What NERV does is something else entirely."

Misato then urged the pilots and their friends on. The other members of the media  
seemed satisfied. Only too late however, did Rika Izuna realize... Rei had merely  
said that fantasy and reality were different things. It still remained unanswered.

She smelled the stink of another fresh story.

-o-

Deep within NERV, Gendo looked narrow-eyed as the credits rolled down the screen  
of NERV's private mini-theatre. It was where, in a different time, the pilots would  
have been shown the results of their first actions against Israfael.

"Who is responsible for this...?" he asked, dangerously. "This is a serious security  
leak."

"We can't bind the film without revealing just how closely it matches reality, Ikari."  
replied Fuyutsuki. "This way we have deniability... anyone digging too close would  
merely be told they were reaching to wish real an imaginary story. It would make  
them look foolish."

"You... are enjoying this, Sensei."

"It's a King's prerogative, Ikari." The old man grinned. The character, like many in  
the film, only loosely resembled the people of NERV. However, he liked how he  
looked in crown and cape. Seeing a likeness of Gendo defer to him was also good.

Gendo stood up. The story... that fantasy... how could it have known about his  
wife? Who could have dared? Damn. SEELE. A way of reminding him of his roots. It  
wasn't enough to call him halfway across the world; so he couldn't interfere with  
this? The relationship between him and his son was displayed to the world.

At least they had him die a hero. Ironic, that. He had no need for heroes.

-o-  
-o-

And it was the Sixth Day. Israfael walked towards Tokyo-3, in its combined form. It  
merely shrugged off all attacks by the JSSDF and on-site defenses. Misato growled  
at the screen.

"Target's just broken through the final defense line at Gora!" said Shigeru. The  
monitoring in the command center likewise spread from strategic, tactical and to  
immidiate. Shigeru handled events related to the Eva. Makot handled things around  
the Eva, and Maya monitored what was inside the Evas themselves.

"We need something that even if it won't kill the Angels, then at least will slow  
them down." said Makoto. "In fact, we should stop even trying... just search out  
methods of hindering their approach."

Misato nodded. "Even N2 mines... our greatest conventional weapon merely puts  
them to sleep. We'll just destroy ourselves if we keep relying on mass damage."

"The Evangelion." he added, at a nod from Maya. "Katsuragi-san, we are ready to  
deliver that deadly precision."

Both Evas were already in their respective cages. The pilots had their eyes closed  
and took slow and even breaths of LCL. "Shinji! Asuka! It's coming here! We won't fail  
this time." both heard. "When the music starts, expand your AT field. Then, do  
according to plan. You two, ready?"

"Roger!" said both.

"Target is invading through the mountain region!" put in Shigeru. "It's in view of  
the city!"

"Shinji... are you ready? We're going full power right from the beginning! We'll  
show this Angel what it measn when the Asuka The Great doesn't hold back!"

He grinned a bit. "Let's keep the city destruction to a minimum, okay?"

"Hah! I'm not you!"

"Target arriving at Area Zero." was the final frantic report.

"Exterior power switch on!" shouted Misato. "EVAS... LAUNCH!"

-o-

The Evas were flung into the air. Israfael watched them, as the Evas spread their  
combined AT-fields to match and nullify its own. The Evas threw down the javelin  
each carried. It was perfectly timed, but the Angel was fast enough to slap aside  
left, then just before the point touches its body tilt and slap away the other javelin.

It couldn't anticipate an edged slab shooting up from between its legs to split it in  
two. Each new Israfael then got a faceful of Eva boot. Armory buildings launched  
Bolters into the air from mini-rails, and both Evas pulled it to their hands with their  
AT-field.

The shots bounced off the Angel's own active defenses. Flash! They retaliated.

Backflip, backflip, then AT-field wall. The Evas merely kicked off from it, and with  
the field concentrated -there-, means that they were defenseless close to their  
bodies. A burst of Bolt rounds penetrated each, and they screamed.

The Evas kneeled, and a pair of Ramiel-like beam attacks passed over their heads.  
Then, as it faded, a bright blue positron response lanced in between them. Israfael  
attuned their AT-fields to send it back, but likewise did it curve around the  
Evangelions. Another shot from Rei looped between them, and Israfael Alpha was hit  
by two positron beams from different angles.

It slumped into a building. The synchronization was gone. Israfael Beta had to face  
the fury of two Evangelions on its own.

"It ends here!" Asuka yelled out as she stabbed out with her prog knife. "HRAAAA!"

Then, all of a sudden, her AT-field collapsed. She bounced of Israfael Beta's field,  
then so quickly... was -in- it. The Angel seemingly flowed around her, such was its  
speed, and pinned her Evangelion while standing. It was behind her, with its claws  
to her neck. It pulled back at the Eva's head, straining close to breaking it off from  
the spine.

She screamed hoarsely.

-o-

And while standing on a distant building, watching it all through his binoculars, Kaworu  
smirked.

-o-

"Asuka!"

Shinji then yelped out as he too was struck from behind by an energy beam. He  
rolled to cover. Supporting positron shots ceased as Israfael Beta let out a strange  
loud gurgle, calling attention to its hostage.

Everyone stopped.

The combatants considered each other.

"Can we cut the nerve signal to Unit Two?" Misato asked. Bad. This was something  
they hadn't accounted for. Synchro training meant pilots were naturally now more  
connected to each other. It completely removed objectivity. Of course whenever  
more than one person fights, those allied can be both strength and weaknesses.  
"Let's get Asuka safe first..."

"No good!" said Maya. "It's not responding!"

"This... we did too well." Ritsuko looked over her own bank of displays. "Asuka and  
Shinji's sync rating... it's at high nineties." She bit her lip. "If she suffers sympathetic  
pain with the Eva's 'death'..."

"She could die as well. Or at least injured critically." Maya finished. "Even if there are  
no physical marks, there would still be mental contamination to consider."

"Shit! Dammit! I just knew it was too good to be true. No plan ever really survives  
contact with the enemy!" Misato began to pace.

"It would affect Shinji. He can't win this without a sync partner." added Ritsuko. "Rei  
can only pull a trigger right now. Her combat movements lack the precision we  
need. Misato... what do we do?"

"Misato-san!" Shinji said over the line. "What should I do?"

The woman merely stood there, her face in shadow. An agonizingly long minute  
passed. She looked to Maya, who slowly shook her head. Still no A-10 nerve  
disconnect.

"Stop the music." she commanded. "Stop the music!"

-o-

Asuka struggled. She could feel all of her Evangelion but, annoyingly, it just  
wouldn't respond. She couldn't raise her AT-field. Why? Why?

She forced herself to get her back off the plug seat, her neck still bulging as her chin  
was raised high. She pulled at the controls, but her Eva's hands were still bound  
in the Angel's grip of her wrists. The prog knife fell.

"I hate this..." she whispered. "I hate being unnecessary. Who keeps stealing my  
strength?"

"Asuka! Are you - gah!"

She tuned out the sounds of battle, the shouts of "Hang in there!" by Misato. The  
pain was starting to numb anyway. It was good thing LCL was hyper-oxygenated as  
she could barely breathe.

"Hey, Shinji..." she said after a while. One only had to consciously make the effort of  
speaking to be heard from inside the entry plug. "Do you remember?"

Crash. Bump. Explosion. "A-asuka? Try to remain con-"

"Baka! Don't order me around! I can't... " She grimaced. She couldn't really cry in  
LCL. "I can't take it anymore. Do you remember?"

Shrieking sound. Crunch. "I... I remember. I'll save you. No matter what."

She screamed as the Angel pulled the Eva's neck further back, and tore at the armor  
there. Bluish flesh and metal tubes were exposed to the air. Everyone screamed her  
name. Somehow, that did provide some comfort. At the same time, she wanted for  
them all to go away.

"Will you save me? Will you -die- for me?"

"Asuka..." he said softly. She was in such pain; so much that the physical she was  
feeling were as nothing. Her heart... it was so much more fragile. She only wanted  
to be happy, but found nothing but rejection at every turn.

No one in her life really had any meaning, for no one was willing to let her have  
meaning. Her disdain was too well-made, and only became sharper and sharper with  
every passing day spent in cloaked despair.

The Angels made a threatening sound. Shinji stopped moving.

"Looks like this is it. You've got a choice to make, baka Shinji. Will you let me go, or  
die for me. Pretty simple, isn't it?"

Flash!

"Asuka!" -Principio Eternus- took that hit, and was sent sprawling across the street.  
It stood up, its armor still smoking. It stared at the captive Eva and growled. It put  
its arms down to its side.

"Baka, baka, BAKA SHINJI! You stupid, shining fool." Asuka shouted, her voice  
breaking with emotion. "What's wrong with you? I can't take it anymore. At least I  
can be -free- of you. Do it! Forget about me!"

"No..." he said softly. His Evangelion took a step forward, and was bowled over by  
another energy blast.

It got back up to its feet, and took a non-hostile stance.

"Do it now! Just break through! You... damn it, but you're strong enough. Don't waste  
it." She choked, and had to heave for new life-giving liquid. "I hate those who pretend.  
It's bad enough to be weak, why would anyone want that?"

"No, Asuka." Again, just one step forward.

Again, tumbling into the ground. Once more, back to its feet. The Angels were  
puzzled. Was the armor of the other Eva just that naturally stronger? The AT-field  
wasn't at an active state, though they could feel it.

"It's so simple even a baka like you MUST know it. Damn you, Shinji... don't... don't  
make me beg. Kill them. Just KILL them. I don't care anymore."

"ASUKA!"

-Principio Eternus- roared.

"Asuka! Please, listen to me!"

No response. There was a hiccuping noise. Yes. She was crying. She was gnashing  
her teeth. She was sad and angry and all other things. She wanted the power to  
just end all these foul feelings.

"Asuka...!" Shinji shouted again. "Believe that I can still save you, please!"

Israfael Alpha rushed at the Evangelion from the side, brandishing its claws. It knew  
that its field-enhanced tips could slice through the thickest of armor. The enemy  
abomination stood there unmoving.

"... for... the Greater... Good... baka."

"asuka..." Shinji whispered. She would die and she wouldn't return. It was bad enough  
with Rei. He could never really forgive himself.

The Angel lashed out with its right claw. Shinji tilted his head a bit and let it pass.  
He absently jabbed out with his fist, and sent the Israfael flying through the air and  
into a tall building across the street. The structure collapsed on top of it.

"DONT! Disturb me." Shinji said aside. He kept his stare straight ahead at the red  
Eva. No more suffering. No more suffering.

Israfel Alpha got out of the building he'd been imbedded in and reared back for  
another attack. Then, apparently, it reconsidered. It bowed its torso a little, as if in  
apology.

That it wanted to kill him, and still did, only stunned those watching. Even if he had  
stood there naked and alone, it would have waited even so. For the Angel not only  
knew hate, but also respect. That they would learn from him showed they didn't  
hold him in contempt. For good reason did they fear him.

Israfael Beta clutched at Unit Two's head, twisting it to the side a little. They could  
taste his soul, as long as he had it shining like that. He felt nothing of them, as if  
they were bugs he could crush at a moment's notice. He only cared for the other  
Eva. It let out a sound as if asking; 'is it okay to just let it die?'

-o-

And this is how the fantasy ends. Those who take delight in their own might are  
merely pretenders to power. The true warrior of fate needs no adoration or fear,  
no tricks or overwhelming effort; he need not be stronger or smarter or innately  
more capable than everyone else; he need not even admit it to himself. He need  
not even win victory after victory to be considered a badass.

All he needs to do is to stand there, at that moment when all hope is dead, and  
look upon the abyss without flinching. That the armies of heaven and hell would  
see, that this is a soul that cannot be conquered; and thus conquers all.

He stands alone but is never alone. His power is no one's and yet everyone's.

The warrior of fate writes his own destiny. Because he gives his everything, no one  
can trap him, no one can own him, and no one can ever take away what he'd earned.

-o-

"Asuka!" shouted Shinji. "Do you want to die?"

"No! Of course I don't! I don't want to die...!" she sobbed out.

"Do you hate me, Asuka?"

"Shinji. I shouldn't. I KNOW I shouldn't. But I do. I hate you, damn you! I don't even  
really want to anymore, but I still do. I hate that I -need- to hate you!"

"I understand. It's all right, Sohryu-san."

She merely groaned out, hugging herself, despite her contorted position. "Oh,  
mother... I'm not that doll. I won't be anyone's doll. Let me be me."

"Asuka..."

Israfael Alpha began to move behind the purple Evangelion. Shinji paid it no notice.  
"Asuka! But who do you hate more? Me? OR THE ANGELS FOR WHOM THE EVAS  
WERE MADE TO KILL? In the end, whose fault was it that your mother died? For  
what did we endure all that suffering?"

She blinked. "... mother?"

"We are chosen of mankind. And with us fights that spirit made for this singular  
purpose. If you can't trust me, then trust them! Trust the Evangelion, for more than  
anything it is made for you! It will protect you beyond anything in this world can!"

She tried to shake her head. "No...this doll..." She hated it too.

"Machine spirit! Asuka needs you! Please! Help her!"

-o-

Four eyes flashed a bright green. Unit Two roared. Its AT-field went active, and  
splintering the ground around it.

"Connections dropping!" exclaimed Maya. "It.. how can it... Unit Two's going berserk!"

Quicker than anyone could believe, Unit Two ripped free from its restraints to crush  
the Angel's wrist in its grip as well. It crushed that arm and pulled forward, sending  
Israfael Beta slamming into the ground in a pseudo-judo throw.

Before the Angel could get up to its feet, the Evangelio kicked it right at crotch,  
hooking its foot underneath and angling with the AT-field to to send it up into the  
air.

Israfael Alpha leapt at the other Evangelion's back, but -Principio Eternus- merely  
took one step to the side, and in one simple spin-kick drove the heel of its foot into  
the Angel's back as it passed.

SLAM!

Both halves collided, and became one. Israfael looked disoriented.

-o-

"What? It's... connections restored, sempai!" Maya breathed out in wonder. "Sync  
ratio, past one hundred? For the both of them, it's the same!"

"That... that trust...?" mumbled the red-haired pilot, hesitantly putting her hands  
back into the controls. "That feeling?"

"ASUKA!" Shinji shouted. "Now! Together we win!"

She blinked. She looked up, and though Israfael had no expression, she could taste  
its fear. Also something like betrayal. Nevertheless...

Unit Two deployed its other prog knife and held it in its left hand. Unit One already  
had its weapon in its right hand, and moved to the appropriate position beside the  
other Evangelion.

Israfael crossed it arms raised its simply phenomenal AT-field. Buildings to either side  
of it were cut in half, vertically.

And with a single step, both Evas shoved themselves into the air; as if flying  
without wings. The light of their soul raised them up high. They tore right through  
that field, melding it into their own, all their souls united in one intent.

Both pilots screamed with rage as their prog knives dug into the core. Their feet  
touched the ground, and pushed off again... sending the Angel and themselves  
hurtling right out the city, INTO the mountain, and out the other side. Such was  
the strength of that combined field.

The Angel exploded, leaving a massive crater glowing amber-hot. The Evas lay at  
the center, sde by side and as if embracing.

-o-

Fssh.

Both entry plugs ejected partially, and the pilot emerged after the LCL had drained.  
Something nearby on the Eva's armor rang, and Shinji opened up a panel. He took out  
a handset, and Asuka appeared on a holographic projector in front of him.

"What THE FUCK was THAT?" ASuka yelled. "What did you do to my Eva? Screw  
the Greater Good! Mess with my Eva again and I will END you, do you hear me? I  
WILL GODDAMN -END YOU-, BAKA SHINJI!"

He merely began laughing.

"What the? Damn you! Don't laugh at me!" Asuka burned with rage. "What is wrong  
with you!"

He continued laughing. He clutched at his sides, he just couldn't take it.

"Dammit, something has to be -wrong- with you. There's something -very wrong- with  
this stupid little country! Everywhere I look! You're insane! You're all insane!"

Freed from her self-doubt, Asuka launched into a long tirade. It covered everything  
from a lack of proper beds to the reverse of how their food was meant to be cold and  
drinks were hot. Oh, don't get her started on their weird fetishes.

Since it didn't seem like she'd lose steam any time soon, Shinji managed to get back  
some self-control to speak. "Haha... I... I'm glad you're back to your old self, Sohryu-  
san." he said. His eyes actually looked misted as well, but perhaps it was more from  
the turning pain in his gut. "I missed that. Courage is a word written just for you."

Asuka looked indreculous then after a while, began laughing as well.

The sun was bright in the sky, and while there were few clouds, a cool breeze flowed  
over them. Through the hole in the mountain, past sheets of rocks fused together,  
they could see Tokyo 3. The damage, well... as expected it was pretty bad. There  
were now two Evangelions rampaging about instead of just the one.

"Hey, Shinji..." Asuka said, staring off into the distance.

"Yes?"

She smiled a little. There's a place for courage in the battlefield. But it was most  
useful outside of it. "I think I like you." she said simply.

Oh, that simply staggered look. She smirked. He was still such a boy sometimes. What  
was he expecting? Even if he wasn't trying for it, she wasn't so callous as to want  
him -dead- out of simple spite. Who else did she have to measure her own existence  
against? In the end, Asuka could not be boxed into one thing. She would belong only  
to herself. In all her human flaws, she was free to make her own choices and her own  
mistakes. She also had the chance to learn and grow.

Sure, she still hated him. But she could cherish him and that hate. She would be  
stronger out of it. She was also free to carry all the illogic of the human creature.

Those at the command center merely thought "Oh crap! This can't end well."

-o-  
-o-

Far away, Kaworu put down his binoculars. He closed his eyes and tilted his head as  
if listening to the wind tell of things.

"Very good, Ikari-kun. Very, very good, Sohryu-san..." he whispered and began to  
grin. Though another of his siblings had died, he felt only joy. "Let us begin this  
dance again. Feel hope. Do care. I shall savor your despair."

-o-  
-o-

And on the Seventh Day, they rested.

-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-

End Dance of Fate part Three  
-o-

-o-

-o-

* * *

::groans::

I think I need to escape from complexity for a while. I might have something new again in a day or two.

::buys the Azumanga Daioh DVD::

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

OMAKE (thanks to TheClueless)

"Given our low population, and how dangerous the universe is, we could not afford such activities after the Fall. Else our population levels might drop at a dangerous rate."

"You don't seem to mind the idea of the Bright Lord having a harem. Or that the members of that harem might be interested in each other, as well as the Bright Lord."

"The Craftworlds have a 1 to 5 male to female population ratio. At best."

"Ah."

"Yes. Wraithbone only goes so far."

"Blessed Emperor! Did you have to add that last comment?"


	16. Chapter 15: Red Versus Blue part1

Red Versus Blue part one

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

Ritsuko Akagi groaned out and rubbed her forehead. She still had the remnants of a  
hangover. She, Misato and Maya had all ended up in the same bed, being too far into  
alcohol poisoning to get back to their respective apartments - and according to drunk  
logic, it would have been improper for them to sleep in the Childrens' room. The pilots  
spent the celebratory night in a sleepover with their friends.

"Does Shinji have an insanity that warps reality around him?" she repeated. Then, she  
groaned again. "Insanely enough, that's the only theory that makes any sense so far."

Asuka hunched over and shook her fist. "Damn that baka Shinji...!"

Ritsuko hunched over and shook her fist. "Damn that mini-Gendo...!"

It was a true, if rather crazily hypocritical, bonding moment.

"Well, everything's back to normal or what passes for it around here. Shinji just can't  
hold on to a sync ratio, and while your own has dropped... at least it's higher than  
before we started with that whole mess."

Asuka nodded several times, satisfied. "That's good."

"Unfortunately... it seems Rei has the exact same sync standard as you. I can't really  
explain it myself."

"WHAAAT?" Shinji... okay, she could tolerate his nonsensical skill. But to have that  
girl match her, it wasn't a blow to her ego. It was indescribably irritating.

-o-

At exactly the same time, Rei smirked a little. It was simple. Although it seemed that  
the other girl's presence was... tolerated... there was nothing preventing her from  
attempting to learn more about humor. Love that which he loves, shun that which he  
shuns. All in between was fair game.

"Ayanami?" asked Shinji. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "No. We are here." They stood before an elevator, the only  
entrance into Terminal Dogma. The big intimidating bulkheads were easily handled.  
"Monitoring up until now has been bypassed by sister Ibuki, but this elevator has an  
internal check to how many times it is used."

"I see." Maya unfolded her laptop. "While it won't show who was using it... at least  
it will say if anyone has recently gone down on it?"

"Only Commander Ikari and Doctor Akagi have reason to go into the deeper well of  
NERV. I have clearance as well, but I do not come here until it is time for me to fulfill  
my purposes."

Shinji winced. Down below, she had died. Was... was her corpse still there? He gulped  
as the wire door opened. He'd rather fight off an entire army of Angels rather than  
have to see that. Hell, given a choice, they'd be dust in the wind.

"Doing this... would it alert father?"

"Perhaps." Rei tilted her head to the side. "It will also be slow, long descent. We have  
a better method."

Maya paused from running her hand over the wall panels, thinking on how to bypass  
the circuits. She was more on software, not the technical. Shigeru could have done it,  
but of course this supposed to be secret. "We do?"

Rei pointed down. "We fall." she continued.

"Eeh?"

Shinji nodded. "I see. Not only would it be faster, we wouldn't trigger a hard switch."

Maya folded her laptop and put it back into her backpack. She hit herself lightly on  
the forehead. "Silly me. I forgot, we can both use Rei's AT-field without alerting the  
MAGI system. We just need to believe. We can do this!"

"It is unprecedented." she said with a nod. "But useful."

Shinji put his arm around her waist. She did not blush, but Maya did when it was her  
turn to do so around the two. "Shall we?" he said, as they all supported each other.  
They nodded to each other, took a single step forward and plummeted down an open  
hatch on the elevator floor.

Perhaps; thought Rei, I should not have worn a skirt. She began to glow faintly, and  
focused with her AT-field down to break the rushing wind. Very slightly they started  
to slow down and her skirt fluttered back down to cover her panties.

Maya and Shinji acted like they hadn't noticed. If she wasn't embarrased about it,  
then neither would they.

They slowed and stopped. There were twisting hallways and many mysterious places,  
but they had no time to explore. With everyone still in the euphoria of victory, it was  
their best time to take advantage of relaxed attention. Gendo would arrive the next  
day.

Eventually, they slowed and landed. Rei's glow faded. The lights were dim and red.

"D-does it need to be so spooky?" squeaked Maya.

"This -is- a tomb." Rei replied.

Shinji merely frowned. He could feel... something. Every shadow seemed to scream at  
him to leave. He followed as Rei led them through the maze of dark, similar corridors.  
They gave no mind to whatever they passed, for anything more than their present  
purpose would only eat into their limited time.

Eventually, they reached the clone tanks. Someone was already there.

"Greetings, you who are me." said Rei.

Rei nodded. "Excuse us for making you wait, myself." She tilted her head a bit. "Are  
you prepared?"

"You know my price, you who are me. Are you prepared to pay it?"

"You will become one with him. No more can I give."

Shinji and Maya both gaped at Rei; completely identical to the one standing in front  
of the memory transfer machine. School uniform, faintly amused expression and all.  
"There... there are two of you?" Maya gasped out.

"Technically, there are twenty-four of me." answered the one waiting, as she waved  
to the tanks behind her. Shinji looked, then looked away, for after all they were all  
naked there.

"How is that possible?" Maya asked further. "I thought your soul could only occupy  
one shell."

Slowly, Shinji turned his head back. He stared at the Rei with them, the Rei they had  
wept with and laughed with over the past weeks. "Lillith." he said flatly.

That Rei opened her arms and bowed. "To maintain the integrity of this shell, a portion  
of the Great Mother's soul was required."

"I have never really known you." said the other. "The soul is here, but the memories  
have been planted into my mind. We have never met, until school several weeks ago.  
We continued to be nothing more than classmates." She looked somewhat fearful as  
well. "I hold the soul, but hers is the flesh that chose to die for you.

Which one of us is the real Rei Ayanami?"

Shinji flinched, and looked away. He cared for Rei deeply, but even while he knew she  
was almost an Angel and had her own AT-field... not until that moment had it really  
struck him how she wasn't truly human. He was just deluding himself.

"Rei... how... you brought yourself back to life?" Maya had to know.

"I am Lillith's soul given expression, but with the memories of Ayanami." she replied.  
She held her open palm out. "What is this flesh to the Great Mother? She is an Angel  
as well, and Her soul is vast indeed. To regenerate the identity was simple. Gendo had  
thrown me into a pit, and thought no more of this shell as he activated another."

The other Rei raised her hand. "Me." she said. "It is necessary that there be two."

Maya grit her teeth. "Why?"

"One to be Ayanami. One to hold the fragment of soul and the memories of Ikari. We  
needed the practice. She thought it would not be right to give up my life without first  
knowing how to live." The Third walked over to Shinji, who was standing there and  
looking down. He grew completely still at sensing her approach.

She looked saddened slightly. "Shinji-kun... I enjoyed those days. I enjoyed being so  
human. And now I return this to you." She opened her palm under his vision.

'Long time no see, lil'boz'

Shinji reached out and hugged her. "Don't go." he whispered. "You... are both real to  
me. Rei Ayanami will always be Rei Ayanami to me."

She smiled slightly and closed her arms around his shoulder. "I must. This soul must  
return to that worthy shell who gave it up. I must return to the tanks, and fulfill my  
final duty. To be one with you, is my greatest joy."

Maya looked to the other Rei. "So that was why you were always there whenever I  
needed you." she said softly. "Why can't he just get a Rei-chan and I get a Rei-chan?"

"Intriguing, sister Ibuki. I would like to accept, but splitting my soul further only adds  
to the awareness of Lillith." She shook her head sadly. "For now the Great Mother  
sleeps. My soul is still here, just that the other has more of it. I fill the rest with Her  
essence."

Maya went over and hugged her as well. "You're too good for this sinful earth, you  
know that? This will be the second time you'll die for us."

"I will still be here."

"But a piece of you, that loves as you, will be gone. It's just... too sad."

Rei smiled. She rubbed her face into Maya's shoulder. "For it written, the only thing  
greater than hope is love. Hope may fade, but love is only strengthen by trials."

For souls that knew each other so well, any more words were unnecessary. They just  
basked in each other's presence, savoring those precious moments. They could feel  
her sorrow and regret, and and a promise that soon they would no longer need to hold  
secrets away from each other.

She suffered in the selfish knowing, that Yui Ikari was a brilliant geneticist and a key  
member of GEHIRN. It was highly unlikely that she wouldn't have known about the Rei  
program, and the trapping of Lillith's soul. Those DNA sequences... she might have  
contributed and coded in all voluntarily.

So; she had always been intended as a sacrifice for him. Shinji came from a family of  
schemers. Rei saw Gendo in a dispassionate light; as that of a mad beast about to be  
hunted down and shot. Yui Ikari, for many reasons, was the only person she could  
ever really dislike.

Shinji pulled away from Rei. He took a deep breath. Such complete trust. He felt as  
if he was undeserving of it, and would always try to be worthy of her faith. He smiled  
a little.

"Why do you look so sad?" she asked. "It is not yet time for me to go."

He cheered up quickly. "It's not?"

She shook her head slowly. "First, you must undress and go into the Memory Transfer  
Machine." She pointed to it.

He recoiled. "Gweh?"

And all the Reis just -grinned-.

-o-  
-o-

Once again, a dark place to be. The members of SEELE met, after having a thoroughly  
unsatisfying meeting with Ikari. Both pretended to be working for humanity's salvation.  
Both pretended they each desired to prevent another Impact.

"The very best thing you can do for a messiah is to kill him." said Lorenz Khiel. His  
visor somehow managed to convey a disapproving glare. "This is the last time I will  
ask for you to cease your operations in Tokyo-3." he told the hawk-nosed man from  
France.

"Haven't you had enough of being humiliated?" added the SEELE representative from  
Continental England. "Ikari has all the advantages in his home ground."

The French representative snorted. "Have you seen that utterly self-serving movie?  
Ikari is creating for the world a false Messiah. Slowly, bit by bit he is taking away all  
the means we have to control him. Strike while the iron is hot, it is said, for if we  
allow any more of this soon we will have no means to shape Instrumentality."

"Nyet. We still have the JSSDF. We have proof of his intentions to initiate Third  
Impact." replied the burly Novaya Soviet SEELE.

"Hah. Ikari is many things, but a demagogue he isn't." mused the one from the Greater  
Americas Union. "This is a particularly devastating counter-attack from him. There are  
two kinds of cultural pollution; the first being that of cultures difficult to overcome,  
such as the old civilizations of Eurasia, and the second being cultures easy to adopt,  
such as what we used to have. We have a big stick, but a multitude of smaller sticks  
have that much many more uses."

"Ikari's son is boy. What soldiers would die for a boy?" asked the English SEELE. "They  
would die more gladly for a young queen than an old king, but no one takes a young  
king seriously."

"Cultural power accomplishes more over time than mere military power. Of course, we  
are at the twilight of this method, but populism still has its place. I don't know what  
he's planning, but direct methods can only help him now. He is, by his work, the 'good  
guy' and anyone that hinders NERV now is the 'bad guy'. Justifiable wars are always  
the ones best fought."

"We need no futher proof that Ikari intends to betray us." the SEELE of remnant UK  
spoke again.

"Da. But has there ever been any doubt that he would?"

"The strength of the JSSDF is slowly being added to NERV. Jet Alone has several new  
and interesting prototypes. We may not sabotage the UN forces, since their newfound  
strength may be useful when we would need to force the hand." continued the SEELE  
from France. "Damn that Ikari! Damn his son. This is too well-executed to be mere  
coincidence. We should have taken a better look at how he had prepared the pilots  
for this task."

Laughter.

SEELE turned and looked down, at Kaworu standing there. The Angel hybrid had a thin  
smirk on his face. He had patiently waited as the old men all but forgot his presence.  
He had eaten of the fruit of life; patience was his nature. Haste and ambition were for  
the lillim race.

"What do you find so amusing?" asked Khiel.

"I wonder... have you considered if maybe Shinji Ikari might have done this all on his  
own? The animosity between father and son was very clear to everyone in Tokyo-3."

"Too clear. It is obviously a front." the English SEELE said. "A boy? Do this? Even if he  
was a true messiah instead of a manufactured one, it is impossible to accomplish all  
that in such a timeframe." He snorted slightly. "You still have much to learn about  
humanity."

"This brings up an interesting point." added the American SEELE. "Would it be possible  
to turn the younger Ikari against the Elder? What sort of control or incentives can we  
apply upon him?"

Kaworu seemed to think about that question for a few seconds, then laughed again.  
He reached into his left pocket and brought out a small strange maroon mechanical  
figurine. He held it up to them. "Commander Farsight thinks you might be setting your  
sights too far. Don't you, Shas'O Shovah?"

He dropped his voice an octave and wiggled it as he spoke. "Learn to shorten your  
reach! If your foe can come close enough to negate your striking power, all stratagem  
is lost and when all stratagem is lost, the battle is lost."

Khiel Lorenz sighed slightly. It was bad enough to have an unpredictable Angel as  
their agent, but they just had to have one that was truly deranged. Though he was  
made of the same techniques that produced Ayanami, they couldn't control him as  
easily; since after all, he did know how to use his AT-field to the fullest extent. No  
one had any idea where he got that toy.

"What do you mean, shorten our reach? Is there something more immidiate that we  
are missing?" he replied.

"Each must find their own way to serve the Greater Good." continued Kaworu in his  
weird voice, though still smiling faintly. "The bargain has been struck between our  
people. Allow us to retrieve Adam and we will leave your kind to wallow in your own  
misery. Sometimes the best thing to do for the Greater Good is to do nothing at all."

The Soviet representative crossed his arms and harrumph'ed. "Tell your... siblings...  
that we will manufacture some reason for Ikari to leave. Adam is definitely in Tokyo  
3. We have freed you from Lillith's prison, and will kill Lillith for you. Her power is ours  
by right. The rest... is all up to you."

"You have our gratitude for that, at least." Kaworu replied in his normal voice. He was  
smiling openly. He had nothing but contempt for these examples of the Lillim. "Though  
this world was once ours, there are many other worlds. Now we are made for nothing  
but vengeance."

-o-  
-o-

Months had passed without an Angel attack. It was as if the enemies, in light of their  
consistent and gruesome defeats, were reconsidering their methods. The prophecies  
about them were written by those who had no true idea of what the future would  
really be like. At best, they could see it through the weave of imperfect understanding.

The pilots had adjusted to the mundane. It was a comfortable sameness from the day  
to day. Time had made them more approachable, more normal... as if the attacks  
were no more than a bad dream. Tokyo 3 rebuilt, lived, and thrived - putting aside  
those sad memories.

"It's the New Year!" shouted Kensuke, as emphatic finish to his impassioned speech  
about how everything could change... and had changed... in less than half a year. As  
expected, he was ignored by most of the class. He didn't care. Comparing himself to  
the uncertain boy he once was... it could drive him to tears.

"And a new beginning!" He jumped up on his chair and pointed out the window, his  
white jacket flapping. What more could the future bring?

"Yeah! Throw away your old selves and live in the now!" added Toji, going further and  
leaping onto the teacher's desk. "Isn't it a great time to be alive?" And to be sure, his  
life had never been better. His sister was finally out of the hospital. She couldn't play  
with other kids yet, but there was hope for her to get better. He wasn't ashamed of  
being linked to Hikari. He was fourteen and he had a girlfriend. How cool was that?

"...suzuhara..." growled Hikari. "SHOW SOME RESPECT!" She threw his own bookbag  
at him, nailing him in the face. He toppled behind the desk. She then whirled around.  
"Aida! Do you -WANT- a gun ban?"

Fast as a blink, Kensuke was sitting on his chair, hands folded attentively on his desk  
like a model of the perfect student.

Everyone in the class began clapping.

"My, my... everyone's so energetic." one of the girls said.

"Inquisitor Horaki's in fine form today. I guess she wants to start the new year right."  
replied another, giggling. "By the way... if she's here... then where are the pilots?"

"They haven't arrived yet." muttered one of the boys. He was looking out the window.  
"The new year... oh, it's going to be bad."

"Eeh? How can you say that?"

He pointed out. "Look."

Outside on the schoolyard, it seemed as if the entryway was partitioned into three.  
There were three distinct streams of students; entering through either the middle or  
the sides. They pooled into groups, each marked with having a clothing accessory in  
a certain color to show their allegiance.

They gathered, ready to begin the year's first battle in their ongoing war. It wasn't  
violent, (yet) but they each had newsletters and debates. They gathered into forums  
of the classical kind and occasionally skirmished with each other's ideals. And insults.  
And mad ravings. And prankings. Oh, Kensuke was insanely popular now. If simply  
because he had absolutely no restraint when it comes to the creative application of  
explosives.

By that token, Suzuhara was the pillar of reason. He still couldn't quite get over that.  
Being the only one who could survive or even calm down Inquistor Horaki's wrath at  
such a smoking colorful aftermath made him almost superhuman to the eyes of his  
peers.

They were being forced into roles, and they didn't put up much resistance. It was the  
only way to keep sanity around the place.

Blue versus Red versus Brown. It wasn't just on the ideal woman, but also as they  
reflected the inner character post-Impact citizens aspired to. Rei personified for them  
calmness and poetic grace. Asuka of courage and worldy noncomformity. Maya of  
reason and unpretentious responsibility.

Those of Shinji Ikari's class watched and laughed weakly. "At... at least it's not the  
Church of Rei, Asuka or Maya." said one of them.

Someone was thrown out of the huddled masses below for his heresy. The four points  
star was not a valid option, dammit.

"I pity Ikari..." added one of the boys.

-o-

Despite his words that she was indeed human to her, Shinji just couldn't help but to  
act slightly more distant towards Rei. The revelations still disturbed him. She didn't  
seem to mind, as she had found new ways to occupy her attention. Specifically,  
irritating the hell out of Asuka.

In retrospect, he admitted to himself perhaps that was why he avoided Rei. Being that  
Asuka was around him almost constantly, going over to Rei almost always provoked  
something that had him in the crossfire.

It also continued to feed the fan clubs.

The pilots only gave tacit acknowledgement to the existence of the clubs. They didn't  
do anything to stop it, for the groups all actually acted as another screen protecting  
their privacy.

Strangely enough, Asuka was the most approachable of the pilots. Despite her rather  
scathing nature, she responded to the existence of her fans. The way she acted so  
aggressively -against- Ikari meant that others might actually still have a chance. The  
Red Club however had hope in the even more combative interactions between her and  
Ayanami.

"I am not a doll." said Rei; in response to the jibe at how some people liked her just  
because she was so perfect and predictable like a doll. Obviously, those people also  
needed to Get A Life as well.

Asuka turned, slowly. Though her face was still completly placid the pilot of Unit Zero  
had a certain subtle yet monolithic determination. The red-haired girl began to smirk a  
little and leaned one-handed on her desk. "So what are you?"

"I am, at the very least, an action figure."

Asuka's hand slipped and she nearly fell. She stumbled about trying to recover her  
balance then put her hands to her lips. "What the hell?" She blinked. She began to  
leer victoriously, tilting closer. "A toy for the boys, eh?"

Rei nodded. "One specific boy."

Asuka's gaped openly. A low "Uoooh...!" spread throughout the classroom. Ayanami-  
san was escalating the engagement so quickly. It was an overwhelming first strike.

"W- weh... Well!" Asuka stammered away, pointing out with a shaky finger. "Aren't you  
just shameless!" Return fire! Return fire dammit! Open all launch tubes!

Rei just nodded again, in that irritatingly calm manner. "I have no fear to show to pilot  
Ikari." As always, the exact literal truth. "I have no doubts how we connect." But the  
connotations, to turn a pun, were a bitch.

Shinji lay with his head on the table, face turned the other way. He was almost  
crying. He didn't know if it was Lillith's influence or not, but sometimes he felt as if Rei  
hated him somehow. She enjoyed seeing him suffer. Avoiding Rei only made her feel  
lonely and seek him out. Which of course only led into a vicious cycle. If he spent too  
much time with Ayanami, then it was Asuka who homed into his location like some form  
of parity-guided missile of indignation.

Asuka made some sort of incoherent enraged sound. Rei, very slightly, smiled. Victory.

"BAKA SHINJI! PERVERT SHINJI!" Asuka grabbed him by the back of his collar and  
began to shake him. "What have you been doing? Do you think I'm just going to let  
you get away with that?" He flopped about uselessly. He could hear distant laughter.

"Uoooh..." again, all through the class. Lucky bastard...

"Poor bastard." said Toji. "A tsundere and a yandere at the same time. It would be  
more merciful to feed him to the sharks."

Kensuke nodded. He clapped his hands twice. May the machine spirit have pity on his  
tormented soul.

-o-

Asuka was still steaming when they were summoned back to NERV. An Angel and a  
good fight; that was just what she needed. She was understandably upset at being  
told she wouldn't take the lead, even though yet again Commander Ikari was off the  
base.

Oh really now, people were beginning to think, the old guy was so useless.

"Him? Why him again?" she shouted out, pointing at Shinji.

"This is a simple retrieval mission. Being that the conditions will force the Eva to be  
sluggish anyway, a consistently high sync ratio is not needed. Besides... worse comes  
to worst, pilot Ikari can try pulling even more unforeseen weirdness with the AT-field  
if he has to." Ritsuko looked up, her eyeglasses glinting. "Are you saying you WANT to  
swim in lava? The mission is simple. It really makes little difference either way."

Asuka put her hand down. Upon further thought; no, she did not want to swim in lava.  
She could not, colloquially, pull freaky shit with the AT-field if she really had to. She  
just wasn't strange enough for that (though some might have said being half-German  
and half-Japanese with the citizenship of an American probably qualified).

Ritsuko pointed to the main screen, showing a still image of the Angel.

"It looks... like a fetus." said Asuka.

The scientist nodded, and gave her an approving little smile. If Shinji had Misato and  
Rei had Maya, then she was the red-haired girl's ally in the command center. There  
was very little choice; they both counted on each other's rationality and she had  
never really known Kyoko Zepellin Sohryu.

"It's in something like chrysalis before metamorphing into an adult. This is the first time  
we detected an Angel long before it becomes active. This, is an -extremely- fortunate  
opportunity. If the Global Satellite Survey hadn't just happened to be scanning this  
particular volcano for scientific purposes, we might have missed it."

"We're going to try and capture it?" Shinji asked.

Misato nodded. "It should still be really weak. We -need- this. It could really help a  
lot to have a live specimen." She looked to Ritsuko. "Of course, if it turns out to be  
hostile we still get to destroy it, right?"

"Destruction of the Angels is supposed to be NERV's purpose, yes. You are perfectly  
authorized to try and destroy it if capture becomes impossible, but I don't know how  
you possibly expect him to do that, well..." She shrugged. "While swimming in lava."

"We'll figure it out when we get there."

"That's not the sort of thing you should say to inspire confidence!" Asuka exclaimed.  
Shinji and Misato; they were both just too easy-going in their efforts. It seemed like  
an insult to all those who had to work hard to reach their own positions; the two hid  
their pains all too well.

"While the combat update to Unit Zero is complete, it is incompatible with the Type D  
equipment, so Rei will just have to stay here in case Tokyo-3 is attacked." continued  
Ritsuko.

The pilot nodded. "Understood."

"Type D anti-heat, anti-pressure, and anti-nuclear special suits are for Evangelions  
operating in extreme environments. Unfortunately, we only have one." The scientist  
shrugged. "It was originally designed for Unit Two, but over the months we were able  
to make it compatible with Unit One."

"How soon do we mobilize, Misato-san?"

"This is what's known as an A-17 response situation, so as soon as possible." Misato  
said, back in her Operations mood. "Pilots, get to your plug suits!" She paused. "Yes,  
you too Rei, even if you're just on standby."

-o-

Gendo had actually already noticed. Months had afterall passed with little else of  
world-shattering importance. By her very nature, was one such event. "Rei. Rumors  
have been spreading in school, and apparenty all were instigated by you." he asked  
dangerously. "Have you had intimate contact with pilot Ikari?"

"No, sir."

"Then why are you saying it as if so?"

Rei blinked, her equivalent of a shrug. "It is pilot Sohryu who misunderstands. I have  
also told her we may connect in a similar manner, and she began to scream. I still fail  
to understand this concept of humor."

"Humor? It is a subjective idea."

"Understood. However, it seems I... enjoy... upsetting pilot Sohryu. Would this be  
sufficient as humor?"

"Why?"

"I do not know, commander. Perhaps... she has red hair. I dislike red." It wasn't even  
a propa' red; more like orange. Not yellowy-gold enough for dakka neither.

And under his linked fingers, Gendo smirked. Asuka's overreactions were clear enough  
to see. This torment was to him, not just understandable, but permissible. He nodded  
slightly. "Very well, you may proceed."

"Thank you, commander."

Let it not be said that he was ever selfish in his bastardiness. It was perhaps one of  
his few truly filial acts towards Rei Ayanami.

-o-

Asuka began laughing at seeing the prepared Unit 01. "Oh, mein Gott!" she gasped.  
"It's so ugly!"

It looked like an old steel diving suit, somewhat. It reminded most of a marshmallow  
man.

"Perfect form should be an expression of perfect function, Pilot Sohryu. That is the  
ideal of perfect beauty. The aesthetics pale beside the need to withstand enormous  
heat and pressure, in this instance."

Asuka whirled around, clutching her heart. "Make some noise when you walk, dammit!"  
She frowned, narrowing her eyes. "Why are you here? Are you following me around?"

"It is a coincidence." replied Rei. Yes. Mwahahaha. "Until Evangelions Unit One and  
Unit Two leave NERV I am still at reserve status. Simply, pilot Sohryu, I have nothing  
better to do."

"Well, can't you do something -other- than contradict everything I say?"

Rei tilted her head to the side, her lips twitching slightly. "Yes."

Asuka turned away and gripped the guard rails tightly. She couldn't really hate Rei in  
the same way as she did Shinji. She could, at most, grant the other girl a very deep  
dislike. The other female pilot was still quite inferior to her mind, as Rei had yet to do  
anything other than support the other Evas. She was very much the tool; and Asuka  
saw herself as not being anyone's tool. Her actions built her own glory.

The other pilot wasn't willing to challenge that notion. An annoyed Asuka was a very  
easily distracted Asuka. She might be irritated at Shinji, but as long as she was in  
such a mood only saw him as an undeserving loser. She wouldn't be inclined to dig  
deeper into the source of his skill and confidence. If she was willing to compete with  
her for his attentions, so be it. It was something even all his intellect couldn't save  
him from.

Quite likely, Rei surmised to herself, she was saving the other girl's life. Poking around  
where she wasn't wanted would likely get her killed. None of the players in the great  
game could afford any mercy.

Asuka, when thoroughly disgusted, would then seek out Kaji and then interefre in his  
-work-. Again, very likely saving -his life-. Though it would likewise irritate the hell  
out of him too.

Of course, Rei was just so disciplined and predictable; she couldn't be doing it out of  
any malice or forethought. Asuka just had no emotional control that way, didn't she?  
Such simple words shouldn't be getting under her skin like that.

Rei smiled, though hidden from everyone's view. It was a smile that could be called  
naughty, if not downright bad. In the end, it was just fun to see Sohryu squirm.

Even the red-haired girl knew that; and had no justifiable reasons to counterattack in  
any manner. Besides, Rei thought further. 'I'd just stomps her. It's no good to picks on  
da weak.' Asuka was proud of having already graduated from a university, however.  
So she -should- be resistant to mind games.

Shinji walked out of the dressing room, in his new plugsuit. "It doesn't really look any  
different from the normal plugsuits, Ritsuko-sensei..." he called out over his shoulder.  
"How is this supposed to help me in dealing with high pressure?"

Ritsuko answered back from a higher gantry. "Push the second button, Shinji."

PH-FFOB!

The suit expanded quickly, in much the same way a life jacket is rapidly pressurized.  
It stretched according to predetermined tolerance points. "What the warp?"

Misato cackled beside Ritsuko. She leaned over and waved; Shinji normally was just  
so painfully thin. "Hah! Thanks, Rits-chan. You're right. Too bad it's not Maya's shift  
yet... but that's why humanity invented cameras!" She brandished a small digicam.

Click. Click. Click.

Asuka was understandably unrestrained with her amusement. Shinji merely sniffed in  
noble affront, and tried to look as composed as he could, even while waddling along in  
the round inflated suit. At best, he tried to imitate Churchill. In reality, it was closer  
to The Penguin. His suit creaked out making 'kwek-kwek-kwek' sounds as he walked.

Rei tilted her head to the side. She wasn't laughing. "Is this in respect to Round Boy?"  
she asked.

He groaned. "Not you too, Ayanami..."

"This is great!" said Asuka. "I'm really glad I'm not doing this. The honor of undertaking  
this mission is all yours, Third Child!" She saluted primly. "We shall all fondly remember  
your sacrifice."

"Yay me." he responded.

-o-  
-o-

Mount Asama was a distance away from Tokyo-3, on the approach to old Tokyo.  
It forced NERV to again deploy with Eva carriers and truck-hauled capacitors. Another  
thing the expanded timeframe brought though, was the expanded battery pack. It  
allowed the Evas to operate for fifteen minutes at standard operations. Given how for  
every battle they had to make freaky use of the AT-field the estimated full use was,  
of course, five minutes. Unit Two had this pack, while Unit One needed the consistent  
power supply delivered via the umbilical cables.

Asuka looked up at three glints in the sky. "What's that?"

"The UN Airforce is on alert above us, for the duration of this operation." Ritsuko  
answered

"Tch. Will they be any use this time? Those are too high to be their crappy VTOLs."

"No, Asuka. They're not for the Angel. They're for us, if we fail." The faux blond looked  
into a small window on her PC and at Asuka's frown inside the plug. "Orders are that  
should the Evangelion fail to contain this Angel, they'll bomb it together with us."

"That's terrible!" gasped Maya, beside her. "Who could order such a thing?"

Ritsuko didn't seem to mind the flying threat. "Who else? Commander Ikari."

"Asshole!" huffed Asuka.

"That shouldn't be a problem." Shinji put in. He was more nervous about dangling on  
the crane, though it was only a few dozen meters above the slope so far. "Asuka can  
just shield you with her AT-field."

"That might count as interference against orders, though." Misato said. "If she stops  
the N2 bomb, that means saving the Angel. It could get her court-martialed."

"I don't think they'd do that, Misato-san."

"Which one? Bomb us? Or put Asuka on trial?"

"Both. The UN and the JSSDF aren't our enemies. Like us, they want to save humanity  
too. If I fail down there, what do they lose? One Eva can't be recovered, since the  
crane is gone. You, Ritsuko-sensei and Ibuki-san, important people to NERV. Asuka,  
if taken away, will just leave Rei to stop all the rest of whatever Angels may come.

It's just silly. Not even if father orders them to. There's no guarantee it will stop the  
Angel, and one that we have a better shot at when it eventually surfaces to assault  
NERV anyway. That's why men pilot those things, people who can make their own  
decisions. I trust them to do what's right."

Asuka hissed. "Well aren't you just mister happy pants?" Shinji was popular with the  
military for obvious reasons. To them she was that super psycho girl.

-o-

"Laser operation, complete!" the crane operator reported. The seeking laser lens then  
slid forward as the Evangelion moved to place, over the smoking caldera.

"Course secured." said Makoto. "Princi... ahem. Unit One position set and ready."

"Type D equipment functioning, no problem." added Maya.

"Shinji, are you ready?"

"Yes, Misato-san."

"Operation, go!"

And then the Evangelion began to descend. Shinji closed his eyes and tried to keep  
his center. He felt giddy; to boldly go where no man has gone before. Who else could  
say they had literally waded into the very bowels of a volcano? NERV and technology  
and the hopes of man. It impressed him so much.

"Unit One has broken the lava surface. Type D equipment still no problems."

As the lava covered him, he put his trust into the machinery of man. A Third Impact  
would make all this daring useless. Risking death for the sake of knowledge. Death for  
the continued dream of neverending exploration. It was all worth it, to him.

"Shinji?"

"Um. Yes. Status report. Present depth is... one hundred fifty. Speed of descent is  
twenty. View sight is... zero. I'm switching to the CT monitor now, Misato-san."

Click. Fzzh.

"Even with this the range of sight is only one hundred twenty meters."

"What does it look like, Shinji?" Asuka asked eagerly.

"Well, it looks just like how you'd expect a sea of lava to look. It's all red. Except that  
instead of ripples and shadows coming from the surface, here there are dark bands  
just swirling around everywhere." He grinned. "It's magnificent. It's really something  
else. Nature is really awesome..."

Asuka slumped back, starting to regret not insisting she have the glory of being the  
first person to dive into a pool of magma and survive.

"Depth 400... 450... 500, 550..." and so on. Maya took a deep breath and continued.  
"...900, 950, 1000, 1020, over the safety depth." It's okay; she told herself. Believe.

Shinji kept his eyes closed and forced his heartbeat to slow even as all around him  
creaked and groaned.

"Depth 1300. Predicted Target point."

He opened his eyes. "Nothing detected. There is no one here."

"Lava flow is faster than expected." Ritsuko noted.

Makoto adjusted his monitor. "Target motion speed is different from the prediction."

"Then hurry up and make a re-calculation. Continue the operation. Descend farther."

Makoto looked up at Misato, who stood there implacable. She stared at the screen  
without emotion. He mustered up his courage and continued to remotely trigger the  
crane loader.

Shinji didn't even flinch as he heard a loud snap. "Second circulation pipe cracked." he  
heard someone say.

Maya said "Depth 1480. Over the limit depth." She meant it as a question though the  
inflection was as a statement.

Misato shook her head. "We haven't encountered the target. Continue." Her expression  
softened slightly. "Shinji, how about the status?"

"The Evangelion can withstand it. We have a job to do."

"Heh. That we do, Shinji. Just hang in there."

The Evangelion continued to descend. Maya winced at "Limit depth plus 120." as  
another loud crack was heard inside the NERV command truck.

"Eva Unit01 just lost its prog knife." Makoto said.

"Limit depth plus 200..."

He looked up. "Katsuragi-san, no more! This time, the device is manned." And it's  
Shinji in there. Don't you live with him? Can you just keep on risking him? Can you live  
with losing him?

Misato answered curtly. "I am responsible for this operation. Continue."

"It's not a problem." Shinji said to them in the same flat tone. "I can go farther than  
this. We must do more."

Misato... and Shinji. Asuka bit her lip. On the surface they were such relaxed, very  
unreliable people. 'How can they both be so cold-blooded at times like this?' It simply  
frightened her, to know she was staying with those who could live so easily with the  
idea of murder.

Maya let out a relieved sigh. "Depth 1780. This is the predicted target position by the  
re-calculation. Limit depth plus four hundred fourty."

"There! I see it!" Shinji reported.

Ritsuko leaned closer to the screen. The multiband view of an exterior camera showed  
the Angel still curled up in its shell. "Since you and the target are both driven by the  
magma flow, there's only one chance for a successful contact."

Shinji made no reply. He focused on the black ovoid, and tried to have his Eva reduce  
speed to match. He deployed the electromagnetic cage. "Target..."

Flickering panes of energy snapped into place.

"Captured!" crowed Makoto. "Whew."

"Good job, Shinji-kun." said Misato. "Now let's get you out of there."

Asuka picked at her teeth, bored. She felt she could have done better. Then again, it  
was so simple a task any idiot could do it. However she was very relieved as well.

Slowly, the Eva started to ascend.

"Now the tension's gone..." Ritsuko smiled and looked aside. "Admit it, you were also  
worried about today's operation."

"I was. But... if we failed, there would be another one. So we had no choice. We had  
to make that gamble." Misato tried to smile as well, but the fear hadn't yet left her  
heart completely. It was a forced effort more similar to a grimace. She knew that one  
day, Shinji would just die. She had already grown too attached; it would all but kill  
her as well.

"Another... a Third Impact?" Ritsuko looked away. Misato, as always, was too honest.  
Her idealism was untarnished. "Yes, we don't want that..."

An alarm rang. Both women looked up sharply.

"What?" both said.

"The- there's something wrong!" Shinji shouted. The capture device began to shake  
under his grasp. "This thing, it's... GWAH!"

A loud whomp cut off communication. A shallow bump rose up on the lava surface.

"Shinji! SHINJI!" Misato screamed into the link.

"Misato? What happened?" Asuka demanded to know.

"A trap." said Ritsuko. "It was all a trap. We took the bait so completely."

Something awoke. It knew the taste of that soul.

"Ungh. Unidirectional AT-field. Easiest, most efficient to make..." Shinji said, pained,  
over the comm. "The explosion just went around it and slammed me into my own  
barrier. I'm all right, Misato-san..."

"Shinji, extermination of the Angel is now our priority." Misato looked to Makoto. "Get  
him out of there, hurry!"

"Yes, Katsuragi-san! Cranes at full reverse!"

"Dammit, Shinji! How could you be so careless as to lose your weapon? What's that,  
Misato? Yes. I'm dropping mine now." Asuka held her own prog knife over the rim and  
let it fall.

"Forty seconds until prog knife arrives." Maya put in.

"The Angel... where is... holy crap!" Shinji shouted. There was a massive dark shape  
right there, right below his feet. It was approaching fast. "Releasing ballast!" The Eva  
lurched up, but the rate of increase wasn't enough. "Asuka!"

"What?"

"Be ready to protect Misato-san and the others...!"

"Shinji?" Misato asked, voicing all their confusion. "What are you planning to do?"

"I'm not sure if my AT-fieeeel!" WHAM! "Dargh!"

A huge, flat black shape slammed into the Eva, only barely held off by its field barrier.  
It swam past, banked in midswoop, and tried to snap at the cumbersome war machine  
from behind.

And thus, Shinji began to pull weird shit with his AT-field.

Or rather, push. To get himself moving quick enough, he pushed himself with a local  
field barrier. Up, and away from those rows of sharp teeth in a segmented mouth. A  
flailing fin struck the Eva and sent it spinning.

"A goddamn trap..." said Misato, looking through the Eva's remote view.

"It was too easy." said Ritsuko. "The Angels took fifteen years since Second Impact to  
attack. All that we've faced so far were mature combat forms. Why should we really  
expect to find an immature form at this point in time?" She bit her lower lip. Such  
ferocity. She didn't know if Asuka could have managed to hold off against that. The  
Angels -were- adapting. They were the force of evolution. Were they also getting  
smarter?

Shinji flared the light of his soul, imitating Gaghiel's use of its AT-field, to reach the  
dropped prog knife. Pincers just weren't as able to grip the weapon as well as hands  
could. He ended up 'gluing' it to the manipulators with his AT-field. Of course, to split  
his concentration meant he could only wait as Sandalphon attacked again.

He dodged, like a matador, and stabbed into the beast. Sparks flew, as the vibrating  
blade rubbed against unyielding material. His prog knife ended up being torn right out  
of the Eva's Type D digits.

"That... that's not skin!" he shouted out. "That's armor! I'm going to need something  
with a much bigger punch than a prog knife. Asuka...! You're the only one who can  
destroy this!"

"Just get it up here and watch me!"

"Hurry!" screamed Misato. "Hurry!"

"It's at the limit! The crane can't reverse any faster!" Makoto shot back, panicking.

Sandalphon was larger than Gaghiel, and its two long limblike fins were lined with long  
sharp spines. It was -fast-. Incredibly so. It was malicious, he could feel its need to  
destroy him utterly.

CRUNCH! Shinji barely deflected another swipe. He kicked out against the teeth of an  
open, Eva-wide jaw to put some distance between him and the Angel. Predictably, he  
swung back on the cable.

The Angel swam aside, as the crane laser began firing into the lava. The power of its  
blasts were miniscule compared to the heat and pressure already there.

Then instead of seeking to directly kill the Eva and its pilot, recognizable by the light  
of his soul, it went at the cables instead. The suited Unit 01 was already attempting  
to climb faster by pulling itself up the coolant links. Shinji sent forth another wall of  
force. The Angel used its AT-field mainly for propulsion, and was pushed back. It so  
easily just swam around for another pass.

In response to his abuse of his field, it spat out two black ovoids at him from its two  
eyestalk-like tendrils; immature Angels. Or more like aborted Angels; with only one  
purpose - to die in as explosive a manner as possible.

"Agh!" he groaned out. He shielded himself from the blasts, with an omnidrectional AT  
field barrier.

Yet Sandalphon was already arcing up above him. Its spines grazed the cables and  
snapped all but one... and that too began to fray. The Angel descended to beyond  
his sight range again.

Shinji reached for the unraveling ceramic-infused line to life.

The last link snapped.

"This..." Shinji said numbly, as his hand just barely missed it. "...is such a stupid way  
to die."

He began to sink. The jaws reached him.

-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-

end Red Versus Blue part one

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

* * *

Apologies to those who found this chapter too short. This fic is already an absurdly long text file on my hard drive, so it's getting quite hard to judge if the latest addition is enough. Only when after upload do I finally see the wordcount. 0o


	17. Chapter 16: Red Versus Blue part2

Red Versus Blue part two

-o-  
-o-

In retrospect, dropping an N2 mine into an active volcano was a spectacularly bad idea.

"Ooh! I so wanted to go to the hot springs when the mission was done." Misato was  
heard complaining. "But now... well, the hotsprings are gone." Along with most of the  
countryside. It wasn't so much an eruption as an all-consuming flood of lava, spilling  
out the broken caldera. There was also whatever secondary effects it would cause to  
the already volatile fault lines already present all over Japan.

At least it was one scene of devastation that couldn't be blamed on Shinji Ika... wait.  
He was around, wasn't he? That was enough. He's like a humanoid typhoon.

Click. Whirr. That image was replaced by something else.

The Angel is... well, big." Misato pointed to the screen. "The thing we were looking at  
was a decoy. Yes, it had a blue pattern... but we just stopped looking when he found  
what we expected. The Angel was underneath, disguising itself. It was a trap."

She tapped at the expected Angel, which was a little smaller than an Eva. She then  
slid her presenter's stick over to the actual combat form, which was well over three  
times the size. Seeing something about twice the size of Godzilla had made everyone  
in the military push the panic button.

"It's like David and Goliath. It's just overwhelmingly powerful that way." Ritsuko noted.  
"I suppose it also tells much that its underground form looks like that of a flatfish."

Rei raised her hand. "Captain Katsuragi... what are the Angel's capabilities?"

"We know it can survive extreme heat and pressure. Its outer skin seems to have the  
consistency of rock... some of that might actually BE rock. That natural toughness  
combined with its great size means that the Evas have no chance in close combat."

"What about the AT-field?" Shinji asked next.

"Did you notice it using any? The ones from before were just scary in using it, but  
since we defeated that... it's like this one decided that such tricks weren't the way  
to go. It tried to force the Evas into where it was at such absolute disadvantage."

"Tch." Asuka shrank back on her seat. "It ran away."

"To be precise, pilot Sohryu; both of you ran away."

Asuka growled. Maya, over at the projector, helpfully replayed the last battle.

-o-  
-o-

Shinji felt himself stop. He wedged himself to a stop with his feet between the jaws.  
The other two jaws closed in, and he had to force those open too with his arms. He  
looked down at the rows of teeth inside a wormlike mouth.

He groaned. This just bites.

Sandalphon trashed about, but couldn't get the leverage. Finally, it occured to itself  
that the Evangelion just couldn't possibly withstand the same pressures it could. The  
Angel reared back and prepared to dive deep.

It jerked to a stop.

"Baaka!" Asuka shouted over the link. "You're just going to be hopeless without me to  
hold your hand, won't you?"

"A-asuka? Your Eva..." No hesitation... just jumping in like that. Finally, Asuka. Heroic.

The girl smirked, though her cheek twitched. She was feeling everything, such was  
the peril of a high sync ratio. She could feel it all; cracking and burning under the  
strain. She grit her teeth. "... don't mind it. D-don't think too much of it... it would  
just get too boring." She pulled at the other Eva's connecting line, while she held on  
to the main cables. Unit Two's eyes glowed, as she had it heave as if the Angel was,  
like it looked, a fish on a hook.

His heart filled with wonder. "Asuka, I need it. Your AT-field... spread your AT-field!"

"Don't say it like that, dummkopf!" she spat.

"Look down, Asuka."

She did. "HOLY CRAP!"

Saldalphon spat out the Eva, and flipped up the spines on its back. It sank down  
again, in preparation for another open-mouth charge. The pilots hastily brought out  
their AT-fields.

-o-

Unit Two was flung out the volcano.

It spun around in mid-air, to crash tumbling down the slope. Asuka reached out and  
dug with the Eva's fingers to try and arrest her momentum. Eventually, dizzily, she  
stopped.

She heard something roar. She looked up.

"Hu-huge...!"

Something vaugely like a horned toad emerged from the erupting volcano. It splashed  
down on the open caldera and had the lava flowing even faster out. The purple Eva  
ran down the slope like an Olympic sprinter. A fat... olympic... sprinter?

It skidded to a stop near the red Eva. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" shrieked Asuka.

"The Angel." Shinji responded simply.

Sandalphon emerged, puffing out as its mass expanded without all the pressure to  
hold it in. Lava flowed upward, hardening into overlapping plates. Its two eyes moved  
to opposite sides of its head. Two dark oblong things popped out of its eyestalk-like  
tendrils. Finally, the Angel's skull-like mask emerged. They could see its core, behind  
several protective spiky protusions on its forehead.

"Did we bring the Heavy Bolter?" he asked Asuka. It would take too long to take off  
the Type D equipment. She would have to fight it on her own.

"No." She looked up, at the sheer size of the thing. "And we don't have range with the  
normal Bolters."

It scooped up with its tail, and a mass of lava flew up over its head. It flowed into a  
globe, quickly solidifying; and through the air like a catapult-fired boulder. Admittedly,  
a boulder the size of a small building.

The projectile slammed into the ground a short distance away from the Evangelions.  
Both pilots scowled and grit their teeth. "There's a time for courage!" shouted Shinji.

Both Evas took on step forward.

"And there's a time to RUN LIKE HELL!" finished Asuka.

Both Evas pivoted on that foot, and began to scamper down the mountain. Boulders  
began raining down just right behind them.

Down below, Misato scowled at the sight. "Wait a second... they're coming here!"  
She met everyone else's wide-eyed gazes. "Out! Everybody out! Start the trucks!  
Start the trucks, dammit!"

Sandalphon roared out, as if exulting in its victory; doing what its siblings could not,  
to send the enemy fleeing.

BOOM.

Ow.

-o-  
-o-

The screen showed an overhead map view of the damage. The pillar of acrid smoke  
could be seen as far away as Kyoto-2. While it wasn't a massive eruption, every day  
the open volcano was pumping ash into the air. Eventually it could affect even the  
global climate conditions. That was less frightening to consider than an enemy that  
could cause earthquakes at will.

Misato sighed. "We ended up leaving most of the equipment behind. More stuff for me  
to sign for."

Ritsuko adjusted her glasses, having it glint under the projector light. She sat there  
in the back row, beside a grinning Kaji. Fortunately he was under Misato's sight, so  
couldn't misbehave too much. "Unfortunately, it seems to have the perfect defense.  
Simply because we have no way of following it down into magma, it decides where  
and when we should face it."

Fortunately the Angels, while they sought the destruction of the human race, were  
operating upon the recovery of Adam rather than engineering themselves for mass  
destruction. If they wanted to wipe out humanity, they could probably do it; if they  
looked beyond the obvious shortcut lazy way to do it.

"Did the N2 bomb even do anything to it?" Asuka turned about on her seat to ask the  
UN attache.

"We don't know. It's deep underground right now. The fact that it takes that so easily  
means the bomb... might have only annoyed it. "

"Like a flashbang." Misato realized. "It doesn't really do anything to inflict damage, but  
it thoroughly hurts the senses." Sandalphon, to move in its chaotic living environment,  
had to have senses tuned to a keen range. It was still trying to adjust to the normal  
aboveground conditions. Beyond that, its resistance to damage was just unholy.

"Misato-san, I did notice something about it..." said Shinji. "The AT-field, it doesn't  
use it for active defense or offense like the others; but like the Angel that attacked  
us in the ocean, it seems to use it for propulsion."

"Propulsion?"

"It's using that to hold itself together. It melts rock or solidifies lava and so moves by  
altering the environment to suit itself." Throwing big rocks the size of, well... Evas,  
seemed to consist its ranged attack. It wasn't as impressive as say, a packed particle  
beam, but in its own way that much more intimidating. It indicated an understated  
mastery of the AT-field that he just had to respect.

"Arrrgh!" Asuka clutched at her hair and began to shake her head. "It doesn't make  
sense! You're acting as if the AT-field is fixed to spacetime. It can't be! Everything's  
at a relative state... and all that energy has to come from somewhere and then go to  
somewhere!"

"An infinite power source and an infinite energy sink in the same place could break  
several properties of causality." Ritsuko had to agree. "To protect itself from a no-  
limits fallacy, or just simultaneously exploding and imploding... I believe the Angel is  
simply directing particles across its field.

Add loose energy to something, and its molecules vibrate. Remove energy, and it cools.  
Those fins, just like a heatsink when out at the open air. It explains why it can't use  
its AT-field while in magma. Of course, there is still how the Evas CAN use their field."

"You figured out the push and pull of the AT-field, sensei?"

"It seems obvious now, in retrospect. You just pump out energy and create the field  
relative to your perceptions at the time. So, if you say it's supposed to be fixed, then  
it will remain so relative to where it was 'made solid' when you decided it would." She  
turned to Asuka. "The AT-field is relative to whatever you decide it should be fixed in  
relation to. So, a fixed field is relative to the Earth in perception of location. A tactical  
field is relative to the Eva."

Of course it could yet be that the damn things might still be fixed to spacetime. It was  
just that they had no opportunity to test for it; since everything including them and  
the testing equipment were of course all moving relative to something.

She groaned once more.

"What IS the AT-field anyway? Quantum weirdness like that shouldn't happen on a  
macro scale..."

"I think you just hit it right, Asuka. The AT-field is short for Absolute Territory. It is  
NOT the effects, but rather what allows such things to happen. The push, pull or  
barrier properties are not a function of the field itself, but rather like occurences in a  
sea of probability."

Asuka and Ritsuko began to rub their heads. If things continued to go on, these fools  
might start with punching at things in past, present and future all simultaneously.  
Fortunately, no one else there understood the sheer inanity of the possibilities.

"If it cannot use its AT-field in standard defensive purposes..." Rei said. "Should it not  
be vulnerable to conventional attack? We have no need to neutralize its field. We may  
simply borrow the positron cannon again."

"Somehow, I don't think it will be that simple." Misato replied, shaking her head sadly.  
"The last time, we had to borrow all the energy of Japan. It moves faster, so we can't  
be sure of hitting the core precisely. I think this teaches us a lesson in never being  
too arrogant and underestimating what the enemy can do."

"It only has one moment of vulnerability." Ritsuko held her hand up, as a signal for  
Maya to rewind the video. She did so. "There, switching from an underground form to  
an aboveground combat form. It lasts only a minute or so, and the core is moving all  
in the meantime."

Rei raised her hand again, asking permission to speak.

"Yes?" Ritsuko recognized a certain eagerness in the girl's eyes.

"Then we should not aim for the core. We just keep on shooting it and shooting it until  
it becomes motionless. THEN, we may aim for the core."

"How bloodthirsty of you." Misato grinned. "The N2 mine doesn't seem to work against  
it, so a concentrated attack might. It is -very big- though. All Angels seem to have  
that rapid healing thing." She looked to Kaji. "If it shows up, we're going to need  
everything that we can throw at it."

"Sure, sure." He waved casually. "It's just like fighting Gojira. It's a nice change of  
pace for us."

Everyone else winced. Everyone remembered the eventual fate of things like that  
when against Godzilla. Would life imitate art even more thoroughly?

The door into the minitheatre opened, and in walked Subcommander Fuyutsuki. He  
looked more world-weary and overworked than the usual. He looked around at all the  
young faces; from those of the pilots so unafraid and the adults already rather blase  
to the idea of total annihilation if they failed.

He sighed and sat down in one of the chairs at the back row. "I've just been from a  
conference with Commander Ikari..." And SEELE, for that matter. "Our request for  
additional support has been denied. The use of N2 mines will remain at UN discretion,  
not ours. Any military assets will have to be whatever the JSSDF volunteers for the  
next operation."

"Eeh?" Asuka got up, knees on her chair. "Why not?"

"Doctor Akagi... where is the Angel now?" he said instead.

"Umm..." She looked over to the projection stage. There, Maya switched from film to  
slides view, and pulled up data from her laptop. The screen shifted to a flat map of  
the Hakone region. "We've been detecting localized eathquakes, so it is assumed that  
the Angel is tunneling towards Tokyo 3."

"Is it going to try and drill through into the Geofront?"

"It's an unconventional approach..." Ritsuko answered Misato, while kicking at Kaji  
from under the chair. "But one that has the benefit of bypassing all our defenses. It's  
a good thing there's simply too much hard rock for it to tunnel below or from the sides  
of the geofront... by its angle and heading we can predict just where it will emerge  
out of the geofront wall."

The screen changed to a diagram of the geofront. The empty space that was NERV  
was just a miniscule portion off the top. The rest of the sphere was already filled in.  
By setting a trap, it seemed that the Evangelion was likewise as important a target for  
the attacking Angel.

"We have no way of affecting its route." Fuyutsuki added. "It might still tilt up or down  
or anywhere else before that. Commander Ikari denied allowing UN troops entry into  
NERV proper." For good reason.

Asuka sat back down. "Not that they'd be much use anyway..."

"If so, then it would prevent a needless loss of life." Shinji added. "Other than the  
positron cannon, what do we have that's really, really armor-piercing?"

"That would be the old bunker busting missiles, Shinji. But... they need some time to  
really get up to speed, and only the UN Navy carries them. I hope the enemy attacks  
from aboveground..." Misato stepped away from the screen and sat down too. "Well,  
looks like it's all up to us again."

She stretched out. "Ahh, Tuesday in Tokyo 3."

"You're saying that as if we already have a way to defeat it..."

"No worries. You'll figure out something juust in time Rits-chan." She held her thumb  
out. "We believe in you!"

The scientist sighed and rubbed at her temples again. "Riight. No pressure."

-o-  
-o-

Given Sandalphon's tunneling speed, they had two days before contact. Misato tried  
to hide her frustration, but she wasn't allowed beer until they had some battle plan.  
Ritsuko likewise paced around her laboratory, having Maya shuffle through all that  
they knew about the AT-field again and again.

The simplest idea, was a combined attack by the three Evangelions, with one in a  
suicidal attack role. It would try and get onto the massive Angel and bring an N2 mine  
close to the core. Due to the slope of the thing's head, aiming downwards with a  
Heavy Bolter or Positron Rifle just wouldn't work; apparently while the Angels still had  
to display their core on the outside, they knew now they should protect it.

Of course, that was quickly rejected. It was too vauge. If it failed, they would be out  
an Evangelion and with no backup plan.

Asuka had asked her about that; why did it -need- to be so vulnerable on the outside?  
True, there was Gaghiel with its core inside its mouth; but every time a core had to be  
protruding a ways outside flesh.

"Evas, being built from Angels, have cores too Asuka." she admitted as much. "Like an  
Angel it's also vulnerable; we just layered armor over it. The core is essential to the  
AT-field projection system; think of it like a biomimetic energy transformer. At least  
the reason in the Eva is that there really isn't enough place for the other necessary  
biomachinery within the torso. For the Angels... well..."

Given how huge some of them could be, that idea didn't hold water. If it needed to be  
exposed for the AT-field to function, then layering armor over it should also prevent  
the Evas from using it.

"Maybe it's like a sign." Asuka put in. "Like eyelets on a peacock's feathers. It says  
'look at me, I'm an Angel'. They come in all shapes and sizes, and only the red core  
identifies to others that it's one of them instead of a normal... animal. If any animal  
can get that big. Well, they do come from outer space, right?

I don't believe all that light of the soul bullshit Shinji's going on about. We don't really  
detect AT-fields, do we? We only know of them through the interference they cause  
in normal space."

Ritsuko laughed. She resisted the urge to pat the pilot on the head. "That's very good  
thinking, Asuka! We can't just ask them -why- but that's the most logical theory I've  
heard so far. Indeed, perturbations in spacetime are assigned colors, blue being the  
most common pattern of shifted space identified with the Angels. We instruct the  
MAGI to ignore similar disturbances emitted by the Evas; we code them in as green."

The red-haired girl preened. Ritsuko's approval, it meant more to her than all the stale  
platitudes heaped upon her by all the other adults. In another time, Asuka would have  
viewed the scientist in some form of distrustful skepticism, as she held control over  
the Evangelions and monitored their sync scores. She was authority; and Asuka of  
course deeply distrusted Authority.

In that place though, while the blonde-haired woman was turned back towards her  
work, Asuka got a wistful look in her eyes. That... Ritsuko was a scientist, like Mother.  
She was a workaholic, like Mother. However, Ritsuko would actually -look- at her, and  
they were each other's refuge in a world that steadily made less and less sense.

Asuka would never really care for Misato as a mother figure. She was too irresponsible,  
too much of a big sister in means and manner. Ritsuko's logic, Ritsuko's professionalism,  
it was unassailable. She wished...

"Hm? Do you need anything more Asuka?" Ritsuko turned away from the sync report.  
"You're free to go now, we don't have anything more that requires your presence here  
in this boring place. I believe the other pilots already left."

"Oh. Uhm. Sorry to be a bother." She bowed slightly. "I'm going now."

Ritsuko smiled, and waved aside. "Later, Asuka."

-o-

However, the other pilots hadn't already left. Shinji was in a cafeteria somewhere with  
Maya, massaging the young woman's overworked shoulders. She also pressed crushed  
ice in bags to her tired, vein-burning eyes. Rei... she waited there near the laboratory,  
leaning on a hallway wall.

Asuka narrowed her eyes, and passed her by without saying anything.

"Pilot Sohryu."

She turned back, wary. "What?"

"You did today a hasty, foolish thing." said Rei. "Jumping into a volcano, without any  
protection? You did not even deploy your AT-field until pilot Ikari reminded you that  
you had one. Did you wish to die?"

Asuka stomped over and snarled into the other girl's face. "I don't need any criticism  
of -my- piloting from -you-."

"You did so to save Pilot Ikari."

Asuka narrowed her eyes. "Yeah? Yeah. So what?" She sneered a bit. "Are you going  
to try and warn me off some more? He's not yours, First Child. If you want to be his  
doll, fine. But don't blame me if he gets bored after a while."

Rei shook her head slowly. "No. I wish to thank you." She bowed her head a fraction.  
"Fighting for him... that could make you my sister."

If anything, that only made Asuka more angry. She glared at the other pilot, and put  
her hands to either side to loom over the blue-haired girl. She locked looks with those  
unblinking red eyes, as if taking a challenge.

Rei endured a few more moments of such silent scathing disapproval. Asuka hated to  
be compared to her. She sighed softly.

"Either kiss me, or go away." Rei said tonelessly. "I wish to move, Pilot Sohryu."

Asuka made some sort of strange strangled sound and pushed away. Her anger rose by  
another magnitude. She opened her mouth to deliver a furious tirade, then stopped.  
Her blood pounded through her veins, a red haze was filling her vision. Violence called  
to her, but not yet enough to reach critical mass. The more rational part of her brain  
still showed there was no justifiable reason for that extreme a reaction.

'Oh, because she was smiling at me.' just didn't sound good in a murder trial. Adding  
'She accused me of propositioning her, so I had to kill her.' would only make them even  
more suspicious over nonexistent phobic lesbian tendencies.

Asuka screamed incoherently and stomped off out of the hallway. It brought her to  
wishing for blood faster than anything.

Rei blinked. "What an odd person." she said.

-o-  
-o-

It was night-time in Tokyo 3. The events of earlier, around sunset again, had yet to  
get through the military censor. By morning, NERV and the government would have  
something with a sufficiently positive spin. The two organizations normally rubbed each  
other the wrong way, but Shinji served as a bridge between the two. The officials on  
either side both recognized his desire to simply save the human race by working all  
together. Sincerity worked easily, where manipulations and devious behaviour required  
the maneuvering of far too many pieces. It could collapse so easily, if the pawns knew  
they were being moved into place.

The young king shames others into action. Furthermore, those around could recognize  
the potential there to be a great mature sovereign. There were those who sought to  
prune it, while others worked to preserve that and secure their place in the future.

Misato and Asuka had already grown used to his nightly walks after dinner. It was time  
for the soaps, anyway... and as a male he apparently had no desire to even overhear  
the hyperdramatic things. Pen-pen could just take refuge in the fridge.

He sat down in a bench, strangely enough the very same that Asuka and Kaworu had  
favored. Soon enough, two dark individuals joined him there.

"Hello, Kaikoru-san." he greeted Agent Kentaro. Kentaro Kaikoru. He didn't dare ask if  
that was really his real name, or just one that was assigned. Agent Jiro Maeda had  
already admitted his was an assumed moniker, but that his real name really was Jiro.  
"Maeda-san."

The agents sat behind him. "Hey, Shinji-kun. Today was a funny day, wasn't it?" said  
Agent Jiro.

"Things were... peculiar." reported the elder agent. "Ryouji, as the UN representative,  
can override Gendo in certain situations. As it wasn't an emergency, NERV couldn't  
take command."

"Recovering an intact Angel... that was a calculated risk." Shinji replied.

"Of course. What Ryouji did however, was to give blanket approval without clearing it  
with his superiors beforehand. He made no calls. As expected, someone had to meet  
with him and ask."

"Not just over phone? It seems a mundane enough thing. I believe he was just trying  
to get back into Misato-san's good graces."

"With Gendo absent though, face-to-face contact would help in seeing if Ryouji's  
starting to turn." Agent Jiro put in. "It's rather well known in our circle that Kaji... is  
something like a gigolo. He gets around. He works for Gendo as much as he'd work for  
anyone."

"His loyalty is somewhat suspect..." Agent Kentaro continued. "The UN, NERV, they  
each offer him incentives and he tries to play them off against each other. It could  
backfire horribly."

"Speaking of which..." The younger agent leaned back and grinned. "What do you got  
to sweeten our employment?"

"Kid..." growled out the other agent.

"Just kidding. Reporting in this way just still feels weird." His grin grew wider. "By the  
way, I don't know if Kaji's really as good a spy as he likes to think he is. Old man here  
can really play the half-senile grandfather card if he has to... Kaji met with a middle-  
aged woman with a cat. She just bumped into the conversation and showed the two  
around the sights. Seeing two old folks spar like that, trying to keep it casual with  
each other while knowing they're both spooks... scary, man."

"You still have a long way to go, kid. And I'm not that old, dammit. Neither was she."

"What's that? Getting defensive?" He grinned some more. "I wonder why..."

"Respect the trade." said Shinji. It wasn't in a scolding tone, but somehow it forced  
the younger agent back to a serious mode. "You both... you had plenty of chances to  
take this knowledge to someone else. What you're doing for me... thank you. I really  
appreciate it."

"Don't mention it. It's our pleasure." Agent Jiro frowned. "Literally, little boss. Don't  
think we hadn't considered just shoving this problem off to someone else. There's no  
one else in the business that just won't abuse it, though. It all boils down to power,  
power, power. They're just going to interefere with what NERV should be doing; saving  
the world."

"And the world is worth saving, isn't it, Jiro-san?"

"Well, sure it is!"

"Because it's this world that produced rock and roll?" Shinji too grinned a bit.

The younger agent looked at his partner, aghast. "You told him about that?"

"Kid, I'm old. But even I don't listen to Elvis. The Beatles, Queen, all the others from  
the underwater country. Good choices."

"I wasn't... I'm not ashamed of it, dammit. It was just... private, you know." He sighed.  
"I wonder if we're ever going to get back to that world."

"Eventually." said Shinji.

"Hopefully." said Agent Kentaro.

"I'm not going to bribe you with music or money, Jiro-san."

The agent stuck his hands deep into his pockets and slumped. "Damn. I mean, yeah.  
It's all right."

"What you're looking for isn't a material thing. It's a feeling. It's a sensation. Its the  
-knowing- God's in his Heaven and All's Right with the World. I can't give you that."

Something dropped into his lap.

"Hey, what's this?"

"Do you see that foreign car over there?"

Agent Jiro picked up the car keys. Ford; that was written on the keychain. He looked  
up, at something black and angular parked under a streetlight. "No... no way! How can  
you... you're giving us a car? We already have one!"

Shinji grinned slightly. "Not like this."

"You know, I -can- find out how you managed this." said Agent Kentaro. He smirked  
a bit. "No one makes cars like that anymore. Modifying a classic chassis for electric  
power... good choice." He reached out and grabbed the keys.

"Hey!"

"I drive. You shut up."

"Uncool, old man. Uncool." grumbled his partner. "It better have a damn good sound  
system. NERV's just too goddamn cheap that way."

"Oh, it does. Trust me, it does." Shinji's grin shortened slightly. "Assembling this from  
many different channels makes it less likely it's been bugged. But you should check it  
over anyway."

"Armored?"

"Of course." Among... other things. Only an older car had enough room.

"Goood choice." Agent Kentaro added. Whether it was of the boy's or his own decision  
was up in the air. "If his well-being is necessary to having that girl pilot well, then I  
guess we can keep an eye on Kaji whenever we've got time."

"Did you root out which one is his SEELE contact?"

"Boy, your age. Kaworu Nagisa. Kinda creepy." reported Agent Jiro. Ironic too. "Sohryu  
...you've got to watch out for her. She's not like Ayanami."

"Excellent work. Don't worry, I'll protect her."

"I'm saying -you- should be careful. You're just too damn important to this game." he  
continued. "We can't afford any mistakes. This is all our lives we're betting here."

"I've... made preparations. If something happens, we take this fight to SEELE." It  
would be apocalyptic on their heads, beyond what they experienced during Second  
Impact.

"You will let us in on that plan when we're less of a risk, won't you?" asked the older  
agent. "Still, it's best if the worst doesn't come to pass."

Shinji stood up. "In the end we must all decide what we can sacrifice to hold back the  
screaming dark. We won't go quietly into the night." He stretched out, casually, and  
waved to his guards. "Thank you for watching out for me, sirs." he said in a louder  
voice.

It was that complete facade of friendly innocence that scared the younger agent.  
There was something unnatural about that grey-haired boy from SEELE. This, however,  
... it would be too easy to forget that this was a boy who didn't go around strangling  
kittens. He had already choked the life out of a man with his bare hands. It was a  
ruthlessness neither malicious nor self-serving, and for that ran all the deeper.

Then, he was away, walking back to his apartment.

"Let me drive sometime..." said Agent Jiro, shivering slightly in the night air.

"No."

"I can just hotwire the goddamn car!"

"I'm.. pretty sure it's booby-trapped that way."

"Dammit. I'm pretty sure when I get to YOUR age, I'm going to be tormenting my own  
rookie partner like this. DAMN. IT."

"You're learning." said Agent Kentaro, still completely at ease.

-o-

-o-

Maya returned from the vending machines. "Another all-nighter, sempai? That can't be  
good for you." she said.

"Oh? Oh, thank you, Maya." Ritsuko took the offered cup, and inhaled the aroma. She  
looked up and smiled impishly. "What about you? You're here with me. You don't have  
to do this, you know."

Maya smiled cutely, and shrugged. "I have to help you in whatever way I can, sempai.  
You shouldn't have to suffer alone. You deserve better than that."

Ritsuko bent her head down to sip. "Thank you, Maya..." she said again, as her face  
was hidden from view.

-o-

NERV was deserted. It was almost midnight. Somewhere, at the other side of the  
world, Gendo Ikari was having breakfast. What he was negotiating for was likewise of  
vital importance. Units Three and Four were nearly complete. It was a valid enough  
reason, even urgent, to leave the country.

He made a 'hmf' sound above his coffee. The obvious ploy of the old men to get their  
troops into NERV was easily rebuffed. Surely they hoped to disgrace him, if the habit  
of the Evangelions to turn everything around them to rubble proved true. Less damage  
could have been done if he was willing to look above his seeming pique and accept  
help. Oddly enough; he also believed in the people of NERV. He had no doubts they  
would succeed.

There had to be a secondary goal somewhere. Something that only he could prevent.

He smiled slightly at the waitress. She looked surprised. A kind word had her blush.  
The rugged, the misunderstood. Someone who had exceedingly high standards, and  
she was the most special woman in the world. He knew his deceptions well. It was Yui  
that honed his skills to the highest degree.

-o-

Meanwhile, another of his victims sighed in the comfort of knowing he wasn't around.  
She lazily circled about in her chair.

Ritsuko saw Maya leaning over a control panel, who in the casualness of the deep  
overtime had already shucked her jacket too. She was twenty-four, yet still looked  
and acted sometimes like a teenager. The scientist smiled a bit, again, as she took a  
sip. Perhaps Misato was right. Maya was just that dependable.

Hold on. Ritsuko frowned slightly and stood up. She walked over to the work-absorbed  
lieutenant and felt up her bare left arm. The young woman eep'ed.

"Se-sempai!"

"That's interesting." said Ritsuko. All ropelike and barely discernible, but there were  
indeed strong muscles there. She hadn't expected that out of Maya, who projected a  
personality more useful for her brains than anything. "Have you been working out?"

She looked away. "A-a healthy mind relies upon a healthy body. All-nighters like this,  
it creates stress. There are two ways to handle stress... either recuperate for some  
time after suffering through it, or to prepare beforehand on how to endure it. Having  
a stronger body can keep the mind thinking clearly for longer."

"Very wise of you." Ritsuko responded. Another thing she hadn't expected. So it seems  
her assistant was more interesting beyond her innate mousiness. A mouse that roared,  
perhaps? "That sounds like an excellent idea, maybe I should try it too sometime. Can  
you recommend me to your gym? Maybe we could take aerobics together."

"Um..." Maya blushed. "It's... it's not really... what I do isn't like what you'd really be  
up to experiencing, sempai. It's a bit too... I'm sorry. I can't let you!"

"Oh, god. It's not one of those classes with the mismatched color outfits and the  
eighties music, is it? All those power poses."

Maya blushed some more. "Put like that... well, you could say its very much like that."

Ritsuko laughed. "Oh, it's all right. Nothing to be embarrassed about. If you don't want  
to let me see you like that, it's fine."

"Thank you, sempai. Um. Doesn't NERV already have a gym?"

"Oh! Yes, that's correct. I should schedule it sometime."

She went over to her laboratory desk to get a post-it. She wrote that idea down, and  
just as she was about to tear off the scrap of paper... glanced down to see the foam  
spinning around her cup. Ritsuko licked her lips, and dipped her ballpoint pen into the  
coffee. She stirred, sending the foam swirling and breaking up. She took out the pen  
and watched it spiral about, finally meeting and reforming in a smaller white blob in the  
center.

She blinked.

Her lips twitched.

"MAYA!" she shouted.

"Gwah!" The young woman turned around. "Sempai?"

Ritsuko had a grin too wide, eyes too open and bloodshot. It was a deranged look that  
frankly just scared Maya. "Give me the images of the last battle against the Angel!"  
the scientist commanded.

Maya nodded and began to search the archives.

"No, no... I mean sh-shoot!" Ritsuko in her haste pick up her cup had spilled the drink  
over herself. Oh, well. Her blouse was black anyway. "I mean the last angel we fought.  
Give me the scene with the AT-fields..."

Maya brought that video up; Ritsuko silently watched all three minutes eighty seconds  
of it. "Play it again." Then, at the positron shot bending around the Evas and back to  
the Angels, she said "Stop there."

"Sempai?"

"Don't move." she said firmly, as she typed over her assistant's shoulders. "I need you  
to finish this up when I'm done." She began to chuckle. "Why don't we just attack  
using a compressed AT-field? Because the field itself doesn't exist per se. Enough with  
that defying physics every time; now we can force that work to -with- it!"

Ritsuko's wild grin... her fingers just flew over the keyboard, such speed at putting her  
thoughts into complex laced equations... Maya blushed at the sight. 'Sempai... she's  
shining, she's burning so bright.' she thought. She sighed and relaxed into the strange  
embrace, just basking in that intoxicating brilliance.

-o-  
-o-

Everyone involved had to report to NERV prompt and early. Death threats proved to  
be necessary. Even Shinji looked unwilling; he was used to waking up early but not at  
three in the morning.

"Wah! Rits-chan! You look like hell!" gasped Misato, her own sleepy complaints briefly  
derailed.

"Shut up." growled the scientist. Her desk had at least twenty empty paper cups on  
it. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was frazzled. "I have your solution, Misato. Now.  
Maya will explain it to you. Now. I will go home. I will go to sleep. Anyone that disturbs  
me will be stabbed. Repeatedly."

And thus, almost drunkenly, Ritsuko left the laboratory. A technician too slow to get  
out of her way got a fraction of the berserker energy threatening to explode right out  
of her. The critical combination of caffeine and sugar fueled her strike. He lay there on  
the hallway, clutching his gonads.

NERV... was a particularly merciless organization.

Maya made an embarrassed 'heh-heh'. She had actually fallen asleep last night. Her  
body was already used to operating on just four hours of rest. "Um... please follow me  
into the main conference room."

It was a bigger place than the minitheater, but couldn't seat as many people. A large  
table dominated the featureless room, and a large flat monitor completely covered the  
far wall. Maya hooked up the main display to her laptop. A video of the battle against  
Ramiel started to play. Strangely enough, the main conference room had a screen big  
enough for movies but not surround sound. The minitheater had a dinky whitescreen  
but full aural sound.

Maya coughed, as those thoughts slowly leeched away at what she planned on saying.  
Perhaps she did need more sleep, too. "Um. Okay. The AT-field, shown here, is the  
primary defensive mechanism of the enemy we call Angels. It renders them immune to  
most forms of conventional attack, making the Eva as the only viable option against  
them."

The screen showed the AT-field repelling the howitzer shot. "The AT-field is known as  
phase-shifted space. Ritsuko-sempai hit on an epiphany last night. Absolute Territory  
exists. The AT-field... doesn't. What we -recognize- as the AT-field is merely the  
manifestation of the properties of Absolute Territory. It is defined as the region in  
which the values of matter and energy break down into a quantum state. The Angels  
utilize the quantum properties of the 'AT-field' to spontaneously convert or transform  
states of matter and energy."

Asuka lifted her hand. "What the hell? That's not a scientific analysis, that's almost like  
magic! Anything can happen if we think of it like that."

"Ah, that's what it appears to be. But Ritsuko-sempai... she realized that this phase-  
shifted space had its limits. Like in this Angel, too much energy directed to one spot  
was able to overwhelm its ability to redirect that energy. Each Angel can only handle  
so much power, even should it theoretically be capable of producing an infinite amount  
of it."

She changed the display to that of Units One and Two combining their AT-fields to  
deflect the particle beam around them. "Resisting head-on the positron attack meant  
that all the energy had to go -somewhere-... and in this instance the Angel had to  
accept the strain of both directing the input and likewise pulling on its own power  
source to keep its AT-field barrier up. The Evangelions here simply imitated a limited  
electromagnetic property, and simply shoved the beam aside... the energy goes out,  
and it is those mountains behind it that accepts the excess energy."

Misato raised her hand. "So what does this have to do with anything? I mean, it's  
kinda obvious. No matter how powerful an engine you have, you need a transmission  
capable of holding on to the strain of high speeds."

"Yes, Misato-sempai. However, the AT field also seems to have a secondary purpose.  
Angels are made of exotic matter that decays rapidly... or even explodes violently,  
when the core and the AT-field is gone. The ones that remained usable are those  
which had actual solid shells made out of rare but natural materials. This Angel, for  
example..." referring to Ramiel. "Had armor composed of many different ceramic and  
metallic compounds."

"The AT-field does not exist." said Rei. "Absolute Territory refers to the space in which  
an Angel may exist."

"Exactly!" Maya switched the view back to Israfael. "These two Angels used their AT-  
fields with such variety and precision. None of it however, violates the laws of physics  
despite all appearances. It is because they MUST convert to our energy state if their  
attacks had to have a chance of even affecting us. The energy beam is composed of  
heavy ions, their claws rely on localized field barriers to maintain a molecular edge.  
Notice here, that they can apparently switch between different field properties at  
will...

Now, the new Angel is the direct literal opposite. Its AT-field is turned inward, to  
maintain itself. It's an energy drain, instead of an energy fountain like the previous  
Angel. Note how the lava compresed and cooled... energy is being take -out- of the  
molecules."

"So what's Ritsuko's big idea?" Misato asked.

"Explosive methods are useless. It's just too tough to be affected by such spread-out  
force. Conventional weapons, even massive anti-armor shots like that of penetrators  
or Bolters, which rely on kinetic energy, will also be less useful. We're pumping energy  
into one point, and unfortunately that point is very small and the enemy is very, very  
big.

A positron beam would be better, since it delivers that shock to every portion of its  
effective diameter, but we would need waay more than just the energy of Japan to  
create a beam that would hold long enough to carve it up through all that reinforced  
armor.

And -because- its AT-field is directed inwards, the Evangelions can't neutralize it,  
which so far has been their only way to defeat the Angels."

"So if we don't have ANY weapons that would work..." the Operations Commander was  
quick on the uptake, even if she hadn't had her morning beer yet. "Did you and Ritsuko  
figure out a new one that WILL?"

"Weapon? Pah! To call it that would be an insult to the inspired genius that Ritsuko  
sempai did." Maya sniffed. She changed the screen to a line drawing; that of two  
overlapping ovals. "It's so simple and we couldn't even believe that the Angels hadn't  
thought of it. Or probably they already had, since they liked to use energy attacks.

Not like this, though..."

The screen showed the tactic of the Evas curving the beam around themselves after  
Israfael had sent it back. "Consider, what if instead of the Angel being caught by  
surprise by that bidirectional attack, it combined the shots and sent it back to the  
Evas?"

"We would just bend it back again." Shinji replied.

"Did the attack lose or gain energy by doing that?"

Asuka stood up. She gasped out "Oh, my god...!" as it hit her. Ritsuko... it was all so  
insane, yet logical. There were limits to the absurdity. There had to be! She just then  
overflowed with admiration for the woman.

Maya smiled back, sharing that awestruck realization.

"Yes. The AT-field, to deflect the positron beam, imitates an electromagnetic property.  
It's a miniscule compared to the charge it already has, but every pass does pump a  
little bit more energy into it. Now imagine..." The overlapping oblongs slowly shifted  
into the symbol of infinity. "What if we set up a field as a funnel, and bend a charged  
particle beam around and around, feeding itself, thousands of times per second? The  
additional charge each time is barely worth noticing, but it builds and builds and builds  
until we don't NEED the power of Japan to accellerate heavy ions to a significant  
fraction of lightspeed. Each pass makes it go just slightly faster... packing the energy  
and the charged particles tighter and tighter..."

"Plasma." Asuka breathed. "How do we keep it from exploding and killing us all? You...  
expect us to do this, right? This has got to be insanely MORE dangerous than fighting  
that Angel hand to hand."

"Actually, no it's not. Around the two Evangelions, you have an accelerating charged  
particle beam. Let go and it keeps going in one direction, driven by its own incredible  
momentum. It's going to vaporise everything in its path until it gets past the Earth's  
curvature and out into space... but it won't explode. Um. Or it shouldn't."

"Um... Ibuki-san." Shinij raised his hand. To his Warhammer knowledge, dealing with  
raw plasma, in any form, was always dangerous. "Are you sure about this?"

"Truthfully? No. If the AT-field fails, there's still a chance that instead of expanding,  
the loop constricts to slice right through the Evas." She shrugged. "But you can just  
create the opposing fields over your heads. This solution has going for it the radical  
simplicity of its approach, the speed it can be tested, and of course how little we  
need in the way of extra equipment."

"What about the power drain for the Evas? We can't be getting something out of  
nothing. This plan still needs us to keep that field even." Asuka said.

"We're giving power, to the beam, from stripping electrons from the air itself and the  
Earth's own magnetic field. The power drain for keeping the AT-field constant should  
be constant too. We still need to test it..."

"If it works, it should work spectacularly." The red-haired pilot sat back down and  
groaned. "But if it fails..."

"Lieutenant Ibuki, which Evangelions are needed for this operation?"

"Well, according to sempai, you and Asuka of course. Shinji's uncontrollable sync ratio  
just won't do. He'd be more useful as bait."

"Yay me." said he.

Misato smirked and kicked back from her legs up on the conference table. "This talk is  
nice and all, but let's get to testing this! Let's see if this crazy plan of Ritsuko's will  
work like... well, any of my crazy plans."

A few hours later, the orange and red Evangelions faced each other at the far  
outskirts of the city. The trucks feeding power to the umbilical cables were all taking  
shelter behind a hill. Misato and Maya stood outside, wearing adaptive dark sunglasses.

"Rei. Asuka. Are you ready?" Misato spoke into her radio.

"Yes." "Of course."

The woman looked up, at Unit One looming above them and holding a positron rifle.  
"Give it a shot, Shinji."

"Yes." He pulled on the trigger. FZAP! A bright purple beam shot out to between the  
two Evangelions below. The beam curved aside, towards the orange Eva, and around  
it. Then towards the red Eva, which had it curve around itself and back to the other  
Evangelion in a closed loop. Quickly, a glowing ring grew around the two.

"Hm... give it another, Shinji. Let's see if we can make it go faster."

FZAP!

Another shot with the positron beam didn't seem to add any noticeable effect. The  
sensors marked an increase in contained energy, though. As expected, it was slightly  
more than the combined values of two positron shots, and increasing very very slowly.

"It's... not as impressive as I hoped." Misato said to Maya. "How long do they need to  
hold it? If it's more than thirty minutes, I don't think this is going to be of any use."

Maya looked aside, and grinned confidently. "Have faith, Misato-sempai. Shinji? One  
more please."

FZAP!

Fwoom.

Everyone winced, at the sudden brightness. A strong wind began to gust, howling  
under the midday sun.

"Oh. We have fusion so quickly." said Maya. "Well, I didn't expect this."

Misato pressed down to keep her cap on her head. She was turned away from the  
shining sight. "This... it's really sucking things in. This could get too dangerous."

"The event window is so very small, Misato-sempai. It's not an event horizon by any  
stretch of the imagination. The overlapping AT-fields create a shifting yet repelling  
force against each other that only serves to funnel in air from one direction as the  
activity creates a low pressure region. And of course, air has hydrogen. We're now  
actually generating excess electrical power just from the dynamic flow... not nearly  
enough to cover what we're losing just to keep the field up, but still..."

The field held. Both girls didn't feel much strain. They already had their eyes closed  
and simply concentrated on that feeling... it was a reverse synchronization; their  
natural dislike for each other actually helped in that instance.

By sheer force of will alone...

"I hope Rits-chan has happy dreams. She deserves it." The Operations Director then  
grinned. "All right. Time to let it go. Shinji, force your AT-field in to destabilize and  
release it."

"I'm heading off now."

While the Eva stood up to walk down the hill, the two women ran for the command  
truck to see what was happening and hopefully to survive should things go horribly  
wrong. As expected. It was, after all, Tokyo 3.

Shinji knelt below the spinning ring and prepared his field, thinking on a small bend in it  
as well. He pushed an edge into the ring, and the seething energy instantly sank into  
his AT-field... then up; into the blue and out into the void.

-Principio Eternus- roared. The other Evas joined its triumph momentarily.

"Thus behold the might of man..." whispered Maya. "We weild the light. We won't go  
silently into the night."

-o-  
-o-

"What do you mean I have to -sleep with her-?" Asuka shouted, while pointing at Rei.

Misato finished off her beer and then burped out in satisfaction. "Do you -need- to  
phrase it like that? It's only for one night." She shrugged. "It's too much to hope for  
synchronization like with Shinji, but since you two have to work together tomorrow,  
why not get to know each other?"

"Baka Shinji isn't here. Why can't she just sleep in his room?"

Rei looked away. There was a very very faint blush. To spend the night in his room.  
Misato actually noticed that, and smirked catlike.

"What's your problem?" she asked Asuka. "So what if I leave you two without any  
supervision for the night? Be girls. Chat about things. Seriously, what's wrong with  
getting to know each other?"

"I have no problems in attempting to connect with pilot Sohryu."

Asuka growled. The blue-haired girl's words were always so carefully neutral. At the  
same time, apparently designed to piss her off. "Why does Shinji need to be in the  
geofront anyway?"

"Oh, we're still modifying Unit One for extended battery operation. We're going to  
feed you girls all the power we can spare, so he just needs to know and practice how  
much he can abuse his AT-field with that limited power supply." She shrugged. "You  
girls need your rest. Tomorrow, it's your time to shine."

"Pilot Ikari will protect us." said Rei. "There is no reason to fear."

Asuke held a shaking fist up. Alone, she might not be able to resist the urge to murder  
this girl.

"This is the unbreakable wall of Jericho!" Asuka said, stabbing with her forefinger down  
at the strip of white tape. "You -will not- cross it!"

"That wall... was broken."

"Fine! An even bigger wall! The Great Wall!"

Rei sat there, cross-legged facing Asuka. "That too, is broken."

Asuka huffed and looked away, putting her hands on her thighs. What else? The Berlin  
Wall? Nope, broken too. "This here is my Absolute Territory! You -will not- cross it!"

Ooh. Rei nodded.

Asuka lay down and pulled her futon over her head. She wanted absolute darkness  
and absolute silence. She could almost hear in that emptiness a distant oily laughter.  
She was still so weak. So hesitant. When would it stop being a mask and become  
herself. Did Shinji suffer from the same doubts, she wondered.

He had to. He was just such a boy.

-o-

Tomorrow we kill again; thought Shinji. Ah, machine spirit. I feel your joy. Yes. Let us  
fight as one. Let there be glorious slaughter. Blood for us.

-o-

Asuka shivered. Somehow... it was like everyone kept leaving her behind. It was so  
irritating.

Wait a second.

Asuka abruptly shoved herself out of her futon. She pointed out indignant. "Hah! I was  
right! You're -not- asleep! You're..." She blinked. "What the hell are you doing?"

For Rei was closer to the line, running her palms over in mimelike motions. She looked  
down upon the other girl, and very slightly smiled. "I am merely inspecting the nature  
of your AT-field." she said. Given her own nature, that had a literal meaning. Rei also  
wanted to understand what it was that made Shinji value Asuka's life... over of course  
his service to humanity.

Surprisingly, there was little for her to be disappointed over. Within the other pilot lay  
the seed for a hero, or a dark champion. Rei tilted her head to the side, her simple  
way of adding emphasis to her scant expressions. She tapped at the invisible partition.

"I am respecting your desire for privacy."

"Gaah! Acting dumb pisses me off more than anything!" She punched out. "There's  
nothing there!" Thunk.

Asuka blinked. What the... Hesitantly, she reached out. Her fingers met only empty  
space. Yes, there was nothing there. She clutched at her own hair. "Arrgh!" She was  
starting to snap, she just knew it! And she knew who to blame that on. She opened  
her eyes a fraction, at Rei still sitting there like some form of bodhisavatta.

"Do you hate me, pilot Sohryu?" she asked.

"Hell yes!" No hesitation at all in that answer. "That baka Shinji... I don't care about  
that anymore. He's second place! By the Greater Good, there's nothing in this stupid  
Earth that can possibly piss me off better than you!"

"Good."

She blinked. "Wait... so you admit it? You really were just trying to piss me off?"

"Pilot Sohryu, your heart is filled with chaos. You are designated our team leader, but  
how can you master the battlefield if you cannot yet master yourself?" Rei bowed  
slightly. "There are many admirable things about you, but your will is still clouded. You  
are lost, you are tormented, because you ask questions that need not be asked."

"Questions?"

"Why fight? Why die? Why love? Why hate? Why should you care what others think?"

Asuka sniffed. "But asking those, is what makes us human. Animals... dolls... don't  
need to question their existence."

"Talk? Pilot Sohryu, Shinji-kun had once said to me; dolphins might have had their own  
language. Their brains and their chittering, it could have been talk. And though worthy  
creatures in their own right, in Second Impact they died. Humans DO. Humans DARE.  
Talk is cheap, pilot Sohryu. Power is only bought through sacrifice."

"Eeh?" Asuka brought her knees up to under her chin. "Shinji saying something like  
that? No way... tch. Trying to pass himself off as cool and hardboiled."

Rei's mind reeled with all the possible puns. She looked disoriented for a moment. A  
very small giggle escaped her.

"And what about you?" asked Asuka, not having noticed. "It must be nice to live so  
free of doubts."

"Somewhat. And that is why I too, hate you, pilot Sohryu. You have not seen what I  
have seen, you have not suffered as I have suffered. And yet you catch his eye so  
easily." Rei looked gentle. "I want to see, if you do deserve him."

Asuka blushed and looke away. "You... you're stupid too. Why should I even want a  
baka like him? He stands in my way, always stealing all my glory."

"-Your- glory, pilot Sohryu? What about the Greater Good?"

"Guh." She winced.

"Hatred. Despair. Desire. Ambition. The roads to Chaos are these. When your heart is  
chaotic, your strength is dilute. Look too far into the future and you lose the ability to  
affect the present. Power is only bought through sacrifice, pilot Sohryu. I weep, or I  
would if I could, at all you have given up for your strength. Still you ask for more.  
What else would you give?

Would you embrace that chaos, at cost of what makes you what you are now?

Will you restrain your will in the iron discipline, becoming a role unto yourself?

Will you live only in the now, sacrificing the future for utter power in the moment?"

"... do you always talk like this? Mein Gott; you're wordy. You don't look like it, but  
you're heavy." She hmp'ed "Damn, can't you think of anything less so philosophical?"

"Life, in itself, -is- a philosophical journey." replied Rei. "That is why I believe it better  
not to ask. Live as you must live. Love whom you wish to love. And if you must kill-"

"Then kill without looking back." finished Asuka. She breathed in deep. She hugged her  
knees. "You hate me... because I'm still too afraid to see that I'm a murderer too. It  
doesn't matter that the enemy is the enemy. We -are- killing them."

"Either all life is sacred or nothing is. Either all must end up feeding another, or each  
has the right to struggle to be free. I do not ask the questions, Pilot Sohryu. He wants  
answers for these, and I cannot give it to him. I beg of you, Pilot Sohryu. Help him."

"Him...? Baka Shinji."

"Stupid, indeed. But he must try. That is how he must live."

"Ayanami..." She looked down, and twitched her toes."I still hate you. You... who  
never need to ask... you're his doll. I hate you."

"You who can go where I cannot go. You who can see what I cannot see. I hate you  
as well."

And both girls smiled. One thing about power; is that you do not need to sacrifice  
something of -your own- to attain it. Of others would do as well. You may also take  
of what others have already given up for. At last, they understood. Coexistence. It  
was possible.

After all, peaceful wasn't mentioned anywhere.

-o-  
-o-

And it was morning. Shinji looked nervous. The girls... they were getting along. Asuka  
was cheerily asking Rei about her favorite flower, of all things. Something white, was  
her response.

"No color flowers? How boring."

"White is the presence of -all colors-, Pilot Sohryu. It is black that is the absence of  
color."

"There you go again! Contradicting everything I say!" Asuka complained, and pouted.

Shinji shivered. Scary.

"Listen up, boys and girls!" Misato shouted through the comms. "Operation Shining  
Wednesday is ready to go! Evangelions will deploy above the city, since the enemy is  
tilting up to attack from aboveground. While it would be convenient to evade all our  
static defenses, it knows that its size will be a disadvantage fighting underground."

"It needs to destroy the Evas first, before it has a chance at getting at NERV!" Asuka  
said, with a V-sign out with Unit Two's fingers. The Evas were already at the launch  
gates. "If that thing underestimates us, then it's got another thing coming... ! We've  
got more than just evasions and dirty tricks."

"Nice attitude, Asuka. Just don't overestimate yourselves, when you're out there."

"What do we have in the way of conventional support?" asked Rei.

"UN Forces already have strategic bombers and offshore assets loaded with heavy  
missiles. All they're asking for now is an exit point to lock onto." said Shigeru. "Let's  
hope it's far from the city."

"If the Angel doesn't divert from its current drilling route, then it should emerge right  
behind the mountain ridge on the city's right side." noted Ritsuko. She looked... well  
rested.

"Around Komagatake? Oh, no!" Maya gasped. "The Teddy Bear Museum!"

Up on the command desk, Kozo Fuyutsuki sighed. Damn that Ikari. This should be his  
headache. Still... such good kids. All relaxed and unconventional as they might be, it  
looked as if the future had never been in better hands.

-o-

The bomber pilots grinned as they saw the Evas emerge. Seeing them run from the  
last battle, that was funny. They no longer seemed quite so invincible. However, that  
also made them all the more likable... not just berserker dumbass war machines, but  
held by people with their own foibles and their own sensible notions of retreat.

"We won't be bombing you today." said one, and saluting casually; though the pilots  
wouldn't know.

One by one, the Evangelions stood up out from a hillside access and their horizontal  
rail delivery system. Below was the highway and a relatively flat clearing in the  
mountainous Hakone region.

"Evangelions Zero and Two, prepare AT-field control positions." said Misato. "Shinji,  
set up the automount for the positron cannon."

"Roger." said the three pilots. The red and orange Evas sought out the power cables  
while the purple one unpacked an oversized gun mount. Evas Zero and Two switched  
to external power, plugging in. The third cable went into the automount, and an  
arriving heavy positron cannon was then latched into place.

Shinji looked at his own timer. Ten minutes, maybe more if all he did was to stay put.  
However, once the Angel emerged everyone expected him to start jumping about like  
a rabbit on crack. Sometimes, it really sucked to be the resident AT-field master. It  
wasn't as if he -intended- to do the impossible. It just... happens.

"I'm sending exit point data to your plug interface now." said Ritsuko. "Aim the cannon  
at the field funnel, and ready to recieve the Angel when it emerges. Heavy weapons  
should be arriving from the rails... now."

Large metal boxes were disgorged, rapidly one after the other, from the hill. Quickly  
Shinji unpacked rocket launchers, positron rifles, heavy bolters and even prog spears.  
"When is the enemy coming out?" he asked.

"Approximately two minutes." said Maya.

"Girls, ready?"

"Ready, Misato!/I am prepared." Evas Zero and Two stood a short distance apart, and  
apparently glaring at each other. The air around the two began to grow misty. "Raising  
AT field!"

"Automatic firing, commencing in three, two... one." Ritsuko smirked. "Firing."

The positron cannon, the one used against Ramiel, fired. The shot struck dead center  
an invisible spot bent around and then turned into a glowing ring. The Evas held their  
arms out, as if to keep it from closing in. The opposite was true, however... they were  
compressing the beam more and more to fight its natural tendency to collimate.

The automount fired again. The purple beam abruptly brightened into a brilliant white  
glow. Field supercompression was achieved, fusion was just a side-effect. This, was  
what Sandalphon had taught humanity. Once they knew it was possible, it was just a  
short gap between learning and improving upon it.

The ground began to shake.

"Here it comes!" shouted Misato.

The ground began to break apart, to glow red-hot, and Sandalphon emerged from the  
viscous pool of its own creation. It roared.

And almost immidiately was beset by a multitude of antiamor devices. Missiles dropped  
from above. Shells and larger self-guided missiles rained from battleships out in the  
gulf. Unit One began pumping shot after shot of packed positrons into it.

Sandalphon dived, actually wounded. Its fishlike form for swimming in lava was much  
less durable than its aboveground toadlike combat form.

"Did... did we get it?" asked one of the tank commanders. They had yet to be called  
into battle.

NERV's response was; no. They had no idea of where the core was. It would have to  
be an extremely lucky coincidence, even with all the volume of fire directed against  
it. If an N2 mine could do nothing more than annoy it, then this was a battle that  
wouldn't be won so easily.

Earthquake, and a severe one. Japan was an unstable land, and many buildings were  
prepared for such an event. However, it still unnerved everyone. To their credit, the  
two pilots didn't even let so much as a wavering show in their AT-field. It was fixed  
in their mind, not relative to the Earth or the Eva, but as an absolute. It was the gun  
mount that needed adjusting, but the MAGI easily made corrections.

Sandalphon, in full combat form, leapt out of the pit. It sent the earth shaking as it  
stomped about, such was its size and armored girth. Its roar, oddly enough, was really  
very much similar to Godzilla.

"Oh, we're so gonna die." said the tank commander from earlier.

"All forces! Attack!" was the order.

UN Air Force, UN Navy, and the JSSDF... the air was filled with an angry loud whistling.  
Sandalphon put one foot in front of the other, its armlike fins had become spiked arms  
and its tail had split into two splayed limbs. It moved like a gorilla, but with a massive  
mouth. On its back was a strange snail-like shell, though apparently less for protection  
than as an anchor for even more spines.

The mobility form was around three times the size of an Eva. Combat form was around  
six time that; the size of a small mountain.

It lifted the two strange tails it had, and between the leftover fins dirt, rocks and  
other miscellaneous debris floated up. It all flowed into a rough ball, that glowed and  
was compressed into a compact projectile, gleaming in perfect spherical shape and  
hardness.

Throwing rocks. The army didn't quite get what was so threatening about that. Until  
they fired at it, and not only did their AP rounds fail to leave so much as a scratch,  
it wasn't even the slightest bit moved from its course. Oh, and it was approximately  
the size of a house.

Wham.

Sandalphon began pitching such big boulders around like some form of baseball fanatic.  
It was also frighteningly accurate. Shinji ran down the slope and extended his AT field.  
"Retreat!" he told the tank formation. "You don't need to die here!"

"Roger, Principio Eternus. Good hunting."

The Evangelion roared a challenge, and the Angel turned. Its stalks quivered. It was  
accepting. It threw one of the explosive oblongs at the purple Eva.

Shinji had learned a few more tricks with his AT-field. Ritsuko-sensei... well, she had  
looked so disgusted and forlorn all throughout it, but she managed to teach him how  
to 'soften up' the field. It was already proven the AT field could handle kinetic energy.  
He could push, he could pull. Now, try catching.

"Slowly... slowly..." he said to himself. "Impact would probably trigger it." He slowed  
the explosive fetus and caught it softly in the Eva's palm.

Now throw it back.

Poom.

Sandalphon roared. Damn these Lillim and their trickery! It was all futile in the end. To  
spit in the universe's eye, to shout out they they existed; it was not sufficient reason  
to be.

Phunk! Phunk! Two more bunkerbusters slammed onto its back. The tips actually went  
a ways through the rocky outer armor. Sandalphon was annoyed. Flying things. As if  
by doing that, these little creatures could be special. One of its back spines exploded,  
and splintering out. The slivers shot out in all over and up to the sky, spinning like  
brass shrapnel. Height was no protection; the damn things not only seemed able to  
defy gravity, each homed in to their position. Was it the thermal exhaust? Silhouette?  
How could those things track stealth bombers?

The pilots ejected, but the slivers continued on. They had to hope for a clear path  
through that storm of spinning needles. Parachutes were cut. Seats pierced through.

Shinji screamed out an incoherent battle-cry and let free with the Heavy Bolter.

Slowly, Sandalphon turned its head. It looked down upon the comparatively tiny Eva  
and snorted out two pillars of steam. Unworthy. It slapped down with one of its arms.

And screeched in pain.

Oh, those spines. Those big sharp spines. Those spines coated, laced through, held  
together and made incredibly strong by an AT-field. So of course, -Principio Eternus-  
would tear one off and stab at the Angel with it. It would of course be vulnerable to  
its own field pattern.

Sandalphon flicked away with its limb and sent the Eva flying off. Shinji spun about in  
midair, and landed in a crouch. Not yet. Not yet. A few minutes more. The girls needed  
more time to finish their crucial task.

The machine spirit sang for blood and death, but he had to hold it back. He apologized.  
There were many more battles yet to fight. It wouldn't be good to sell their lives just  
to get rid of this one.

He continued to attack it with many useless weapons, trying to keep its focus. Yet no  
matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get at that core. The spiky protrusions were  
effective at deflecting fire without totally covering it up. As he was doing nothing more  
than shake off powder from its rocky plates, the Angel was starting to lose interest.  
He needed more time. He saw the spine he'd broken off earlier.

'Many things will die if you cut off their heads' he heard a familiar, disciplined voice say.  
'Poking out their eyes will also inconvenience them.'

"Here we go." he said sofly. "By the Emperor- let my aim... be true!"

He extended his AT-field out to the fullest, coated that spine with his will, and threw  
it with all his might. It unerringly dug into Sandalphon's left eye. The Angel screeched  
and trashed about in pain.

"Misato-san!"

"Almost done, Shinji! Lure it in!"

"Come on, you unholy beast!" he shouted out, pulling on the controls and sending the  
Evangelion running conspiciously towards the bend. He picked up a neaby rocket  
launcher and shot at the Angel. The explosions inflicted no damage, but did draw its  
attention. "Come get me, if you can!"

Sandalphon pulled out the spike in its eye, and roared. The black flesh there bubbled  
up, and the eye quickly regenerated. It set off in pursuit in a rather ponderous yet  
deceptively quick pace.

As Sandalphon rounded the bend, a thought entered its strange consciousness. 'Why  
is it so bright in here?'

The Angel saw the glowwy spinning thing, the rampant hostility in that combined AT-  
field and quickly realized; bad things were about in here. It began to turn away.

"Oh no!" said Misato. "Shinji-kun! Don't let it go!"

"Aagh! Dammit!" He groaned. "Since when did these things start to get that thing  
called common sense?" He began to chase after it. Something standing tall as the  
hills, it nonetheless was capable of moving with such smooth speed. Where it passed  
there was just blackened, dead soil.

"As much as I'd like to term that a human invention..." Ritsuko said through the link.  
"Us humans aren't really that reasonable at all even most of the time."

The girls couldn't really spare any attention away from their task. However, Asuka  
muttered 'baka...', while Rei might have smirked a little bit.

Shinji stopped and began to run back. He went over to one of the power cable posts.  
He began to pull and pull at the length of umbilical cables, piling up a tall cord behind  
him. "Shinji!" Misato said indignantly. "What are you doing? It's getting away!"

"An unknowable mind cannot be manipulated..." he said to himself. "And that is when  
we must use BRUTE FORCE!" He pulled roughly one last time.

"Yes, yes..." said Misato, weakly. "But it's still getting away..."

-Principio Eternus- deployed its prog knife and hacked away at the cable. It cut the  
length free from its post and tied the plug end into a short loop. It hefted the entire  
thing onto its shoulder and continued to give chase. The Angel was heading towards  
Tokyo 3, though taking the long route.

"Four minutes of power?" Shinji mused. "Nothing out of the ordinary..." The Evangelion  
ran uphill, at full burn all the way. He jumped off as he crested it.

Sandalphon exploded all five remaining back spines, and sent a cloud of large sharp  
fragments at the Eva. Instead of a barrier, -Principio Eternus- roared and swiped at  
the air, creating a strong wing that blew aside things in its way. It spun the weighted  
end of its improvised rope around above its head.

"No way... he can't be thinking...?" muttered Ritsuko. "He wouldn't..."

Misato grinned. "He would."

The Evangelion threw the impromptu lasso and hooked it over one of the protective  
protrusions Sandalphon had over its core. It was a perfect throw possible only to a  
someone who had no idea of what the limits of what the AT-field could do, and had  
no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. Shinji didn't whoop for joy. There was no  
doubt whatsoever it would succeed.

He slammed into the Angel's side and began to pull himself up; the rope had caught  
around one of the stubs remaining of the back spines. Sandalphon began slapping at  
itself, but just couldn't reach that far.

There was still the spinning cloud of field-enhanced fragments above his head, but  
Shinji didn't have time to worry about little things like that that. He reached out with  
his AT-field, and Sandalphon slammed onto a field wall. It reared back and tried to  
escape another way, only to smack against another wall.

"There's nowhere to run, fiend." Shinji said in a low tone. He sought to drive that  
meaning somehow into the Angel's mind. He wanted it to hear him, the way he could  
speak to Rei. When words needed no sounds and intent went directly into the soul.  
'Fight. Die. Or somehow win. There is no room for cowardice here.' He pulled on the  
rope. "TURN AROUND!"

Misato looked sheepish, as everyone there turned to her; as if questioning her bad  
influence. Maya was more on optimistic fortitude, Ritsuko on burning logic; she had  
always been to 'hell with it!' Katsuragi. Perhaps she had overdone that pep talk a bit...  
"Shinji-kun... I don't think you can make it move like that. The Angel... it's not a cow."

Sandalphon unfortunately chose that time to blow through the open holes in its back,  
in a sound approximating a moo. However, there were other tones; high and low, and  
in the end the effect was quite musical. All the needle-like fragments stopped spinning,  
and oriented towards the Eva. Meanwhile, the Angel continued to batter itself against  
the AT-field wall.

"Shinji-kun!"

-o-

A strange high-pitched sound filled the air.

"What was that...?"

"Pilot Sohryu, do not let yourself waver. We must keep this field stable."

"I know that!" Asuka closed her eyes again. "But... it's getting harder to contain it.  
Baka Shinji. Just get it here already." she grumbled out. "They had to cut our comms  
to keep us from being distracted. It's getting too boring!"

-o-

"Massive damage over all portions of the Evangelion!" Maya reported, holding back a  
scream. "Armor's been broken through nearly everywhere...!"

"But... the AT-field..." Makoto said, numb. "It's still holding. The Angel, it's... the Angel  
is turning around."

Misato bit her lower lip. She was shaking slightly. "Life signs...?"

"All connections to the entry plug are gone, Misato-sempai. Normally the Eva would be  
berserking right now."

"Perhaps now that its primary target has been dealt with, it seeks to take out the  
other threats." Ritsuko had to say. "The other Evas... are helpless right now. The  
slightest drop in the AT-field would reap them disaster."

"Dammit!" Misato slammed her fists down at the metal frame of the command tower.  
"We can release the beam without a third Eva, right? Our trump card... we can use it.  
We can't let it be wasted..."

"We can release the beam." Ritsuko agreed. "But there is no guarantee of any form of  
accuracy."

Misato clutched at her hair. "Aaah! It can't end like this!"

"Captain Katsuragi!"

Misato abruptly stood at attention.

Kozo Fuyutsuki sighed. "Keep your composure. A battle is not the time to lose your  
objectivity. Even if we lose a pilot. Even if lose all three pilots. We fight so that the  
human race might survive."

"Y-yes, sir."

"Besides, it would help if you would all just look up at the screen."

"Eeh?"

The Evangelion regretfully resembled an urchin; its purple and green coloration didn't  
help there. However, slowly, one by one spines fell off. Though pock-marked, the  
Eva was healing very, very rapidly. It couldn't die from such a simple thing like that.  
It refused to die.

"Connections... restored!" Maya gasped. "Shinji-kun."

"Thank you, machine-spirit." He began to laugh.

"One hundred percent...!" Ritsuko gaped at the readout. "Feedback increases as the  
sync ratio increases... so at zero. AAAH! Not that machine spirit insanity again!" She  
screamed. "How can you even remain conscious after that sudden switch? Damn you,  
mini-Gendo! I will figure it out, I will train and train and give it to Asuka, and she will  
CRUSH YOU!

SCIENCE! That is the power of man! Logic will yet win the day!" She pointed at the  
screen. "SOMEDAY!"

"Oy, oy... Rits-chan..."

"Keep your composure, Doctor Akagi." Fuyutusuki sighed. He shrugged, and chuckled.  
"Well, I suppose it's useless by now. Nobody's listening."

"Shinji-kun! YEEAH! Go!" Misato cheered. "Show that stupid Angel who's boss!"

"Reinforcing all this insanity..." Ritsuko groaned out. "You just end up feeding each  
other. There is no hope for recovery."

"Maah... as long as they end up saving the Earth, neh? Ritsuko-sempai?"

"If there's still even an Earth after all these fools are done with it."

"Now, monster! Cry your tears, for I understand your song! This rock, this flesh...! Do  
you think the light of your soul is stronger than mine? I SAY MOVE!" He pulled at the  
cables, tilting the Angel's gargantuan head back. "Prove the greatness of your purpose,  
or waste all that you sacrificed to get here! MOVE!"

Sandalphon sang out again, and once more the spines rose into the air. It flicked up  
with the remnants of its tail and three hard globes formed above itself. It was the  
only external sign of AT-field use the Angel had. However, it was also one that could  
not be neutralized.

-Principio Eternus- opened its mouth, but instead of its already familiar roar, a strange  
tone went out. All the floating things just dropped back to the ground.

Sandalphon's already huge eyes bulged. Its field... could simply not be disrupted like  
that. Nothing had changed, yet... as long as that tone existed, as long as that light  
shone from deep within, it could not lift. Its strength outside of itself was gone.

"Do you dare believe your purpose greater than mine?" thought Shinji. "I don't know if  
you can understand me, beast; but until you can prove it to YOURSELF, you cannot  
hope to overcome!"

The Angel stopped. It looked towards Tokyo-3. Adam. Its siblings had tried and failed.  
They went out with no hope of returning. Could it abandon Adam for its own safety.  
That... it was what the lillim would do. One's own purposes, one's own will, ahead of  
the great purpose. No. Sandalphon roared.

It began slap at itself, stomp around and slam into the hillsides; trying to dislodge the  
enemy on its back. Now and again it would slam into another invisible wall, but it no  
longer cared.

_'I might not be able to reach your core, monster, but with this prog knife I can truly_  
_ try and dig behind your neck, under your skull and destroy that from the other side!'_  
He began laughing with reckless abandon. "Energy is motion! Life is motion! This is  
the song of our existence! STOP MOVING AND YOU DIE!"

Sandalphon roared out a three-part tone, as if to say; get this crazy mot- moron off  
my back! It ran about, berserking, uncaring of where it might go. It ran right around  
the valley bend.

Oh so bright.

Sandalphon roared. No matter. Its armor, its prayer unto itself, it was perfect. It knew  
only an exact hit to the core could kill it; it was just too big. It could just heal from  
anything. It could endure anything! It had the limitless potential of something utterly  
new!

"Rei! Asuka!" Shinji shouted. "Release it now!"

"About damn time!" she screamed back. "Take that, how dare you make us cute girls  
wait for you this long you bastaard!"

FLASH!

"Pilot Sohryu. The beam is homing into pilot Ikari. You were not supposed to think of  
him as you wrap a distortion field around the exiting beam to keep it from collimating."

"Oops."

Sandalphon put its long claws to the ground, and quickly the ground around it began  
to heat up and hollow out. Yeah right; it blew out a strong note. Screw you bastards.  
I'm going home.

Sandalphon shifted into its mobile fom, shedding its outer shell of rocks, chitin and  
secondary organs. The Evangelion dropped onto its back. The Angel reached back with  
its eyestalk-like tendrils; now that it was finally in reach. Two explosive Angel embryos  
touched and detonated.

Smoke filled the view. The compressed energy conversion beam reached the top of  
that rising pillar of smoke, and bent down. The Angel and -Principio Eternus- were  
already diving deep underground, filling it in with magma in their wake.

A sudden and massive earthquake, sufficient to knock the Evangelions up above off  
their feet.

"Shinji..." said Asuka. Did I... I didn't mean to! No! I didn't want to kill him...!

Rei smiled a bit. "A baka, too." A homing property... interesting. The field propagates  
as long as there was an Eva to generate it. Rei wondered how far they could guide a  
beam like that. Doctor Akagi's triumph of creative reason... was tainted again by the  
illogic of Ikari's existence.

"Misato! What happened! Did it work?"

"All sensors are down...!" said Makoto. "We have no tracking systems usable at that  
depth."

"No readings at all from the Evangelion..." said Maya, her screen blank of data. It only  
made sense; after all the MAGI had to recieve information from radio and microwave  
emitters sank all over the Eva's frame. There was simply too much rock in the way.

"Shinji-kun..." Misato nodded. "It had to have worked. Now is the time for you to rise  
dramatically out of all that smoke..."

"Misato, this isn't some anime..." Ritsuko groaned out.

But better than thinking he's dead; Maya said to herself. Believe in him. "He's just got  
to be all right. He has to be. Shinji-kun..."

"bakas..." Rei said again.

Another shaking.

Bubbling hot lava filled up the hole that Sandalphon left. A minute or so passed, with  
everyone staring at it. Unit One... it wasn't protected against extremes in heat or  
pressure. Even when Unit Two jumped into the volcano, it only remained there for a  
few seconds.

This wasn't mentioned in the scrolls; Fuyutsuki thought. It was written; he would have  
to suffer a lot more before he was allowed to die.

-o-

It was spat right out of that pit. -Principio Eternus- roared and spun about in midair.  
It landed face-first into the dirt; between the two other Evas.

Rei had her Unit Zero crouch down and poke at the purple Eva's scorched smoking  
back.

"Pilot Ikari? Moshi moshi?"

"BAKA SHINJI! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" Asuka screamed  
out. She began kicking at the unmoving Unit One with her own Eva. "Playing the HERO  
like that! I don't care how awesome it's supposed to look! It's just -stupid- if you die!"  
The LCL kept her tears from forming.

"Then... should you not stop trying to kill him? You are more dangerous to him than  
anything else here."

"What's THAAT? You want some of this too?"

-o-

Back at the command center, Fuyutsuki sighed. "They're embarrassing us again..."  
Everyone there began to cheer as Unit One began to get back up to its feet. He let  
himself chuckle; relieved as well. "This, with all the forces we mobilized... it's the most  
expensive operation NERV carried out thus far. Heh. Ikari, if only you could see it for  
what it is. These young people, so easily and without fear going into the fight.

Instrumentality means less to them than the struggle in every passing moment."

Fighting something vastly larger than yourself, bending the unknown energies to your  
will, unfliching in the face of certain death... and for the first time; light casualties.  
Despite the frightening potential, Tokyo-3 was undamaged. There was clear cause for  
a celebration as there never had been seen before in the entire Hakone region. It  
could have been grim, but they pulled through.

"Oi, oi!" said Misato. "Save it for the Geofront! You're all not old enough for this sexual  
tension!"

"WHAT? You... deviant! Stop projecting your own filthy desires on us! We're here to  
fight the Angels, not to let you live vicariously through us all the while you get old  
and saggy!"

"You... how dare you? All right, missy! RITSUKO! As Eva Operations Director, I deem it  
time for another team-building exercise! As soon as they get back, simulation training!  
SHINJI! KICK HER ASS!"

"Ha! He can -try-! Langley-Sohryu The Great won't be that easy to defeat!"

Euphoria after battle; so much the greater when it seemed they could lose everything  
at the edge of a single moment. It chased away that fear, and in further lack of any  
restraint they tried to forget that embarrassing state... better this foolish humiliation  
than that born of honest emotion.

"Fine, fine. Maya...?"

"I've got the rebalanced points system up, sempai."

Fuyutsuki sighed again. At least it wasn't on an open channel this time... "Ah!" He  
stood up and pointed. "You there, with the camera!"

That NERV crewman fled. He was tackled by a several others. "Damn you, bastard!"  
"I won't let you make Asuka-chan/Rei-chan look bad!" Several more men were added  
to the pile.

Ah, the nerve of it.

"... why am I always surrounded by bakas?" whispered Rei, listening in. The blue-haired  
girl then smirked a bit. "I guess I'm something of a baka as well."

It was Thursday in Tokyo Three.

-o-  
-o-

It was his room, it was evening; let there be darkness, and it was good. He was only  
fourteen but he felt so tired. There was only so much he could do alone, with the  
limits of his immature body imposing upon the pitiless pace of his mind. However, it  
was the fulfilled fatigue of a job well done.

_'So... that's what Rei's been doing.'_ thought Shinji. _'I suppose, it doesn't really surprise_  
_ me that much. I've always known she was capable.'_

Asking the ork; of course it was just plastic and paint. However, along the way, Shinji  
had just conveniently... forgotten... about how he shouldn't be expecting any report  
out of mere processed petrochemical products.

_'The other half of your soul, commander. However, in that way of looking at things, I_  
_ must admit to some... unease.'_

The warboss began to laugh_. 'Wot's da matta? You knows it. If we orks just had a_  
_ smart enough boss, a boss dat was full wid da Gorkan bashy and Morkan thinky; ya_  
_ woulda been stomped flat. Puny Chaos-boyz, scared liddel Eldar; bah! Orks are da_  
_ biggest and da strongest. Only we orks can get yar Emperor offa his toilet."_

_"I have... grown used to your rampant stupidity, xeno. I could even admit it would be_  
_ boring if you were not there to now and then test the worth of our faith and reason._  
_ But -this-... your stupidity has attained levels BEYOND even what I can believe! This_  
_ goes even beyond being too stupid to die.'_ The Space Marine pointed with his Powered  
Index Finger._ "To profane the Golden Throne...!"_

Shinji began to laugh.

_"Co-commander?"_

_'Can it BE? Are you willing at last to see the truth in HERESY?'_

_'I see. I see! That's the sort of subtle pun Rei-chan would make, wouldn't she? Bowing_  
_ to -the porcelain god-. I may not be the Emperor... but I believe, even He would be_  
_ amused by something like that. He is too great to be brought low by something like_  
_ that. As the great example of Humanity... sometimes, we just need to be able to laugh_  
_ at ourselves. He has the supreme right to laugh at himself, too. What can we offer to_  
_ Him, to make him enjoy his living? All that power... and it's not right that He should_  
_ suffer so long and so alone for our sake.'_

_'The rest of you fools are just too barbaric to identify the sheer superiority of Eldar_  
_ humor. It is likewise the pinnacle of that craft. What else is capable of driving hilarity_  
_ not just on multiple levels but in different time periods?'_

_"... I am CHAOS. I know Tzeentch. And yet even I would call THAT overcomplicated_  
_ mass cruelty."_

_"Oh, you are -so- getting a demonstration, Warp-spawn."_

Shinji relaxed and let their antics play out in his mind. He smiled. It had been a long,  
hard, senseless day. Misato, Maya, Ritsuko, Asuka, Rei... they had all gone out for a  
girls' night on the town. Ah, blessed silence. Looking back, had he ever complained  
that his life was too boring?

He sighed. He grew serious.

_'So, Rei wrote that screenplay. I suppose she had the time. Her sincerity just shines_  
_ through it.' _He frowned slightly.

_'But it makes you UNEASY. Chaos Beasts. Star Gods. How much of that was real and_  
_ how much is FANTASY?'_

Shinji put his hands behind his head and stared up at the shadows on the ceiling. He  
took a deep breath. _'There's still so much we don't know about the Angels and why_  
_ they are attacking. Why are they so willing to kill and die? Rei, I said for her to keep_  
_ some of her secrets. She is to be free to be her own person that way. A certain_  
_ human selfishness... a certain separate human identity...'_

_'But the Angels are not human, young king. Until we know them, we cannot defeat_  
_ them. It is much easier for the enemy to know about us, and that is our weakness._  
_ So far we have won only through sheer mortal unpredictability.'_

_'Stronger and stronger do our enemies grow. Learning and learning from each battle_  
_ we fight.'_ said the Space Marine. 'Either we ourselves msut grow stronger still, or find  
some means of weakening them.'

'_Rei isn't an Angel, though. The fight against them, is all she'd ever known. Asking_  
_ Lillith... it's too much of a risk. If we ever awaken her, then all this destruction would_  
_ pale in comparison. I wonder where we can pick up that knowledge?'_

_'Knowledge IS power, but if you lack THAT, then you must seek other forms of forcing_  
_ your WILL. Power, pure power. That is what you need now. You must DECIDE what_  
_ shape your destiny should be.'_

_'Decide?'_

_'Wots' ya gonna be? Will ya be your own boss? Will ya stomps all dats in your way?'_

_'Or will you attempt to claim what is yours by right and by conquest, my young king?'_

_"What in the warp...? Not you too..."_

The Space Marine sighed. 'Red versus Blue.'

_'Indecision. The root of failure. Your strength shall remain DILUTE."_ The Chaos Son  
laughed and laughed. "But take your time, bright lord. Time is your ally. This is far too  
ENTERTAINING for me to give up.' He seemed to shrug. '_At least, count your blessings._  
_ Far, far WORSE could it be.'_

-o-  
-o-

Two days later, the homeroom teacher stood in front of the class and said in his bland  
voice "We have a new student here with us today. She will be joining us from here on.  
So treat her well..."

A blushing girl with short dark brown hair bowed. "My name is Mana Kirishima!" she said  
a little too loudly. "I'm very pleased to meet all of you!"

She looked up, and her eyes met Shinji's for a moment. Her face turned even redder  
and she bowed again to hide her embarrassment. She fidgeted in place. Two certain  
girls stared at her with narrow gazes. Kensuke began cackling for no readily apparent  
reason.

Shinji closed the school computer and began banging his head against the hard edge  
of his desk.

Much, much more suffering. Before he's allowed to die.

-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-

end Red Versus Blue part two

-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-  
-o-

* * *

Gah! The first part was a little too short; and now I think I've gone overboard and made this one too long. Even then, there's still a few more things that could be improved. Forgive any spelling errors so far; I'll have to comb through it some more (but for now; sleep). Thank you for reading and waiting for this, previous readers. Apologies for the cliffhanger; heh, I've got more than a few complaints about cheap endings like that.

While I've also got some word about how Shinji steadily seems less awesome... I was trying to deal with that here, then it just flowed into this. Perhaps... being awesome is less important than being 'real'. To feel uncertainty, human fallibility, and a human destiny. I'd like to imagine these characters here as still changing and still growing... the story is still far from over. Let them 'live a little'. Neh?

edit:

Now that I've had time to look things through, it retrospect it was a bad idea to watch Nadesico while writing this. It's a very dialouge-heavy chapter, while the previous chapters relied on supporting text. (A few more clarifications now; and specifically toning down on uber crazy ranting Shinji)


	18. Chapter 17: Cry for Me Tokyo3 part1

Don't Cry For Me, Tokyo 3 part one

-o-

-o-  
-o-

The influence Second Impact had on human behaviour cannot be overestimated. It  
was more than just the sheer force of statistics saying that more than half of all  
humanity perished that day. It was more than the bland fact of saying that Adam's  
forced release of its power altered the planet's tilt. More than just saying that all the  
killing was stopped only by more killing, and that democracy as people once knew it  
was all but dead.

It was an event to change the way humanity viewed itself. In the past century, the  
pivotal event was World War II. It showed conclusively that for evil to prevail, all that  
was necessary was for the good to do nothing. The lesson of Tokyo 3 was directly  
opposed to this. People were not naturally good or evil. They had a choice. But when  
it was really down to the choice of them or us; all could be cruel bastards when they  
had to. Half of humanity died, and they were still dying. Those alive were still tainted  
by that suffering.

Case in point; Mana Kirishima. A girl aged fourteen, of average height and build, with  
dark brown hair reaching down to her shoulders and a shy sad smile. She was what  
was known as a military orphan, whose parents were killed in the service of reclaiming  
civilization.

The JSSDF had her as the direct counterpart to Shinji Ikari; in another time she could  
have been the pilot of the T-RAIDEN-T Landcruiser machined weapons platform, the  
direct competitor to the Evangelion series. In that other place, the conditions seemed  
rather horrible, forcing her and her friends to flee and taking their Tridents with them.  
However, with only the Jet Alone program as the other option, she instead was one of  
the 'shining youth' being prepared for a life in the military. Her talents were molded by  
the system, indoctrinated with all the beliefs of the new world order.

A system of beliefs repeatedly rocked to its foundations by the conventional forces  
continued helplessness in the face of the Angel threat. The older generation felt they  
had clear right to be pissed; but those still held back by their age only saw someone  
who exemplified what they all ached to do. That power to command, what they were  
being trained for yet constantly denied. No one was stupid enough to think they could  
handle Principio Eternus any better.

To her credit, Mana Kirishima didn't attempt to immidiately latch onto Shinji Ikari. This  
might have had plenty to do with the defensive screen around him, but in her briefing  
before being sent into Tokyo-3 the words 'seduce young Ikari' was never explicitly  
stated. The word 'fangirl' however, was clear in the minds of all else there. A few  
might have even silently added 'creepy stalker' to before 'fangirl'.

No one really had high hopes for her success.

Tiptoe. Tiptoe.

Peer around the corner.

She saw him standing there, pondering his choices at the vending machine. Even in  
the simplest of tasks, he held such careful precision. It was as if his very existence  
put a historic weight on everything around him. He wasn't aware of it. He wasn't even  
trying to 'act cool'; though 'playing it cool' or escaping attention certainly applied. It  
was then a suitably dramatic wind passed through the open hall, and he turned to  
look up at the sky. The sun, breaking out of the clouds, bathed the scene in a sudden  
eye-opening light.

A barely-heard 'squee' sound. He turned, frowing faintly.

Mana whipped back to cover. She put a hand over her pounding heart. She took deep,  
even breaths. "Relax, Kirishima..." she told herself. "You can do this. It's just talking.  
You can try talking... this is the perfect chance...!"

"Kirishima?" had said one of the soldiers back at the base, who seen the girl grow and  
loved her as a little sister. "Seduce anyone? You have got to be kidding. He has to be  
most attention-deprived, spineless wuss in real life OR fiction. He has to be even shyer  
than her and that's... we're putting her in special ops, right? The girl should be a -ninja-."

She put a hand on the wall to steady herself, and saw her fingers twitching. In fact,  
her entire body was shuddering in nervous tension. When it comes to Shinji Ikari, the  
supposed Girlfriend of Steel had a spine of jelly.

She crouched down and brought out a small school paper, independently published by  
the more fringe elements of the Press Club as a 'tabloid' counterpart to the school  
newspaper. PRECIPICE PONDEROUS served as the vehicle of expression for all the  
different clubs... but mostly the three main personality cults. She hurriedly flipped  
through to the editorial.

-o-

-o-

What Kind of Girl Does Shinji-sama Like?  
by L. Saotome

This is a question only he can answer. So far  
in all his interviews, he has evaded giving  
any definite criteria for this ideal. Specifics  
such as personality, appearance or even in  
common interests remain a matter of guesses  
and personal attempts.

However, it is also a question that already  
has an answer, somewhat. We can see hints  
in those women he has already admitted to  
be in a favorable relationship with.

-o-

First is Ayanami Rei, and through her we can  
see the appeal of a calm, reserved demeanor  
that is beyond petty, girlish concerns. She  
appears to have an inner sophistication that  
comes from being sure of one's own place in  
the world. She does not seem apprehensive  
of losing Shinji-sama's attentions. She is not  
clingy or demanding, and will apparently be a  
very low-maintenance girlfriend.

In appearance, Ayanami is unusual with her  
paleness, blue hair and red eyes. She seems  
very fragile, and as such classically beautiful.  
In terms of her intellect, those tests she even  
bothers to take are always scored perfectly.

She is aloof, mysterious. The attraction of the  
unknown and forbidden shines from her like  
moonlight. He has already declared that they  
will 'stand together until time itself ends'. It is  
is still debated if it counts as a confession of  
romantic love. Regardless, Ayanami does more  
by doing nothing than by pining away for  
attention.

-o-

Langley-Sohryu Asuka is someone who makes  
as many admirers as enemies with her every  
act and every word out of her mouth. She is  
brash, opinionated, and with self-confidence  
bordering on solid arrogance. Like her fiery-  
red hair, her appeal is in the unpredictable and  
the lively. Called 'tsundere' by some, it seems  
she cannot decide whether to love or hate  
Shinji-sama. This makes the relationship still  
exciting and full of various emotional tensions.

Exotic looks and a very fit body characterizes  
Sohryu's appearance, having uncommon red  
hair and foreign blue eyes. She is a confirmed  
genius, having already graduated from an  
overseas university and is fluent in multiple  
languages. Her athletic ability is in the same  
way impressive.

Her accomplishments are already enough to  
draw resentment from certain groups, and it is  
not helped by her combative personality and a  
determination not to conform to the norm. It  
makes her unpopular to many as a match, but  
she actively challenges Shinji-sama and seems  
to be capable of relating to most of his toils in  
trying to fit in. Certainly they seem to be most  
comfortable in being around each other than  
in interacting with civilians. Her appeal is being  
not merely beautiful but also a person who is  
never boring to be around.

-o-

Ibuki Maya is odd in that she is so much older  
than Shinji-sama but not enough to be out of  
the running. She brings the allure of a mature  
woman and the benefit of that experience. It  
matters little what she had done before, but  
more on how she can expand his horizons. As  
a potential girlfriend, Ibuki seems most likely  
to be enjoyable company at any time.

She looks younger than her years, and may  
still be mistaken for a teenager. The gap will  
mean less as the years go by, and statistically  
women do live longer than men. Contrary to  
her physical age, it is Ibuki that carries girlish  
appeal, with her shy demeanor and gentle face.  
As a lieutenant for NERV, she is doubtless very  
capable on her own.

The other girls are pilots, and Ibuki too has  
connected to Shinji-sama through common  
suffering. She can give him what girls can't -  
mature appreciation. Not sex; but complete  
understanding of what he is going through and  
simply being there with knowledge of what he  
needs to keep going. She is simply what looks  
to be a very caring sort of person.

-o-

Anyone that seeks to catch Shinji Ikari's eye  
will have to contend with these formidable  
challenges. However in retrospect and in view  
of these, it seems fairly obvious.

Ikari Shinji wants a woman that can stand with  
him as an equal and will be a good mother to  
his children. Even at his age he shows such a  
keen sense of priorities. Indeed, any man who  
asks for anything more or less will have to  
deserve whatever it is that he gets.

-o-

-o-

Mana took another deep breath and folded that sheet back into her pocket. She had  
grown her hair a little longer to neck-length as a median between Ayanami and Sohryu.  
Many of her military friends said that it suited her, would she consider putting it up in  
a ponytail? Considering what she knew of their fetishes; no. It was better in any case,  
for it was actually rather disturbing how much she looked like his mother with her hair  
before.

"I can be cute..." she said to herself. Real genki, not Asuka's power angry. Girly, not  
girlish as Maya could be. She would be attentive to his every need, unlike Ayanami.  
She was willing to give up everything for him, in true fangirl obsession. "I can be  
anything you want me to be, Shinji Ikari..." She doubted anyone could be so ready to  
offer oneself as sacrifice. She would be whatever he wanted her to be. These were  
her delusions, but the greatest hurdle was not trying to pass herself off as his perfect  
match but rather her own severe lack of self-confidence.

She was, just so very... normal. Sadly, even her blatantly deranged behaviour was  
of the norm too. Post-Impact Japan hid its funky weirdness well. She might not be his  
best choice, but she was the best the JSSDF (and the forces they represented) could  
bring to the table. Her own stalker attentions actually helped in their spying intentions.

Mana took one last breath of courage, and turned to look past the wall again.

She let out that breath in a frightened 'pwaaah!' and fell flat on her butt. "Ih... Ikari!"  
she exclaimed, at the face that was just then level with hers and was so close to  
almost kissing. She blushed immidiately.

He stood up and looked away, a faint redness to his face as well.

_'Why is he...?' _Abruptly, she realized the answer to that thought. Mana let out an 'eep'  
and pushed down on her skirt. She sat up on a kneeling position, thighs closed. She  
began shaking again. Inside she screamed _'Noo! Now he's going to think I'm vulgar! If  
I knew this might happen, I could have worn something less cutesy! Wait... what?  
Do I -want- him to see my panties? Well, if he really wants to, then... should I SHUT  
UP! SHUT UP! WHAT AM I THINKING? AAAAH!'_

Mana Kirishima, Girlfriend of Steel, the underage spy - the most normal of all the girls  
around the young Ikari, and yet just as insane as the whole bloody lot of them.

Contrary to what most people thought after spending extended periods of time around  
him, Shinji Ikari was not capable of reading minds. What he had as a keen sense of  
reading body language, going through the hidden nuances in words, and understanding  
just what it was that people really wanted behind their own misguisded desires. This,  
in company with such nearly prescient planning meant that the frantic efforts to hide  
from him were useless. He didn't regard his fangirls with pity or disdain. He respected  
their aching need, their despair at being adrift in a world, and their search for meaning.

He did not underestimate what they could do. After all, even when almost all of the  
Imperium turned against High Lord Vandire's reign it was the Brides of the Emperor, the  
protoform of the Sisters of Battle, that were the last to give up their loyalty.

He could see Mana was embarrassed, for a variety of reasons that only made sense to  
herself. It was all probably blown out of proportion, he could feel her boiling emotions.  
Of course he knew why she was there. Many intelligence efforts seemed rather clumsy  
in comparison to what he envisioned.

"Kirishima-san... are you okay?" He held out his hand. "Please... let me help you."

Hesitantly, she took his hand. He slowly pulled her back up to her feet. She was still  
looking down, her face hidden under the shadow of her bangs; still blushing heavily.  
"T-thank you. Ikari-san." Hearing his voice was entirely different from the recordings.  
Why was it that he chose such simple words that had such deep implications? Why,  
one could almost believe...

"So you're covering for Horaki-san as class monitor today? Good for you." A muffled  
explosion sounded in the distance. Then the distinctive sounds of bolter fire. No one  
at the courtyard paid it the least bit of attention, going about their normal business.

Mana nodded. "Um... she wouldn't actually kill him, would she? She was rather... loud  
about any more of his foolishness." These people... they were all so unreal to her. In  
her regimented, spartan life such things were well outside her imaginations. The realm  
of teenage angst, until Ikari, was closed to her.

He shrugged. "Hikari... well, let's just say she's Asuka's best friend here for a good  
reason. She's a lot stronger than she appears, but she knows how to keep her own  
measure."

Mana nodded. "Ikari-san..."

"Please, call me Shinji." He was meeting her eyes, and as if he would devour her. Her  
knees were shaking. Even at his gentlest, somehow he exuded the sense of a truly  
massive predator. It wasn't frightening, but rather... comforting. She felt safe in the  
shadow of such power.

"Shinji... sa... san?"

He sighed faintly. He hoped she wouldn't slip into the -sama prefix like so many others.  
The teen still didn't consider himself as anything special, even if at the age of twelve  
he practically owned his hometown. He winced at her adoring expression. He could,  
with such distubing ease, evoke such fanatical loyalty among those he chooses to be  
his tokens in the Great Game. So much potential for abuse...! Chaos all but begged to  
put such power to glorious use. The Eldar perspective was already well-known.

"Kirishima-san." he said simply.

She stood up straight, betraying her soldiering heritage. "Yes!"

"Please meet at the rooftop after school I have something... very important to tell  
you." He smiled.

Mana looked unhinged. Her eyes were glazed, her face was all red. Her lips twitched  
a little._ 'Alone... at the rooftop!'_ Her -research'- to teenaged civilian life unfortunately  
was through manga and TV. Most of which were sappy unchallenging re-runs evoking  
an earlier, more innocent age. Rooftops, alone... there were so many scenes...

Glurk! She was struck with the possibility.

"Kirishima-san? Mana...?"

"Hai!" She snapped to attention and actually saluted him. "Yes, sir!"

Shinji chuckled a bit. He took her right hand in his left, pulling it from off her forehead  
and opening it palm up. He pressed a cup of milk tea onto her hand, closing her fingers  
over the container. Once sure she wouldn't just drop it, he let go. "Keep up the good  
work, neh?" He winked and made a thumbs up gesture.

Mana's shaking had subsided; but only to a barely discernible full-body vibrating as if  
she would explode violently at any given moment. Her face was still in shadow.

"Um... all right. See you later, Kirishima-san." He turned away and went off to join the  
others in PE.

She remained motionless for minutes after he left. Then, ever-so slowly, a blink. She  
lifted her head, and upon her face was an expression of pure bliss. A sunbeam filtered  
down from the cloudy cover. She exhaled in relief.

Mana put the cup up to her lips and drank. _'He talked to me!' _she was celebrating in  
her mind. _'He.. he touched me!'_ Her inner self was garbed in full samurai armor, and  
waving a flag around; incidentally that of a double-headed eagle. She began rubbing  
the paper cup on her cheek, as if it was a holy relic just by being touched by him too.

"oh, maan... you're pathetic." someone said from behind her.

"Ah! Cold!" The girl nearly jumped in surprise, spilling some of the drink. She turned,  
slowly, to see her two oldest friends standing there. Orphans too, they had known  
each other since... well, almost forever to their eyes.

Musashi Lee Strasberg and Keita Asari were also fourteen, but assigned to different  
classes. Musashi stood taller, with a devil-may-care expression. His hair was bushy  
and had thick eyebrows for a boy his age, owing mostly to the American serviceman  
portion of his genes. Keita was the more thoughtful and bookish of the two, a sort of  
reverse Kensuke Aida in that he was enamored of the trappings of civilian life. For  
such a thin, glasses-wearing boy, he was quite the glutton for sweets and snacks. He  
waved sheepishly, then put his hand back into the pack of potato chips.

"... he's not THAT cool." continued Musashi. "I can probably kick his ass."

_'HERESY!' _screamed the girl from within. However, she was also loyal to her friend and  
as such resisted the first impulse to drop-kick him in the head. She blinked and let out  
and "Huaah!" of outrage. She shakily pointed at them, her eyes watering up. "You...  
traitors! TRAITORS!"

Keita looked down, and at the blue armband he wore. Musashi was wearing a red  
bandanna to hold back his hair. "Oh." said the two.

"The school population is rather polarized..." said Keita between munches. "It's rather  
difficult not to get pulled in. The clubs are all organized between camps. Most of the  
athletic organizations are in the Red Zone. Chess club, astronomy club, all the staid  
scholarly pursuits are in the Blue Zone. Many neutral and public service clubs are in  
the Brown Zone... there are very few nonaligned clubs or students left."

"This place is whacked." huffed Musashi. 'Polarized, Asari-kun? North pole, South pole.  
Where's the West pole and East pole?'

The other boy glanced aside, as if to say 'I know you're thinking of something stupid  
again. Please, don't inflict it on me by putting it to words.'

Many of the boys supported the three main contenders for Ikari, for it was considered  
that if he was occupied with any of those three then he wouldn't be eyeing any of  
their girls. The two from the JSSDF nodded at the remembering, they could so clearly  
understand that logic.

"But you're supposed to be helping me..." Maya said softly.

"We... we can't just set up a fanclub overnight, you know." said Keita, in lieu of the  
thought 'Are you nuts? We can't give you up to Ikari!'

Musashi's blood was boiling at just the thought of it. For too long he'd seen himself as  
her protector. And maybe even eventually... he turned away, to hide his face.

Mana wiped at her eyes and looked up. "I won't give up!" she exclaimed, shaking her  
fist. "Shinji-sama...please see me. See my resolve! I musn't run away! I won't be a  
coward any more!" Another suitably dramatic wind passed, and her longer hair moved  
to emphasize her creed.

Her friends, just boys, both sighed.

As the JSSDF children left, two heads poked out from a nearby bush. One with blue  
hair, the other red. Given how high-profile they both were, it was almost a miracle  
they were able to evade all attention and while together.

"I see. This tetragon is at risk of turning into a pentagon." said Rei, still tonelessly.

"I'm not in love with the baka!" Asuka said hotly. "He's a friend! Dammit! I like him as a  
friend. I'm not jealous. I'm just watching out for his own good..."

"Regardless of what you say, pilot Sohryu; a girl spy. It is interesting."

"I knew something was up with her..." She turned and squinted at Rei. "Should I be  
surprised by how good you are with this? Stalking, I mean..."

I have had much practice out of you, the First Child didn't say. "If pilot Ikari sees no  
cause for concern, then I believe we must simply let it be. It is said that a known spy  
is of much better use than a dead one."

"So... we're going to try and find out what she knows? Spying on the spy, how ironic."  
Asuka blinked, remembering something suddenly. Rooftop. Alone. "Wait... if she's here  
to seduce him... damn you baka Shinji! I don't care about her orders, but if you do  
anything...!"

"Not jealous, pilot Sohryu?"

"NO!"

Rei smiled. "I believe it will be better if I attempt to 'make friends' with her."

-o-  
-o-

Gendo had returned to a happy city. That euphoria quickly shriveled in any place that  
had his presence. He was annoyed, not just with seeing how things had grown all so  
informal in his absence, but that the first thing he had to do after being summoned  
overseas was to put in a report to SEELE.

He waited in the darkened conference room and one by one, arriving with an electric  
hum, those who supposed himself his masters arrived.

"I am sure you are pleased, Ikari." said Lorenz Keel. "Damage to your city is nearly zero  
and casualties are the lightest it has ever been. Your Evangelions performed well."

Gendo grit his teeth, but otherwise didn't respond.

"But! Every indication until it was all done spoke of great disaster. Luck! You were too  
lucky. The slightest misstep could have doomed us all. You left NERV with orders to  
engage in such reckless behaviour."

"You know how vital it is for us to take an intact Angel specimen." said Gendo. Despite  
what it seemed, SEELE did not send the Angels. The creatures had their entirely own  
agenda. However, they could dictate to some extent the when and the where such  
attacks would happen.

Just as Rei, created from the cell of Lillith, was not a representative of all the myriad  
evolutionary choices open to the Great Mother and humanity, so did Kaworu refuse to  
enlighten SEELE with all the secrets of Angel physiology.

Most of all, the infinite power of the S2 engine was still forbidden to them.

"Such behaviour is what caused Second Impact in the first place." said the SEELE slab  
numbered Three. Only the leader had visual, everyone else was in audio-only. "Keep to  
what you should be doing, Ikari. NERV America is suited for such research."

"How far along are they?" asked SEELE 07.

"Evangelion Unit Three is complete, but lacking a suitable pilot." replied the commander.  
"It would be unwise to make adjustments in that area until it may be ready for combat  
here in Japan." In other words, no one had any idea yet which souls to sacrifice to its  
hunger. "Unit Four is lagging in structural development but the prototype S2 engine is  
almost complete. There is nothing to do now but to wait and see. Either it will work or  
it will fail."

"The loss of one Evangelion is insignificant compared to the promise of absolute power."  
muttered SEELE 02.

SEELE 05 gave a cough. "Ikari."

Gendo made no response.

"Reign in your son." said that SEELE member. "You are being too permissive. Now is not  
the time to play at being a father. The scenario must be maintained. Control your son  
or we will do it for you."

"The boy is of no consequence." said Gendo. It irked him more that he would even be  
brought up in such a meeting. The pilot was the least important part of the Evangelion.  
He suppressed a smirk. Unless... these old fools mistakenly believed he could be held  
back by any affection for his son. Could this be some form of threat?

What controls could these fossils even place upon the boy? Interesting; he thought.  
An interesting slip of the tongue; that which was meant as a warning instead gave him  
the last hint he needed, of the boy being manipulated into power as a counterpoint to  
him. But it was too clumsy and too late.

The boy was too young and too ignorant. Third Impact WILL happen, and by his terms.  
However, from the mouth of snakes, occasionally wisdom appears. He did need some  
way of controlling the boy's insane excesses. Rei alone would not be enough. Causing  
her suffering was a simple, effective solution but at cost of a useful pilot.

Hm...

The members of SEELE each switched off, leaving him there in the dark to brood over  
his machinations. Finally, he smirked.

Akagi might be displeased about it, but on the whole little Ibuki was really not all that  
invaluable. He ran his gloved fingers over the table and flipped up a terminal set into  
its surface. Gendo put in his highest security code and accessed the MAGI to see of  
her recent activities.

Maya took a bite of her sandwich and chewed slowly. She took a sip of cold green tea  
from a brick carton. To everyone there in the cafeteria, it was just another of her  
casual, if effective, working habits.

She began to cough. She took a deeper drink through the straw. Then, she smiled  
almost savagely. "Got you, bastard." she whispered. "Now you're mine. You will hold  
no secrets from me."

Those other programmers there smiled. Ah, the joy at finally tracking down that last  
tricky bug in the code. Bravo, miss Ibuki, bravo.

-o-  
-o-

The bell rang.

"Stand!" said Hikari. "Bow!" And thus, class ended for the day.

Mana Kirishima watched Shinji walk over to Asuka and speak to her briefly. He was  
asking if she could just head home ahead, as he still had things to do. The girl seemed  
cooly irate for some reason, and glanced briefly at her. Mana shrank back. 'Does she  
know...?'

However, it seemed the red-haired pilot relented and gave him a dismissive wave. Rei  
walked past, only giving them both a slight nod as a goodbye.

Mana likewise fled from the room, to get right ahead to the roof. It would be improper  
to keep him waiting for her. Instead, she was interrupted at a hallway by her friends.  
Both looked disapproving, and pulled her into a secluded stairwell.

"What is it now, guys?" she asked.

"Look, just... don't get ahead of yourself, all right?" said Musashi. "We'll be close by in  
case you need any help."

"We need to know more about NERV and the piloting system of the Evas. That's our  
mission. Don't expect too much out of Ikari... remember, he's not our ally in this." was  
added by Keita. The seriousness of his tone was ruined slightly by the striped lolly he  
held in his right hand.

Mana rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "Gah, you guys..." she groaned out. "ALONE.  
We need to be alone. I'll put it all in a report later. What do you think he can do to me  
up there? Sheesh, it's like you're expecting him to be some serial rapist or something."

"Well, I wouldn't discount that just yet. With his type you never know..." muttered  
Musashi. The intense loner, the quiet ones... they're always the ones most likely to  
go crazy.

"Don't make me hurt you, Sashi-kun..." Mana said perhaps all too happily.

Oops. Yeah. She's one of those too.

"We just don't want you hurt, emotionally or otherwise... he's not some god, you know.  
All heroes have feet of clay. Don't be disappointed to learn he's just as human and so  
fallible like anyone. No one's perfect."

_'Shinji-sama...!' _Mana stopped that train of thought. The military was no place for too  
much optimism. She was trained that rationally, it was far better to prepare for the  
worst than hope for the best. Always prepared, always ready. That was way to survive.  
"Even so..." she whispered.

She took a deep breath. They were just concerned. She could not fault them for that.  
"Thank you. I'll be all right." She glared at them, but they found that more cute than  
frightening. "But you two had better not be hanging around listening!" It would be too  
embarrasing!

Both sighed. "Yeah, yeah..."

-o-

The rooftop was clear of any others, and the floor directly below was all but cordoned  
off by the Student Security Leauge. These least gossipy of the volunteer troops were  
sometimes also known as the Chamber Orders, when called up by Hikari or Immidiate  
Guards, when by Toji. In this instance, it was both.

This unofficial clique was the only true neutral party in the Color Wars... they were  
there to safeguard all of the pilots, no questions asked. Those getting too uppity in  
the Tokyo-3 SS were quickly given the 'worth of power' speech by Hikari. Those who  
still misbehaved were given the choice of transferring out or getting a safebolt to the  
rear. Tokyo 3 First Municipal Primary Junior High was most definitely not a democracy.  
This was something that was actually a comfort to Mana.

Despite her best efforts, he was already waiting there.

However, before she could get up on the roof she had to get past Ayanami Rei, who  
was there waiting as well. She was standing on the first step in the last flight of stairs  
up to the open stairwell doors. The blue-haired girl looked calm and unchallenging.

Mana's fingers twitched. She was expecting having to butt heads with Asuka Langley-  
Sohryu eventually. She wasn't afraid. However, Ayanami Rei was something else...  
It struck her then how similar their old hairstyles were, though hers was slightly more  
boyish (as expected for someone in her lifestyle). The other girl's odd red-eyed gaze  
though...

_'How am I going to fight that?' _she commented to herself. _'She looks so fragile. It's  
like I can break her in half so easily... but she'd die first, before letting go of him. Oh,  
Shinji-sama...'_

Rei stepped down. Mana drew a single foot back, then gulped. Summoning her courage  
she stood up straight to match that stare.

Rei stepped closer. She kept her rigid stance.

Rei was incontestably violating her personal space. Mana refused to flinch.

And Rei smiled. Mana felt as if stabbed. _'Aagh! So... elegant! She's not a civilian... is  
she? Is there some way I can train to do that?'_

"You have a pleasing scent." said the blue-haired pilot, inhaling with such deliberate  
slowness. She quirked her lips and drew back. "It is strange. Your emotions are pure,  
even your fear is without chaos. But still... so much doubt."

Mentally, Mana added to her report. 'Ayanami Rei is just weird. She looks weird. She  
speaks weird. I think I'd have to break my mind before I can even attempt to try and  
outguess this girl.' "Um..."

"Do you dare put yourself between us, even if you have no power to call your own?"

Mana Kirishima thought back to her days in the orphanage, crying alone, until the two  
boys arrived to beome her shield and her strength. She remembered talking with those  
soldiers willing to spend their downtime entertaining a base brat... and then never  
again seeing some of them. Transferred out, or dead. Such was the life of a soldier.

She didn't know her parents. Her name, Kirishima, was her only clue. There were four  
dead soldiers with that surname in the registry, of those old enough to be her possible  
parents. She no idea which of them was her father or mother.

She remembered being proud to be inducted into the preparatory course, along the  
long road to command school. They tried to break her... and they almost succeeed,  
molding her into what the world needed in its protectors. Her old self remained in the  
company of her best friends. She needed nothing more than them. The Corps was her  
father, the Mission her mother. She was human, through and through, and in her duty  
longing to be a machine. Humans who -want- to be tools. That was purpose, too.

She felt her training take over, her eyelids drooping lazily yet at the same time now  
becoming more aware of her surroundings. She tensed up. Her hesitation faded away.

She remembered her first sight of the Evangelion, so huge and so vicious against the  
Angel Sachiel. She remembered hearing how many lives it had saved. The opinions of  
her immidiate superiors shaped her... while the brass were still undecided and even  
hostile sometimes, the rank and file men viewed young Ikari with favor.

Mana made her own inquiries. What she found blew her mind. Deep attachments were  
of course discouraged among her colleauges; her friends that were boys had never  
really appeared to her as boyfriends (much as they might want). Shinji Ikari... was her  
equivalent of a rock star; given as girls raised in the military wouldn't be so easily  
swayed by unproven pretty-boy looks.

When Shinji Ikari spoke, others rushed to obey. Even she could see that. He was  
someone who would commmand without thinking his people were nothing more than  
tools or numbers on a board. He cared; that much was obvious.

What did she want, really? A boyfriend? A lover? Or the perfect commander?

She felt herself twisting into a returned smile, almost savage. "Yes..." she hissed out  
softly. "It doesn't matter." What she wanted, she wasn't sure. Only what he needed  
was important. "-I dare-."

Rei nodded slightly. "He waits for you." She stepped aside. Rei knew no absolutely no  
fear. This Kirishima... either she would prove herself worthy, or be crushed under the  
weight of his shadow.

Mana bowed, acknowledging that given chance. She stepped up, one foot over the  
other, and feeling as if she was entering a realm that would not so easily let her free.  
She would need to decide, and it would rule her life. Heading up into the light...

Below her, Rei sighed softly. Her vision was less plauged by the dramatic. It was just  
a stairway. It was just a roof. People... were all so incomprehensible. All so many  
thoughts and emotions and doubts they didn't need. A pity there was such a shortage  
of grots around Tokyo 3 now. She had very little stress to relieve, but it was always  
enjoyable to throw a few idiots around.

Mana Kirishima winced, as the sun was still bright even though setting. She blinked the  
spots away from her vision and sought out Shinji Ikari. She found him a distance away,  
standing near the railings. Any other teenage boy would have leaned on the bars,  
slouching in what they thought was a cool pose. His back was straight, his hands  
clasped behind his back akin to a parade rest. He stared out at the city... his city,  
which he had loved and protected.

The sun was sinking behind him. He looked very much to her eyes like a young king.

"So... cool!" she squeaked out. As a military brat, it should be made clear that her  
standards were vastly different from other girls her age. Kittens were cute, common  
fact. Frills were childish, also a similar decision. Pink was bleh, depending upon the  
individual preferenace. As for what was defined 'cool'... others liked to dance and  
those who could sing. She found it enjoyable to drive a tank at full speed and admired  
those who fired with accuracy even with the onboard computer turned off.

Kittens were cute. Shinji Ikari was not cute. Well, okay, maybe a little; she admitted.

Like... ampibious assault tigers. Cuddly, yet insanely dangerous.

She approached slowly, almost warily. He looked so deep in thought that it pained her  
to have to interrupt whatever it was he was so meditating on. It couldn't be her... she  
was too simple. She didn't rate such concentration.

However, Shinji Ikari did indeed Have a Plan. Slowly, inexhorably, everything boiled  
away to one inescapable conclusion. He couldn't make a scenario with Rei and Asuka  
anymore. Rei was already, in every possible way, the scenario itself. Asuka was just  
so unpredictable... yes, she could be coerced into specific paths but it reduced her  
effectiveness. Maya, Misato, Hikari, Touji, Kensuke and the others... they had their  
parts to play, but on the fringe as they either couldn't be risked or had little to really  
contribute.

It would have severely disturbed the generals of the JSSDF that their decision to send  
Mana Kirishima wasn't made as spontaneously as they thought. The idea of sending  
someone to seriously attempt at seduce young Ikari could only backfire horribly, same  
with the notion of a competent spy. A possible friend was better than an outright bribe  
or knife in the back. Who, was so much of a non-threat that even if the links to the  
JSSDF were uncovered there would be little baklash, if any...?

"Hello, Kirishima-san." he spoke without looking, and his voice had lost the self-effacing  
tone he used when around normal people. He turned, and while his face was friendly,  
his eyes were all the more intense.

Mana found herself standing straight. "Ika... Shinji-san." Her fingers twitched and she  
barely held back the urge to again salute. He was a civilian! He wasn't supposed to  
know. Yer she had never been around anyone who just seemed to shine with that  
sort of commanding presence.

He smiled and tilted his head to the side, and all that cutting mood just drifted away.  
He motioned to his left, and she stood there beside him, staring out near the building's  
edge. Mana breathed in the revitalizing fresh mountain air.

"Have you been to many cities, Kirishima-san?"

Mana nodded slowly. She was found somewhere in Okinawa, but ended up around  
Fukuoka-2 as the naval base there was surrendered to UN control. Her guardians  
moved to the Matsumoto region, or Tokyo-2, as she was inducted into the cadre of  
future officers. The JSSDF was meant as a watchdog over the new Japanese Army  
and could be called in to a greater task force when quelling other belligerent nations.

Shinji would have recognized it as similar in many ways to the Imperial Guard, and  
approved accordingly.

"I've seen a few big cities..." But she couldn't really say she'd ever really been -in-  
them. She and her friends had spent a few grades in public school, but even at their  
ages they couldn't adapt to the hurried pace of the metropolis. Even the sternest of  
the teachers seemed to them as wasting energy, and all the other people pursued  
such fleeting concerns.

"I grew up in a small town, up in Sendai. It's nothing like here..." Shinji swept an arm  
at the scene. "That place where nothing seems to happen, like it was its own world  
apart from everything else ... all the violence, all the scars; it seemed so unreal to us  
who lived there."

"It sounds nice..." Mana had to say. She closed her eyes. Laughter, peace and family.  
The finest of things, and he had it. She admired him, and now envied him; a twinge of  
resentment even there. She opened them again, saw his curiousity, and stared shyly  
down.

"Why did you come here...?" she whispered.

"My father asked for me. I just had to know why, after all this time. Until Tokyo-3,  
I don't remember ever being inside a big city. But I am told I was actually born here...  
I was sent away..." He exhaled loudly. "It took some time before I began to think of  
this as home."

"This place..." The city looked as if proud to her eyes. It still bore the scars of its  
defiance; in the highways still slashed through, skeletal building frames, and the big  
hole right through a mountain range. She felt nothing for it. No sympathy. Just assets,  
just terrain. The civilians were numbers to keep out of the casualty column.

"It's home now. I will fight to defend it. But this war affects more than just this city."

Mana turned, and saw he was still focused on the horizon. Melancholy... she realized.  
That was the word she was looking for. His every glance was tinged with that; as if  
everything was all doomed, and all the more precious for that. While they still existed  
they were to be cherished.

"Do you... believe it's possible to win?"

He smiled slightly. "Possible? I would like to call it inevitable. We just don't know what  
we're willing to give up to ensure that." He tilted his head back. "You and I will fight...  
do you think it's right, Kirishima-san? To suffer and die, for those who will never know?  
To sacrifice a few for the sake of the many who just don't understand... who might  
not even care?"

"Ours is not to question why..." she replied softly. Such was a soldier's duty. Ever has  
it been since the first tribes. Someone had to put their own safety below that of the  
group. "I think it's worth it. It may not be right... but yes, we should. It wouldn't be  
right either to just stand aside."

"Only we can be blamed for our own choices, neh? This pain is ours to take. We can  
bear it."

"Either we do this, or we let someone suffer in our place." She winced. His tone so far  
had been too formal. "So, you... um... you know?"

It was a legend to Da Boyz dat Da Boss knows everyfing'. Obviously Shinji Ikari was  
not omniscient. He did, however, have almost full access to the MAGI.

She was three useful things to him. First, as a spy he controlled what information they  
had. Second, as a bribe to him she was ready for whatever purposes he had in mind.  
Third, as a hostage of goodwill to seal their deal. The fact that the generals thought  
he might still be succeptible to this sort of approach only reinforced his scenario. He  
had been expecting it, actually. Everyone was still underestimating him.

"I'm not displeased, Kirishima-san." he added. "It is genuinely pleasant to have you  
around. I hope you'll enjoy your stay in this city."

She nodded, struck numb by his demeanor. It was like silken wrappings all fell aside to  
reveal the sharpened steel of his will. She was -beyond- fear by then, only capable of  
watching and responding. This was her best dream, coming true... romantic notions  
were vauge, unfamiliar affairs that seemed false even in her dreams. Speaking from  
their respective spheres of order was far more comfortable to her.

_'Seriously,' _she said to herself._ 'Shinji Ikari? Hesitant and fumbling with words, trying to  
express his feelings of sudden attraction? No way, Kirishima. Grow up, Kirishima.'_

"I should hate you, you know..." she said in a low tone, her grip on the handrail tight.  
"We nothing else but this duty, supposed to be Enders of War in our generation. We  
were made to fight and hate each other, forged into command, we knew what children  
should be like and we were -not them-.

We were meant to stand between civilization and the darkness in men's hearts. We  
had no one else... we had nothing else."

She let go abruptly, and bit her lip. She blinked away tears threatening to fall. She  
refused to look up and let him see her girlish weakness. She was supposed to be a  
soldier, damn it!

"It was supposed to be our duty! And suddenly you come out of nowhere without any  
previous training whatsoever and made worthless everything we've ever gone through!  
You had a childhood. You were happy. I should hate you."

"Why don't you?"

"...what kind of a soldier would I be, if I destroyed the best chance we had of winning  
this war? This is all I know..." Her voice choked up. She needed something to believe.  
A worthy death was the only thing her lifestyle offered. Honor was such an intangible  
quality.

Shinji inched closer and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. She stilled, and he  
drew back. "How are you adjusting so far to my city, Kirishima-san?"

"...yours?" Of course. He protects it. "I think... I'm doing well, sir. It's a good place to  
live." She was starting to see what it was she was so willing to defend.

He excused her slip. "Others have died to make it a place where people can still -live-.  
Even more will die. As I'm sure you'll be watching over me, seeing if I'm worth all their  
sacrifices..." 'You are!' she wanted to shout, but her discipline restrained her.

Shinji turned to face her. "Please be free to make your report as you see fit. However,  
also tell this to them...

My name is Shinji Ikari and I will protect this city. We are allies. We both want the  
same thing; to stop Third Impact. If they're concerned about what I might be doing  
with the Evangelion once it's all done, if there's a war to come... then tell them this:  
Don't you dare hold anything back. We must give everything, all of humanity must do  
what they can to survive."

"... what?" Mana felt pinned down, as if he was blaming her for something. "Are you  
doubting our resolve? We... my people... they gave their lives even just to slow down  
those things...!"

He closed his eyes and felt the chill breeze. "At whose orders? At what last attempt  
to hang onto the status quo? This is no time for power plays. Power and wealth mean  
nothing to me. You can't plan for the future when there won't -be- a future if we fail."

"Ikari-san! Their sacrifice wasn't meaningless!" She slapped at the railing and faced  
him indignant. "I believe it was worth it to protect the lives and the happines of these  
people! When the Angels are gone, we still need to stand as their protectors!" She  
was taken aback. Did he after all hold any other power than his in contempt?

_'Please, no... don't insult them. My parents. My heritage. Too many gave up too much  
just to have this halfway-sane world after Impact.'_

He just sighed. Always, that ageless sadness behind his dark eyes. At the same time,  
that sense of something immeasurable waiting to be unleashed.

"I am not my father..." said Shinji. "The future is -yours-, not mine. I don't have any  
place in it, not as you expect me to be. I don't want to fight you, not the nation, Miss  
Kirishima. I don't intend to go from battle to battle, living in the shadow of war. Let  
me end the enemies of humanity... against humanity itself, I won't fight. "

"Is that... I assure you, sir, we don't intend anything like that. You have our full  
support in this. What makes you think we're not doing all we can?" Her voice rose to  
a desperate pitch. "We're doing all that we can! We're ready to give up our lives; you  
aren't the only one fighting for humanity! THIS IS WHAT WE ARE! What more do you  
need?"

"I don't need your assurances. I don't need your well-wishes. I need you standing with  
me against the enemies of humanity. Third Impact -will- destroy the world. This is no  
hyperbole. We can't survive it." He shook his head. "If Tokyo 3 falls, humanity will die.  
The Angels have made their choice... this is where they will initiate Third Impact.

I will fight ANYONE who attempts to trigger that. Do you understand, Miss Kirishima?  
I'm asking for help in case that happens." He put his hands over her shoulders and  
stared into her teary eyes. He pleaded with his tone and his soul. "No one must try to  
attempt to weild that power... it can only destroy us. It would be too stupid an end."

"Yes... sir. She stared numbly, as if hypnotized. The deadly sincerity in him was  
etching into her being. Shinji didn't even have to do anything, she was ready to bring  
herself to a trance all on her own. "I understand, sir. I will."

He frowned slightly. Weak-willed followers, he didn't need. That leads to Chaos, and  
while that might be useful in the short-term, his power needed to build at a constant  
and unseen, if unstoppable rate. Power quickly gained is also quickly lost. He was only  
fourteen, and he had to go against NERV, UN, SEELE, and other things that existed  
only in capital letters. There was no other choice but to keep moving forward.

"Kirishima!" he said loudly.

She blinked, and snapped out of a daze. A strong wind then passed between them. He  
stepped closer, and though she was only just about her height he seemed all the more  
more imposing. The golden cloak of the setting sun didn't help things any. She felt her  
nose stuff up.

"You're ready to fight. You're ready to die. But your life isn't something to just waste  
in some futile gesture of defiance." He stepped closer and spoke directly to her face.  
"What do you want, Miss Kirishima?"

"M-me?" She grew frantic. Not fair! Not fair at all! I don't... "You."

She began screaming inside, as she realized what she'd just said. Her face blossomed  
into red. Her heart began to pound. She felt like smashing her head again and again  
into a brick wall.

People could seemingly change personalities and obey Shinji Ikari with such disturbing  
ease. It was as if he could just walk up to anyone, say_ 'follow me'_, and they would. It  
however, was not merely due to force of personality. He chose each and every one of  
them with keen discernment, seeing in them the choices they ached to make. It was  
more like they called out for him. They each agreed with his views, and by their own  
will followed behind in the road he was carving out. Syncophants and slaves, he did  
not need. More often than not, such petty paddings for the ego ruined what could  
have been great leaders.

Here however, he had one such person that could warp her personality at his merest  
whim. Mana was entirely too normal, for all her hidden angst. There were many others  
like her, but none -such- as her. Her military upbringing merely worsened the situation  
instead of how others hoped would buffer with her ingrained discipline. Like it or not,  
she was indeed his biggest fan.

That was also quite sad, in a way.

Shinji Ikari had sworn never to let anyone suffer again, under his sight. If his sight had  
to expand, if he had to find a way to see everything all simultaneously, then so be it.  
For all the maturity he displayed on the outside, it also remained that Shinji Is A Good  
Boy; weilding a spoon and wearing a pot for a helmet, driving the paper armies against  
those who were blatantly Bad. It was simple within; whatever power he had would be  
put to worthy use or not at all. Waste was the enemy.

She was suffering, too. His unique power, if it could even be called that, was to take  
weakness and turn it into one's own greatest strength.

He slowly smiled. "You are Mana Kirishima, and upon this steely heart I will shape a  
world that will plunge fearless into the endless night." Shinji put his hand to her chin  
and tilted her face up. "Don't be afraid, Mana. You will do great things. I believe in  
you."

"S... Shinji..." Her eyes were wide, her face all twitching. The fear in her was burning  
away... replaced by something she couldn't identify. "I... what are you saying?" She  
stepped away and stared at him, taken aback by his sheer... whatever the hell it was  
he was doing. "Can you really do that? Can.. I really?"

"Kirishima-san. You came here wanting to know. I will show it to you..." He pointed up.  
"Follow me and we will pierce the heavens. Believe in me, and we shall hold eternity in  
our palms."

It was at this point that a flock of pigeons chose to fly up right behind him. A strong  
wind blew, carrying with it a strange whistling sound.

A faint whisper; in him all things are possible.

"... too... cool." Mana Kirishima toppled forward. Shinji quickly moved, despite being  
caught by surprise as well, and caught her in his arms. She was already unconscious.  
A thin rivulet of blood dripped down her nose.

Whatever the hell she was imagining, was perhaps better left unsaid.

He felt her forehead. She had a slight fever. Uh oh. He wasn't intending for it to be  
that dramatic, recognizing that such means of emotional control were too akin to the  
ways of Chaos. The demagogue was a clumsy operator, pitching a crowd into mindless  
fervor. He planned on appealing to both the heart AND the mind, forcing both awe  
and logic into something unbreakable. He needed humanity ready to join the fight for  
humanity.

He had expected having to explain his reasons still, when she would respond with the  
understandable disconnect at his blatant oratory. Yeah. Oops. He had underestimated  
her impressionability.

Musashi and Keita stepped out onto the rooftop and saw her there swooned into his  
embrace. Their eyes narrowed.

Oops, again.

They fell flat on their faces, made unconscious by Rei. They were foolish enough to  
force their way past her, ignoring her warning. She stood there, having pinched their  
necks, and lifted an eyebrow at him. Gentle amusement was within her.

Ookay, damage control. _'Can't piss off the JSSDF if we want to use them.'_

At the same time as Shinji as warping an innocent young woman to his will, Asuka was  
walking home alone. She was, as usual, angry in some level.

The passing month since the latest Angel attack was, despite her constant protests  
about the aggravation, among the best times of her life. As much as Rei needled her  
on some unknown deep personal level, she could call the other girl a friend. Hikari, of  
course, was much closer to her. They both loved... to make fun of! Yeah, that's it. Of  
their own respective idiots. Even geekboy Aida was amusing sometimes. The others in  
the school treated her with the respect she expected, and the lousy fanboys all kept  
a tolerable distance away. To deserve their praise... to be given her due... that was  
all she ever really wanted.

Of course, she still -had- to be the best, but she no longer felt the need to destroy  
others to reach that level of self-esteem. She was mastering her rage, instead of just  
letting it rule her. Her blood sang in combat, and outside of it she knew the worth of  
her strength.

Friends.

Asuka stopped, along a deserted street. She sniffed, and grinned slightly. Friends. It  
was odd; she was so determined only a few months ago to live alone. Now, she just  
couldn't imagine life without them. She felt stronger than ever before, more alive than  
she'd ever been.

It was why being excluded hurt her. There was still something they were keeping from  
her; she had enough of being a stranger looking in. It still felt as if she was being held  
as unworthy still. Trust... even as she found that hard to give, she also ached for that  
from others. Only then, could she perhaps lower her own defenses.

Misato was welcoming, but time spent in the labs with Ritsuko was a worthy expense  
of her time. Sometimes Maya was there, and... she just couldn't see it. All the while  
people tried to link her with Shinji, Asuka could only conclude she was just too sisterly  
for that. She couldn't imagine the young woman as a rival for...

She started moving again. No. Rival for what? Heh. Shinji's affection? Ritsuko Akagi's  
attention? No. Nothing being repressed here, no siree. She affirmed once more to  
herself that all the courage and all the self-confidence she displayed to the world was  
indeed all she was.

Asuka looked up as she approached a rise in the road. She saw there someone waiting  
at the height of the slight bump in the terrain. He was leaning, slouched and casual,  
against an electric post. He saw her approaching, and grinned lopsidedly. Very much  
like Kaji's, but kinder and without expectations. He waved at her, slowly.

She rushed to him, without of course making it seem like she was being unladylike.  
"Kaworu-kun!"

She stopped and tried to catch her breath. She hoped he excused the flush in her  
face as from the exertion. The gray-haired teen tilted his head to the side and let out  
a chuckle. "Hello, Sohryu-san. It's good to see you again."

"You're back!" Her expression was beaming.

"So I am. I think I might stay here for a while this time."

Asuka looked him over. He had a lanky build, but somehow solid and confident. He  
exuded an aura that seemed to say 'I'm too lazy to kick your ass right now, but if I'm  
motivated enough make no mistake - you're going to be all over the place.' Unlike  
Shinji's careful premeditation, his eyes were always playful and his face holding a hint  
of mischief. Also whereas young Ikari seemed ready to snap and let loose a torrent of  
destruction at any moment, Nagisa was always loose and accepting; any violence he  
might do would apparently only be at great reluctance though no less thorough.

"Your hair... your eyes. I think they're darker now. Are the treatments working?"

He nodded, his grin getting wider. "You could say they're more than working. I feel...  
more alive, more filled with purpose than I've ever felt before."

Asuka fiddled with her hair clips. "I'm glad..."

"So, how have you been, Sohryu-san?" The hybrid started walking towards the pilots'  
apartment, and unconsciously she began to follow at the same pace. They walked  
side by side, but it was he that directed the flow of their movements.

"You don't have to be so formal with me, you know..." said Asuka, pouting.

"I don't think I've earned the right to call you Asuka-chan yet, Miss Sohryu."

"But I want you to!"

He chuckled again. Kaworu pointed at bench along the path, and they made their way  
over to it. "First, please tell me about you and your days in Tokyo 3. Then, I'll say  
something about what I've been doing in France and America."

"Huee? Europe and the Americas? That's so cool!" She kicked her feet out, and lolled  
her head on the backrest. "I'm stuck here in this boring little place..."

"Boring? I would think being under threat of total annihilation would be anything but..."

"Heh, you'd think so. It would seem like it. But even the Angels are... meh. They're not  
really that much of a challenge. Baka Shinji keeps trying to show off, but he really  
needs us there to keep him from making an even bigger fool of himself. We defeated  
the last Angel, not him. He never had a chance."

"Oh? We? You mean Ayanami?"

"Yeah. Rei." She shrugged.

"You no longer sound quite so antagonistic towards her."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. She's still a doll. Worse than that, a useless doll. She's not  
really all that perfect, even if she tries to be. I pity her a little, actually."

Fury still fueled her, but her skill had vastly improved without having to cheat for it.  
She had -earned- that power, every iota; and thus became far stronger than what  
could have been otherwise. If she faced herself back then, and projecting forward  
using that old self-absorbed reason for fighting... as she was now, it would simply be  
too easy too win. Skirmishing repeatedly against those she could accept as her equals  
honed her skills to a bleeding edge. A berserker dumbass charge against those who  
were simply so methodical in combat only leads to an early loss.

She fought; sometimes she won, sometimes she lost. Such little setbacks no longer  
bothered her. It was all rather even. Shinji's wins in actual combat were mostly out  
of defying rationality to pull off an unlikely victory. Ritsuko was adamant NOT to allow  
him to break the laws of physics in HER simulations. Rei was learning not to rely too  
much on dakka and to jump right into the fray when necessary. Close combat was  
still Asuka's specialty.

It was... all good. Even in losing, she could only get stronger, for she could see where  
her tactics had failed. She could correct it next time. And she would therefore -win-,  
until the others thought of something new to challenge her with.

Kaworu smiled. "You seem to be at ease now. You've finally found your power, haven't  
you? They can't do without you."

"Of course, everyone must play their part for The Greater Good! When one fails, then  
all will fail." She leaned back and laughed. "I have to be strong and hold up my end.  
Let them play around as they like. I'm Langley-Sohryu the Great and I'm the best at  
what I do."

"Piloting the Evangelion?"

"No. Being -me-."

Kaworu applauded. "Very, very good, Asuka! I deeply admire your wisdom in this. Now  
you have a strength, an inner power, that no one can take away." He smiled happily.  
"You won't break just from external forces."

She blushed and looked away. "Well, what about you? What have you been doing?"

"Nothing so exciting, unfortunately. I was with my sponsors for a while, then I went  
out to visit my brothers. They're all over the world, we're a... well-connected family."

"Are you working for anyone?" Asuka said suddenly, now aware of just how convenient  
he was. Kirishima was a female spy. He was...?

"Well, yes. It's an acquisitions and investment firm of sorts, they're shouldering the  
costs of my treatment. It's all due to my mother, really. They owe her a very big favor  
and I thought I might as well be useful; to look at opportunities in the cities I'm going  
to be trapped in for some time anyway."

"I'm sorry..."

He shrugged. "It's all right. Um... sorry to say too, that really not everything revolves  
around the Evangelions." He stopped and cupped his chin. "Fine, perhaps everything  
might revolve around them, considering they're what's keeping you from destruction,  
but... sometimes we really need to live the only way we can."

"So... forgive me for thinking you were trying to take advantage of me?"

For the first time, Kaworu groaned out. "Do you -have- to put it like that? Although..."  
He paused and smirked. "... you -are- very lovely."

Asuka hid her face in her hands. "Oh, stop..." Normally such remarks would be replied  
with an 'of course'. She was embarrassed, though. He said it as a matter of fact, not  
tinged with foolish infatuation. The girl peeked through her fingers. "You know, you  
sound so wise beyond your years... do you get that from your business or is that  
something you're just born with?"

Kaworu laughed. "Oh please. The people I have to get along with are such self-loving,  
unrepentant, nasty bloodsuckers of the worst sort. Just talking with you is a treasure.  
There is simply no comparison."

"I sympathize..." said Asuka, with a wince. "Do you really need to meet with them very  
often?"

"More often than I'd like." was his response. "But I doubt I'll have to endure them for  
much longer. They believe they have some hold over me, but soon enough... I'll be  
free. Then I can let them see what they're trying to command without understanding."

For a moment, a tiny and positively -evil- smile crossed Kaworu's face. Asuka found  
that rather thrilling. They talked more, and laughed at each other's stories. The sun  
slowly fell and the blue in the sky faded into red, then towards darkening purple.

Kaworu breathed in the bitter edge of the night air. He turned towards Asuka and  
began to stare at her intently. She quickly grew uncomfortable under that.

"I've been around the world, and all through my travels, my thoughts kept drifting to  
you. I've searched for those worthy and found none such as you."

"Kaworu-kun, what...?"

He reached into his pocket. "Sohryu-san... would you please accept this as a token of  
my esteem?"

Kaworu brought out a pendant and showed it to her. It glittered under the amber of  
the setting sun. On a solid gold chain, was a strange circular amber piece etched with  
a geometric pattern. A smaller circle, white ivory, touched the top half of a larger  
circular etching, silver all around. Red was inlaid into the background, separated by a  
vertical line extending down from the white circle. Upon closer inspection, the inlay  
wasn't one piece of cut red stone but thousands of little rubies, each sparkling in their  
own way.

Asuka gasped. She reached out and stopped in mid-motion; looking dumbstruck. He  
took her hand, opened it palm up, and placed the pendant into it.

"What... what is this...?" she asked.

"That is known as a sept, the symbol of the T'au and the philosophy of the Greater  
Good." He tapped at the thumb-sized sigil. "This is also a symbol of what my family  
has been searching for, the lesson my mother wanted to teach us, before she was...  
taken away."

"... your mother?" Asuka held it up to the light, and under the reddening sun it seemed  
to shimmer. All of its elements shone, complementing each other perfectly. She began  
to swing it, ticking from side to side like a pendulum. The pendant had some weight to  
it... could it be? Her eyes widened. Gold. Rubies. That wasn't silver. That was platinum.

Holy shi...

She held out her arm, letting it dangle from her thumb and index finger. "I can't accept  
this!" she said suddenly, almost shouting.

"Asuka...?"

"I can't... this is too much. It's too valuable..." she whispered. She looked up at him,  
and her expression was almost begging. "It's too sudden." She grimaced, as if in pain.  
"What do you expect from me?"

Kaworu shook his head. "All I -ask- from you is to accept this. It is very important to  
me, but... after all this time I doubt if I'm still worthy to carry it." He looked so very  
forlorn about it. "The Greater Good is yours to carry now."

The pilot clasped the pendant into her palms, and brought her hands to her chest.  
She looked down, in almost a prayerful gesture. "And am I strong enough...?"

That tone, that heavy sincerity... it was the same. Damn the both of them. Why was  
it that they could send her heart spinning so easily...? They had faith in her strength  
and that made her feel really really good... but at the same time she recognized that  
being so hungry for that approval only meant that she still wasn't strong enough.

"Please, miss Sohryu." said Kaworu. "I -need you-... to have this."

For all her talk about the immaturity of others, she was still very much inexperienced  
in the ways of the heart. She was after all, just at fourteen, and her attempts to  
make others notice her as someone beyond her years only further alienated her from  
those who could have offered her true regard.

She wanted that trust, that honest affection... but only at her terms, not theirs. She  
was still so afraid.

Only two people thus far had ever given her their complete trust... no reservations at  
all, putting their lives and hearts at her hands. However, Shinji... he just couldn't make  
her feel as if the center of his universe. Even when his focus was upon her, it felt like  
she should be honored even for a slice of attention; fighting against something even  
more vast and more important lurking there. Not to mention of course all those other  
girls and (no not jealous, dammit!)... Kaworu felt like hers and hers alone.

That was the gift, not some mere bauble.

She turned her face up, and her lips opened slightly...

She felt pressure upon them. She felt as if her strength was draining away, she was  
melting away into the warmth of his arms. It drained away her hesitation and filled it  
with something she couldn't identify... like a marker, drawing designs upon her soul.

It wasn't about lust, they didn't dare anything more... like fireflies around a flame,  
circling around that heat and knowing it could destroy them. It was about beating  
back for a time, the ancient and primal fears slumbering within.

She drank of that trust, devouring his need. She could only be truly strong when it  
was needed by others. It wasn't enough just for herself. Someone had to see it.

And then, after a long while, she felt so weak and alone again.

Asuka opened her eyes, to see Kaworu smiling down; his eyes were darkly triumphant.  
"I would like to say I'm sorry... but I'm not... Asuka."

"Kaworu-kun..."

He put his forehead to hers. "I admire so you very much, Asuka. Someday you will do  
something that will change the world forever. I want to be here to see it." The girl  
shivered, she was like wet clay in his hands. Her eyes were unfocused. She licked her  
lips.

He stood up and stretched out. "Well... it's getting late, isn't it? Aren't you expected  
back home by now? " he said, holding out his hand for her to take. "May I walk you  
home...? It might be dangerous at night."

'Screw em!' Asuka wanted to retort. 'I can take care of myself.' She smiled brightly.  
"All right..." She was helped up to her feet. She let him put the pendant around her  
neck. "Thank you, Kaworu-kun."

"It is the least of what I can do..." said he.

In silence did they walk towards her apartment, but with deep glances at each other  
now and then. A wall was broken, but there was now a strange pressure between  
them. Kaworu was not one to run a scenario, and as such Asuka was perfect. He had  
to be there outside all realms of prediction. What made it all the more bitter was that  
he did indeed care for the girl. He would not sacrifice her lightly, only for something  
truly crushing in its scope.

Asuka felt both elated and guilty. Everyone needed her, for the Evangelion. The boys  
saw the body. The girls saw the personality. Very few could see the person. Anything  
other than her performance as a pilot was none of their business! What did it harm the  
Greater Good if she was selfish like this?

She stopped.

And what did it serve the Greater Good for them to interfere? He was hers, alone. For  
them to know would seem to diminish that. This was her only pure joy. Asuka thought  
briefly about what it all meant to her, and while the Eva was clearly her reason for  
being it was but a small portion of her days. She had no fears when it came to the  
Evangelion, but outside of it was where she dearly needed proof of her own power.

The Greater Good, as presented by Kaworu, did not give her any power. It only  
opened her up to her own.

She turned around and smiled sweetly. "I think I'll be okay from here."

"All right." He bowed. "Goodbye for now, Asuka."

"Will I see you tomorrow?"

"... I will have places to go, unfortunately. This was the only time I could actually be  
free to see you." He knew it was the one time the awareness of the young Ikari would  
be directed elsewhere. To meet too soon was to be in a battle he could not win. "But I  
will be staying here for a while."

"Hey, just call then!" she said glibly, and with a final wave she was off on her way.  
The dark shape of the apartment block was already in sight. She was humming as she  
walked the rest of the way.

Kaworu waited until she was gone. He then went over to a nearby building's stoop and  
sat down wearily. Asuka was an Evangelion pilot, and her shining soul was such almost  
overwhelming. He groaned. The mortal body was so weak. He could hardly believe that  
anyone could consider this a fair trade. So was the mortal heart...

He had no plan. If he had a plan, then Shinji Ikari could able to find it and break it...  
he had to be the patient hunter, to ruin first HIS hopes, to bring HIM to despair. Only  
then could he hope to craft victory.

_'Right, Shas'O?'_ he thought.

_'Shorten the reach... in eating the fruit of knowledge, in seeing so far; they may only  
turn themselves into even greater fools. They shall -all- be crushed under the weight  
of their ambitions.'_

_'Finally, we shall be avenged, my old friend.' _

-o-

Shinji still wasn't there when she arrived. The feeling of betrayal started to recede.  
'What could she and... that girl... still be doing?' Asuka clenched her fist. It wasn't  
as if he had already claimed her, or vice versa... Shinji was willing to fight with her,  
just not -for- her. She still felt conflicted about that, about that unfanthomable  
forcefulness. Did she want to be claimed... like some sort of fairy princess?

She scoffed. Yeah, right. She was at the very least, the Queen of what she surveyed.

She touched the shape of the diadem hidden under her shirt. She felt... angry. Yes.  
Jealousy? Fine. Perhaps she could admit that. She felt like betraying him, even if he  
was such a goddamn estrogen magnet. At the same time, it was like he was betraying  
her as well. Being ignored, was never a good thing for Asuka.

"...fine!" she huffed under her breath. Let him play around, for all she cared! She was  
not his toy, to come running at his call. If he wanted her, then he should show that  
he was willing to really fight for her. She yearned for that, such awesome dedication,  
from the only person she could concievably call her equal. Being cast aside could only  
drive her to someone, anyone, who could match her iron will.

She felt the beating of her own heart. Her own humanity sought fulfillment.

And she felt... strong. Like she could take on all the world and win. As if any mind  
meeting hers would simply be torn to shreds by the force of her determination. Within  
her boiled uncertain forms of power.

"Damn it..." she whispered. She still felt as if torn in two.

Asuka was still somewhat giddy when she arrived. Of course, Misato had to call her on  
that. "It's none of your business!" the girl screamed out abruptly, and quickly closed  
herself off in her room.

Misato just shrugged and went back to her beer. Teenagers. They just didn't make any  
sense. She was kind of an attention-seeking brat too, but never like that. Of course,  
she spent most of those years in a near-catatonic state. Some might say she was still  
trying to make up for it. The place was just drowning in hormones.

The first one to remark she was pushing thirty was so going to lose some teeth.

-o-  
-o-

Three days later, and sixteen days after Sandalphon's attack, the reports came in.  
The JSSDF Strategic Council had to call a special meeting for it. One of the generals,  
incidentally the same one that oversaw Jet Alone's absorption into Project E, laughed  
and slapped at the sheaf of documents in his hand. "This is very well written!" said  
General Kiyosato Akira. "You can hardly even tell she's biased at all!"

One of the other generals, this one older with a deeply-lined round face and sparse  
fuzzy hair hmf'ed. He narrowed his gaze at his own documents. His eyes were milky  
behind his glasses, not just from age but from looking into too many explosions during  
the chaotic Reclamation period right after Impact.

"Is this all the intelligence we can get out of Tokyo Three?" said General Ryo Minawa.

General Sakata Asagiri was the youngest there, among the three in charge of that  
operation. He was nonetheless as grey-haired and weary as the rest, even if his face  
still looked relatively untouched by age. "NERV Section 2 is being surprisingly thorough  
in making sure we keep to the terms of our defense agreement. Clandestine activities  
are specifically prohibited under that."

"Yet sending a girl to Ikari is acceptable?"

Gen. Asagiri shrugged. "Surprisingly, yes. There is nothing that says a new student  
may not enroll into that high school, even if she's from a military base. Of course, she  
will be after information. We know that. NERV knows that. At least it's a controlled  
situation, and he's getting..."

"We've been friends for a long time, Asagiri, but if you say something like we sent that  
girl out to be a whore, I may need to punch you in the mouth." said General Akira in a  
flat tone. He rubbed at his bald pate. "It's not clandestine. They're still just teenagers.  
If she had any chance at all of seducing young Ikari, then Section 2 would have raised  
more of a stink."

"Then this makes this information... unreliable, if not suspect." said the eldest. General  
Minawa sighed out and closed his eyes. He was always one for the direct approach.  
"This is a waste of time..."

"On the contrary, this is positively enlightening. With the amount of resources we've  
already given up for this agreement, we need to know just how well it can be put to  
use. They're teenagers. They might be saving the world, but they're still just teens.  
Now, will that be a significant factor in our strategy?"

"You put too much faith into one boy." said Gen. Minawa, looking at Gen. Akira. It was  
that man who had argued so hard for the production treaty, bringing the JSSDF to its  
new predicament.

"It's too late." was the reply. "It's all already built. We need to send that 'invitation'."  
He put his glasses back on and began reading the other reports. The bias of the two  
boys with Kirishima was very clear, but the judgement was the same.

-o-  
-o-

Musashi Lee Strasberg and Keita Asari had made their own inquires about Shinji Ikari.  
They tried to do so as discreetly as possible. Unfortunately, they were so easily  
influenced by Mana, that they ended up asking about his personality, likes and dislikes  
along with the official list. That only made it seem like Ikari was starting to attract  
attention from both sides of the river.

They were understandably upset, even enraged, at finding out they were at the root  
of that rumor. Unfortunately, their manly tears and hugs of brotherhood in common  
suffering only added to that impression.

"Um... you're my friends and I respect you deeply." said Mana. "I won't think badly of  
you or anything you do, no matter what the others say..." She was stuttering and  
blushing badly even as she said so. Her research of romance through manga had  
introduced her to the... concept... of yaoi. She felt her nose stuffing up again. She  
fled from them.

They both screamed out in frustration, and further cursed the name Ikari.

The time came when they could actually face him in direct competition, in the school's  
sports festival. They entered into that with bloodly murder in their minds.

Musashi won against him handily in ping-pong.

Keita had an easy victory in chess.

"Ah, he's not so great!" said the more athletic of the two, while sipping from a carton  
of orange juice. He leaned against a wall and watched the students going about their  
activites in the courtyard. Shinji was seated with his friends; Aida and Suzuhara, and  
conversing without any regrets. "I'm hardly awed at all... what the hell are they talking  
about?"

"I can feel hostile gazes burning a hole into my back..." muttered Keita, munching on  
melon bread. He stood there facing away from the rest of the class. "Something feels  
wrong, 'Sashi... don't you feel it's all a little too easy?"

"He's just overrated, that's all..."

Ikari was shut out of the competition, and they watched furtively as he sat there with  
his friends (Aida and Suzuhara, to be specific), conversing without any regret over his  
dismal performance. They were in a different homeroom from Mana. As the games  
progressed, they had to face her class again.

Musashi had to compete against Asuka. They gave each other confident smirks. The  
girl stood with such complete arrogance, it was even awesome to behold in a way  
that made one ask if they trusted their eyes. He could respect that fire, his blood was  
burning too, but... just because she was a pilot and a girl was no reason for him to  
hold back; he said that.

He was trained in combat and command, all the life he'd known as of hardship and he  
was being toughened up with every passing day to handle a life full of such pains and  
sacrifices. Asuka was a pilot, made to handle an unimaginably powerful war machine,  
to wrestle with a power that wasn't hers, to fight unknown enemies in savage close  
combat.

She demolished him. Asuka's fire simply could not be put out. Her reflexes were honed  
by keeping up with strikes and counterstrikes that sometimes seemed to border on the  
precognitive. He slumped to the ground, kneeling... and hearing as if a loud gong in the  
distance.

Keita never entered into things with too much confidence. He knew his limits. However  
he was interested, when learning that it was Rei who waited there, to know hers. As  
far as he knew, she had never joined the chess club. He said to her, of his hope of a  
good game. She nodded briefly.

Although fit and ready to fight, he was made for strategy. He pored over doctrines  
and psychology, all in an attempt to understand whatever enemies waited in the dark  
future and prepare for them ahead of time. Rei... had at best a rudimentary knowledge  
about a lot of things.

She crushed him. She played a like a machine, capable of thinking simultaneously so  
many moves ahead, always making the correctly advantageous move. She put her  
pieces down just moments right after he made his carefully-considered moves. She  
was already so used to splitting her thoughts and her attentions. He slumped back on  
his chair, open-mouthed... and hearing as if a loud gong in the distance.

The day passed, and soon enough it was over. They were among those 'volunteered'  
for cleanup duty. They watched as the students all left, Ikari among them. He was  
as usual flanked by Ayanami to the right and Sohryu to the left. It irked them to see  
Mana had joined that group, on the left after Asuka; invited to dinner that night. The  
two girls faced resolutely away from each other, their cheeks puffed in indignation.

"Monsters..." said Musashi. "Those girls were monsters."

"Oh, come on..." replied Keita, making a shushing gesture. "Just because they have  
their talents doesn't diminish ours. Although..." He frowned and leaned on his broom.  
"... in that case why is Ikari then considered the strongest among the pilots? Is his  
talent something that's useless outside of the Evangelion?"

"Maybe they're holding back for his sake..." Like they were wont to do sometimes for  
Mana's fragile self-esteem. Musashi hunched over and shook his fist. "Damn that Ikari!  
Playing with innocent girls' hearts like that...!"

The other looked sheepish. "I'm sure that's not..."

"You're both just going to get even more silly from here on, aren't you?" they heard the  
whisper, so close their ears, in the voice of Inquisitor Horaki.

Both boy-spies leapt in suprise, their brooms nearly spinning right out of their hands.  
They turned to see here standing behind them, arms akimbo and her red jacket draped  
over her shoulders. She looked faintly amused. She had her still in those little ponytails  
but had replaced the cherry beads with small skull hairties. A small blush rose on their  
faces... this school was so full of such strange and wonderful girls.

"Wha... what do you mean?" Keita managed to say, after a while.

"Asuka and Rei, they don't hold back against anyone as a sign of respect. Shinji gives  
them that same respect, he gives them his everything." She shrugged and held her  
arms open in an ornate 'eh what' gesture. "Only against each other it isn't unfair..."

"That's insulting!" shouted Musashi.

"Is it? The worth of power is to protect the weak, be weilded in defense of the right."  
Though taller than them, Hikari patted their heads as if children and seemed to loom  
over them. "If you must know about Shinji-kun, then know that at least. It's not for  
cheating. It's not for showing off."

"Then... " They both looked confused. What was this power that people kept going on  
about? Super strength? Laser vision? Oh crap! Telepathy?

Hikari moved her hands down and stroked at the sides of their faces. They froze up.  
Their completely military upbringing was sheltered in its own way. Of all the girls they  
had ever met, only Mana was -cute- in that way, though she was not as well-liked by  
her peers. The other girls had their own charms but left unpolished by their severity.  
Hikari Horaki had a keen sense of both grim responsibility and her own soft femininity.

"I know why you're here." Her tone of voice was so gentle and motherly, but also in  
that precise timbre they could recognize as in deadly purpose. "But nobody here really  
cares, least of all him. He's like that. He won't waste what he has without reason. Ask  
around all you want, but don't judge someone until you do know what it is he has to  
go through."

She pinched at their cheeks. "Do you understand? He's our -friend-." There was more  
than just Ikari waiting to fight in Tokyo Three.

They nodded, slightly awestruck.

Hikari drew her hand back, and smiled cheerily. "Good!" And it was as if sunshine had  
suddenly returned to that corridor. It was all too jarring... but then Hikari had never  
made a secret of her bipolarity. Everyone had already grown used to that, her own  
sanity constantly under assault by constantly being around Shinji and company.  
"Keep up the good work! Please don't stay too late..."

And then she was off, her bookbag slung over her shoulder and humming a happy tune  
as she went on her own way back home.

They were left with a feeling the had never known before. Something like deep, deep  
fear. Awe. They knew girls could be badass too. They just never realized that it could  
be shown even outside of combat. The two JSSDF boy soldiers stood there motionless  
for a minute or so. In sending the young spies, perhaps it should have been considered  
that they were just as woefully succeptible as Kirishima.

"Girls... are scary." said Musashi, holding his broom numbly.

"Amen, brother." replied Keita. "Amen." Perhaps we should pity Ikari?

-o-  
-o- -

Two large black craft were at it full speed. Wet barrens spread out before them. Even  
animals stayed away from the wastes of the cities. The once glorious megalopolis were  
useless for farming under all that concrete, and no one wanted to live in the darkly  
ominous empty buildings.

"This used to be old Tokyo, you know..." said Misato, holding a radio up to her ear.  
She was inside Eva Carrier 01, looking out the window. The Evas were mounted face-  
down on their transports. "The old Jet Alone proving grounds aren't too far away..."

All of sudden she was struck with the memory of what happened the last time they  
were around the place. Misato glanced aside at her friend, sitting there so still. She  
hoped that none of that insanity would be necessary the second time.

"What a dump!" replied Asuka, from the other carrier.

"It is not an unusual sight." said Rei, in the craft carrying the red Eva. She held the  
other radio and spoke into the open frequency. "Captain Katsuragi, I am still uneasy.  
Is it wise to leave Tokyo 3 defenseless?"

"Think of it this way, Rei... we -already deployed- the Evangelions. The JSSDF have  
fuel ready for us when we land. If we get word of an Angel attack, we can be just  
about anywhere in five minutes."

"Still... all three pilots, two Evangelions, Ritsuko-sempai, me, you..." Mana commented,  
seated facing Rei. "I'm surprised Commander Ikari would let us go so easily like that,  
even if we're all invited by the JSSDF. Why didn't he come himself?"

"That invitation was... rather insistent. So far we've been in good terms with the boys  
in green, and in the interests of keeping that we're honoring their request. We -are-  
here to pick up a few toys for the Evas." Misato grinned. "We just can't look ungrateful  
now, can we?"

Ritsuko leaned over to speak. "With the end of the Jet Alone project, we entered into  
a production contract. They still have little idea of many Evangelion systems, but in  
the manufacture of parts and weapons this is much more convinient. We no longer  
need to wait for NERV Germany and NERV China for repairs and additional equipment  
in case of attack."

"While -we- can't afford to look ungrateful about that, I don't think having Commander  
Ikari around would be good for that..."

Even Shinji chuckled weakly at the idea. This wasn't just worth the elder Ikari's time,  
even if out of politeness the invitation included him. No one could even imagine him  
ever saying 'thank you' to anyone, no matter what gifts they had. "Misato-san...?"

"Yes, Shinji-kun?"

"Do you know why they were so insistent on having two Evas for the demonstration?"

It was Maya who answered. "Offhand, I can only think it has something to do with the  
AT-field. We know a harmonic AT-field can accomplish..." She paused; almost able to  
see Ritsuko's eyebrows twitching. "...feats. They might need to test something against  
that."

"And if it could break through an Evangelion's AT-field, then the chances are good that  
it would be likewise effective against Angels." added Rei.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Asuka whined out into the comm, and directed at the  
pilot.

"OH SHIT! WE JUST GOT PAINTED BY TARGETING RADAR!" the pilot of Carrier 01 spat  
suddenly. The transport lurched in its flight path.

"Confirmed!" said the other pilot. "Are there SAMs in the area?" Oh wait; he said to  
himself. Stupid question. The JSSDF was there. It was a military testbed. Of course  
there would be air defense.

"What the hell?" Misato got up and grabbed a hanging handhold. She tilted over to  
look at the cockpit.

"We're being locked onto by several radar arrays, probably of the mobile type." replied  
Makoto, leaning over in his seat to speak through the open door. "It's all in the hunter-  
killer band."

"Ookay, this didn't happen the last time..." muttered Misato. "Can you raise them on  
radio? Maybe it's just a precaution."

The lieutenant adjusted his headset and fiddled with the controls. After a while, he  
shook his head and reported back "It's no good. It's just static. Either they're being  
jammed or they're deliberately not responding."

"HEAT SOURCES!" yelled the pilot beside him. A loud beeping issued from the panels,  
filling the air. "They're not fighters..."

"Missiles?" exclaimed Misato. She say back down and hurriedly secured her safety  
belts. "Evasive manuevers!"

"Great! How? This thing has all the manueverability of a flying brick!" was the pilot's  
reply. Nonetheless, the plane attempted to veer off, and sending loose things spilling  
all over inside. Everyone hung onto their seats.

"What's happening? Is someone shooting at us?" Asuka asked. She could feel the  
change in inertia, the high-pitched beeping. She gripped the controls tightly, as the  
entry plug was still empty of LCL. Her Evangelion tried to look up, but saw only the  
dark shape of the aircraft above its neck. "Should I raise the AT- field?"

"DON'T! Don't raise the AT-field...!" Shinji and Ritsuko shouted at the same time.

"The AT-field is a region of phase-shifted space. This is what the Evangelion uses to  
create a variety of useful effects." said Ritsuko, rubbing at her forehead. "Normally this  
is not a problem. However, this IS something travelling at several hundred kilometers  
per hour." said Ritsuko.

"... if the AT-field 'hardens' to take a missile hit, then we're just going to run into it."  
finished Shinji.

"The Evangelion might survive." Rei had to add. "These aircraft will certainly not."

Asuka huffed. "Well, we have to do something! Misato!"

"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!"

Uncaring of propriety, Makoto yelled back into the opening. "Well, whatever it is, it  
better be quick! I've got missiles inbound and... oh my god." His voice petered out as  
he turned to see the coming contrails. "... there's hundreds of them."

"We're hit! We're hit!" The pilot started shouting out.

Flash.

A multitude of bright lights and hard sounds. The transports spun out of control.

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

End Don't Cry for Me, Tokyo Three part one

-o-

-o-  
-o-

* * *

Yes, just character development in this one. Sorry. It might be boring, but necessary for all the stuff happening next. Awesome can turn into suck rapidly without proper preparation.


	19. Chapter 18: Cry for Me Tokyo3 part2

Don't Cry For Me Tokyo Three Part Two

-o-  
-o-

Bright colors lit up the sky above Old Tokyo. Two great shapes plummeted out from  
the blazing display, limbs flailing. The air seemed to shimmer, and the two massive  
humanoid shapes righted themselves.

WHOM!

Unit One slammed into the ground, winding down like a coiled spring, and sending a  
shower of rocky splinters out. A small dust cloud formed around it; reinforced concrete  
crushed to powder. Slowly it stood up, and pulled its ankles out from being imbedded.

WHOM!

Unit Two landed forcefully nearby. Its bones could not shatter so easily, but neither  
could such massive shock be ignored so easily. That Eva let out a low grumble as it  
slowly shifted to a more stable stance. Its fingers twitched, its four eyes glowed with  
anger.

The Jet Alone and JSSDF representatives gulped in fear, resisting the urge to flee as  
the two Evangelions loomed threateningly over them. A different kind of roar filled the  
air. The two matte black VTOL carriers, henceforth to be referred to as the Hotaru or  
Firefly-class carriers, each landed in front of their respective Eva.

The side doors opened. From one, emerged Misato Katsuragi and Ritsuko Akagi. Their  
hair was mussed, their walk unsteady. "Shaaa...!" said Misato, while rubbing her eyes.  
"That was too close."

Even Ritsuko looked ready to murder someone. "If we were just a fraction of a second  
too late, we could have been killed. Someone needs to suffer for this."

Both women looked up and very deliberately stalked over to the gathered welcoming  
committee. The men all felt rooted to their spots, helpless before their impending  
doom. Since the last time they were around, they had planned to be more welcoming;  
given that assisting NERV made up the bulk of their allocated funding. In retrospect,  
firing "Welcome!" missiles at those who had simply too many enemies (and making more  
by the minute) could only backfire horribly.

-o-

Rei Ayanami and Maya Ibuki stepped out from the other carrier. They looked far more  
composed. "Were you afraid, sister Ibuki?" the girl whispered aside.

"Oh, please. After what we've been doing... as long as you're with me, nothing short  
of a nuke should faze me." the young woman replied, waving disdainfully at the idea.  
"We still have a lot left to do."

"I am deeply touched by your faith in me, sister Ibuki." She bowed slightly. "As long as  
Shinji-kun needs us, let us just refuse to die..."

"Yes, of course." She paused. The rotors were still turning and whistling. "Why are we  
whispering...?" she asked. It was mostly by their contact communication that they  
could even hear each other anyway.

"...so I do not need to defend us from snipers and militant psychologists."

"Oh."

-o-

Misato had already locked onto and seized the Jet Alone representative. "YOU ASS!"  
she shouted into his face. "What the hell did you think you were doing? We could  
have been killed!"

"Wha-what are you talking about?" he replied, while being shook about like a rag doll.  
"It's just fireworks...!"

More colorful, patterned explosions happened above Old Tokyo. Yes, those were real  
missiles with real seekers; the visitors knew. The JSSDF could afford to just waste  
them in firing at an Eva. It wasn't as if their weapons were proving to be of any use  
anyway.

"Leaving aside the hideous expense of stuffing missiles with such childish warheads  
and setting them off... seriously, how much more money did they throw at you that  
we could have used at NERV?" growled Ritsuko, her glasses glinting dangerously. "If  
we had raised the AT-field, two things could have happened..."

She held a finger up. "The first. Our aircraft could have been destroyed in a variety of  
ways; from being crushed by the AT-field, changes in air pressure, or being hit by an  
inert... but still at mach-speed... projectile."

She then held up the index of her other hand. "The second. In thinking we were being  
attacked, we could have just razed this place to the ground in a second. You don't  
think that's possible?" She jabbed at him with both fingers up his nose. "WHO THE HELL  
DO YOU THINK WE ARE? NERV -KNOWS- THE POWER OF ILLOGIC!"

"Um... Ritsuko...?"

"Do we even still live in the same reality as you people? Such reckless, dangerous  
behaviour... you're infringing on our monopoly!" The scientist took out her digits, wiped  
them on his expensive pinstripe suit and looked up at the Evas blocking the sky. She  
feared being seen as useless by Gendo, and hated her emotional dependency... but  
not until then had she realized there was such a variety of other and -stupid- ways  
for her to die.

She began to cackle madly.

"Now look what you've done." said Misato, letting go of the man. "You broke Ritsuko. I  
hope you're happy." she chided.

"Um... I had nothing to do with it!" He clapped his palms together and put his hands  
up over his head, as if fearing she might strike out at him. He had the deepest respect  
for Katsuragi, who after all had been brave enough to crawl into an unstable nuclear  
reactor to shut it down by hand. "I'm just a messenger... don't shoot the messenger!  
Ah!"

"Well, how am I supposed to put that crazy blonde back together? Give me some dye  
and maybe we can wash some IQ back in."

Ritsuko abruptly stopped laughing. She groaned out and palmed her face. "Misato...  
shut up. Just shut up." She sighed and smoothed out the folds of her dress. "It just  
struck me that I can't picture what Gendo's reaction would be, if he was there with  
us. It would be almost worth it to see him be in a situation he had no control over..."

Misato tried to picture it, but couldn't. Those around couldn't help but to try. They  
failed, whatever it was it should be... unpleasant. Just how so was unimaginable.

"Well, in any case... please let us offer our apologies." The JA rep and all others there  
bowed deeply.

From among those gathered there, a general moved forward. He took off his hat, and  
exposed his shaven head to the air. That smoothness seemed to shine under the hot  
sun. Everyone squinted at his approach. "No, if anyone's to blame... it should be me."  
said General Akira. He put his cap to his chest and bowed. "I assure you we meant no  
harm."

"Of course you didn't." replied Misato, smirking. "You wanted to see our air capabilites  
too, didn't you? The Evangelion might be powerful, but if it has to -walk- to the battle  
then it could run out of power before doing anything useful."

"The delivery system does seem to be an obvious flaw in the Evangelion as a weapons  
system." Ritsuko added. "As it is the Eva is a purely defensive measure."

"The carriers themselves can't avoid conventional attacks. Right. You know that now.  
Satisfied, general?"

"... yes. Please accept our apologies, Captain Katsuragi." That was such vast comfort.  
The JSSDF, like the members of Jet Alone, also had a degree of leftover resentment  
for NERV. They wanted a 'Hah! In Your Face!' moment to cut that wildly successful  
behemoth down to size, to keep them from becoming too arrogant and secure in their  
power. The display, childish as it may have been, was giving in that last temptation.

Pop. Whine. Sparkle. The fireworks were less impressive during the day, but it lent a  
surreal atmosphere to the afternoon anyway.

"Shall we head on in?" asked the JA representive. "As soon as the pilots join us, we  
can begin our demonstration of the new technologies available to the Eva..."

NERV did not exist in a vaccuum. It did produce its own power and had underground  
facilities for the maintenance of the Evangelions, but it still required a bevy of goods  
and services from the outside. At the same time, not everything that it produced was  
allocated for its populace. Research, products and manpower also flowed back out to  
serve the nation.

In another time, Jet Alone and its parent company would have been just a footnote in  
the emerging final history of Man. Its self-destruction was complete, once its fatal  
flaws were revealed. Gendo and NERV appropriated whatever loose assets it had for  
their use.

Shinji Ikari's words changed that. Now these men and women were eager to display  
their own worth, to test themselves against NERV again. They awaited with baited  
breath their reactions, and to be known as not merely as discarded second-stringers  
but as major players in the game.

But first, introductions! Politeness was never out of style. Their overblown arrogance  
during the last test worked against them, hastening their fall.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Shiro Tokita, project director, and  
in the name of New Nippon Heavy Industries Solidarity, welcome! May I introduce our  
most honored guests... "; gesturing to each one. "Rei Ayanami. Shinji Ikari. Asuka  
Langley-Sohryu. Captain Misato Katsuragi. Doctor Ritsuko Akagi. Lieutenant Maya  
Ibuki."

He then turned to the other group. Makoto and the pilots slouched, depressed. They  
weren't even worth mentioning. Such was the fate of the throwaway secondary cast;  
was their thought. Not that they begrudged the others their spotlight, as they also  
knew the keen expectations of those in the front lines. Those left unseen are often  
also protected by ther anonymity.

It was still sad, though. To be treated like a mass of minions. "Sometimes, I think I  
might even forget my own name..." muttered one of the pilots.

"Chairman Akito Kousou of the NNHIS is here on behalf of the Board Members. From  
the JSSDF, we are likewise honored to receive General Kiyosato Akira, General Ryo  
Minawa and General Sakata Asagiri."

They all bowed to each other. It felt like opponents measuring each other.

They were inside one of the massive hangars set up in a bulldozed plain in Old Tokyo.  
It was an old airport, but they had to add even more open space still. If anything, the  
old buildings made for convenient targets for prototype weapon tests.

"The Jet Alone project was intended as a cost-effective alternative to the Evangelion  
Project. However! Shinji Ikari and Principio Eternus proved conclusively how flawed and  
insufficient it was for the challenges ahead. Jet Alone was crushed!

We were already in the middle of constructing the first production model. Many billions  
were sunk into the project, YEARS of development! Careers and reputations were at  
stake! The Angels attacked and things were still incomplete. Jet Alone was on the  
verge of total collapse...

And, it did collapse. The project died a sudden and unlamented death!" shouted out  
presenter Tokita with perhaps too much enthusiasm. He lifted his mike up, and all the  
workers and technicians watching cheered. He paced around with wide swinging steps.

"Oi..." said Gen. Asagiri to the rotund industrial magnate. "Is this all right? He's acting  
like it's something great. I'm sure you people lost money on this. Why is he behaving  
like a... rock star or televangelist from the last century?"

"It's fine." replied Chairman Kousu. "He did say he reached an epiphany a day after  
that, while sitting alone in the cemetery above his father's tombstone. But really...  
you'll see. This is good business for all of us."

"Jet Alone was discontinued. The parent cooperative, NHIS, instead signed up for an  
industrial agreement with NERV. We would produce weapons and assorted parts for the  
Evangelion, at fixed rates for a preparatory stockpile. It wouldn't make up the losses  
and not nearly as much as what we expected to make from a successful project... but  
it would let us survive as a business for a little while longer.

We in NNHIS... IN HIS... have produced weapons and parts that proved crucial in the  
battles that came later."

He pointed over to the specific products put up to display.

"First off, the expanded battery pack, EPX-4 IN HIS name; Pauldron power module. The  
Eva in the umbilical power cable has a feed of around eighty-eight minutes out of the  
capacitors under Tokyo 3. Pauldron Mark One gives only fifteen minutes of operational  
freedom but in our Mark Four we may extend that up to an hour. As requested, the  
secondary modules are to be carried on the shoulders, where it was most convenient  
and would not unbalance the Eva.

Then we have the Evangelion armor casting, IN HIS name; Fere Invictus armor module.  
These secondary armoring are what forms the F-type equipment. As you can see, it  
adds greater protection to the joints and angled armor over the critical chest area.  
The neck regions over the entry plug have been reinforced appropriately, with shock-  
dampener systems added.

AND most importantly the weapons. Evangelion armaments, IN HIS names; Great Bolter.  
Heavy Great Bolter. Custom Cannon. Doombringer Rockets. Prog Javelin. Prog Spear.  
Prog Bayonet." One by one, purposely darkened regions in the hangar were brought to  
light. "IN HIS name, Prog CHAINSWORD."

"Oooh..." wafted through the structure. The sight never failed to inspire awe. Even  
Asuka wanted one. After all; it was a weapon composed of several thousand biting  
and vibrating blades, meant for ripping and tearing through... nearly anything... and  
tall as a medium-sized -_building_-.

"Yes, yes... NERV went over our designs and every one of our products with every  
eye to finding faults, and found none." He nodded in self-satisfaction. "No offense  
meant, but you people need to focus on your Evangelions... when it comes to building  
weapons, you just don't have nearly the same expertise or acuity."

Misato raised her hand. "Hey, no complaints here. It's not like we actually need to  
pay for that stuff. The UN just delivers them and we have the option of sending it  
back." So far, they had not.

He grinned. "Our weapons have served you well." He gestured to Rei. "Pilot Ayanami,  
as long-range fire support, the Positron Rifle you use IN HIS name is the Big Shooter,  
for it's nothing more than a modded version of the NERV Positron Rifle with improved  
power cells and cooling. How do you find it so far?"

"It is sufficient."

He nodded. "But just not good enough! The JSSDF Positron Cannon is THE ONLY pure  
human weapon that proved capable of taking out an Angel. That gave others hope of  
mounting a fortified defense against the threat..."

"Without an AT-field, there is no defense." Rei replied flatly. "An emplaced cannon as  
such may have only one chance before it is ruined..."

"And therefore wasting millions upon millions and all that time and manpower. Yes! We  
here IN HIS service believe that the Eva's potential can be expanded even more with  
the proper equipment. For you, we give... the first human-made, high-power, heavy  
packed positron Eva sniper cannon...!"

Fhump! The lights went on over a massive tarp-covered flatbed. The covering was  
dragged away by small forklifts below, to reveal a folded-up cannon with two simply  
immense barrels. It stood beside what looked to be an Eva-sized backpack.

Tokita continued. "We still haven't figured out what IN HIS name to give it. Dual packed  
positron beams and a cyclic capacitor... that right there is a miniature nuclear reactor.  
Don't worry, it's MUCH safer than the one in Jet Alone. As a ranged combat multiplier  
the risk of malfunction is less, but even then just dropping the reactor pack should be  
easy enough."

"How safe is safe?" asked Ritsuko.

"Shielding's been doubled, and power generation relies upon a continued signal. At the  
loss of that signal, it automatically shuts down." He grinned. "What do you think, Miss  
Ayanami? Does Double Buster Rifle sound good to you...?"

The girl looked down. She took a single step to the left and just barely touched her  
hand to Shinji's. Everyone looked on curiously... despite the simplicity of that motion  
it still looked somehow very intimate. It had the expected effect upon Asuka; to prod  
her further with the hint of deeper secrets, and making her long for that same sort of  
unashamed connection.

_'Two barrels. One for Gork. One for Mork.' _said Rei in the unity of their souls. _'Did you  
have anything to do with this...?'_

_'I might have made a passing comment to someone, who repeated it to other people,  
who then put it to a few who needed ideas...'_

_'Thank you... you are too kind to me.'_

_'I didn't really have -that much- to do with it.' _A small smile crossed his lips. _'Whatever  
makes you happy makes me happy.'_

"Thank you..." said Rei, louder. "Thank you for giving me... the Moonbiter."

"IN HIS name, the Gargant Moonbiter." Shiro Tokita nodded. "Thank you, it fits well.  
There isn't really an upper limit to how much power we can feed into this, as long as  
it discharges. Hey, why not? If we pump it up enough, we just MIGHT scratch at the  
moon."

Ritsuko leaned over the railings of the raised platform they were in. It was actually on  
top of a truck, and they moved from site to site on the mammoth hangar. "So, this is  
what you wanted to show us? Interesting. I'm not certain of its ability to penetrate  
an AT-field, but I can already tell it should cause massive damage to an Angel if the  
other Evas can neutralize the field."

"No, not really." was the careless reply.

"What, there's more?"

"Indeed, Captain Katsuragi." said General Minawa, leaning on his cane. The old man  
looked grimly amused. "Jet Alone is dead. But we threw into this thing more than what  
we cared to spend on that in the first place..."

She chuckled back. "As a weapon against the Evangelions, you mean?"

"NERV cannot hold to the Evas forever, Captain Katsuragi. It must either be a weapon  
for the sake of the world, or be made utterly useless. It will be ours, or no one's."

The observation minitower moved on. Soon enough, they stopped in front of two  
great doors. Slowly, that section of the complex opened up. Lights only lit up a small  
portion of the hangar, over a larger observation deck. They all got out and took an  
elevator up to it.

Shiro Tokita spun his microphone in his hand. The long-faced prematurely-balding  
man was not a scientist or a technician, more of a corporate climber. However, he  
looked more eager than anyone else there. It was as if he absorbed the dreams of  
their project into himself, and as such was the very lynchpin holding all the different  
peoples, interests and priorities into one determined whole.

Waiting there was one of the division engineers, the project design chief; Engr. Saito  
Hibana. The appropriate introductions were made. As soon as that was done, the  
presenter moved away to the edge of the raised deck to face the darkness. A minute  
or so passed in silence.

"Well?" asked Misato, impatiently.

He let out a sigh. "Do you... mind if I say something here? It's a bit... personal. But I  
need to get it off my chest."

She looked to the generals, then to the NNHIS chairman. They seemed willing to take  
cues from her. She shrugged. "Eh. Sure. Knock yourself out."

"Thank you. Jet Alone was the culmination of decades of effort. From the combination  
of many of this country's top minds and top engineers, we thought of something that  
should have been able to dominate the theatres of war for at least twenty years. We  
staked so much on it... it held the pride of this nation, and we thought perhaps of all  
humanity itself... a purely human-built weapon against forces from beyond the sky.

And we were wrong. Like a thunderclap, appears the Evangelion and Shinji Ikari out of  
nowhere, and in one easy motion undoes all that effort. Can you imagine how damning  
that was? How galling? How much it insulted everything we've ever done so far?"

"Sure we can." muttered Asuka. "Damn invincible Shinji."

"We hated it. We hated you, mister Ikari. You, your father, everything you stood for.  
But in the end we hated ourselves the most. We were just -wrong-. We built it all for  
the wrong reasons, we were too arrogant and too greedy and the Eva was just that  
inherently -better-. We needed a serious slap in the face to see that.

-Principio Eternus- demolished Jet Alone. Those were dark days after that. We were  
all shocked and stunned. It seemed like everything was at an end. Our world were  
ending. Our jobs were in dire peril. Where else would we go? NERV already has all the  
best that they needed... we didn't think we could bear being part of that. The shame  
would be too much..."

He took a deep breath, and chuckled. He had to say it. He needed them to know just  
from what uncertain depths they had clawed their way out of. They had their own  
strength, their own true pride, and they could look at NERV without cringing.

"I was afraid. Very afraid. I'm a businessman, a manager, and when it all comes down  
to it I saw I had very little useful skills. I stood high with Jet Alone, and once that was  
gone I had nothing... as one of the face men in the project, telling about how great  
and unstoppable it was, no one else would take me in at risk of tainting their own little  
projects. I had mud on my face. I was a disgrace.

My wife and my child... they tried to cheer me up, but I couldn't see any way it could  
possibly be better. After living the good life so long, I didn't know how to deal with  
losing it all. An executive like me? What else is there? I can't go back to doing menial  
work...! That was what I thought. It was so dark...

I wanted it to end."

"It wasn't just a few of us that contemplated suicide." added Chief Engineer Hibana.  
"You need to understand, we -wasted- all that time and effort. Our product couldn't  
even put up a decent challenge to the Eva, and against the Angels it was just a toy.  
Our shame was absolute. We lost too much face."

"So what?" asked Asuka, revealing her unfamiliarity with that Asian concept. "It's just  
work. Just get up and move on."

Project Director Tokita sniffed haughtily. "What is work? Without wages that's just  
slavery. Without pride that just servitude. Miss Sohryu, think of it this way. You are  
an Evangelion pilot. Do you think that once the war is over, and the Evas aren't  
needed anymore... could you be satisfied with just flipping burgers on a hot grill  
somewhere or saying 'Welcome!' to department store customers?"

"Wha... hah! That won't happen. I've got plenty of talents besides that."

"But what if all the good people saw you for was in piloting? And without an Eva, they  
wouldn't have a use for you, turn away from you... and what would you do? "

She flinched. That struck a little too close to her fears. She gave up too much for the  
sake of being the best in the Eva.

"I wasn't fired. Not yet. I knew it was inevitable. Jet Alone was dead and NERV was  
picking at its remains. I didn't want to see that. We couldn't recoup our losses just by  
making assorted spare parts... all that research and development. That was a damn  
expensive undertaking. It's more than just a competition. It's a way of life. We failed  
at -life-.

I went over to my father's grave. The old man died before Impact. He wasn't like me.  
He was an architect, and he liked to get his hands dirty. I wanted to be rich. I chose  
to tread the path of a salaryman and after Impact fought without scruples to get up  
the business ladder.

He died of just old age. Most of the houses he had built are underwater now. In the  
end we were both just failures weren't we?"

He tapped his mike on the ladder rung, and a screech filtered through the output. His  
posture slumped.

"But the thing is... at least he DID something. He made it his life's work to preserve  
people's happiness. He made things for other's sake, not cashing in tragedy. The most  
important thing I remembered, though... was that the old man never gambled. Not  
with money, not with his family. He didn't leave it up to school and TV, he made sure  
to be there to raise me right. I had ambition because he was there to say that it's all  
right to hope for the future. The best things in life are those you can just reach out  
and take...

I was gambling on Jet Alone. I was gambling on humanity's future. Just for -money-, I  
was ready to back something half-done and risking myself and my family and all that I  
knew. We let the pressure get to us. We had to show something to the public, that  
we were doing more than just wasting away time and money. We lived the high life in  
that white elephant of a project. We played on the inherent suspicion of outsiders, of  
the UN and NERV... this is our country. How DARE THEY imply we were incapable of  
defending our homeland? What could they really know?

But it's more than just this place, more than just Japan, more than just the world. I  
stood there over my father's grave and I felt like a hand on my shoulder. I heard a  
voice whisper... it wasn't the end. As long as I was alive I could -do- something. As  
long as there was still time, there was still chance. I had to believe, if I wanted things  
to get better. I had to -do- if I wanted to live. That... was my moment of epiphany. I  
had nothing else but hope, and nothing else to give but hope.

When I returned that night, my wife handed to me a package delivered from certain...  
anonymous benefactors. In it, I saw the reason to continue."

He took a deep breath and willed back the urge to glance at the young Ikari. More  
than just his recommendation to the JSSDF; they all owed the boy plenty. The ideas  
they received... either he had NERV's think tank behind him (unlikely, else they would  
just have built the things themselves, no need for secrecy) or the boy came up with  
those strange but compelling notions on his own.

"This man went around pulling back everyone in the Jet Alone build team. So what if  
the project was dead and we were stuck with building add-ons for the Eva? If that  
was the last, best hope for humanity then we could still be the best as what we do.  
As long as what we did was to -make things possible- for the rest of you." The former  
JA engineer laughed. "You know, a lot of us tried to take a swing at him... he sucked  
us into Jet Alone and promised us everything... and he was trying it again! But one by  
one we went back to work.

We could hardly believe it. We couldn't even believe he was the same man we knew...  
Really, Tokita..." turning to the project director. "You were kind of an ass back then."

"No need to mince words. I was an arrogant, selfish bastard. I wanted everything for  
nothing." He looked over to Chairman Kousu. "You know, a high annual income doesn't  
seem to matter much now if it turns out we won't last the year."

"Heh." Engineer Hibana continued. "Making weapons for the Eva was like grunt work,  
unimaginative and repetitive. It wasn't until the proposal for a chainsword that things  
began to get interesting."

"Because, seriously, it's a fucking massive chainsaw that you can swing around like a  
sword." Shiro Tokita had to say. "How can anyone refuse to get excited by that?"  
Even the old generals had to nod in agreement. Asuka too. Shinji, strangely, did not.  
But then he already had a mini chain-sword of his own (which he hid well away from  
Asuka; she already thought of him as enough of a psycho as it was).

"All men are boys..." mumbled Misato. "And boys are never too old for toys."

"We were Jet Alone. Sure, it may have failed, but we had to build that technology  
from the ground up. NERV is unsurpassed in biological and cybernetic systems. When  
it comes to hard machinery... Japan's Heavy Industry is still king over this hill. We had  
to do something to put all that prior research to good use." Chief Engineer Hibana  
wound up the threads of thought.

Shiro Tokita flicked his announcement mike on again. "The Evangelion killed all our  
hopes for Jet Alone!" he shouted out. "Shinji Ikari and -Principio Eternus- demolished  
decades of effort. But that's all right. We were building toys when humanity needed  
weapons. We were after money when we needed to -win-! Victory means profit, that  
should be obvious enough."

"Really? No hard feelings?" asked Misato.

"The data we got from NERV just showed how far behind the curve we were. The Eva  
and Shinji Ikari... -Principio Eternus-... we couldn't hope to beat it. So we decided to  
join our strength to it." He turned around and held his arm out towards the darkness.  
"Everyone! Behold - !"

Flash. Click. Flash. Click.

Line by line, large lamps lit up the locale. Far below were several large blocky shapes,  
placed along a white trace line, Eva-sized. Made out of thick metal, in dark purple and  
garish green. Interestingly, letters and various symbols seemed to be traced out in  
glinting silver and gold-like materials. Empty eyeholes in a great metal mask seemed to  
glare up at them.

"Eva Type-T Equipment!" he declared, sweeping his arms out. "IN HIS NAME, THE  
-TITAN MODULES-!"

Misato whistled. "Sweet."

Ritsuko groaned out. "Now he's bound to get a transformation sequence." She put her  
palms over her eyes and shook her head from side to side. "What is it that I have done  
to deserve this...?" There was all that blatant playing God and experimenting upon the  
clones, but still- it was nothing compared to what Gendo had coming. It was like fate  
and poetic justice... just... keeps... missing! The target! Collateral destiny damage.

Maya pulled on her immidiate superior's blouse. "Here, sempai..." She already had ready  
several large-dose pills of aspirin and a canteen of water.

"Thank you, Maya." Ritsuko was all too grateful. Maya was all too attentive. The NERV  
scientist and main conspirator doubted she could survive through the ever-increasing  
insanity if she didn't have her faithful assistant by her side.

"What the hell is this?" asked Asuka.

"The... what we call here the -Titanicus Upgrade- adds armor even thicker than that  
of Type F equipment, and uses the much more reliable Fusion Reactor supposed to be  
on Jet Alone 2. Much of what used to be JA was repurposed here... note the simplistic  
angles of armor protection, the grip-lock points, and the integrated weapons. This is  
supposed to bring Evangelion combat capabilities to an entirely new level!"

Engineer Hisana eagerly dived into the discussion. "Thick slabs of armor for brutal close  
combat! With the reactor, guaranteed FIVE DAYS of straight operation, pull as much  
AT-field magic as you want! Even if NERV decides to use batteries instead, there's  
room for six extra Pauldron power modules other than the two already on the shoulders.  
That's at least fifteen hours of operation.

Modularity, always modularity! Jet Alone was an inflexible machine, Shinji Ikari-san was  
right. It would take too long to refit it to emerging situations. Just pick up, slot in. We  
tried to make as many of our known technologies cross-compatible. We took out the  
new Ultra High Frequency Lasers... we call them Turbolasers... from the troublesome  
mounts on Jet Alone's arms and integrated into the shoulders. There are many weapon  
hardpoints, most on the bracers and thigh armor. Standard weapons loadout is...

IN HIS name Hellstorm Gatling Megabolter, right arm.  
IN HIS name Master Chainsword, left arm.  
IN HIS name Titan Turbolasers, left and right shoulders.  
IN HIS name Titan Tornado air mines, on the back and left, right thighs.

And of course prog knives here and there. The hands remain free to weild whatever  
other weapons preferred by the pilot. Sure, it adds a lot of weight, but the list of now  
possible tactical opportunities just go on and on and on..."

The presenter nodded. "IN HIS usage of the Titan modules should extend not only an  
Eva's survivability but its functionality. We made this according to exceedingly specific  
combat demands."

"AAAGH!" Asuka screamed out and pointed angrily at him. "Stop saying that! IN HIS  
name this, IN HIS name that! You're making it sound too... too... cultish. Shinji has  
enough demented followers as it is."

Shiro Tokita laughed. "I'm sorry. That's just a coincidence. NNHIS is purely secular,  
I assure you." Nonetheless, doing that was an easy way to piss off Gendo. They of  
Jet Alone knew it could only be sabotage. The elder Ikari was highest on a very short  
list of suspects. It was the younger Ikari who saved the project, even the lives of  
some very talented and easily-depressed people. In his name, they would build. In his  
name, they would give.

He turned to Shinji. "Well, Ikari-san? Do you approve?"

The pilot walked over to the edge for a better view. A winged skull was set into the  
front torso, in goldlike metal. Upon the flat sides of the shoulder pads were etched  
large letters. _THE ENEMIES OF HUMANITY WILL DIE_; was emblazoned on the left. Its  
opposite proclaimed _BY MY HANDS THEY SHALL BE BROKEN_.

The front had _PRINCIPIO_ over the right chestplate_, ETERNUS_ on the other. Cheekily,  
tiny and almost unseen, on the back was a license plate marked_ 01 IKARI1 - Tokyo3._

"Impressive. Most impressive..." he breathed out. "Sir... this is..." _Evangelion. Your  
new form awaits. May you be satisfied with this offering. May we defend humanity  
with this newfound power, together._ "Awesome."

Shiro Tokita stood beside him, staring at the fruit of many months brainstorming and  
experimental construction. From scribbled lines on a page, to the practical solution.  
Everyone worked so hard to make that fantasy into reality.

More than just fighting the Angels, it was his letter to the JSSDF that convinced many  
to continue supporting what used to be Jet Alone. From just weapons and batteries,  
slowly and inexhorably they all clawed their way back into respectability. It could too  
easily have just ended up with the NHIS torn apart by rabid corporate dogs. They had  
-earned- that. All they needed was the opportunity to prove themselves, and the will  
to try.

Still, even the finest blade was worthless unless used. That was the entire point of a  
weapon, after all. The JA labs were very accomodating to his requests. Shiro Tokita  
made it his responsibility to keep the exchange of packages beneath notice. He owed  
it to the boy. He simply couldn't imagine anyone else more worthy of those weapons.

In his name, indeed.

"I thought so." replied the representative, nodding self-satisfied, jutting his chin out.  
"But that's not all we have for you."

"It's not? Hey, what about me? Is there Type-T equipment for my Unit Two?"

"Unfortunately, Miss Sohryu, since we cut apart JA-2 for this, we only have one set  
of Titan modules. It should be cross-compatible among the Evangelions, but really so  
far we've designed it for use by -Principio Eternus-."

Misato went over and slapped his back, overly friendly. "Ah-yep. I knew there was  
something I liked about you guys when I first saw you." She put her right arm over  
his shoulder and leaned conspiratorially on him. "How much is this gonna set NERV  
back?"

"Nothing." said General Akira. "As per the terms of the industrial contract, it is the UN  
which decides production. NERV only has the choice of accepting or rejecting the end  
product."

"It's already been paid for?" commented Maya, running in her head the potential cost  
of such a thing. Billions, at the very least. "That sounds like too good of a deal, doesn't  
it?"

"Yes..." added General Minawa, hoarsely. "For all we spent on this, 'The Emperor's New  
Clothes' just won't cut it. This uses the pieces of Jet Alone. So -what the hell- have you  
been doing with our -goddamn- money?"

The men of NNHIS grinned. That, was the surprise they've been hoarding for so long.

"We promised the JSSDF something that they could use -with- the Eva, a weapons  
system that won't be so useless on the field as conventional arms just end up being.  
What could it be? Some for of super tank? A heavy cannon? Some new bomb?"

"Just shut up and get to it, Tokita." grumbled the chairman.

"All right. Follow me, everyone."

All went over back into the observation vehicle. They crossed the length of the hangar  
over to the far doors marked EXIT. The truck stopped there. Once more, Shiro Tokita  
stepped up to declaim in the name of his fellows.

"-Principio Eternus- killed Jet Alone!" he shouted, grinning. "From its ashes we are  
reborn, like a Phoenix! Like a flash of lightning, inspiration strikes! We are no longer  
Jet Alone... but we won't give up on our ideals! Humanity's own technology can stand  
against the Angels. We can prove it!"

"Bold words." said Ritsuko. "Can you back them up, unlike last time?"

Ever so slowly the hangar doors opened, grinding and rumbling. Slivers of light seeped  
through the opening. "Judge for yourself. Jet Alone is dead and gone. We give you...

Thunderbolt! Raiden! Tactical!

T-RIDEN-T!"

A strange block shadow moved across the space, blocking the light for a moment. The  
doors opened wider, revealing more and more of that shape. It was large, boxy, and  
painted bright robin blue. It bore proudly the skull and wings sigil on its chest, as in the  
Titan torso. An upright white omega symbol bisected by an arrow like Neptune's symbol  
was slapped onto its sides.

"-**TRIDENT-! LAND!** -**DREADNOUGHT**-!"

Whump. Whump. On thick stubby legs, it walked. Its left arm ended in a cylindrical  
bracer-and-claw assembly. In place of its right arm, it had a MegaBolter module. The  
six barrels spun wildly... and DAKKA!

DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!

Everything lit up for a few moments, as the Trident Land-Dreadnought unloaded a  
simply earthshaking volume of fire into a prepared target towering nearby. That  
skyscraper-sized solid column of solid steel mesh and concrete blew apart with such  
astonishing ease. The new weapons platform ran forward, its stunted stature capable  
of moving with surprising speed. It made a short hop, slamming into what remained of  
the column. Weighing in the same as an Eva, nothing could stop that much momentum.

Powder. Clouds of dust. It dug its squat flat toes into the ground to stop, carving up  
the highway as it tried to slow down.

"Project T. The -Titan- Modules. And... the TRIDENT Land Dreadnought! Much more  
robust and much simpler than the Jet Alone. It uses a compact fusion reactor, and  
has armor thickness -three times- that of the Eva on its glacis plate. Modularity, as  
always. This is humanity's tireless servant. Its workhorse of unnatural warfare."

There was nothing elegant or complicated about the thing; just thick slabs of metal  
and reinforced joints. By comparison, Jet Alone was graceful. The Evangelions were  
known for speed and brutality. This was meant not to defeat Angels, but just to hold  
out stubbornly until the Evas could finish the job. Against conventional forces, it was  
just overkill... Land Dreadnought was no exaggeration.

Once the ammo was exhausted, the bin dropped out of the cannon module. It walked  
over to a heap of large ammo containers and manuevered to above it. From the open  
ammo feed lowered an electromagnet suspended on thick steel cables. It clamped on  
a large box and pulled it up. Adjusting the draw automatically, the crate then locked  
into place. A panel within opened and fresh rounds were brought up to the six-barrel  
assault cannon. The ammo could be Mega Bolt rounds or solid AP slugs. The process  
of rearming, though the Trident had no hands, took only slightly more than a minute.

It was an inspiring sight. None of the Eva's curves, none of its sleek ease of motion.  
It swayed from side to side, leaving crushed gravel and deep footprints in its wake.  
It was indeed, humanity's own.

Until it reached where the two Evas were standing, and revealed itself to be at most,  
waist-high to the other mecha.

"It's like a puppy." Misato had to say. "Like a deranged, homicidal puppy."

It alternated putting its weight from one leg to the other, waving its arm about as if  
doing a strange little dance. The Dreadnought was all hard angles, and yet there was  
something rather endearing about it. Solid, compact, and dependable... Misato's off-  
hand comment was the closest she could come to that reassuring feeling in seeing  
that thing.

"This is humanity's philosophy! Ugly, hastily put-together, but it works!" Tokita shot  
back. "This, more than the Eva, is a WAR MACHINE. It's logistically sound and reliable  
under all situations! It works! Really, really well! It works even better than it should,  
actually."

"... what about the AT-field?" asked Asuka, unwilling to give ground even a little bit  
from her Eva's own awesomeness.

"That's -your- problem. Without that, even this might be able to take down an Angel  
or two. Vulcan Megabolter. Positron cannon hardmounted into the left torso. Missile  
launchers. Hellbridge super flamer. I'm not ashamed to say that all we intended for  
this is to hold the line until NERV can get going."

"Ah!" exclaimed General Asagiri. "So THIS is what's got the Prime Minister all excited.  
This is to be put under JSSDF control! Hah! I approve! Can you mass-produce this  
design?"

"It depends on what you mean by 'mass-produce'..." answered Chairman Kousu. "We  
can assemble another one in a year or so, the most complicated part is a safe nuclear  
core for a close-combat weapon. Everything else, really... as long as the reactor is  
intact we can keep rebuilding it from whatever battle damage it takes. Right?"

"Indeed" said Tokita. "For this war and beyond. The Land Dreadnought is a paradigm  
shift in the order of battle."

"I assume this one isn't remotely-piloted like Jet Alone?" Ritsuko noted.

"Due to the number of weapons systems we put in, that's no longer possible." replied  
Engineer Hibana. "Granted, there is the risk, but what use is a weapon that goes out  
of control and turns on its owners?"

Misato raised her hand. "We don't do that anymore."

"Well, it looks like you've learned from your mistakes." added Ritsuko, ignoring that.  
"Instead of a having a complicated autobalancer, you just lowered the center of  
gravity. Those mechanical joints should be able to deliver more power than the old  
flexible limbs. Such a simplistic solution, it deserves points for merit. With the Angels  
coming in all shapes and sizes, having a platform that's harder to topple is far more  
practical than trying to keep pace with the Eva."

"The humanoid frame is your expertise, Doctor Akagi. However, as we found out with  
Jet Alone, there just -isn't- enough space for all the systems we wanted in that."

"The Eva is just more efficient. The AT-field is impossible without certain biological  
components." the blonde scientist replied.

"We don't even want the AT-field anymore. It sucks up too much power and makes  
the Eva extremely hard to repair."

"As I've said, learning from your mistakes..."

NNHIS just didn't have the background to compete against NERV, as UN funds would  
always be more and readily available than the pooled assets of a conglomerate. Repair  
costs alone could swallow the entire Jet Alone project. However, in the case of the  
Trident project, its brute quality was key. There was no fuctional difference between  
its left or right leg, right or left arms - merely the way these were socketed in. In  
comparison, an Eva needed much detailed effort in rebuilding lost limbs. As a complete  
analogue of a human, its parts were not so interchangeable.

Efficient? In battle, yes. But expensive as hell to maintain. The last best hope was just  
that - failure was not an option under such strained circumstances.

"Am I correct in assuming it has a crew of commander, gunner and driver? Or is there  
more to it than that?" Ritsuko continued.

"No, that's pretty much it. It's not that difficult to handle. No sync ratios, no powerup  
sequences. Just switch on, and it's ready to roll." Or the the technicians would say;  
Push Button, Kick Ass!

Misato raised her hand again. "Do you already have pilots...? Crew?"

"Yes, Captain Katsuragi."

"May we meet them?"

"Of course. Let me get them on radio..." Tokita went over to a callbox propped up on  
the moving platform. He opened up a channel to the Dreadnought. "Oh, it seems the  
commander is already on the way. As this is just a demonstration, driver and gunner  
are enough to handle the machine."

A few minutes later a jeep arrived. Footsteps on the aluminium frame. Shinji had no  
need to turn around to know who it was.

"Hello, Mana." he said.

"Hello, Shinji-san..." she replied, smiling faintly at his back.

"What?" Asuka agitatedly swung about again. "Was ist Hölle? I knew there had to be  
some ulterior motive to all of that hanging around baka Shinji. You again?"

Rei and Asuka clashed at an unseen level due to being such contrasting personalities  
(and Rei's occasional need to examine the concept of humor further by poking at her  
subtly until she just explodes). The two girls had reached a certain understanding,  
though... they could actually call each other friends. Mana, however, was supremely  
irritating to Asuka in that she could see just how much they were -alike-.

"Is it really that much of a surprise, pilot Sohryu?"

She shrugged, and followed Rei's cue to nod in familiar greetings. "Not really, I guess.  
I -know- the reason why only we can pilot the Eva. Having others our contemporaries  
in another battle machine just seems... convenient somehow." She looked at the other  
girl, standing there so primly. "So what, are we rivals now or something?"

"... have we ever been anything but?" Mana replied thinly.

"There is truth there, pilot Sohryu."

The three girls considered each other. Those around them looked on amused at the  
shift in the scene. So it is true; thought those not from NERV. There was indeed such  
entertainment around Ikari. It's like some form of Evangelion Dating Sim, with Angels  
winning the least worry among all the 'Bad End's. Heh; could he actually reach the  
'Best End'?

"Shinji Ikari-san...?"

"Hm? Yes?" The pilot turned away from the sight. He was the only one who knew just  
how stubbornly tough the Dreadnought could be. He had not been expecting that,  
though. When he sent over the drawings and the wooden model, he only had in mind  
that they could make a medium-scale combat platform... like oversized powered armor,  
as a holding force inside the limited terrain of the geofront and its tunnels.

"If it meets your approval, we still haven't IN HIS named it. Could you give one to our  
TRIDENT Land-Dreadnought?" asked Tokita.

"Isn't Trident already a proper name?" Maya pointed out.

"No, that's just the general project designation. A chassis mark, if you will. Just like  
Unit One is also -Principio Eternus-, so do we need a recognizable standard."

"Wouldn't the commander be the best choice for that? Or let it just be earned later  
on out of combat? Why me?"

"Why not? It's your d-" Oh. So that's a warning look. Interesting. How could narrowing  
the eyelids just a fraction cause so much sudden dread? "... prerogative. Kirishima has  
decided to waive that right over to you. Frankly, it would be better than whatever  
pithy nickname the press could come up with later."

"Well, in that case..." he turned towards Mana. "Maybe we should... -" He stopped and  
stared intently at her, his face dumbstruck. "Wow. Mana... is... that your dress uniform?"

She blushed and stared down. It didn't seem much. Black was a very basic color, and  
the suit worn inside the Dreadnought was nothing more than a derivative of military  
fatigues. For simplicity's sake, her dress uniform was a simple longcoat with golden  
filigree. As long as it was kept pristine, she could look sharp even after hours spent  
inside a cramped compartment.

She eep'ed as Shinji suddenly lunged for her breasts. However, he just buttoned up  
her outer jacket up to the neck. He looked ecstatic for some reason. "Do you have a  
hat?" he asked.

Mana shook her head, and Shinji moved aside to grab at a general's hat. "Excuse me."  
he said to General Akira. While Mana was still struck by the impropriety of it all, he  
smoothed her hair out (sending her blushing even more) and put it over her head. He  
pulled the brim down to cover her eyes slightly.

"By the Emperor!" he exclaimed. He put his hands on her shoulders and began to turn  
her slightly from side to side. "You're -perfect-! Kommissar Kirishima!"

Triumphant bells began to ring in her hearing. Behind them, four females from NERV  
began to frown mightily. Ritsuko just sighed. Too much insanity in the air.

"Promote her." General Akira whispered to Asagiri. "Promote her NOW."

"Why? We don't even -have- that rank."

"Didn't you hear? By the Emperor- that's how our new Constitution starts. That's also  
the opening line in a Formal Request. Besides, even if we don't the Russians do. If...  
and more like when... they get wind of this, they'll give her an honorary commission  
just to piss us off."

"We did side with China in the Second Manchurian Conflict." added General Minawa.  
"The NRSSF would be gloating about not waiting until we tried to steal even that from  
them..."

"Mainland bastards threw us out anyway. All right."

Shinji kept his hands on her shoulders. He grinned. It was just too perfect. "Mana...  
the Dreadnought's machine spirit needs a name. It needs to know itself. But are you  
ready to live in its light? Can you lock your will to this deadly purpose?"

"I'm ready to fight for you, sir." she said softly.

So he leaned over, uncaring of how it may look and all the '_Danger Ikari Shinji, Danger!'_  
instincts all going off all at once. He whispered into her ear. "Then listen well. I believe  
in Mana Kirishima. Let your heart be as steel, and forever shall shine the name. Unseal  
its might upon the enemies of man. In its name; fight."

"Awaken... -Magnos Tancred-." the girl said under her breath.

-o-

"Hey, we're getting a power fluctuation here." said Keita. "Did you try to override the  
cyclic timing of the capacitor again?"

"It wasn't me! I did nothing! You can't prove anything!" The other teen raised his  
hands high away from the weapons console. He looked up towards his friend sitting on  
the command chair.

"Sashi..."

"No. I didn't do anything."

"Stop aiming at Ikari. It's good thing I have control over weapons safety here. You do  
know that precision, at the sheer size of our guns, is impossible at such scales, right?  
You'd just vaporize Mana along with the others."

With great reluctance, a red dot drifted away from Shinji's forehead.

-o-  
-o-

Meanwhile, back in Tokyo Three, Kaji and Kaworu were off to a bit of breaking and  
entering. While they were away was the perfect time to snoop around inside Katsuragi  
residence. Understandably, the spy was reluctant to do participate in that. However,  
even as much as Gendo thought of people as disposable, even so much more so did  
SEELE enforce a Die Slowly And Painfully Clause into those that know of its existence.  
He was a convenient tool, nothing more.

The fact that a SEELE member could traipse on about Tokyo 3 without Gendo knowing  
about it was disturbing enough. "Hey, if you want to know what NERV is up to, why  
don't we... you know... just break into -NERV-?"

"Ah, but NERV is just a front for that interesting little family drama that is the Ikari  
Primetime Show." Kaworu replied cheerily. "If you want to know what Gendo is planning  
then you need not look any further than his son. I'm sure it will involve him sooner or  
later. Everyone else is just incidental to the issue."

"... you're insane, you know that?"

"Am I?"

"Yes, you are."

"Am I really?"

"Yes, you are."

Kaworu shrugged. "I guess I am crazy, then." He gave Kaji another secretive grin. "It's  
nothing more than what Tokyo 3 demands. Come on, Mister Ryoji. Let's go to work."

"Tch." The spy flicked his cigarette away and clenched his fists. Taking orders from a  
kid; the world was getting stranger by the minute. Not that Asuka was never bossy,  
or that Shinji wasn't just... creepy in his own way, but the pale-haired teen had all the  
signs of a developing murder artist. Helping the kid break into Misato's home? Not a  
good feeling.

Disguised in well-meaning questions were all the threats that she would be harmed  
anyway, if he failed to live up to his obligations. Kaworu would hardly hesitate. After  
all, she was also very important to the younger Ikari. Kaji was in the business long  
enough to know that no amount of vengeance can bring someone back.

"What about the guards and security cameras?" he asked. "We might get in on the  
premise that I'm visiting Misato or Asuka, but staying too long when we know they're  
not there will be suspicious."

"Do not worry about those, today. That problem's already been... handled." They were  
waiting at an intersection for the pedestrian light to turn green. Kaworu seemed far  
too relaxed that day, as if to say; surely you don't think I'm here -alone-, do you?

Kaji glanced aside meaningfully.

"Not permanently." the Angel hybrid added. "We don't want to leave any trace of our  
presence."

Green. "Let just get this over with." Sometimes I think I'm just too damn curious for  
my own good.

-o-

They simply walked in. The place seemed empty. The building security guards were  
conspicuous absent, but then Tokyo-3 was a city that relied heavily on electronic  
forms of surveillance and protection. Very few, other than elected officials, were paid  
to just stand around in the off chance something important might happen.

The Katsuragi apartment was barely more than unsecured, despite the importance of  
its occupants. The lock was very basic, and Kaji had no difficulty picking it open.  
Kaworu pulled at the door slowly and stared into the apartment. _'So, this is Ikari's  
castle._' he thought. In many ways, it was more forbidding than stepping into Lillith's  
shell. The geofront was but a fading echo of an earlier age; and it was these lillim that  
made new gods to walk the Earth.

"What are you, a vampire or something?" Kaji snarked, while looking nervously around  
the empty hallway. "Just go on in so we can get this done already."

Kaworu chuckled briefly. "Apologies, mister Ryouji." He put one foot in. That was one  
small step for a hybrid, one giant leap for Angelkind. He entered into the home. It was  
so ridiculously simple; he thought. Just leave a bomb and the way would be clear. It  
was all too easy, for they had not expected the enemy to wear the same form. Facing  
young Ikari headon was a futile effort, but there were many indirect means of attack.  
Lillim and their murderous ways; more dangerous to themselves than anything else.

Except, he did not feel that would solve any of his problems. If anything, that should  
only make it worse; for only the role of the disciple is really necessary.

It was a modest place, but surprising. Kaji whistled as he poked his head through the  
door. Misato had never struck him as the sort of person with an eye for style; other  
than her own innate charm. It was all too clean, and the various furnishings were  
tasteful without being expensive. The arrangement of the furniture and wall decor  
seemed strange. Was that Feng Shui?

Kaworu frowned the further he got into the home. The air felt itchy. Logically, he  
knew that he shouldn't feel too unwelcome. The young Ikari didn't have any special  
powers outside of his nigh unstoppable Evangelion, and that strange symbiosis that  
Kaworu could discern off the other Angel hybrid. Impossibly even Shinji, human by  
all measure, was starting to ping off his own 'Angel radar'. The reverse might apply.

He needed to be careful. Kaworu Nagisa had ever been injured only once, and that  
was from undestimating the stubborn cunning of weak humans.

He knew how the other thought; power easily gained is also easily taken away. It was  
that which made him formidable. His power was within the faith of those that followed  
him, not in relics or clever devices.

Still, it all felt stifling. Someday, they would need to meet face to face. On that day,  
Kaworu needed to be the strongest he would ever be.

"Wark!"

Both intruders turned to see Pen-pen waddling over from behind the kitchen counters.  
The penguin stared up at them with darkly hostile eyes. He turned away from Kaji, as  
if dismissing him as unimportant, and focused on Kaworu. Pen-pen moved closer to bar  
their path. He exchanged glares with the half-Angel. Long claws at the tips of his wings  
twitched.

Kaworu kicked out with his right foot, and punted Pen-pen into a wall. "Wraak!" the  
penguin screeched as his weight left the floor. A small and unseen flash of light shone  
at the point of contact. Pen-pen slapped onto the separating boards, right under a  
painting of sailboats, and slid down unconscious.

Kaworu smirked. Kaji shoved at his shoulder, making the teen face him and grabbed at  
his shirt. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" the spy shouted to his face.

"That guardian animal could have been troublesome." was the calm reply. "It should be  
just unconscious, no need to worry."

"What about not leaving a trace of our presence? You just kicked a penguin! Misato's  
penguin!" He paused and looked at the slumped mass of black and white feathers. "It's  
a penguin!" He had to drive that point in. What's the worst it could do? Peck at their  
ankles so they would slowly bleed to death? "What's -wrong- with you?"

"It's just an animal, mister Ryouji. What would you risk for an animal? Better now that  
it's out of our way now, than following along as we inspect this place. Go and set your  
devices now, while no one can see where you may decide to place them." The pale-  
haired teen unclasped Kaji's fingers with deceptive strength and ease. "It isn't dead.  
It's not as if I'm going around killing kittens for no reason.

Do not bother me with trifles like this again."

"Boy... you better watch what you say. You don't want to see me pissed off."

"You are Kaji Ryouji. You met Misato Katsuragi while in college. However, this was not  
due to coincidence. Her father was your mentor, and you felt you had a responsibility  
somehow to look after her. You are a special inspector for NERV and the UN now, but  
playing each side against the other. People don't trust you, mister Ryouji. Not her.  
Not anyone.

And it's easy to see why. Over all that time, there were very few that you actually  
trusted in return. They don't believe you know know the meaning of loyalty.

The only person that you concern yourself about is Misato Katsuragi. She told you to  
let go, and you did. She is too important to you. You don't have anyone else alive  
whom you believe would care if you disappeared. Believe me, mister Ryouji. Having me  
pissed off is far worse than your little tantrums."

"Touch her and I'll kill you."

"Kill me and she dies slowly. To be frank, right now I do not even need to -harm- her.  
All I need to do is to tell her just what you've been up to in the years you while you  
were separate."

Kaji flinched, and lost that round. "Having little horrors like you makes me trust SEELE  
less and less..."

"Did you really trust SEELE, ever?" Kaworu shrugged heavily and turned away. "What  
we do is unpleasant, but must be done." He ran a hand across the dining table, in a  
strangely coy motion. "I can -help- you, mister Ryouji..."

"Help? Hah. Yeah, right. Your Greater Good isn't much good at all if you need to use  
threats just to get your way. The only difference between you and Gendo is that the  
bastard isn't even -that- much of a hypocrite."

"All must serve the Greater Good in their own way. It is the only logical option. There  
is no room for neutrality here." He thumped at the wood, like asking for good luck.  
"Heroes should be unnecessary and martyrs a waste of potential. Threats stand to be  
far more limited in scope than the stupidity they seek to prevent. And mister Ryouji...  
I do not ask for much."

"I know how this goes. Bankers shoving credit cards look so reasonable and helpful,  
until the interest starts piling up." The spy rummaged around in his pockets for another  
cigarette, but didn't light it. "What's your deal? That kind of strong-arm protection, I  
don't need."

"There is a reason your 'business' is called 'tradecraft', mister Ryouji. Think of it as a  
system of equitable exchange. This is Tokyo 3. This is Ikari's land. None other than us  
have the power and the resources to protect her from whatever plans he has. I would  
have you remember, that the Evangelions would be nothing without our support."

"Ah. But who's going to protect her from -you-?"

Kaworu smirked. "Think about this. SEELE established NERV to prevent the Angels from  
initiating Third Impact. Others are only offshoots to this idea. You are but one man.  
We are Legion, and the masters of this fouled earth, and for a small service we will  
grant you what you so want. Do you see the logic? Reason dictates that only we can  
properly serve the Greater Good. Only with us, can you prevail. Only we can change  
this world for the better."

Kaji was silent. Kaworu had neglected to mention that one can be logical, and yet still  
so very wrong. One merely had to be fed false data.

He took out a pocket camera. "We have a job to do, mister Ryouji. Let us be done with  
it so we will not need to suffer any more of each other's company."

Kaji grunted and went for Misato's room. Gendo and NERV hadn't bugged the Katsuragi  
apartment for the simple reason that all those within were intentionally being kept in  
ignorance of the larger picture. Kaworu snapped picture after picture of the trim and  
well-maintained apartment.

Kaworu went over to a door, marked 'Shinji's Lovely Suite' in Misato's ironic writing. He  
hesitated there, and only after what seemed to be a supreme expression of will did he  
slide that door open.

He didn't know what to expect. Prophecies were human inventions. Religion was as  
much a reflection of a certain people than as a system of beliefs. Such human notions  
tended to be self-perpetuating, immaterial ideas as the only thing in perpetual motion.  
The human half of him also -needed- to feed upon that legend. Shinji Ikari had to be  
larger than life, for the defeat of his siblings in that way was a death notable even in  
its failure. Epic failure was epic nonetheless; and eternity was the cloak of the Angels.

He sighed as he saw the compact neatness of Shinji's room. A single bed, a single  
fauxwood study table, a single study lamp, one cello case. The only things that Shinji  
had in multiples were books, pens and notebooks. It was all so sparse, monastic even.  
For all his tendency to bestow lavish gifts upon those he loved, he spent very little for  
his own comfort.

Kaworu stayed in the penthouse suite of a hotel. SEELE was unimaginably wealthy,  
might as well take advantage of that while he still could. In such lavish surroundings  
did the Angel pursue his plans. He played the part of a spoiled, unattended heir well.  
He had also managed to impress Asuka by a 'simple' date in that hotel restaurant.  
In the past few months they had known each other, in spaced meetings made more  
precious by their uncertainty, he enticed her well.

It was all about deception. Like the pilot, and he himself, hiding the truth of their  
power. Poking around Tokyo 3 had revealed just how many vines the younger Ikari  
had strangling around the city. Kaworu spent more time trying to uncover the subtle  
movements of the son, rather than the overy ominous designs of the father. SEELE  
could wait. In the end, manipulations... stolen, undeserved power would fade away,  
and only the one with a floating soul would matter.

He stepped into the room.

He felt a strange tingling. He looked around, and saw on the study table four plastic  
figures. His eyes widened in surprise.

The half-Angel pulled out the chair and sat down facing the four. He absently ran his  
fingers over Shinji's neat assortment of schoolbooks. School. Homework. Kaworu grit  
his teeth; even such simple things were denied him. He was born with full awareness  
of what he was, and was by all definitions; a genius. That was what SEELE wanted,  
there was no choice in the matter. They had tried to raise him as their tool.

_'So. As I feared, he has them now.'_ He stood over the four figurines and studied them.  
_'Just plastic and paint. Yet... these also carry the expressions of his soul, and should  
bear the shadow of his existence.' _Anger welled up from within. He too, had been so  
lonely. Whatever how other Children had suffered, he believed he had endured greater.

However alone Shinji and Rei could have been, his was much more so. The old men  
did not want an controllable Eva pilot. They wanted an Angel bound to their will; and  
got it. The moment he unsealed his AT-field, he felt it - that great hollow within, that  
great wrongess. The urge to recover Adam was absolute. He would do anything, to  
rid himself of that.

As but a child, Rei died her first death. As but a child, he killed his first man. SEELE  
wanted an absolutely unstoppable and untraceable assassin. They found it in him and  
his AT-field. For Adam, he would do what they wanted. For the Greater Good...

Plastic things. He did not know toys. They had tried to get him attached to surrogate  
parents. He killed them for their deceit. Unlike Rei, who was the soul of patience, his  
every moment ached to return to Adam. More Angel than human, yet trapped in his  
own flesh. He knew SEELE, even as Rei was privy to Gendo's plans. He knew each of  
them, for he had served each in many disgusting ways.

Angels had no need to ask Why. The imperative was enough. Just to feel Adam nearby  
was enough. He, who was tainted by the doubts of man, screamed out into the night  
why he had to suffer so.

Deep in the ruins of London, after having chased down the former Number 12 of SEELE,  
he found a caseful of the Greater Good. The other materials of the setting were there,  
but lacking figures. He had read the works of man, understood their science, and held  
it all in contempt. Yet that one... paper, ink, and plastic... it seemed to reach into his  
soul.

The printing date he saw implied it either was finished in a hurry, or... Angels did not  
believe in destiny. But they knew that their reality was at best, subjective.

"I wonder... is it possible? Can I believe I already know Shinji Ikari that much? Is my  
hate enough?' He didn't know what to feel when Sachiel was killed. Stuck between  
Man and Angel, holding the shattered remains of Adam's soul... he could only hope  
that the others proved stronger than he.

Stronger, perhaps. But not wiser. He sought out Shamsel, who rebuffed him. That  
other Angel saw him as even like the Evangelion, a twisted mockery of truth.

Shamsel died.

Ramiel was confident in its form. When an Angel dies, its soul dispersed into the others  
that remained. Power was not transferred, but some knowledge and instincts. The last  
moments, the final primal emotions of its life - that was what all others recieved, no  
matter where in the world they slept.

Kaworu remembered the fear. He screamed awake, in his suite in Imperial Hotel Berlin.  
That soul. Not like a Lillim. Not like an Angel. That was when he started to research  
Shinji Ikari. Again, he touched the spines of the pilot's schoolbooks. Everything so far  
pointed to the mundane. There was no reason for that power. It seemed undeserved.  
Yet the moment he saw the other's picture... he knew. Those eyes, seeing through  
the illusions of time and free will. Kaworu knew that he had seen his equal at last.

Adam's ancient memories whispered; here is the Destroyer.

Gaghiel sensed Adam's movement. It acted on its own.

Gaghiel died too.

Israfael had sought him out. It asked for his advice. Kaworu knew what he had to do.  
Shinji Ikari must die; only one could be the Messiah. Kaworu knew where is loyalties  
lay, and it wasn't with the small mortals. But one could learn from them. They were  
the masters of the world.

Israfael, dead.

Sandalphon was desperate. It had searched out the other Angels, but they were in  
hiding. Only one Angel may reach Adam; and whomever does would recieve its power.  
It could not be shared. This was etched into their very DNA, to ensure that only the  
strongest would become the new Adam and perpetuate their Race into the stars. He  
was inspecting NERV China then, when out of the surf that Angel appeared to try and  
nearly kill him; to compress him into an embryonic form as an attack that could pierce  
through any AT-field.

Kaworu defeated the other easily, and taught the beast about strategy.

Sandalphon, dead.

He closed his eyes and listened. The winds outside. The crickets in midafternoon. The  
distant roars of the main road. He opened his being to the possibilities. While he hated  
young Ikari he also yearned to know him. In another time they could have been friends.  
However, such power if left unchecked would only doom all. Adam's release and then  
subsequent loss of power... did these Lillim believe all that would just fade into the  
cold of space? The light of the soul was more than that.

Kaworu opened his eyes again. Sunshine had faded, falling onto the room in strips of  
smoky shine. He brought his attention to the conceptual advisors of young Ikari.

_'GET OUT!' _he heard a female voice command in his mind. _'You have no place here!  
Leave! NOW!'_

_'Ah, the Farseer.'_ he heard a distant familiar voice. _'How far do you see, ancient one?  
Too far. Look too high to the night sky and stumble upon the pebbles in your path.'_

Kaworu lightly touched the tip of the Eldar's helmet, and heard her scream._ 'Your time  
is done. Accept it and begone.'_ he said.

The scream intensified, and faded off into nothingness.

And his mind suddenly exploded with the possibilities. He began to hear the others  
clearly. It did not matter if they were real or not, if they had actual identities or were  
just manifestations of a disturbed mind. Kozo Fuyutsuki was a professor in metaphysics  
and to him; a soul was a persistent form of identity. One could either believe it power  
or the inevitable understanding of quantum physics upon the universe. Kaworu was an  
Angel; impure and fallen - where once he was ALL soul he was trapped into the flawed  
_constraints of flesh._

_'RAAAAAGH! STOMPS YOU! STOMPS YA GOOD!' _he heard the greenskin roar._ 'GRAAAH!  
NEEDS! TA! -MOVE!-'_

_'I know you! Foul xeno, I -know- you!' _bellowed the Space Marine. '_You dare defile this  
sanctuary with your presence? By the light of the Emperor! Be -cleansed- in purifying  
flame!'_

Strangely, the Chaos Marine was silent. The tiny figure seemed to stand implacable,  
staring up at the much bigger being in front of him.

_'These are the thoughts in Ikari's mind. So like a lillim. So limited. So self-contradictory.  
And at the same time, infinite in its potential.' _The light of the soul leaves a wake, that  
could not be detected with mere instruments. What was his identity? Each cell knows  
not of the whole it creates. Plastic as composed of the same subatomic particles that  
could make flesh. Life, was more than just matter. That was how Angels could live and  
make decisions even when in just viral form.

Kaworu dimly remembered Adam's true power. Ritsuko had said that they were made of  
material which had the properties of both wave and particle. Angels were all merely  
realized -potential-. They were ghosts and miracles of themselves.

He turned to the figurines, and reached out to them. The concepts did not reside in  
mere plastic, but in Shinji's mind. Only a Lillim could be so obstuse as to not know  
what his own mind was doing. Angels did not have a conscious or a subconscious.

_'Ah, Shinji Ikari.' _thought Kaworu. _'If we could meet, if we did not need to see each  
other's deaths... I would tell you about a boy that tried to know everything. A boy  
born with the awareness of a being vast and endless, a boy who saw the injustice in  
everything he saw. There was no being in this vast world that could call me friend...  
until I found these relics. Do we have that much in common? I believe so. I believe we  
could call each other friend... if only our potentials did not naturally leech from each  
other._

_There is no Justice, Ikari. Your kind usurped our home. Yet in the Greater Good, that  
might perhaps be to our benefit. It will be ours again, not for revenge or for malice,  
but because we are ones worthy of all that power. We were all in each our own way  
Little Gods, and now you as well. But that is not enough. Our Mother was a sacrifice  
for our own destiny. Like you, there is no hope for us but victory.'_

_'Worthy?' _crooned the Thousand Son. _'Power that flows only from WITHIN. How much  
more CRIPPLED can you be?'_

Kaworu visualized it in his mind; these strange figures standing as monoliths to their  
ideals. All different expressions of life itself. In countless eras, it always boiled down  
to each different philosophy. _'Alone. I was so alone. Cut off from the others of my  
kind, my soul bound to one form. I cannot imagine how you Lillim can bear this. Just  
as you cannot imagine just how immeasurably grand it is to be one of us.'_

_'Souls forever locked in the material plane. I, even with the EYE of Tzeentch, cannot  
conceiveof a more pitiful existence. The Bright Lord is the KEY to the universe, and he  
will FREE it from the forgotten war that still rages in the heavens. Neither of Adam nor  
Lillith; we are the masters of our own destiny. We are born of his soul, and even as  
we converse, you know...'_

_'His presence fills us.'_ said the Space Marine._ 'He is with us, always, even as -we- are  
with him. We live not here, in these material shells, but in the vast expanse of his mind.'_

_'This is what you FEAR, little god. He is the warp. He is change itself. That is our way,  
the yearnings of mortality. We creatures separate and small change the universe to  
suit ourselves. We shall SPIRAL out into infinity, and erase your kind from existence.'_

_'It's gonna be da WAAAAGH! ta end ALL WAAAGH!s, lessen he finds out a way ta gets  
us annoder yuuniverse ta stomps around in.' _

He did not wonder about how it was possible. Where the knowledge came from. Adam  
was ancient beyond ancient, for even as it seeded a world it sent another made in its  
image outwards to continue the task. The memories, the souls... so much so that the  
Endless Shaper in its incarnations no longer seemed self-aware; having seen and felt  
and destroyed so many in its journey. Kaworu held the confidence common to his kind.  
He knew, deep in his being, that theirs was a success. They were winning the war in  
the heavens.

The lingering glow of Shinji's soul glimmered, fading slowly. It would return, in the  
proper time, but now he knew that specific essence. Know the enemy, know thyself,  
and the battle was all but won.

-o-

The screen door slid open. "Hey." said Kaji.

"Gah!" yelped Kaworu, in a rare loss of composure. He turned, glaring at the spy for his  
interruption. "Why do you disturb me, inspector Ryouji?'

Kaji merely smirked in return. "Well, I'm done with my inspection. So... no. No secret  
documents, no hidden spy cameras, no recorders. I did inject the monitoring virus into  
Misato's computer." He jerked a thumb back. "So. We go?"

"Yes. I too am done with my observations." Kaworu Nagisa turned away from the table.  
Kaji noticed the things obscured by his back.

"Toys?" He stepped closer to see. "... heh. I remember playing with Gunpla when I was  
younger. What are these?" He blinked. "Hey, is that a chainsword?"

Kaworu touched the head of each. "Intolerance." of the Space Marine. "Arrogance." of  
the Eldar. "Avarice." of the Chaos Marine. "Murder." of the Warboss. "I find it intriguing  
why so many are so absorbed by such notions..."

"What's a good story without conflict?" Kaji replied, shrugging. He remembered Gundam.  
"Perfect people just don't seem real. It's more than just cool explosions, you know. It's  
also about getting past those, and the hero triumphing after suffering and learning all  
that he needed."

"It seems such a needless waste of time. Some of those plot-induced lessons are just  
so obvious."

"Hey, people aren't born perfect. Sometimes we just need a good slap to the face to  
wise up."

Kaworu sniffed. "Indeed." He saw Kaji looked entirely too serious. "You... did not bring  
back a souvenir from Katsuragi-san's drawers, did you?"

"What? No, of course not." Though he was really tempted to. In the end he stuck a  
camera over her bed.

"Then, Sohryu?"

He winced. "Oh, gods, no! Asuka... she's a good kid, but really! Though she has been  
a lot less clingly lately. Maybe Shinji's getting to her, after all." He rubbed his chin and  
gave out a 'hmm'.

Kaworu chose not to enlighten him about how he had more to do with that. He looked  
at the room one last time and turned to go.

"What about you? You were alone in this room for a long time."

The SEELE Angel squinted aside. "Just what are you implying?" he asked in a low tone.  
"I would advise you to choose your words carefully, as well. Although..." he paused  
and looked up. "I suppose Shinji Ikari is... very compelling in many ways." He blinked.  
"But no."

Kaji made a face. "Let's just get out of here." Working alongside the boy... he was just  
getting creepier by the minute.

-o-  
-o-

The day passed into afternoon and towards sunset. The tour group took a refreshment  
break, while the pilots prepared their Evas. Asuka waited outside in her Unit Two, and  
sweltering from the heat. The plug was deep inside and cooled appropriately, but she  
couldn't enter her Eva without intinctively reaching for a nominal level of sync. That  
much she needed to at least look around, to percieve with its senses.

She looked around. The place was empty, due to the heat radiating off the pavement.  
Everything seemed misty. "This bites." she said out loud. "Wonder Girl gets a new gun,  
and baka Shinji gets a whole new set of gear. Don't I get anything?"

"Was it not you who lengthily insulted pilot Ikari, the JSSDF, and most of Japanese  
culture over a public broadcast channel, pilot Sohryu?"

"Hah!" Misato's voice laid over Rei's radio link. "Sorry, Asuka, but it's surprising that  
they're even so civil so far." Though she did find the bit about Girl's Day funny. How  
Asuka knew about Ranma Saotome was a mystery.

"That's not fair!"

"Completely." the Operations Director replied further, grinning back at NNHIS/Trident  
employee cafeteria. She sipped at her orange juice and let the sound of clinking ice  
cubes carry over the link. Almost everyone else was under a large shady tent, with  
buckets of cold drinks available for free. "Life isn't fair. Deal with it."

Eva Unit Two stamped its foot angrily. "How long do I have to stay out here?"

"Not sure. Hold on... hey, Maya! How much longer until they finish putting on the Type  
T equipment?"

The lieutenant spoke to her headset, asking Ritsuko who was within the hangar. "Only  
a few more minutes, Misato-sempai." she replied. The screen of her laptop flicked back  
to the simulation data sent by the JSSDF. She giggled in anticipation of loading that  
into the MAGI.

"This is unfair..." Asuka said again.

Shinji heard that, and the understated pain in the other pilot's tone. She felt neglected  
and unappreciated. Asuka deserved better than that, from him. He opened up another  
outgoing channel.

"Tokita-san!" said Shinji, as a small window opened up in the plug interface.

"Yes, Ikari-san?" replied the project director. He was looking up at the Eva, and to one  
of the external cameras on the Titan exoframe. "Any problems with the connections?"

"No, not really. I do feel slightly cold, but that might be from the additional coolant  
being pumped around the torso." There was something else, like at the edge of his  
peripheral vision... but always fleeing as soon as he turns. That unidentifiable feeling,  
he couldn't say. It wasn't the danger sense, that also felt different.

"It should go away when the batteries engage. It would be too dangerous to test the  
reactor while in this first trial run." the man replied, really having learned from the Jet  
Alone fiasco. Don't try too much too fast. Step by step, until you reach the conclusion  
you desire. That this was Shinji's very own doctrine only meant well for both. "It isn't  
too heavy?"

"No. The Evangelion can handle it. I'm not sure to what degree it will slow me down  
in combat, but then this is why we try." He paused for a few moments. "But that's not  
what I wanted to ask. Don't you have something for Asuka?"

"Ah... that." Presenter Tokita moved away from the view to talk to a nearby engineer.  
After some time, we turned back to the screen. "Yes, we finished that. The device  
has its own internal battery, but there's also an optional power feed to the Eva. That  
isn't done yet..."

"But does it work? Is the battery installed?"

"Yes, sure. It's ready to go."

"Then I'd appreciate it if you showed it to Asuka."

Shiro Tokita nodded. "All right." At the very least, that was one more thing he could  
explain/brag about. He moved away, and Shinji closed the link. The project director  
went over to relay instructions.

-o-

Asuka saw the Trident land dreadnought emerge from the hangar, dragging a large box  
behind it. The stumpy war machine went over towards her, and stopped right in front  
of the Eva. Magnetic clamps disengaged and were rolled back under the Dreadnought's  
primary armor.

"All right, Sohryu-san..." said Mana, sitting leaned back on her command chair. "Here's  
a present for you too. You may stop whining now."

"What's that?" The Eva leaned over to poke at the war machine. "You want to start  
something, shorty?"

A smaller video window opened up, showing Musashi's face. "Don't underestimate us!  
If we were allowed to, we'd kick your ass!" He still hadn't gotten over how easily and  
thoroughly she would beat him at every athletic pursuit.

Keita's own comm window. "Look, everything here's already too expensive as it is.  
Please don't aggravate things further. Let's not have to repair things before we even  
face a true combat scenario." He sighed. "I apologize for my teammates, Sohryu-san.  
Please, see what we have here."

"Why are you taking sides with that bi-"

Keita hastily pushed a button. Silence, fortunately. The Dreadnought stood silent, as  
its occupants bickered within. After a while, the red Eva made a shrug and moved past  
towards the large metal crate.

It opened the container. Asuka gasped at what she saw within. "What... is this?"

"Ah, Miss Sohryu - this is something made specifically for you. While it is acknowledged  
that the four eyes of your Eva make for greater accuracy and positional judgement, it  
is in close combat that you really shine. I'm not maligning the Prog Knives that NERV  
issues to you; but there are still so many other options available."

"Where are you?" he asked of the overenthusiastic Tokita.

"Look down. Near your left foot." Indeed, there on a small truck, the project director  
was speaking into the radio.

"... shouldn't you be helping Shinji with his new stuff?"

"Bah, I'm no engineer. I've already done everything I should have done there." He then  
pointed up and aside to the crate. "Please, pick it up."

Asuka reached into the crate. The presenter continued. "Even in close combat, range  
is important. You know of the chainsword, a very... respected... close combat weapon  
for the Evangelions.

However, even that isn't a perfect. It is awesome, true, but its utility is hampered by  
the difficulty of making sure you don't slice your own limbs off while using it. It has a  
guard on only one side, with the ripping blade held outwards. It's a weapon of pure  
attack. You can only parry with the back of the chainsword, with the relatively thin  
metal casing. I'd even go far as to say; you really -shouldn't- even try to parry with a  
chainsword; bladeside or guard.

This, however..."

The red Evangelon brought out a great Eva-sized axe, painted red in its own colors.  
Its edge was a series of ripping prog blades. Asuka turned a latch, and it roared into  
furious activity.

"Evangelion CCW2-CA, IN HIS name, THE MIGHTY CHAINAXE!" shouted the project  
director. "Now this, is a weapon with devastating attack while allowing for a measure  
of defense. The flat sides are thick metal, and can be used to block. Look there, even  
if the prog bits fail, the cutting face of the Chainaxe still has two sharpened edges to  
bite into the enemy."

Asuka took an experimental swing. It was heavier, yes. Slower. Also, that much more  
additional force with each blow. The cutting blades were always away from the weilder  
and so such a terrible weapon was actually safer to use. It was convenient perhaps,  
as a berserker barely had any attention to spare for anything other that eviscerating  
the enemy.

"This is great!" whooped Asuka, slashing wildly. "Wow...! I like it! I really like it!"

Winds passed over the truck below, engulfed entirely by the massive shadow of that  
weapon. Shiro Tokita laughed nervously. "We are pleased to hear that, pilot Sohryu.  
We of IN HIS technologies live to serve." He then whispered to the driver. "Get us out  
of here, now."

The truck hastily sped away back into the hangars, and far from the overexcited red-  
haired girl.

"This is great!" Asuka cried out again. "I can't wait to try this out against Shinji."

"...how ungrateful can you get...?" drifted across the open radio link.

The Evangelion turned towards the Dreadnought, standing there jutting its hips out  
contemptously (or as far is it was able to, which wasn't much). "What did you say?"  
asked Asuka, her voice shrill. Holding a chainaxe... she felt so tall. So mighty. In fact,  
it might even be said; high. "You have the guts now that I'm paying attention?"

"Then let me say it again..." Mana replied in a deliberate tones. She pulled on her new  
gold-trimmed greatcap, and grinned out a bit. Her co-pilots were shaking their heads  
and waving their arms about, trying to get her to stop. "You're an ungrateful little  
princess. Shinji Ikari asked of that specifically for you, he even designed the form...  
and what do you want to do as soon as you get it? You want to use it against him!  
How much more self-serving can you get? It's like you can't be strong without pulling  
down everyone around you!

You're -weak-, Asuka Langley-Sohryu!" You don't deserve him!

"You bitch! How dare you?" Asuka knew how much she'd suffered for the sake of the  
Eva. For these of the JSSDF, getting too ahead of themselves, it was unforgivable!  
"What do you know? You and all your useless arrogance, too! I'm the one fighting  
against the Angels! I'm the one who endures all that pain to win! How dare you?

I'll carve you up!" How dare YOU? You don't know! You're no great prize either!

An ominous humm rose from the Dreadnought. "Do not preach to -Magnos Tancred-  
about pain." Mana Kirishima said in a flat, remorseless tone. "Do you think we do not  
know about pain? You're not the only one who can fight for humanity, Sohryu! Don't  
think you're all that!" Without Ikari Shinji, we would have nothing! How DARE YOU  
insult him, and his goodwill?

The chainaxe roared. The Evangelion's eyes flashed angrily. A thick plume of flame  
erupted from within the Dreadnought's clawed left arm and its six-barrel megabolter  
whined to a ready state.

"Hey! HEY!" Misato shouted into the comm channel. "We're supposed to be allies here.  
We're supposed to be FRIENDS!"

"Friends?" retorted Asuka. "I'll never be friends with this arschkriecher!" However, she  
was grinning. She just -thrived- in an atmosphere of competition. Things were getting  
too boring and predictable back at Tokyo 3.

Spanish was a lovely language, whose beauty some say may even be magnified when  
you don't know what it is you're really hearing. As an army brat, Mana Kirishima knew  
it well, but for a different reason in the convenience of that tongue.

"Besa mi culo, puta!" she shot back.

"RIP AND TEAR!" Asuka shouted. "RIP AND TEAR!"

"GIVE ME FULL POWER!" Mana shouted, standing up and pointing out. "GLORY TO THE  
FIRST MAN TO DIE!"

"Ooh..." Misato began to rub at her head. "Now I understand what just Ritsuko goes  
through." She looked around at all the amused faces of everyone else and gripped at  
the hand radio until the plastic began to crack. Don't they realize how serious it was?  
It wasn't more than just girls circling each other for a slapdown. Those were deadly  
war machines over there...! Such a break in discipline CANNOT be tolerated!

Misato turned to the generals, giving them a 'Shouldn't you be doing something about  
this?' look.

They responded with a 'We're old men; what do you expect us to do about jealous  
teenage girls? No, we're not that crazy or senile, thank you.' Misato was a woman.  
They trusted her judgement in such matters.

"BOTH OF STAND DOWN! SHUT UP! THIS IS A -DIRECT ORDER- AND THERE -WILL- BE  
CONSEQUENCES!" Indeed, later. As soon as she thought of something suitably slow  
and humiliating.

The girls obeyed the first. The second; not so much. They continued hurling expletives  
at each other.

Ritsuko arrived after some time. She first checked on Maya's tech readouts, and only  
then noticed Misato's face twitching face. "What's wrong with you now?"

The purple-haired woman pointed out - towards the strange sight of the Eva and a  
Dreadnought pacing and squaring off against each other, as if liable to plunge into a  
breakdance duel at any given moment. It was made doubly amusing by the sheer  
sheer size disparity between the two; stumpy, dwarvish against tall and spindly. She  
held up the radiophone.

Ritsuko's lips twitched at hearing what's being batted about. She could understand  
both languages.

"Do they even know what each other is saying...?" Misato asked.

"At this point... I'd say not. But does it matter?"

Misato groaned. "Why do we need these children again? Why should we even take this  
headache? Oh, right. Or the world will end. Ungh. Life sucks." She slumped forwards,  
putting her face to the table. She turned her head to the side to stare up at her old  
friend. "So... what about Shinji-kun?"

"We've finished. Give me the radio." She took it out of Misato's hand and spoke in a  
gentle, soothing tone. "Shinji's ready for you now... please be ready for the second  
phase of the Evangelion proprietary weapons tests."

The two large mecha paused, and turned towards the mammoth sliding doors of a  
hangar. Everyone in the mobile cafeteria also went out for a better look. The doors  
slid open with grinding slowness. A vague shape was all they could see.

One step. Whumph.

Something gargantuan, seemingly hunched over, slowly emerged. Another step.

Whump.

The ground shook with every footfall. Such was its scale and its promise of pitiless  
power. It was no longer an Evangelion. It was not a Titan. It was something both and  
neither; and powerful beyond reason.

Titanicus! -Principio Eternus!-

It roared. The sound filled the air, sending even the aluminium walls to shaking. While  
everyone knew that the Titan modules were merely worn over the Eva's normal armor,  
it seemed as if the beast was now complete. Like it could never be anything else than  
that magnificent, almost godly might. Its armor was thick and forbidding, its guns the  
biggest and baddest there was. The winged skull shone under the sun. It retained the  
colors of the Eva, in purple and green; but in muted, deathly shades.

The Titan, godslayer, walked past. Everyone on the ground shielded their faces, and  
the tarp of the cafeteria tent snapped briskly. So massive was its armored form that  
it created air currents with its every step.

"Holy shit...!" muttered Misato, looking up with nearly religious awe in her eyes. "We're  
gonna win."

The technicians, the designers, the administrators... everyone who had ever worked  
on the thing; were far less resistant. It took all their strength just not to bow, from  
that overpowering feeling of both fear and awe plunging deep into their souls. Maya  
clapped her hands together, to make a small prayer.

"I don't know. It is impressive" said Ritsuko. "I think the colors are a bit garish, though."

Misato looked at her as if she was crazy. The scientist gave back a twisted smile. Of  
Evangelions; artificial humans wearing armor that had artificial muscles that should  
improve even their own brute strength; mobile fusion reactors; and... is he trying to  
lighten the load by pushing up with his AT-field? Is that antigravity... or just lift? Eh.

She chuckled. "I suppose I'm just getting used to this." How any of those little blue  
pills did she take again? Six? Eight? Twelve? Ritsuko made a mental note; as a doctor  
she could write her own prescription. However, best to let Maya regulate that. One  
harmful addiction was enough.

On the other had, one Ikari-induced headache was already too much.

The generals were less generous in their impressions. Gen. Minawa winced at the very  
sight. He was getting too old for that sort of thing to affect him. "You do realize you  
just gave Shinji Ikari the means to flatten ALL OF JAPAN if he wants, right?"

"Fifteen hours." General Asagiri shuddered. "It was bad enough when he simulated our  
total defeat in just under one hour. We'd have to use nukes now. All our nukes. And  
would there even be a Japan after it's all done?"

"I hope your trust in the boy isn't misplaced." continued the stooping Minawa, whose  
hands were shaking as he held his cane. It was too late to turn back. They had all  
locked themselves into one course of action. He was going blind, but blind faith was  
something he did not accept so easily.

"Believe. Not in me, who believes in him. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.  
Does it really feel like we're putting our hopes into a hollow container? I trust young  
Ikari. In helping him, we're as much fighting for everyone else.

Now we just have to ensure the elder Ikari doesn't manipulate this for his own benefit.  
It's the Angels that are the enemy, and harming Shinji Ikari should be treason against  
the whole human race. Later, we can think strategy." He smirked a bit. "But what can  
just one boy do? What does he want?"

-Principio Eternus- roared once more. It -knew- nothing mightier than itself.

"Win. We have to win. The power of man is man in himself." General Kiyosato Akira  
finished softly. "We have the tools. We have the will. Now all that's left is to see it  
through to the end."

-o-  
-o-

The day Shinji Ikari was dreading came to pass. Valentine's Day. In Japan, tradition  
was for the girls to give the boys chocolates as a sign of affection. It was a day both  
anticipated and feared by teenagers. Many had apprehensions about not having the  
courage to make their feelings known or simply not recieving any. Social pressure was  
intense, and even more so post-Impact and in Tokyo-3 First Municipal Junior High.  
There weren't that many students after all, and everyone knew almost everyone else.

Humiliation was the most common source of teenage angst.

Shinji, feared it for different reasons. Back in his old junior high in Sendai, he was the  
only freshman to get chocolates from seniors. Though thin and short in stature, he  
was never considered geeky. The day he went into the school he became alpha male  
instantly. The yankis and other troublemakers tried, but most were brought down with  
just a long stare. There were very very few students that enter high school at the  
head of their own private army. His thoughtful, methodical ideals ensured good grades.  
His guardians weren't wealthy, but he had a treasure in connections; from the chief  
of police, to town mayor, to the actual wealthiest people in town. One couldn't look  
into the confidence in his eyes and not think; that this was a boy who would be very  
important someday.

The notion was, that even if he was still scrawny, eventually he'd grow up to be the  
perfect boyfriend. Kind, attentive, and still capable of kicking ass. Even back then, he  
had a 'helping people thing', and the boyz trusted him with their problems. With fore-  
sight, with courage, with manipulations, with exuberance - every life he touched was  
made brighter somehow. Da Boyz believed in him utterly. As long as it's Da Boss, den  
everything's gonna be okay. They believed he knew everything that needed to be  
known, and so far hadn't failed them yet. Shinji was so well-read and so used to odd  
trains of thought that he didn't notice when he was saying of things he could not  
possibly have had any previous idea.

The young teens of course had elder sisters and parents who could see the signs of  
that good influence. As such, his opinions slowly began to suffuse through the town  
until it almost had the force of law. Not many realized it, of course. What they did  
only seemed like a natural change of pace.

He had to eat all those chocolates, as to not insult their respect. They put their hearts  
into it, and it was the least he could do to show his thanks. He had to be taken to the  
hospital.

There were at least three times as many girls in Tokyo 3 1st Junior High. He still hadn't  
figured out what to do as not to seem insulting. He appreciated them, as even fangirls  
were people with real emotions and real fears. For the most, that was the furthest  
they could go; too afraid to dare any more. All they wanted was some pathetic sliver  
of his recognition, and he couldn't deny them that. Not all suffering was so obvious.

Still... what was worse was afterwards; when the ambulance had to take him out of  
the school, the fangirls he'd gathered at age were so guilty they flooded his room with  
flowers. When they were forbidden that, the front of the hospital started to look like a  
shrine; with all those offerings.

"He's not dead yet!" one of the doctors shouted. "Stop making it look like a funeral!"

Which of course only made them even more stricken, as they were bringing off a bad  
omen. Eventually he had to mobilize the Boyz to restore order and reason (or the right  
and propa).

Ominous feelings were boiling inside the school cafeteria. The air felt heavy. Now and  
then a certain chill passed over him, as segments of the student population would  
slowly glance over to the center table. Turning away, only to have another section  
turn their heads en masse to that direction. Now and then a nervous giggle wafted  
through.

The focus of that attention was not, strangely enough, Shinji Ikari. It was directed at  
Mana Kirishima, seated there with the 'inner circle'. In less than a month, she had risen  
so quickly in the social ranks. 'Pilot a giant robot capable of destroying armies within  
minutes to save the world' was the highest possible standing (literally towering above  
even magnates or politicians). What was it about Mana Kirishima?

Her two friends sat slumped over, several tables away, alternating between looking  
fondly at her and glaring at Shinji. So obviously - by her own merits was she admitted  
to their clique. Even Sohryu, who looked annoyed, didn't seem to contest it.

Now 'merit' could be such a... suggestive... word. Kensuke was very enthusiastic, but  
two boys with actual military training would just go berserk at any implication against  
their beloved Mana. Hikari knew all of this. She had to keep the disgruntled masses  
contained, specially before Valentines Day, or the school would just collapse.

Fortunately the colorful cults of Ayanami, Sohryu and Ibuki were ready to offer their...  
assistance. Kirishima had to be worthy too, and anything else was an indirect insult  
to their own idols.

Not that she wouldn't jump him given half the chance; but there were also defenders  
waiting there.

The Kirishima fan club was still germinate, though the color green was decided upon.  
A nice, restful color; reflecting her girl-next-door charms. She was such a normal and  
likable girl, if prone to spacing out, and as such through her many could vicariously  
fulfill their fantasies. However, that same modal appeal could also fuel deeper envy;  
if she could have it, why couldn't they? What made her so special, really?

Day by day, Tokyo 3 was getting more and more insane. Shinji smiled a bit. Still, it was  
a good kind of insane; of people cutting loose and doing things from the heart. They  
were a vibrant generation, even as it might all suddenly end. There was something  
about the spectre of death that forced people to enjoy the passing moments of their  
lives.

He frowned slightly. Nurgle. Like many of the ways of Chaos, it brought what should  
be a good thing to horrific extremes. That was why, given the choice, he made the  
decision to side with the Emperor. Good won, because it was Brilliant. Chaos reached  
its apex by stealing all that carefully-prepared strength. Shinji despised cheaters.

Given a choice, he made a mental note _'If you need me to be a God, then so be it.'_  
Considering the ten thousand years of the Imperium afterwards, a little worship would  
be a small price to pay; considering that they had to end up worshipping Him anyway  
to keep the Imperium together.

But that, as he mused, was besides the point. Surviving tomorrow would be his main  
chore. He had his own ideals, and he would not violate them. Good was an object  
that was always in motion, seeking a balance lest it twist into something more vicious  
than mere shameless evil. His thoughts lately was drifting to such questions of what  
he'd take or give up in the name of power.

Taking advantage of his fangirls, for example, would not be just an evil act - but a  
pointless act. A wondrous future in exchange for temporary gratification...? Meh. The  
real historic harem; he had read up about it, and these were more about political and  
socioeconomic power than sex. Now just have no one ask him about wanting a harem  
and he wouldn't have to lie...

These girls, he gazed at them fondly, were the ones he could truly trust.

"What are you looking at, baka?" Asuka said, turning her face aside.

"Just you." he said honestly. "You seem... more energetic recently. You have this  
happy glow, Asuka. I'm glad to see that." Their happiness was his own, of course.

"We-well, don't think sweet-talking me will help you tomorrow. You're on your own,  
buster." She turned to Rei. "Obligatory, dammit! Obligatory! Why do I have to do your  
stupid customs anyway...?"

"We still haven't delivered the chainaxe..." Mana said in a sing-song intonation.

"Fine." No more insulting the culture of the people who build the cutting-edge toys for  
her Eva. Negative reactions out of the people she'd only just met was more of that  
long diatribe against all of Japan than just mouthing off against Shinji. She looked at  
him intently; still lost at trying to figure out how he could evoke such loyalty though.  
He had no problem with obeying her orders, and freely admitted she was better at  
piloting.

That look, pondering, was easily mistaken for fondness.

"Oh to have such problems..." said Toji, theatrically. Seeing all that in anime always  
pissed him off. Often of a wussy hero that didn't even deserve all that attention.  
"Damn you, Ikari!"

Hikari took a shrimp from his bento, and began eating it with slow deliberate chewing.  
She looked up and raised her left eybrow. "Hmm?" she said. "Do you really envy that  
situation that much, Toji?" Her mouth twisted down a fraction. "Are you... bored with  
me?" she added, her tone so soft and uncertain. "Is there someone else...?"

"No!" the teen quickly replied. "I'm not! I don't mean anything by it, really!"

Hikari smiled, beaming. "Good. Because if it turns out you were doing something like  
that and not being honest with me, I will. Make you. Suffer." All he had to do was to  
be honest. She was always ready to listen.

"You're all I need, Hikari." His tone was heartfelt. Courage to say what he wanted to  
say. Courage to master his desires. That was the strength he'd discovered around  
Shinji Ikari.

"Oh you say the nicest things!" The girl blushed and looked away, giggling.

"Now there's a healthy relationship." Kensuke remarked, nodding. Ordinarily he'd be  
one of those afraid of being unwanted by women, but he had realized that not only  
did he not care... it turns out that he -was- liked. To the fangirls someone in the  
Shinji posse was acceptable second prize. It did not harm that he exuded an intensity,  
a drive to perfection that he had never shown before. "But still... things could get  
really ugly."

The glue holding the different color groups together might melt. It could be one big  
battle royale. He would be the guy with the camera. You don't shoot the guy with the  
camera.

Hikari calmly and with ladylike poise finished off her lunch. She wiped her mouth with  
a napkin. She carefully put away her things on the table.

Then she stood up, stomped her feet on the table, and swung the by-now familiar  
Inquisitorial jacket back onto her shoulders. "NOW LISTEN!" she shouted in a tone  
that brooked no dissent. "BY SPECIAL ORDER OF THE TOKYO THREE CITY COUNCIL,  
NERV OPERATIONS -AND- THE CULTURAL MINISTRY OF JAPAN... SHINJI IKARI SHALL  
NOT BE HELD A PARTICIPANT IN THE CULTURAL EVENT COMMONLY KNOWN AS  
VALENTINE'S DAY.

Who here wanted to give chocolates?" Most of the girls there raised their hands, a  
few boys even. "This means NO. None of you must give him Valentine's Day boxes.  
There are a few exceptions to this rule, but it's not necessary to say who..."

An uproar erupted in the mess hall. "Why not?" "That's unfair!" "They can't do that!  
It's taking away our basic civil rights!"

Inquisitor Horaki weathered the storm of their complaints. "Think about it. Boxes would  
be given by girls that he doesn't know all that well. There's a reason that the pilots  
don't accept personal gifts... not just refusing to be bribed or to feel indebted. Any of  
those Valentine's Day boxes could be a bomb. Or poisoned. Too many things can go  
wrong. This isn't a popularity contest, people."

Mana Kirishima stood up, but only onto the bench. "Shinji Ikari's safety is of vital  
concern! Even if it doesn't seem fair... would we really want to risk it? It could be  
seen as a form of harrassment too, if we force it through."

The grumblings continued, but they got the point. "Send cards if you have to." added  
Hikari, helpfully.

Both girls sat back down. The others in their table applauded.

"Thank you..."

"No big deal, Shinji." replied Hikari. "Sometimes we just don't think; that the things we  
take for granted can be frightening things too." She patted his hand, oddly motherly  
after just being a wall of willpower. "It must be hard to have such expectations thrust  
upon you..."

He winced. Not half as bad as what he expected of himself. He knew just how easily  
fame could be turned into infamy. So he must not make a misstep at any point.

And so it was Valentine's Day. Kensuke whooped with joy as he walked out the school  
with an armload of brightly-colored boxes. The auto club, computer club, everything  
that had to do with machines had him as their unofficial mascot of sorts. There were  
more than a few girls in those clubs. His father, who had such fears of his son ending  
the family name (either from dying in combat or just refusing to reproduce), would be  
very relieved.

"Here you go, guys!" Mana said to her friends, genki as all out. "I just love you guys.  
Here's your -obligatory- chocolate."

Musashi seemed to have crashed his personality OS at the l-word. He stood there,  
numb and gripping the box tightly. Keita just sighed. "Did you have to stress the word  
-obligatory- though...?" But the girl was already skipping off towards Shinji's group.

"I... I LOVE YOU TOO!" Musashi shouted suddenly, his brain rebooting. Unfortunately,  
Mana was already away so had the effect of shouting this at Keita's face. Murmurs  
and squeals began to rise from around them. The boy, at realizing what he'd done,  
promptly crashed his consciousness again; his jaw slack as if screaming out in horror.

Keita palmed his face. "Idiot."

Mana brought out her box of chocolates and bowed deeply. "Please accept this!" she  
asked, nearly begging.

"Thank you, Kirishima-san..." he replied gently, and taking it. "I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, yeah..." Asuka muttered aside.

Mana looked up, and saw that Asuka had a white, red-ribboned box in her hands too.  
"Is that yours, or did someone give that to you?"

"Hey, I already gave Shinji my OBLIGATORY (this with another hard look at Rei) box  
first in the morning. He just gobbled it right up, so greedy." She huffed. At the same  
time, also gratified. She'd done the traditional thing and made it herself.

"Then who's -that- for?"

"I understand, with your continued denials of any affection for pilot Ikari." Rei said to  
the red-haired girl. "I will accept. But you are supposed to give such things to a male."

"Gah! This isn't for you either!" Asuka held the box away. At that, Mana looked...  
intrigued, as that was a part of the pilot group dynamic she hadn't seen before. "Hey,  
it's not as if Shinji is the only boy I know...

Do I need your permission, oh Shinji-sama?"

"If it makes you happy, don't let me stop you, Asuka." Again that serene smile. The  
girl twitched, holding back her irritation. Trying to make him jealous could only backfire  
horribly.

For all his intelligence and personal magnetism though, Shinji was still just a young  
teenager, with all the internal confusion that implied. The only thing he feared was his  
own heart. In the strangeness of emerging maturity, it was just easier for him to set  
that aside and focus on the developing mind. Ignore, ignore; urges and feelings, could  
it be better to live as a creature of pure logic?

Asuka had Gendo's peculiar favor within NERV. Unlike Rei, as a distinct personality, she  
could never be replaced. Shinji opened his heart to the girl, and now feared both for  
and of Asuka. He delighted in seeing her so free, and knowing he couldn't touch that  
without putting them both under someone else's control.

Mana then turned to Rei, who had her hands empty. "Ayanami-san, I'm surprised. Did  
you already give your chocolate (obligatory or not) to Shinji-?" With a respectful nod  
to him; as it was considered impolite to refer to someone as if he wasn't there. The  
military, oddly, was full of old-fashioned formality like that despite the radical newness  
of their approach. At least she was relaxed enough to cease putting the -san after  
his name (though perhaps now herself before bullets).

Meanwhile deep in NERV, Ritsuko contemplated a box of chocolates. "Insanity." said  
she. She opened the box and took a bite.

"Tradition dictates that a worthy offering on Valentine's Day be hand-made. Cooking is  
a skill that I lack." said Rei. "So I have decided to offer something else instead. It is  
also said, in gift-giving, it is the thought that counts..."

"Eeeh?"

"Hey! I call bullshit on that. What's the point of tradition if you're just going to change  
it whenever you feel like it?" Asuka retorted. After all the hassle had went through by  
being called a foreigner, the nadesico one just decides to up and abandon the task?

Still, because Rei couldn't cook, she wasn't so perfect after all... she just looked the  
part. Little things like that made being around the other pilot bearable. Little things like  
that also made her all the more irritating. It was also almost sisterly banter, innuendos  
aside, and they both liked that. It was harmless contradiction, playing upon their own  
separate characters. They had accepted that it would be impossible to change the  
other. Friends. It wasn't as if Rei was trying to seduce her... was she?

Her and Mana; now that was more acerbic. Their rivalry was born of a series of  
misunderstandings and a similar stubborness in the idea they were the one in the right.  
There wasn't the softening effect of being team-mates; Mana was unwilling to defer  
to Asuka in the same way Shinji and Rei would obey their team leader. Simply; the  
soldier girl wouldn't recognize a civilian's special authority over her outside of combat.

Asuka thought the other pretentious. Mana thought the other arrogant. Too often it  
was 'tone' that sparked fierce debate rather than a conflict of factual analysis.

And while they bickered another walked away with the prize...?

"No... no way..." mumbled Mana. She clutched at her hair, and looked down at the  
ground as if stupefied. "It's not one of those things..." The image, as seen in manga,  
rose to the forefront of her mind. "Something like..."

_'Ikari-kun, the truth is... I don't really have a chocolate present for you...' _Rei would  
say. And perhaps...

_'There's something else?'_ he would say.

_'Yes... and that is...' _She would pull down on her blouse to expose her shoulder and  
hint at her lacy bra. _'... ME-.'_

Mana pulled at her hair and raised her face to heavens to let out a soundless scream.  
She had considered something like that, but had for some reason had passed out in  
the middle of speculating over the daring thought.

Unfortunately, Shinji knew exactly what she was thinking about. He looked to Rei, who  
alas, had grown quite adept at hiding her thoughts when embarking upon some basic  
naughtiness. No help or hope there.

"Hyou!" Toji greeted, approaching them. "You people look like you're having fun."

"Did you get into any trouble today, Shinji-kun?" asked Hikari.

"No, no trouble. Everyone's behaving." He noticed how Hikari and Toji had apparently  
switched jackets. Though free to accept others' chocolates, his other admirers were  
too afraid to approach an obviously claimed Touji... for no readily discernible reason,  
really. To have them expelled or tormented just from that would be of disappointing  
pettiness upon Hikari's part. She had authority simply because she wouldn't abuse it.

The jock was carrying a green plastic bag. A large white box bound with red ribbon  
was in, and was presumably Hikari's gift. Toji reached into the bag and took out a  
small, fist-sized box. "Here, this one's yours."

Silence and deep stares met that statement. "It's from my sister, okay!" he added,  
shouting to anyone that might be wondering. "You know, she's still serious about her  
marrying you someday..."

Shinji winced. Toji's tone was actually... consenting, if not insistent.

Hikari rummaged around the bag to take out a similar package. "This is from Nozomi.  
You're half of whatever she says nowadays." The little girl's crush was tempered at  
least by her knowledge that she had to be strong enough to stand with him. Da Boss  
don't need no weepy useless bints.

Shinji took them. Three Valentine's day chocolates; two from little girls and one from  
someone he already liked. They were the obvious exemptions. It was a good plan.

The group began to walk to the front gate, having banal conversation; a good ending  
to a good day.

A truck beeped loudly. It stopped in front of the school, right in front of the gates. It  
had a stylized H made into a sparkling treasure stash. A large, suspicious-looking man  
in blue work overalls got out of the back of the truck.

Hikari and Mana immidiately put themselves in front of Shinji. The former spoke sharply  
as the delivery man approached. "What do you want?"

"We've got a delivery for Shinji Ikari. Chocolates from his hometown. A letter, too."

"Authorization papers." Hikari challenged further. "Don't think you're not being observed  
right now. NERV security should be around." She looked behind him, and saw several  
black-suited men step out from behind the trees across the street.

The Houko worker brought out several stapled sheets of paper. He handed them over,  
and briefly glanced at Shinji; at his dark questioning stare. He purposely kept his eyes  
to the ground after that, as Hikari looked over the permits.

NERV security clearance, military pass, AND a Health Board inspection. The girl licked  
her lips and for a moment considered her duty. More than just making sure the pilots  
were free from hassle, she was actually the one responsible for their well-being (both  
physical and emotional) outside of NERV facilities. A misjudgement on her part could  
also be the trigger for a disaster of nigh apocalyptic proportions.

"Hikari?" asked Touji.

"It should be safe." she replied. "Why do you need a truck? Is it some world record  
slab or something?"

"Well, according to the young miss; what Ikari-san would like wouldn't be a Valentine  
all on his own." They were from his town, and had driven from there overnight. They  
remembered well his pitiful overdose. "We brought chocolates for everyone in the  
school."

Shinji chuckled. "That's thoughtful of her. Please tell Minase-chan I really appreciate  
this..."

"Minase-CHAN?" Now Asuka was curious. She'd never heard him refer to anyone in  
such familiar intimacy before. "Who's that? "

"She is a girl I know, from my hometown." he replied, in disarming honesty.

"A girlfriend?"

"Not, really, no. But you could say we were close friends."

Mana's mind reeled from all the possibilities, in spinning black and white. She felt like  
fainting. Someone... an old childhood friend. That was the most common of all the  
plot points, the most stable of relationships. Often when the pairing is not the one  
that's chosen, the parting is the most tragic and bittersweet. She pinched her nose.  
Shinji was thankfully looking away from her.

Two more workers got out, gently bringing out a large gift-wrapped box. A third man  
emerged with a white cardboard box, marked with the Houko logo. He went over ahead  
and laid that down. The teens tensed as he brought out a utility knife, but he just cut  
the seals on the box. He took out several smaller boxes molded in plastic faux ebony,  
ribboned with strips of gold foil.

"Please accept these with our compliments." he said, bowing and holding one out to  
Asuka.

The girl hesitantly took it. She opened it up, running her thumb to break the airtight  
seal. Inside were little cubes of dark chocolate. She took one and popped it into her  
mouth. "Gurk!" she gurgled out.

"Is something wrong?" Mana asked, having gotten a box too.

"What the hell? This is Belgian Dark Chocolate!" Asuka had another piece. "Mmmm..."  
After savoring that, she frowned at both Shinji and the delivery men. "This is great  
quality chocolate." Store-bought. Screw tradition! "But... for everyone in the school?"

Nods all around. "May we?" they asked Hikari.

"ORDOS CUSTODIANS!" the girl shouted into schoolyard. "TO ME!" Several boys went  
running over, instantly breaking off from whatever they were doing. The lined up in  
front of her. "Get everybody to line up... this is Valentine's Day and and EVERYBODY's  
getting chocolates from IKARI."

"Really?"

"GO!"

"Yes, 'mam!"

And off they went. "How many boxes do you have in that truck, anyway?" she asked  
the deliverymen. "There might not be enough."

"Let's see..." the transport team leader considered it. "About twenty packs to one big  
box. We've got about a hundred of those..." The school population was less than six  
hundred students. "More than enough. Put it this way... we have more than a ton of  
these things inside that truck."

Touji whistled through dark-stained teeth. "Niice."

"Who is this Minase person...? This is too extravagant! I'm suspicious." Asuka had to  
comment. Mana had to agree.

"Let us use logic." Rei began. "Clearly Shinji-kun has the attention of someone with  
some wealth. They knew each other from childhood. Were you classmates?"

"Since fourth grade elementary." Mana flinched visibly at that.

Rei turned to the deliverymen. "If she has obvious regard for Shinji-kun, these boxes,  
expensive as they are, would be insufficient. Is that larger package for him?" At the  
positive response, she faced him next. "I must admit to being curious as well. May we  
see it?"

The Houkos held a land opportunities company, dealing in properties and construction.  
Their venture into properties in Tokyo Three had paid off handsomely, as the Evas  
continuing victories was giving people confidence to attempt settling back into the  
city. The creation of industries for technical and manufacturing support also helped.  
However, they retained only nominal holdings within the city proper after their great  
gamble. After having bought and sold at great profit, they invested towards less...  
destructible assets. That was at Shinji's suggestion as well.

A truckful of chocolates, hell; an entire fleet of them, was but a pittance compared to  
what he'd brought to them. He did not even need to remain in someone's presence to  
promote an insane level of loyalty.

Shinji leaned unwrapped the gift, and peered inside. He began laughing.

"What is it?" Asuka and the others crowded over to see. They were confused, save  
Rei; who hid her mouth behind her hands and just grinned underneath.

It was a slab of red chocolate, in the shape of a strange winking skull with a large  
jagged-toothed maw. Da Sign of Da Boyz; recognized Rei, Toji, and Hikari. If the latter  
needed any more evidence of who Da Boss was, she had it now. Shinji noticed a small  
white envelope taped to the inside of the box. He took it out and opened it up.

Inside was a calligraphed sheet of paper and a picture.

That strange contented smile was one they'd never seen before, and the sadness in  
his eyes faded before the blissful memories of a more innocent time. Asuka peered  
over his shoulder to read:

_THOSE DAYS WE HAD_

_FOR THEM WE LIVE_

_OUR LOVE FOR YOU_

_Please don't forget us;  
Houko Minase  
Mitsugane Ayane_

The picture showed the two girls smiling at the camera. Minase was tall and poised  
as usual, while Ayane had a distinctly conniving grin. Both had grown into beautiful  
young women. He'd been gone for only half a year, but it felt like forever. Even he  
knew... that the gulf of his experiences and his plans had separated him cleanly from  
the shy young boy that they had seen. Still, they knew him well.

"They're pretty." Asuka said flatly. She plucked the picture out of his hand and let  
everyone else see it.

"You've been holding out on us, man." Toji said with a smirk. "Who'd have thought you  
would leave behind such beauties. So cruel of you." He turned to Hikari. "Hey, I can  
look, can't I?"

Mana was shaking. Fitting together things in her mind, according to plot the highest  
chances for getting together was whomever the protagonist met first. The girls they  
knew best and vice versa. She knew her role by those terms; she was the girl that  
just comes out of nowhere to latch onto him. At best, serving to add jealousy...  
unless the competition gets bumped off.

She shook her head. No. Such selfishness was unworthy of him.

Shinji gained another Level in awesome, to his peers in age. Sure, he was impressive  
enough in an Eva, but saving the world could lapse into 'and what have you done for  
us recently?' It was just too big, too impersonal, and they could fear him as much as  
revere him for that. However, such simple generousity proved that he did care for the  
happiness of the people around him. Such a guilty luxury, they could never have found  
that taste on their own.

"You know what..." one of the students remarked. "We don't need a Student Council  
President. We need a Student Council Emperor! Shinji Okami, Ikari no Tennou has a  
nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"I take severe issue to being ousted over a mere box of chocolates." the currently-  
elected leader said. "But..." It was true that whatever he could do, Shinji would likely  
get it done faster and more thoroughly. He had too much of a political advantage.  
"Look, this job is as much a hassle as it is a post of respect. Hey, sorry guys... but I  
don't think you should be wasting his time like that."

The chocolates were distributed, teachers and students alike, and were reserved for  
those who had already left for home. There were still plenty of leftover boxes. Shinji  
decided to split that grace between NERV and the nearby newly-constructed military  
base to house the Trident Land Dreadnought and secondary JSSDF operations. They  
saved a few extra, of course, for Misato.

The truck was away, and with all the day's weirdness apparently done the students  
then wanted to head home.

Rei asked for them to wait, specifically Shinji. Out of their own curiousity, the others  
also decided to stick around.

Soon enough, a metallic shriek in the distance. At the school gates, they saw a large  
black motorycle hug the street's t-shaped bend and curving sharply towards them. It  
went at them in reckless full-speed. Rei remained calm, and because of that her friends  
stayed.

Screech!

The motorcycle spun about to a halt, pushing a thin cloud of dust and the scent of  
burning rubber towards those waiting there.

After most everyone had put their arms down out of fright or trying to shield their  
eyes, they saw the rider get off. She stood over the matte black motorcycle of  
uncertain make, clad in tight black leathers, and slowly removed her helmet. Under  
that, she wore dark sports sunglasses that lent a mysterious air to her features. She  
ran a hand through her short, neck-cropped brown hair and then approached Shinji;  
swaying her hips with her step.

Every male teen there seemed hypnotized by that, tilting their head from side to side.  
Shinji matched her thin smile. She stopped before him, and took off her sunglasses.  
"Hello, Shinji." said Maya, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Hello, Rei."

"Good afternoon, sister Ibuki." she replied, nodding a bit.

"MAYA?" Asuka shouted, and pointing out with a shaky finger. "It can't be! You're  
Maya?"

"I'm hurt, Asuka-chan. After all the time we spent at the labs, I thought you'd be able  
to recognize me by now."

"Well not like that, I'm not!" was her retort, while waving down at the woman's garb.  
"What's up with that get-up? Since when were you a BIKER?"

_'So, this is Maya Ibuki.._.' Mana thought, her eyes narrowing. _'She's very... formidable.'_

Maya's tight black pants seemed almost painted on. Her midriff was exposed to the  
world; from her black tank top. She had on a baby leather jacket in aviator-brown;  
covering her arms, shoulders, and reaching down to only just above her waist to  
accentuate all her curves. Maya Ibuki stood with the lithe, alluring confidence of a  
realized woman.

The Cult of the Color Brown, the weakest of the three due to her absence from the  
scene, just got a large dose of renewed life. Blue, Red, and Green were such cute  
girls. Ibuki was drool-worthy. So daring, too; to come before Shinji-sama like that.  
How inspirational!

_'How insane...!' _Asuka thought. Perhaps Maya's attentions were not so sisterly after all?  
"What are you doing here?" Asuka asked.

"Have you come to bestow obligatory chocolates to Shinji-kun?" asked Rei, opening  
her arms to show she had not.

Maya laughed. "No. I already gave a box each to Misato and Ritsuko-sempai to mess  
with their minds." She was already infected with Rei's brand of psychological torture  
as a device for humor. She looked down at Shinji and leered. "Four boxes? You know,  
I expected more from you."

"One is a BIG box, to be fair." added Rei. "Would you like some?"

"I don't have much of a sweet tooth." Maya admitted. She was nine when Second  
Impact happened, and like many her family became unwilling refugees. Mental trauma  
from watching a dentist operating with crude instruments and no anaethesia from  
inside an evacuation center was to blame for her aversion. That, and her parent's  
use of ginger root as a replacement for tea and coffee... her sweet buds seemed  
scarred for life. "Were -you- expecting some from me, Shinji-kun?"

Ooh. More ammo for the personality cults.

He shook his head. He already had their absolute trust. They were as already as one  
without the need for physical joining. Even without contact their souls sang to each  
other.

Mana put her palms over her eyes and began to sway from side to side in denial. It  
couldn't be what she was thinking. Nooo... !

"I've got something better." She pointed behind her to a thermo box latched onto the  
back of her bike. "I've got round ham, pastries, ice cream, and since Rei-chan here  
dislikes meat, several types of salads and tofu substitutes. If you don't have anything  
too important to do, Shinji-kun, let's go ride around a while."

"I am invited as well?"

"Of course. What would this be without you?" Maya grinned at the girl.

A sunset picnic... how maturely romantic. Ibuki was truly beyond the clumsy yearnings  
of mere girls. The press club began to cluster around and mutter to themselves about  
the Ayanami and Ibuki Alliance, taking advantage of the Sohryu and Kirishima border  
situation.

Maya put her arm around Shinji's shoulders, chummy. "So, should we go?" Behind that  
smile, her eyes for a second turned hard and deadly. They needed to talk, and in such  
a day when all expected such vapid silliness was one in which they were free to just  
converse with each other. They had to further an impression.

"Asuka... could you please just head home ahead and tell Misato-san I might be a  
while? I'll be back in time to cook dinner."

"Sure, sure." Asuka replied, making a careless gesture she copied from Misato. Though  
it irked her to have others continually breaking out of the mental box she put them in,  
it would be better for her. She could go and search out Kaworu-kun without having to  
give excuses of her own.

As Maya slid back into her bike and Shinji in sitting too put his arms around her waist,  
Mana made a vow to increase her own service to him. She was a pilot now, too! Even  
if it wasn't an Eva... she could stand with him. But Maya, a commanding officer, was  
someone she couldn't bump off the rankings so easily. Rei sat and put her arms around  
his waist. Arrgh. Envy. Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts!

The motorcyle roared off. Everyone else went on their way.

-o-  
-o-

They sped out to the city outskirts. Monitoring devices and street cameras watched  
their trip. The motorbike went up to the bluffs overlooking Lake Ashino. There, under  
the pale golden glow of the setting sun, Maya spread out a thick blanket for a sunset  
picnic. The sky was was red as blood, and oddly appropriate for an end to the day of  
hearts.

They sat there and waited, basking in the peace they brought to the world. The wind  
was slight, and added the reminder that soon it would be too dark to see... as such  
the lingering light was all the more precious.

A black car parked just right up the road. Agents Kentaro and Jiro went out and joined  
them, taking off their shoes before stepping onto the cloth.

"Were you followed?" Shinji asked them.

"You had other watchers while in the city, but we told them to take a breather. We'd  
handle tailing you out here." replied Agent Jiro. "Got any ham sandwiches?"

Maya handed one over. "Well, are we secure here?"

"This is a random spot. I don't think there's any prepared monitoring devices here. A  
directional microphone might be used... but we can see all around. Nobody else is  
here." replied the older agent. He was already helping himself to the small flask of  
hot coffee. "We can't be sure though. We. Not you."

"Rei?"

"Your hand, please." The girl clasped his, and passively sent out the AT-field. "There  
is no one with an intent to observe this way. I must admit that recently my senses  
no longer carry so far..."

"I think that's because we're trying to discern -intent- instead of just feeling for their  
locations." he replied. He didn't want to explore direct mental contact. The slope to  
mental domination was just too slippery... and too easy.

Agent Jiro perked up. "That's interesting. So you can read minds?" As they shook their  
heads, just emotions; he asked then "So what, is that some sort of soul radar?"

"... in principle, yes." said Rei.

Both agents looked to Maya, who held up her hands as if warding them off. "Hey, don't  
look at me. I don't have any idea either how it works. I didn't even tell Ritsuko-sempai  
of the possibility. She's got enough to analyze already."

"All that matters is that it works." Shinji grinned a bit. "We're here. Let's eat."

And so they sat in repast, and spoke of things trivial and non-trivial. They spoke of  
the things they had done and experienced, for it was weeks since the conspirators  
had last been able to speak so freely with each other. The food was not expensive  
or presented with much flair, but very filling nonetheless. Perhaps it had something to  
do with the location and the company.

"It's... really peaceful, isn't it?" said Agent Jiro. The sun was already half below the  
horizon. "The last Angel attack didn't do any damage, the economy is good, the people  
are happy. It's really peaceful..."

"Too peaceful." added the other.

"I wonder how long this will last?"

"It will last until we no longer have the life to defend it!" said Shinji, firmly. Angels and  
the conspiracies of the dying... these people didn't need all that. They had meaning  
enough in the days of their lives.

After some time, when they were nearly done, Agent Kentaro said unto to him "Sohryu  
is seeing Nagisa, you know."

"I know."

"Aren't you going to do something about it? Even if you don't like her, she's still your  
comrade and he's still SEELE."

"But I do like her." he replied, and even such a bold statement hardly fazed the two  
women with him. "It makes her happy, but even as I know it can't end well... cutting  
it short would put her at risk. If she is of no further use to him, then I can't ensure  
her safety." He sighed. "Did you not say to me, that a living spy was far more useful  
than a dead one? She won't believe me without proof, and I can't offer that proof  
without revealing what I'm up to."

"I have not seen this Nagisa." said Rei.

"And that's something else. Rei's passive AT-field extends over four kilometers around  
and over Tokyo-3. If he can sneak into the city with that..."

"Even the MAGI's detection system is less reliable." Maya had to admit. "Just a boy  
evading our attempts... either you two are that lucky, or he's deliberately letting you  
spot him."

"Hey."

"We know it's possible." she added, with their obvious subject. Shinji could do that  
too. Being deliberately in view was his best defense for when he would need to just  
up and disappear.

The two agents felt annoyed anyway, as if their competence was in question. They  
had freely chosen to follow young Ikari. The thought that someone else had such a  
prodigy was... disturbing to say the least. "You accomplish more just by sitting around  
and going to school than many others running frantic." said Agent Kentaro, and as if  
the words pained him to admit.

"What are you talking about? You're all doing the hard work..." he replied, quizzical.  
"Please don't ever think I don't appreciate it."

"And don't think we don't know that. A good commander -knows- how to delegate. It  
is a poor leader of men that tries to be everywhere and do everything all at the same  
time." He shrugged. "Unless you attempt at being God."

"Then he would be a God of sheep and automatons." Rei put in.

Shinji frowned. "Reason and faith are not mutually exclusive concepts. A god should  
only be as powerful as its people... giving strength instead of taking it, and that way  
triumphs in all the ways."

"Absolute, unrewarding obedience was what led to ruin in the years after Impact..."  
the elder continued. "Heh. Religions or state, crusade or living space, it doesn't matter  
- they sacrifice their people either way."

"... why are we talking about this?" asked the younger.

"That's how we in the service operate, too. Orders aren't meant to be questioned."  
Tch. At least here we know -why-. Kid, after all my years, you can't imagine just how  
freeing that is." He had lost everything; his family, his identity, even his own ideals  
after Impact. Working for the boy was vastly more satisfying than scheming for his  
father. "Even if we can't follow Nagisa, we already know all the SEELE plants in this  
city."

"I have confirmed their subjects, Shinji-kun." said Rei. For those who had no actual  
malicious intent and just being manipulated by the old men, there was Maya's magic.

"Good."

"Shinji-kun..."

"Yes?" Maya, looking so shy, it was specially endearing even more in her brazen outfit.  
"What's wrong...?"

She shook her head. "Nothing's wrong." She huffed out. "That's the problem." Maya  
explained that she was nearly caught with unathorized use of the MAGI only once.  
Ritsuko had noticed the odd processing rates of the system, despite being given what  
seemed to be basic tasks. A lot of of processing power was being directed to external  
monitoring, which was supposed to have a battery of secondary computing systems.  
There were active scripts leading everywhere, but the idea of the MAGI being infected  
by a virus of some form without her knowing about it was ludicrous. The system was  
supposed to be self-maintaining. That was the most likely cause. Like a cancerous  
growth, in digital form.

So, she decided to tighten up the system. The scientist cleared most of all Maya's  
carefully-placed work; excused as garbage processes.

"I see. How much control of the MAGI do you still have?"

Maya looked up, her face confused. "That's just it. I have all of it. My outgoing nodes  
are still there. They're just completely invisible to the system now. MAGI is making two  
self-updating system reports; one to NERV and the other to my external terminal. Even  
its own hardware gauges are spoofed. I can get away with nearly anything now!"

"... that's good isn't it?" he asked, confused too.

"You don't understand. It's not supposed to be possible. That goes deep into core  
programming, and even THAT isn't open to Ritsuko-sempai. It's writing itself, it's even  
optimizing my own grafted codes. Sometimes I don't even have to type my password  
anymore. The interface just vanishes afterwards, and compiled when I need it." She  
winced. "I don't really believe all this machine spirit business, but apparently the MAGI  
can distinguish between me and Ritsuko... and that just scares me. "

"Have you been spending more than the maximum recommended two hours in the  
presence of assistant Aida?" asked Rei.

"... wait, are you saying the MAGI is now sentient?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, now that's just bad news." Agent Jiro had to put in. "How long do you think it  
would be before that superintelligent machine brain decides it's such a good idea to  
KILL US ALL?"

"... three brains. Three laws, kid."

Rei moved closer and clasped both Shinji and Maya's hands. "This is something that is  
easy to prove." she said, and followed the connections of their spirit. Interestingly,  
there was indeed a similar feel to the MAGI; identical to how she percieved the four  
lifeless plastic figures that proved so important to Shinji Ikari. "It knows, sister Ibuki,  
but is not aware. The MAGI's biological systems are kin to the Eva. It is not too far-  
fetched. At least they already have their own names."

"... ghost in the shell." Agent Jiro muttered back.

"So what does this mean for us?" continued the other.

For a moment there Shinji had a silly vision of the MAGI, three wise men, preaching  
and converting computing machines all over the world into some form of Omnifaith.

Maya shifted in her position to sit formally, in seiza. From an inner pocket she took out  
a flat plastic card, and presented it to them. She bowed low, touching her forehead to  
the ground, while pushing it forward.

"Look!" she said excitedly, despite the pose. "Look at this! Have you ever seen one  
like this? This is a waay better present than chocolates. It's sweeter than pure sugar!"

"... well, yes I have. It's a master account keycard. What's special about this one?"

It was used when a certain amount was spread over hundreds of other smaller dummy  
accounts, and the total used as a working statement. Only a select few computers  
were agile enough to handle that supposed trace-proof pattern of shifting access and  
wash-dumping.

Maya sat back up, and grinned as he took and inspected it. "I thought you might want  
to see what one billion US dollars looked like."

Everyone paused, and measured Maya's cheerfulness. Agent Jiro put down a dollop  
of jam back into the bottle. "You're joking, right? It's a trick!" he said, slapping his  
own thigh and laughing. "A billion dollars don't actually look like anything. That kind of  
money doesn't exist! There aren't enough bills in any one place to let you see... and  
its electronic existence is of course is invisible and intagible!"

Agent Kentaro just sighed. "I vowed to myself never to be surprised by anything that  
happens while under his service..." gesturing to Shinji with his spoon. The agents had  
to help in eating the chocolate.

"She's kidding, right?" Agent Jiro asked. "That's not possible..." Sentient scifi super-  
computers, he could deal with. That, not so much.

Europe had the most intact power plants and industries after Impact, but the common  
euro currency had not had the time to stabilize that time around; each nation fought  
to shore up their economy. The dollar retained its status as international measuring  
stick if simply because the US was still a producer of so much surplus food so needed  
then by the rest of the world. The Continental Divide didn't help matters any; what  
with the UK seizing land in northern France, mob uprisings of all sorts in the Russian  
Federation while diverting so much food and resources to fighting off a desperate  
starving China, and the rapid deconstruction of all peace in all nations south of Turkey.  
Nuclear fire kissed the lands for the first time in fifty years.

Maya was grinning. Everyone else turned from her to stare flatly at him. The Section  
2 operative's eyes bulged. He took a deep breath and... "Are you... are you serious?  
Are you saying you actually HAVE -ONE BILLION- DOLLARS?"

"I don't. It's for Shinji-kun." Maya felt along her sides in a sinous motion that had the  
men springing to attention. She flicked out with her open hand, turned that palm over,  
and like a magician spread multi-colored plastic cards onto the plaid cloth. "And he has  
six."

"Goddamn." breathed Agent Kentaro. "Okay. I'm surprised."

"What the fuck? SIX BILLION? How did you pull that off?" The younger agent then  
turned to Shinji, and frowned. "You... you're not suprised. WHY aren't you surprised?  
This is SIX BILLION DOLLARS here, man! That's SIX, followed by NINE zeroes."

"A thousand is already too much for me." Shinji replied calmly. "This much, for myself,  
I will never end up using. So I take it you were able to trace a SEELE account?" The  
money was incidental. How much did they already own of NNHIS again? Wealth was  
not its own measure of power. Like a sword, worthless until put to use. "Do you know  
the identity of SEELE?"

"One of them, at least. The others are still uncertain, but there are a few more leads."

"Who?"

"Names are meaningless here." Rei put in. "The who is unimportant, for man recreates  
the self to suit himself. Lies may have the same consistency as truth."

"Ah. Better question, then; where. And when?"

Maya groaned out. "Paris. Right now." The MAGI was stretching its influence. The  
other MAGI-class supercomputers had less external capabilities, but eac locally could  
crunch through a bevy of aliases and false information. "That's the bastard poking  
around in Tokyo 3. I've had enough of him making my nights more difficult."

Shinji sighed. He put his plate down and turned aside. "Do you need it to be an order?"

The Section Two agents, and his first link to an expanding network of illicit knowledge  
and immoral dealings, nodded. Maya looked pensive. Rei sat in total acceptance. He  
sighed. Such simple words... but it would change everything. Him, the others. The  
line he saw, once he crossed that he could no longer turn back. He would be willingly  
walking into hell, showering in sin.

I am no God; thought Shinji, nor a force of good to bring peace into their world. I am  
at best, a sword to separate the wicked from the innocent. A shield against the worst  
that sought to destroy man.

"Then hear my command. Send the assassins. Plant the evidence. All the things we  
talked about before ... let it be done." He sighed again. "Begin The Purge. Protect my  
city."

-o-  
-o-

The next day, Matariel arrived in Tokyo 3.

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

end Cry For Me, Tokyo 3 part two

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-  
-o-

* * *

Next up; battle, battle, BATTLE!


	20. Chapter 19:Cry for Me Tokyo3 part3

Cry For Me, Tokyo 3 part three

-o-

-o-

-o-

It started as a day like any other. Shinji woke up first to prepare breakfast, and with  
Asuka went to school. Rei did not even bother to wake up an overworked Maya and  
likewise went off towards the daily routine. Surveillance upon the pilots was so flawed  
on so many levels. Fortunately that also counted against everyone who had infiltrated  
that system.

The Gretchin woke up reluctantly, and all went off towards their separate schools. A  
few of them passed the pilots by, and said hi. Cute kids, really.

Mana Kirishima was not an early riser, despite her upbringing. She was just easy to  
wake up, but given a choice would rather sleep in. There was some discussion about  
the teen soldiers, if it would be better for them to stay at the new support base for  
the Land Dreadnought, but it was decided that school was still important. Having a  
taste of civilian knowledge and civilian concerns could only help.

"Come on Kirishima! Get up!" yelled Musashi. The girl just turned over to push her face  
into her pillow. The bed was just too comfortable. "It's time for school...!" As much as  
he hated using that tactic... "Don't you want to see your stupid Shinji-sama today?"

Reluctantly, Mana rolled over. Her eyes were still somewhat glazed over. She saw her  
two friends

She numbly walked over to the bathroom, with Musashi yelling about not falling asleep  
in the bathtub again. Keita muttered something about not daring to follow her inside  
to wake her up again. She was not a delicate girl, appearances notwithstanding. It  
was probably blood loss was cause for more damage to Keita that time, than her axe  
kick of feminine fury.

They lived under a roof with an entire unit of Marines, whose sole purpose was to bail  
them or young Ikari out of trouble. That, and to tease and perform various torments  
on their young charges. 'Babysitting' duty was at a rotation, since for most of the time  
all they had to was to sit around and watch TV. A few, to relieve their boredom, took  
to learning how to cook. The results were palatable, if uncomplicated. Kirishima and  
company made their goodbyes and left.

Six people in the city were found dead as the sun rose into the sky. Kaworu's own  
bio-rythmn was such that he could precisely time his return to awareness. He woke  
up expectant; but as the day passed and his factors failed to report in his enthusiasm  
dimmed. Once more he cursed the flawed nature of his body. He had to make a report  
to SEELE. Ikari was on the move.

Oh, sure, the old men would interpret that as Gendo, but he didn't care. Doubtless  
they would order him to perform a few reprisals. The Angel attack would be a perfect  
time to get rid of a few loose ends.

He had to wait. After all people die, all the time, all over the world. Too many of them  
violently. Many murders in Washington-2, Berlin-2, and Kyoto-2 still remained unsolved.  
More would be added to the pile. He would wait longer. Mere loss of life didn't concern  
SEELE. They would be more frantic over losing a not-so-insignificant chunk of their  
open assets.

Kaworu drew aside the the curtains of his window. He looked out at the waking city  
outside. Clearly, Shinji Ikari would already know about his presence and his influence  
on Asuka. However, as a great unknown, it would be too soon to move against him.  
Their confrontation would be inevitable, the meeting of two great mind with opposing  
ideals.

He blinked.

It was also inevitable that someone would try assassinating young Ikari. He as an  
agent of SEELE would be relaying important information about his location, personality  
and habits. Shinji had a variety of options to pre-empt that, turning the tables on his  
enemies. Poison, litigation, sniper rifles, etc; all the usual tools.

His eyes narrowed. He took one step to the side. A pane on the Monticello windows  
broke apart. He stepped aside again. A sheet of glass at around head-height also  
abruptly shattered. The third step brought him behind a curtain. He smirked.

Oh, yes. He had underestimated Ikari too.

-o-  
-o-

School was supposed to prepare the young for the world beyond. In history, learning  
from the mistakes of the past. In literature, how to look for the future. They were  
given a writing assignment.

What is happiness?

-o-

To Rei, the answer was simple. Earlier she would only be able to give a dictionary  
definition, not knowing what happiness truly was. With the arrival of Shinji, she knew  
that happiness comes from many things. The happiness from having stomped a gang  
of deserving grots was a different happiness from the feeling of warm loving flesh  
around her. Happiness of being given gifts was different form the knowledge of having  
served her duties well. The answer was simple. Before Shinji Ikari she had none of  
these things. Therefore, happiness was Shinji-kun.

However, knowing Gendo's need to keep her under control, such honesty could only  
impact on the efficiency of their mission. She disliked lying. Cunning, however, was  
something entirely different. "Happiness is the knowing of what is right and proper."  
she wrote. Let Gendo interpret that as he would.

-o-

Asuka had first to ask herself;_ Am I happy?_ It surprised her truly to answer - yes. Far  
happier than she'd ever been in Germany. People truly respected her for herself. Back  
at NERV, her position as team leader was unquestioned. Simulation after simulation  
had forged a true unit out of the pilots. Ritsuko and Maya were never condescending,  
while Misato was an uncomplicated woman. Asuka got along with a lot more people,  
for she was a lot more mellow than what she could have been. She was more willing  
to accept her own mistakes and forgive others. She resented Mana if only by intruding  
into that.

In another time, her words of self-praise were to mask her own contempt for herself;  
being rejected in favor of a doll, and it was an easy jump from having utter contempt  
for the self to contempt for all others. After all, if you cannot respect yourself then  
how can you respect others?

All of it was happening subconsciously. It influenced her personality that others would  
see her as simply too high-maintenance and not worth the effort. In a vicious cycle, if  
she was unhappy she could only lash out to make others unhappy as well. Look at me!  
was her watchword.

That was no longer necessary. She no longer treated every criticism as a blow to her  
own competence or ego. The first step towards maturity was learning how to recieve  
disapproval from others; knowing that it was perfectly fine if a few did not like her. In  
fact, she was liking that... pitting her strength of will against her recognized equals.

Even the bevy of little annoyances were simply what made things -interesting-. She  
just -thrived- in conflict. Butting heads with Kirishima was fun in its own way. Rei's  
baiting could be so suble, and figuring out of her words were made in irony or not lent  
substance to otherwise bald conversations. Even -losing- was no object. She would  
simply blame herself for complacency, holding herself to a higher standard that what  
others could ever expect of her.

She was seen, she was listened to, and she was given the respect she deserved. The  
Reds were all athletic types, and they held her up as a leader. They were a lot more  
willing to follow by example than Rei's boring little troupes of bookish boys and girls.  
She was a warrior princess. What more could she possibly want?

Shinji. Kaworu. In short, romance. She was still only fourteen years old after all.

Asuka was blazing. She had such a nice time last night with Kaworu, and having kissed  
him again. So refined, so intelligent - and so fabolously rich. He practically owned the  
finest hotel in town, and was treated like a prince. By extension, she was a princess  
of the old stories.

Shinji was not nearly so demonstrative. However, Kaworu had entrusted to her the  
Greater Good, and a fabulous pendant. Shinji, as another pilot, trusts her with his very  
-life- and gave to her a massive Chain-axe, which arguably should cost a hell of a lot  
more than any pendant.

Kaworu saw her as a woman. Shinji saw her as a hero. Both were -critical- portions of  
her personality. She wanted life outside the Eva, while at the same recognizing that  
her life -IS- the Eva. They both appealed to her, but on different fronts. She could not  
betray one to the other... it was impossible to her. She was just stuck.

_'What is happiness for me?'_ she thought. And she realized; THIS is happiness. She had  
thought back then that mere worship, mere victory was enough. Not knowing what the  
future could bring was better. She could say that from knowing utterly that -boredom-  
was misery. Not being useful was torment. Being ignored was hell. She had all that was  
opposite; so it was as close to heaven as she could get.

"Happiness is having your own place in the world, where you and the greater good may  
circle around each other, giving and being given."

-o-

Mana was not used to such exercises. Happiness is getting enough sleep; shouldn't  
that be obvious to everybody? Too many ailments had at its root not getting enough  
rest. Not giving the body a chance to just let go and heal itself. When you don't get  
enough sleep your judgement is impared, your action less reliable, and little things  
start to get ignored or blown out of proportion.

Seriously; she thought. Unless it's a life or death situation... SPECIALLY if it's a life  
or death situation... nothing should be so urgent that you can't make do with a few  
precious hours of sleep .

Therefore, she agonized over the 'correct' answer they were asking from the students.

She looked out the window. Love... love of country, patriotism. Love of self, narcissm.  
Love of emptiness, nihilism. She had never been allowed to grow too attached to any  
adult; for they meant the commanders of an Ender generation to be totally objective  
and focused on their duty. Love of family. She had never known family. Her friends  
were that to her, the the thought of ever excluding one of them from her heart was  
unthinkable.

Supposedly, love of the nation was greater than mere love for the self or another. It  
was the highest sacrifice and the highest honor. But Mana Kirishima did not know what  
love itself -felt- like. That was why she so desperately sought out its expressions.

The softness of civilian life. She could be destroyed by it. Love of meaningless material  
things. Blech. She made a face. She remembered something she ran across a manga.

"Needless to say, I'll be stumbling away..." she whispered. "Slowly learning... that life  
is okay."

If I can just find contentment... that would make it all right.

"Happiness is in knowing you may leave the world a better place than when you were  
born."

-o-

Toji's answer was similar to Hikari's. "Knowing your buddies, having your girl by your  
side, and facing the future head on." was the gist of his clumsy wording.

-o-

Hikari, for her sensible approach to essay-writing, had "Seeing your family and friends  
happy, being with the person you love, and protecting the hopes of the future."

"Perfect happiness is impossible without perfection. Only the machine may approach  
such perfection, for the flesh fails and is prey to random foibles. Therefore happiness  
as we know it is a product of our illusionary senses. Happiness is not to be found in  
logic, but in illogic. Beauty is the contradiction; perfection in a sea of chaos, the flaw  
in a tapestry of order. Suffering is being bound to the demands of flesh. Torment is  
from the lack of power and proper understanding.

To be happy, is to seek the opposite of suffering. To have knowledge. To behold all  
perfection and still be apart from it.

To be perfect in oneself, one must let go of happiness. One must have the absolute  
knowledge, the absolute existence. In older times they called this nirvana. For the  
universe is a Great Machine, with its own laws and its own methods, unceasing, and  
in knowing what portion we add to its continuing effort can we find our own highest  
purpose.

Happiness is, like many other things, another fleeting thing in a dying world and in  
flesh that decays. Serenity and purpose is in fighting to build up and maintain our own  
chosen existence."

Kensuke read over his work again, and nodded. Yep, that sounded right._ Right?_

Right.

_Hold these thoughts well, machine spirit of the notebook._

"My happiness is the happiness of my loved ones." Simple and to the point, for Shinji.  
Even if that might seem unrealistic to some. He only just caught himself from writing  
-happiness of my people- in that line. Loved ones was a vauge enough term. Even if  
it was impossible to please everyone he should, at least statistically, be able to say  
that humanity as a whole was safe and happy.

To that point though, he had to worry. Things were only going to intensify, and those  
who followed him would have to put themselves in danger for the sake of the mission.  
Power is bought through sacrifice and paradise is built bit by bit; so far he'd been able  
to keep Asuka from poking around where she would get -killed-. Mana's own political  
protection could only extend so far. Rei had already proven willing to die, and Maya  
was at greatest risk due to her proximity to Gendo and the amount of meddling she  
was already doing.

While he'd said such an amount he'd never find a use for himself, it amazed him how  
quickly he'd rid himself of three billion thus far. Launch vehicles of five hundred million  
each, plus payload of at least that much. He wasn't quite sure where he'd read of it,  
but it was always better to have killsats at your disposal than not. Easy come, easy  
go - that way SEELE wouldn't be able to trace the funds the same way. He had to  
shake his head in disbelief; why have that much sitting there gathering interest when  
none of them expected to last out the year?

Shinji tapped his fingers idly on the keys of his school computer. Words formed.

'A true and persistent world government is only possible when mankind is no longer  
limited to one world. Be it nations or organizations; for it to exist only one thing is  
necessary.

An enemy.

If all the stars are '- ...

He blinked, realizing with horror what he was putting to form. These thoughts were  
still too soon...! The old order will cleanse itself. First, he had to deal with the Angels.  
He quickly held down Backspace and gathered his thoughts. The essay still had to go  
on for -

What was that?

He glanced aside. Yes, Rei felt that too. The Angel warning should sound soon.

-o-  
-o-

Matariel did not arrive until near sundown. The MAGI noted that most Angel attacks  
thus far was in the afternoon. The only exceptions were Gaghiel and Israfel, which  
attacked out of the sea. No one had any idea why.

The most popular hypothesis was of predatory instinct... like the Angels knew that  
humans were less suited for life in the night. That it was the reason humans made  
-lightbulbs- didn't seem to matter. If the Angels possessed intellect was still up for  
debate. Certainly they didn't seem to possess any method of language and society.  
Were they just mostrous beasts after all?

That was more disturbing. That opened up the possibilty they are being sent as  
someone else's -weapon-.

Kaworu himself did not have much regard for the intellect of his kin. He had specifically  
told Matariel to attack during midafternoon, while the pilots were still at school. In the  
end old instincts won out; predation habits against dinosaurs and similar forms in other  
worlds. Angels tended to be huge beyond mere physical limits, after all.

He was hiding in a back alley. It rankled having to hide, but with Matariel arriving later  
in the day he could not dare bring out the full power of his AT-field lest he give NERV  
advance warning. Absolute surprise was essential. Late! Damn that one. He was late!

He was angry. He held the severed head of a black-masked man in his right hand and  
slowly the cloth began to burn and flesh melted off, leaving a bare grinning skull. He  
scowled and threw that into a nearby garbage bin.

He had leapt through the distance into the other building, eviscerating the operatives  
there. He scoffed. Just generic mercenaries. Working for any bidder, whoever hired  
them was therefore untraceable. No matter. Shinji Ikari could not be so crude. He had  
forgotten, that there were two Ikaris in Tokyo-3. Both were using each other as tools.

Doubtless the younger was just waiting for him to approach Asuka again.

He had nothing to say about Shinji, unless he had proof. Revealing that Ayanami was  
an Angel herself couldn't help, as said other hybrid could force him to unseal his field.  
Speaking of all the things Shinji Ikari had already put to place sounded so... unreal...  
even to his ears.

Tokyo 3 was their city. Kaworu was at every disadvantage there._ 'Forgive me, Shas'O.  
I had forgotten. His movements may occupy both extremes of range.'_

Nonetheless, he felt like laughing. While it was Gendo's tools that did this, it was Shinji  
who made it so effective. Whispering to his limbs in Section Two, who would whisper  
to their Section Chief, who would whisper it to Fuyutsuki, who would mention it to  
Gendo. Voila! Near carte blanche. Gendo's explicit order, to eliminate him as well, was  
the only part of the plan sure to fail.

Killing Shinji Ikari would be too easy, but also ultimately proving nothing. Humans were  
each too small and fragile. Together, however, they made wonders. Lillith had once  
defeated Adam, and it wouldn't be enough for the Angels to recover their own Source.  
Lillith had to be defeated, they had to -prove- themselves stronger.

Similarly, if Shinji Ikari wanted him dead, then there would nothing he could do to stop  
it. He and young Ikari were alike. Too alike. Only in their differences would they find  
triumph.

It was so invigorating to have an equal. He'd been so alone in everything for so long.  
He would cherish it, that hate, until the fullness of time when the Heavens shall shake,  
the Hells cower, and the Earth itself splits asunder as they clashed. Nothing less would  
suffice. For the death of his immortal brethren; nothing but utter victory even against  
the height of the abominable enemy's power.

Finally!

He looked to the sky. Matarael was sluggish in its unprecedented new form. However,  
it was time to pit once again the unnatural strength of Lillith's methods against Adam's  
self-defined success. It was so odd; since their genetic memory knew only ceaseless  
triumph.

Shinji Ikari. So much power in such a small, breakable form. How could he stand it? It  
boggled Kaworu's mind. He couldn't understand why all the bother about plans and  
manipulations... such limited Lillim thinking. Power. Power was enough. Power beyond  
skill. Power beyond plans to affect. If Matariel manages it, then good for... it. Kaworu  
still believed only he could stop that growing avalanche.

Still, he was going to give Matariel every advantage available. Humans... cheat. All the  
time. Might as well repay the favor.

He took out a cellphone.

"Hello, Mister Ryouji? You're still in the geofront, aren't you?" He ignored the various  
sounds of protest from the other side of the line. "Yes, it is necessary. Look, only you  
can do this. You don't need to know more than that... the consequences of failing to  
carry this out, after so much preparation... can only be unpleasant."

Kaworu put the phone away and jammed his hands deep into his pockets. He leaned  
against a dirty wall, with rusty pipes staining the orange of his jacket, and waited.  
Show me the future of man, Shinji-kun.

-o-  
-o-

Classes were out. Tokyo-3 was still bright enough not to need street lamps and people  
were going about in their own separate concerns.

Click. Electricity was the lifeblood of every city. With a whine, Tokyo 3 died.

Without power, even the MAGI was no more than lumps of metal, silicon, and protein.

A series of mirrors and artificial lights brought day into the geofront. As power cut off,  
NERV HQ plunged into the darkness from whence it came.

Everyone within was caught by surprise. Even Gendo and Fuyutsuki, who had been  
expecting it. They too were frustrated by the delay. The scenario demanded that the  
pilots arrive in the nick of time. Gendo, in sweating and working with the employees of  
NERV, was supposed to remind them of their loyalty. Ordinarily, he would have made  
up some excuse of a sync test to keep the pilots close by.

Except that SEELE had failed to warn him -when- it would happen. Killing off their  
operative so as the restart sequence wouldn't get back to the old men wouldn't help.  
Gendo deemed them too much of a risk, however. Just because he obeyed SEELE did  
not mean they could mess around with -his- project in -his- city. What for did they  
see fit to appoint him as the artisan of the Human Instrumentality Project?

The Trident Land Dreadnought was nowhere even NEAR his list of scenarios.

Sabotaging that was impossible; since a piloted machine had several hard overrides.  
Security was tighter inside a joint exploit JSSDF/NNHIS base and every technician to  
touch the machine was checked and double-checked for reliability. Mankind had a  
weapon to match the Evas... it rankled him, since for too long he'd enjoyed being in a  
position of absolute superiority.

What could it have been like, those men in the deserts; starving, half-mad, in their  
quest for holiness beholding a future they had no way of understanding? Re-reading  
the specific prophecies revealed thus;

_I stood beneath walls wrought of glass and beheld a strange shape, a hulk of a thing  
unlike a man yet undoubtedly of man. Luck was its color yet fortune fled from it. And  
saith the Angel; I weep for this giant. A slave that stands for the sake of its ill master._

_Hear the voice of the Lord. Tears overflow in the third city. Its light is dead, and its  
heart cleaved to pieces. Hear the promise of the shining one. And this world will once  
more know the tread of my feet. I shall heal it and seal its fortress into the deep. Of  
the blood spilled in my name shall I write the songs from which worlds are built._

Now, everyone concerned had just assumed that it was the Eva. Slave; Rei. Master;  
Gendo. Or probably Shinji; it mattered little. Both would die anyway, and return to odd  
existence; Rei from her clones and Shinji from being absorbed. It was all inescapable  
in the scenarios. Only so suddenly did it occur to them that the Dreadnought fit the  
bill; by its shape, its background, and its purpose.

It was shift change. Those on the bridge finished their mundane tasks and prepared to  
switch. The main operators; Ibuki, Hyuga and Aoba were supposed to give way to the  
secondary operators, the all-girl bridge bunnies Agano, Ooi, and Mogami. Hyuga had  
already left early. Maya stood up and waved down at the others below.

Darkness filled all.

"Aaah!" screamed Maya suddenly. There was a thump.

"Hey, hey... aren't you too old to be scared of the dark?" said Shigeru, teasingly. He  
got off his chair and felt around the inky darkness for a flashlight. "Emergency lights  
should be turning right about... now."

Red lights switched on, and bathed the command center in dim harsh light.

"Maya!" he shouted. The young woman had fallen face-down. Ritsuko was quickly  
there by her side, and turned her over. Blood leaked thinly from her nose and mouth.

The doctor felt around Maya's head and neck. "No signs of a contusion..." She bit her  
lip. "It might be spinal, she could have twisted it when she fell. You!" directed to Shigeru.  
"There's a first aid kit in that panel over there. Get it."

The lieutenant hastened to comply, while Ritsuko sat there cradling Maya in her lap.  
She stroked the younger woman's hair, shocked at how vulnerable her so dependable  
shadow actually was... There were many aspects of her job that she found disgusting  
and degrading, but there were also others that provided such exhilarating mental  
challenges. Maya helped to make even the more mundane aspects of her duties seem  
fresh and exciting. It had been too long since she knew just the sheer joy of creating  
something new and unexpected.

She feared innocent little Maya's judging of her, if the young woman ever got an idea  
of to just what depravity she'd lowered herself. Maya's enthusiastic acceptance and  
honest ideas allowed her for a time, to forget just what NERV was all about. For a few  
precious moments, she could feel like a hero, like she was really out to save the world.

"Doctor Akagi." said Gendo from his high seat. "Why are all the backup generators not  
functioning?"

"The geofront was designed as a self-sufficient colony if ever it is isolated from outside.  
It can't be happen, theoretically, that it would lose all its power supplies." Fuyutsuki  
put in.

"So this is deliberate." Obviously. Gendo was speaking specific word triggers for his  
scenario. Still, Akagi should have been up on her console trying to look useful at least.  
"Akagi." he said again.

"It can't be the MAGI." she responded without looking back. "More likely someone had  
switched off the breakers either manually or with a hidden override."

"Then begin with restoring power. We are vulnerable to attack like this."

"What purpose would that serve?" Fuyutsuki asked. "If it's man that causes this, then  
likely it's more about research."

"Knowing about our start-up procedures." Ritsuko said, while still waiting. Shigeru came  
back with the medical supplies. "Maya? Can you hear me?" She was still unconscious,  
but with normal pulse and breathing. Like a coma? Unnatural, and dire. Ritsuko knew  
very few causes for deep spontaneous unconsciouness, none of them less than severe.

Gendo twitched imperceptibly. "Akagi...!" he said louder, getting annoyed at being  
ignored.

"LATER!" Ritsuko shot back. "It can wait. Maya first, then the goddamn computers."

That took the two men up on the higher platform by surprise. Ritsuko, losing her cool  
over her assistant; totally unexpected. Gendo had already pegged Maya as a small  
annoyance; at best an object of pity for the scientist as the mousy young woman  
tried in her futile little ways to stand beside her sempai; unknowing of just how tainted  
that glow was.

"You forget yourself, Doctor Akagi..." Gendo growled. "You are losing your objectivity.  
This is not the time to abandon your duty."

Below, Ritsuko clenched her fists. She grimaced as if in pain. Shigeru Aoba, seeing that,  
could only wonder. Did not the blonde recieve yesterday's chocolate just magnificently  
in full view of everyone in the command center?

Of course, Maya then handed an identical box to Misato; fueling no end of speculation.

"Maya knows almost as much about the MAGI and the Evangelions as much as I do.  
Good luck trying to find someone as familiar with the Eva battle system and tactical  
analysis that even comes close to what she can already do." She turned back, her  
eyes unseen as her glasses reflected red glare. "Maya is too valuable." she said with  
great emphasis.

Gendo hid his from under his hands. Maya had never been part of his scenario. And  
yet, she was already influencing two of the more critical portions. Even more irritating,  
he could clearly see there was no one acting behind the young woman; all of it just  
the effects of random chance.

Either that, or extremely accurate foresight. And such a gamble on so many random  
variables was impossible.

Ritsuko held smelling salts under Maya's nose. The NERV lieutenant coughed and slowly  
roused back. "... sempai?"

"How are you feeling?" asked Ritsuko, visibly relieved.

"Cold... so cold. Numb. Like a part of me is gone..."

Ritsuko nodded. Muddled nerve signals. It fit with her quick diagnosis. "Can you stand?"

"I think so... why is it so dark?" She squinted. "Or is it just me?"

"No, power is out all throughout the geofront. And since we supply power to the city,  
likely above as well." She helped Maya back up to her feet. She glanced up at Gendo  
one more time, weighing in the consequences of her defiance. To hell with it; was her  
decision. She had enough of living in fear and desperation for his approval.

There was a certain comfort in insanity. Or deviance. The world was already well and  
truly mad. In times of madness only the insane appear sane. In times of madness, that  
which is right might appear as insane, brutal, and cruel. Her own flexible morality had  
her obey without questioning, deeming herself already beyond redemption. Ritsuko had  
purposely cultivated a distance from others, a hedgehog in fear; but Maya...

She should not be sucked into that putrid scenario. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Everything  
just screamed it; and for an intelligent person Ritsuko could live in such denial. It was  
no secret Ritsuko wanted to die; her chainsmoking hardly bothered her. So steeped in  
sin. It should be easy to corrupt Maya by her presence, yet Ritsuko felt cleaner and  
more alive with every moment spent in younger woman's unashamed admiration.

But if she just knew...

Ritsuko winced. She didn't see Maya roll her eyes at those flickers of doubt. Of course  
Maya already knew. Rei had not been reluctant, even at the most gruesome of things  
that were done to her. That didn't change anything. Ritsuko-sempai was still to her a  
good person trapped by a web of lies and inquity not of her own making. She longed  
for the day they could cut that down.

And cut Gendo open, no qualms about that. They had chainswords.

"Okay..." Maya said softly. "What do we have to do, sempai?"

"We've got plenty of work to do. We need to turn on the operational layer of the MAGI  
and begin a random start-up sequence. We need to write that one on the fly. Then we  
have to find the overrides allowing this to happen. Only then can we turn on the MAGI  
and bring power back to the city." She let go of the younger woman, and watched her  
steady herself to a straight stance. "Think you're up to it?"

"Always, sempai." said Maya. The geofront... MAGI's silence... was oppressive and just  
so -wrong-. "Whatever you need."

Gendo could not hear their words, and as such was doubly annoyed by their apparent  
closeness, a refuge away. More things getting out of control. The boy, JSSDF, now  
Akagi. Ibuki needed to learn her place again, even if she had to beaten and shoved  
into it.

-o-

A few still hours passed. Many shops had already closed up, and very few people were  
left loitering around the parks. Living in Tokyo 3 made people there already used to  
such small annoyances. Complaints couldn't reach down into the geofront, and all  
entrances were sealed. Breaking in just to gripe would be a criminal offense. Arbitrary  
politicians had nothing to offer but pleas of patience.

A black storm gathered around the city, and deathly cold winds began to blow. In  
another time, Matariel would have approached unchallenged and weak because of that.  
The Angels were supremely adaptive, becoming stronger the more they were attacked.  
With the young king in his city, that would only have led to a quick and useless death.

The Angel arrived from above, quickly and without any warning. Right over the main  
street. Understandably, people began panicking and running to the shelters.

It was unknown why Matariel had a spiderlike form. Clearly those spindly legs were  
naturally incapable of supporting its massive weight. There was some AT-field magic  
going on. The Angel arrived floating in mid-air, with its legs folded up in a tetrahedral  
configuration reminiscent of Ramiel. It unfolded and touched the ground, its AT-field  
as propulsion fading. Its jamming field abruptly increased. In a strange blitzkrieg, the  
city could call for help all it wanted, but no one would come even from just the next  
town over. Matariel slowly strode over the city, unafraid.

Click. Whine. DAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!

Bolter fire raked across its lower half. It let out a pained screech as purplish blood  
splashed down into the streets. The Eva Assault Rifle Analogue, which proved nearly  
useless against many enemy Angels, spat MBT cannon slugs in burst mode. The Great  
Bolter had more in common with battleship naval shells; huge, explosive, and in insane  
overkill. MegaBolters used the even larger Heavy Great Bolter rounds, each nearly the  
size of a house, in unrelenting rapid fire.

Unfortunately the Angel was just too big even for that to kill it. It opened its large red  
bottom eye, tilting its body, to see a large yet squat machine along the main road. It  
was painted over in bright blue and golden yellow. It lifted one of its stubbly legs and  
STOMP!ed on the concrete, cracking it. It lifted the other, STOMP! again, and pitched  
its bulky torso forwards a ways like a sumo wrestler; which it did strongly resemble.

Mana Kirishima smirked, as -Magnos Tancred- stood right there, unflinching against an  
enemy that literally overshadowed it.

Flash! A positron beam bit into one of the leg segments. More Angel blood leaked. The  
Land Dreadnought then bullrushed that leg, bodyslamming into it, and snapping it with  
a satisying -crack!-. Pained screech. If it could do a chicken run against an Eva and it  
was the larger mecha that would end up the one on its ass, then the spindly supports  
were nothing.

Matariel tilted, and toppled into a building. -Magnos Tancred- sprayed its fallen form  
with even more megabolter rounds. The battle that would be known as Tears of Tokyo  
Three was well on the way.

However, the fight had actually begun almost two hours earlier. Shinji Ikari made the  
first move.

-o-  
-o-

The pilots (and one commander), of Projects E and T, prepared to leave for home. The  
foursome walked together towards the school gates. Musashi and Keita (actual pilot  
and gunner respectively) walked a discreet distance away, unwilling to interact with  
Shinji Ikari. Out on the streets, Asuka turned and leaned close to Shinji. She frowned  
as she inspected his face.

"Did you know, you have this constipated look, all afternoon?" she said to him. "What's  
wrong with -..." Asuka stopped and palmed her face. "On second thought, I don't even  
want to know. I can't believe I used up an afternoon with that question stuck in my  
mind."

Mana chuckled lightly. Such random thoughts like that also reminded her that Asuka  
was still such a civilian, her prowess and capacity for violence aside. Although; she  
too had been watching Ikari, her mission as a spy still ongoing and meshing well with  
her girlish aims. Tension and a slight frown; strange to see on someone usually so  
unflappable.

"Something -is- wrong." said Rei. She felt itchy all over, but was far more adept at  
hiding her discomfort.

"Hmm?" Asuka turned to her. "And what would that be?"

"Look." The blue-haired girl pointed out.

The group stared at whatever she was pointing at. A cloud? A tree? A lamp-post?  
"What?" Asuka continued. It was just a normal everyday empty street. Even that  
wasn't out of the ordinary, since by city standards, Tokyo 3 wasn't that big. Mass  
transport was utilized well, there were very few cars used needlessly to clog up the  
thoroughfares. Extra-wide streets to allow Evas and other such monstrosities to pass  
through also reduced congestion.

Mana's sight did not have a civilian's preconceptions. She searched out locations of  
possible trouble, for hidden dangers and suspicious people. The street, as mentioned,  
was empty. There was a nasty stormcloud approaching over the horizon, but that was  
slightly to the left of where Rei was pointing. Birds were all silent. It was all peaceful.  
Too peaceful.

They both realized it at almost the same time. "Ah!" gasped Asuka.

"The traffic lights." said Mana. "They're all off."

They both turned to Rei, who nodded. "So what?" asked Asuka. "So there's a power  
outage. Not like that's never happened before..."

Rei shrugged slightly. "Consider, pilot Sohryu, where the power for this city comes  
from." She pointed down at an angle, approximately to where one of Tokyo 3's four  
small fusion reactors were. "While there have been power interruptions before, it has  
always been announced beforehand. For NERV to lose power without prior warning is  
entirely unprecedented."

That brought Asuka to taking a thinking pose. Her face brightened suddenly. "It's so  
simple. Why not just call them and ask?" They were an important part of NERV, after  
all.

Ritsuko had never been unwilling to answer Asuka's questions; though their little  
discussions inevitably led to mutual griping. It was a good thing perhaps that Asuka  
was still too young to really drink. Asuka took out her mobile phone, grimaced at the  
unstylish shape of it (though liking its cherry red color) and dialed in a number leading  
to Ritsuko's office. If not Ritsuko, then Maya; or at least one of the other scientists  
and technicians who could find those two.

Asuka held the phone to her ear and waited. She frowned, and put it away after a  
minute or so. "There's no answer." she told them. "Not even a dial tone."

"Eeh?" Mana knew about communication systems, being essential to modern warfare.  
"Isn't that just a carrier signal? Landlines had that because of current running through  
the wires. Handhelds only make that sound because people are already so used to  
hearing that."

Asuka took out and frowned again at her cellphone. Because of Third Impact, many  
'luxury' technologies never ended up being developed. The utter collapse of the global  
economy quickly put an end to easy personal computing and towards massive-scale  
building; as case in point the MAGI. Only nations and surviving megacorps (by having  
gobbled up smaller companies) could afford such technologies. A handheld as a media  
device; capable of telephone communication, games, video/audio recording and even  
Internet access... was conspiciously unheard of. What a frivolous toy, many would  
have said; the symbol of a decadent society.

Cellphones were larger, of tougher and more durable casings. Instead of fads and by  
annual 'upgrades' to the next stylish model, most mobile phones were made in search  
of quality and durability. The resources needed to build complex circuitry were steadily  
dwindling. Certainly, NERV's issue were nearly military-spec and expected to last the  
pilots several years of good use.

Asuka took out a thick plastic-covered card and inserted it into an empty slot into the  
phone's back. That was it's concession to commercial use; add-on modules, the staple  
of post-Impact markets, trying to extend the utility of whatever they had on hand.

That add-on was to allow the phone to recieve and play radio signals. Asuka pushed  
the volume up to the maximum, and held it up high. She thumbed through the radio  
frequencies using 4 and 6 buttons, 2 and 8 for fine-tuning. She got only static.

Asuka narrowed her gaze. Hypothesis proven.

"That's strange..." said Mana. She took out her own milspec phone, and turned to her  
friends. The two were observing silently, leaning on the schoolyard wall. "Trident Base,  
this is Kirishima, do you copy? Over. This is Kirishima in Tokyo 3. Do you read...?"

Static as well. She put it away, and watched as Keita brought out an actual military  
radio from his bag. The boys fiddled with it a while, then shook a negative at her.  
Mana looked up at the sky, still bright blue though starting to get cloudy.

"This shouldn't be happening." she said. "Is there something going on in the air? This is  
electronics jamming."

"Well, I do feel a little tingly..." said Asuka, while rubbing her shoulder. "But that could  
be just the hot weather." Shinji and Rei looked slightly surprised, and gave each other  
meaningful looks.

Keita and Musashi approached. The spectacles-wearing boy put in "Well, even really  
strong interference shouldn't scramble our signals so completely. The base has its own  
powerful transmitters, we should be getting -something-."

"It's like... an EMP burst." said Musashi. "That's the only thing I know that can mess up  
all the bands all at once."

Asuka scoffed. "Heh. But I don't recall any nukes exploding over Tokyo 3 earlier today,  
did you?"

The boy soldiers both shrugged. "Hey, I just said it's like that." said Musashi, miffed.  
"Do YOU know what's happening, Sohryu?"

Asuka smirked. "Isn't it obvious?"

"It is?" The Trident Land Dreadnought operatives looked puzzled at the sheer delight  
upon the red-haired girl's face.

"NERV has no power. Tokyo-3 has no way of sending or recieving intercept orders.  
We're completely vulnerable." said Asuka. She stretched out, and turned to them;  
grinning. Her blood felt as if on fire. "Angel. We get to kill another one."

"ooh..." whispered Keita. He good-naturedly clapped his hands. "As to be expected  
from Langley-Sohryu the Great." He stopped at a keen look from Mana. None disputed  
Asuka's strategic authority when it comes to killing Angels. The many simulations had  
focused on training that into her, after all. "Are you sure?"

Shinji kept his talents hidden there; and his strategic notions were very unlike hers  
anyway. Hers was useful battlefield strategy. His was really, really long-range strategy.  
The kind that sought out centuries of effect. Asuka had earned her place as the pilots'  
team leader. She had to get really, really good really quickly; for Shinji could get nigh  
precognitive at times (and even actually so). The young king would be useless if he  
had to command each and every battle; and for that needed capable generals.

He smiled faintly. This was Asuka's first true test. Without Misato or my direction,  
what would you do?

"No, of course not. But there's no harm in preparing for it, right?" She looked up at  
the sky. "It's not like we have anything better to do, right?" She stared at her fellow  
pilots, who nodded in assent.

His smile grew wider, as he was facing away. Just admitting to the possibility of a  
mistake was already a journey far traveled. There were two types of confidence, the  
one born from self-delusion and the other out of hard-won victories. Asuka held one  
that wouldn't just give up, even dying in the attempt if she had to.

"I guess we better head to the base too, then." said Mana. She looked doubtfully to  
the west. "If the trains aren't working..." She sighed. "I might need to hotwire a car."

"I might be able to help with that." said Shinji.

"Eeh?" Asuka understood why Shinji was friends with Kensuke; both were knowledge  
sponges, except that where geek held a variety of useless knowledge, the pilot had  
strange and oddly appropriate skills.

He looked around and saw a tall passing senior. "Gosen-san!" Shinji shouted out.

The student turned and saw the young Ikari waving for him. Somewhat hesitantly he  
approached. "Yes, Ikari-san?" he asked. It was actually the first time ever that he was  
in the midst of the prominent pilots. He already had a girlfriend, so wasn't part of the  
Color Cults.

"Sorry to bother you, sempai..." Shinji bowed. "But could you please send a message  
to Kensuke? Please have him know that I need the colors up on the roof."

The senior considered briefly. "Sure, why not?"

He turned around and headed back into the school.

It wasn't until he was up on the steps to the third floor that he realized; what the  
hell? '_Why am I obeying an underclassman, even if it's Ikari? I could just snag another  
student to do this chore.'_

Still, his feet kept moving. There were few students left in the school. He stepped in  
front of a sophomore girl, and asked. "Pardon, but do you happen to know where Aida  
is?"

"Oh. He's up on the roof with the mechanics' club, sempai."

Gosen nodded and moved on. All the way up to the roof, five stories up. He found  
there Kensuke, in his white jacket, among a huddled group of boys. He moved closer  
to see that in the circle they had an odd machine with a bunch of wires leading to  
several bulky remote controls held in their hands. For some strange reason it was  
already painted over as if having gone through massive battles.

"Just because the Dreadnought is more stable on its feet doesn't mean that balance  
isn't a troublesome issue." Kensuke was saying. "See? If it tilt the body in any way,  
the mass would send it toppling, and unlike the Eva it can't get back up so easily on  
its own. It doesn't have arms to serve as counterbalance.

But because of its stubby shape, a wide stance with its feet makes the limited tilt  
to the side well within its stability range. If we move one foot in slightly in front of the  
other, the forward and backward tilt is also addressed. "

"But standing still leaves the Dreadnought vulnerable." said someone.

"That's true." Kensuke answered. "That's why that same tricky issue of balance is  
what helps the Dreadnought. Okay, Konata, move it a little."

The model dreadnought lifted one leg, and pitched forward. Hurriedly, the controller  
put one foot in front of the other to keep it from toppling over, and made the model  
run right into someone on the circle of observers.

"Oof!"

"Like an aircraft, inherently unstable." Kensuke continued. "Momentum is what gives  
the dreadnought agility deceptive to its looks. Note that the waist has full 360 degree  
rotation." He took the and waist remote controls, and with both hands had the model  
walk back, turn, and move about in a small circle.

The others clapped. "You sure know a lot, Kensuke. It's like you were on the design  
team, or something..." The glasses-wearing teen merely smiled a bit. He didn't need  
adulation. It was enough that he had built well.

The senior on a errand coughed, to get their attention. "Aida-kun." he said. "Ikari said  
he needs the colors up here, whatever that means."

Kensuke made a 'heh' and waved aside. "So it's come to that, eh?" He picked out one  
from his group of associated builders. "Say, Kato. Go down to the chem club, would  
you? Tell them I want the red, green, and yellow smoke bombs."

Kensuke's voice of authority was different from Shinji's. Of the latter, many found  
themselves obeying as if it was second nature. Those who obeyed Kensuke's errands  
did so amusedly, knowing he couldn't be everywhere at once. Kensuke would never  
send anyone to do what he wasn't perfectly willing to do himself, but just that he had  
too much to do.

Soon enough, the errand boy returned from the Chemistry Club hideaway with four  
large canisters.

Juin Gosen watched as the Experimental Engineering Club set up a field mortar-like  
device. Kensuke loaded in the canisters. Fwomph! Fwomph! Fwomph! One after the  
other, into the sky. Three closely-spaced explosions splashed colors into the empty  
blue.

A short while later, similar plumes of colored smoke rose high above other schools and  
certain buildings; responding to the challenge. A strong wind blew, spreading the colors  
further and sending Kensuke's white jacket flapping.

"What's that do?" asked the senior.

"Heh. It's better if you don't know." Kensuke clapped his hands together. May you find  
happiness beyond your sad fate, machine spirits.

A few minutes later, a black sedan swung past the very same curve that Maya passed  
yesterday; and in the same reckless abandon. It screeched to a stop right in front of  
the pilots.

The black-tinted window of the left front seat slid down, to reveal that the car was  
of foreign make, being left-hand drive. "Yo." said Agent Jiro, poking his hand out the  
window and smiling.

"Oh, you guys again..." Asuka muttered. Unlike Shinji she just couldn't get comfortable  
with the idea of grown men always spying on her.

"So... the phones aren't working." said Agent Jiro to Shinji, with a brief nod to Rei.  
"We're not your taxi service, you know."

"Sorry." The pilot bowed deeply. "But could you take Kirishima-san and her friends over  
to the Trident base?"

The younger agent brought his arm back in to open the rear door. "Hop on." he said to  
the Trident teens. They went in, belting themselves securely. They looked about in  
some wonder at how spacious and wasteful the old automobiles were.

"You're going in that thing?" Asuka said to Mana with exaggerated disbelief. "You're  
braver than I thought."

"She's dissing the car. Nobody disses the car, J. What should we do, J?"

"Ignore her. Maybe she'll go away." responded the other in the driver's seat.

Asuka smirked. "And I can tell you two have been following Shinji around a little too  
long." She patted the Ford's admittedly worn roof, as like someone had fallen onto it  
from a great height and the bumps beaten back into place. "Look. Just... take care,  
okay? Make sure they get there in one piece."

That moment of concern made everyone stare at her oddly "Hey!" she said. "Just  
because I think an Eva is better doesn't mean I want them to die just like that. You  
want to fight an Angel, Kirishima? Fine." She grinned. "Let see what you can do."

"I won't disappoint you, Sohryu." responded Mana, with an identical challenging grin.

A rivalry just wouldn't be as much fun if they couldn't prove each other as equals.  
Thus, off went Kirishima and company to their moment of destiny.

-o-  
-o-

Several minutes later, a doorbell rang. Megumi Asagiri answered the door, and saw  
there on the doorstep a small child with four small pigtails. "Um... yes?" she asked,  
while to herself 'How'd this kid get up here?'

"Ello, lady!" said the child, in accented English. Then, back to Japanese; "This is the  
Asagiri place, right?"

"Um... yes." she said again.

"I gots a delivery to make for some old guy named Asagiri. Is he around?"

The young woman smirked a bit. She was in college, but even there just knowing her  
father was a general made people too formal around her. The military's power in Tokyo  
was at a peak since pre-WW2 levels. A little bit of irreverence was so refreshing.  
"Father!" she shouted indoors. "There's someone to see you!"

"Show them in!" he replied from within the bungalow. "... what's wrong with this TV?"  
Only minutes earlier, there was a clear picture.

"Nah...!" said the gretch. She stood implacable in place. "Get 'im 'ere so I can hand  
over da Word and get outta here."

Megumi's lips twitched. "All right..."

In the end the general nearly needed to be pushed out to the door. He looked down at  
the cute child standing there, wide-eyed and completely unafraid. "Hello. What's your  
name?" he asked gently.

"How many stars are there on your shoulder?" she asked flatly.

He blinked. "Three." he said after a while.

"Then! Dis is for ya!" The gretch pushed a white envelope at him. As soon as it was  
in his hands, she fled.

"Hey!"

She was already gone. The general stared doubtfully at the letter. He sniffed it and  
felt around for any suspicious bumps. After a while, he decided to just risk opening it.  
He read:

_Asagiri-san;_

_If you are reading this, then it's likely Tokyo 3 is under surprise attack and I am unable  
to do anything about it. Communications are probably cut all around. I'll try to do what  
I can, but at this point Kirishima-san should already be at base._

_Likely, she already set out even without orders._

_I beg that you forgive her this instance. In addition, if it's possible, give her the prior  
orders so she wouldn't get in trouble if someone should call attention to it._

_I apologize for the presumption._

_-Shinji Ikari_

General Asagiri frowned. He shouted to the sala. "Oi, Megumi! Are the TV channels  
still out?" At her negative response, "... then check the phones! Dial Tokyo 3!" Nothing.  
"Call the base, then, and arrange for my pick-up. Yes, yes. Please. I'm saying please."

He tore up the strangely prepared letter and disposed of the evidence behind a row of  
decorative flowers beds. Interesting. He wondered if Akira got something similar.

It should be noted that his bungalow was on the outskirts of Tokyo 2. A helicopter  
soon arrived to quickly bring him to the UN Fuchu HQ.

-o-  
-o-

Da Boyz hut in Tokyo 3 recieved a report form Da Boyz chapter in Tokyo 2. All phone  
lines were down. Da Gretchin used wire telegraphs. Dit dit. Dash dash. They even had  
a small generator in the basement. Somehow a wire was strung from their hut, onto  
the electric poles, all the way across the Kanto region, to different Da Boyz Huts all  
over the nation.

It was amazing, really, what people would let you do if you just wore official electrician  
clothes. Houko Construction reached out to many different cities.

It was the only outgoing communications line in the city that actually still worked. It  
was crude, but totally independent of all computers.

One of the things Da Book said was to keep a Stash, for each family. Prepares for da  
worst; it said. Suzuhara Mari sat in the basement, checking Da Big Pile of food, drinks  
and batteries. Gets set ta infiltrate; the colors in the sky said.

Da Book was still their gospel, but like any organization they had to separate ideals  
from actual laws. So; Ayane-san created the -Waaagh! Dat Way!- codex of conduct.

There may be no innocents; only degrees of guilt - but Shinji loved children anyway  
just by having nearly nil of it. Among his loftiest and most immidiate goals was to have  
them always safe and happy.

-o-  
-o-

"Well, now it's our turn." said Asuka. "We've got to make contact with NERV!"

"That's a good idea, Asuka... but first... please don't move, Rei." Shinji put a hand on  
her shoulder and using her like a post bent up his foot to adjust his shoe. That simple  
gesture hid the only thing necessary, skin contact.

'Maya? What's happening?'

'It's dark down here, Shinji-kun. Power distribution's been sabotaged.'

'So the reactors are still all right? Can we get in?'

'There isn't any danger with that, at least. But all the systems are down. You'l have  
to try and get in through manual hatches.'

Shinji felt a hand upon his, lifting it up from Rei's shoulder. He nearly lost his balance.  
He looked up to see Asuka frowning at him. "We don't have time to dilly-dally, Third  
Child." she said, using her own weight to support him.

He grinned weakly. "Sorry." He got back up to his feet. "But how do we get into the  
geofront?"

Rei pointed to a faroff building. "We may enter through Route 7 over there."

"Okay! Sounds like a plan! Let's go!" Asuka went off, not looking back. The two other  
pilots smiled at each other, and followed.

"She's really putting this to heart, isn't she?" Shinji said, pleased.

"Simulations cannot compete with the real thing." replied Rei. "Her purpose demands  
expression. After all, greatness can only be earned, not given."

A dark cloud slid closer.

-o-  
-o-

Kaworu felt like hitting his head on a wall. His brethren strode the line between cunning  
and rank stupidity. Camouflaging oneself as a cloud and absorbing all radar to approach  
in absolute stealth was brilliant. Moving to Tokyo 3 at wind speed, in sublime accuracy  
of disguise... less so.

-o-  
-o-

Deep within NERV, Maya followed Ritsuko down dark corridors. Conspicuously, Maya  
was armed. She brought it out only when they were away from the command center,  
and wandering alone in the eerily silent passages. This puzzled the scientist, as she  
had her assistant pegged as an absolute pacifist. "It's a bolt pistol... safebolts." Maya  
said. "The darkness... I don't like the dark, sempai."

"Do you really believe you're in danger this deep in NERV, Maya?"

The younger woman's expression was hidden by the flashlight's glow. "Sorry, but... I  
don't like feeling vulnerable. I would rather have and not need this, than to need it and  
not have it." She rubbed her at her upper arm, looking vulnerable anyway.

Ritsuko nodded and took no more issue. Her kidnapping along with Shinji. No one had  
dared ask, if she had been raped. NERV had no psychologists on staff; actually that  
would most likely be her as well, and Ritsuko hadn't simply bothered then. It bothered  
her now, and too long had passed that it was just awkward to ask.

Many signs pointed to yes. Maya's continued infantuation with Shinji, a boy nearly ten  
years her junior... was perhaps a sign. Someone who could never harm her, someone  
who could make her feel like she was in control.

That, was the conventional assumption. In reality, Maya had no problem with giving up  
all control. There were very few things Maya still feared, and the darkness not among  
them. The convenient darkness though, what and who might lurk in there? Even at full  
staff, NERV was never really filled. Infiltration would be so easy, whatever manner of  
devious doings possible. She feared harm to her beloved sempai. The darkness was no  
veil to a battle sister's eyes.

"The air is getting stale." said Ritsuko, trying for conversation to relieve the tension.  
"So strange to think, this is supposed to be the pinnacle of human technology."

A thin laugh. "You're funny, Ritsuko-sempai."

"I am?"

"You make me laugh. This? The pinnacle of what humans can do? No way!" Maya made  
the flashlight's spot dance around the corridor. "There are still greater things we have  
to do. The world is not enough. The stars must be ours as well."

"I never thought you were the type to go for that kind of science fiction."

"I plan on living long enough to see it become reality." replied Maya, shining her light  
on Ritsuko. "How about you, sempai? Wouldn't that be nice? Our souls would no longer  
be trapped by the well of gravity."

Now it was Ritsuko's turn to laugh. "So, you want to live in a space colony?"

"There shall be a world known as Maya." she replied. _And there shall reside the most  
feared females in all of the known universe. Demons and Angels shall tremble in their  
passing._ "It will be a nice place, with mountains and fresh air." _The surface would be  
left unspoiled. All critical assets would be at least a kilometer underneath the crust.  
The battlebarge Breath of Life would be based upon Red Castle orbital station._

Ritsuko laughed some more. "You don't dream small, do you?"

"What else are dreams good for, sempai?" The other's light was brought to her face,  
and her expression was all too innocent.

Ritsuko smiled sadly. "Maya..." Oh, to hell with it. It wasn't as if she could lose much  
more of her dignity. She drew closer and pushed Maya to a wall. "Don't ever change..."

Maya's flashlight dropped to the floor and rolled away.

-o-  
-o-

The Trident Home Base was a small flat space along Internation Highway 138, in a  
valley carved out in the slopes of Gora by Israfael's destruction. To get there, one  
could either use IH 138, or the Eva-built 'Twin Terror' tunnel road. That was a direct  
route, though it pitched sharply down.

A black Ford sedan went screaming down the road.

The MPs patrolling the base barely had any time to react as the car just blew through  
the roadblock, splintering the wooden barriers. The reinforced hood was barely even  
dented. It screeched, it spun around, weaving as if drunkenly, then finally to a stop.

Immidiately a horde of assault rifle-toting soldiers surrounded the car. They tensed as  
a door opened.

Musashi emerged. "Blork!" he said in greeting, and puked all over the tarmac.

They relaxed a fraction.

Soon enough the three Trident teens were out of the car and meeting with the base  
commander. The Section 2 agents headed back to the city to do whatever it was that  
they still needed to do. The three still looked slightly dizzy, but determined to set off  
again. "Why?" asked Colonel Ogawa.

"Tokyo 3's shut down right now." replied Mana. "It might be under attack."

The man crossed his arms and leaned back on his chair, understandably reluctant.  
"What about the Evas?" he asked. Without orders, it would violate the NERV/JSSDF  
autonomy. Tokyo 3 was supposed to be off-limits, though the Evas themselves can't  
operate outside of it until the UN surrenders command of the field in an emergency.  
"Last thing we need right now is more intereference from Ikari, the older one. Getting  
the land to build a base here was hard enough."

"With all due respect, sir... we don't have the time to worry about that." replied Mana.  
"Without power, NERV has no means of detecting or intercepting threats. If necessary,  
we need to buy them time."

There was a knocking at the office door. NNHIS project chief Shiro Tokita was let in.  
"Ah, Tokita!" the colonel greeted him with relief. "Shouldn't NERV have their own diesel  
generators?" Normally the military and corporate motives don't get along, but strange  
times made for strange alliances.

"Well, sure. In fact they should have it operating by now. But the way I see it, if we  
aren't getting any power then it doesn't matter how many generators they have. If  
the distribution system's shut down, then they can't move anything on their own."

The base was linked to Tokyo 3's power grid. When that supply cut off, they switched  
over to diesel. "Putting aside if we -should-, can we launch?"

"Sure." replied Trident Chief Tokita. "NERV might like dramatic start-up sequences, but  
you know us. Switch on, head out. Or..." He grinned at the teens. "Sit down. Kick ass."

"Awesome!" cried Musashi. "Sir! May we?"

Keita shrugged, smiling as well. "We -do- have an onboard -_nuclear reactor_- after all."

Mana looked thoughtful. "I think NERV could use that..." she said. "-Magnos Tancred-  
has an output socket, doesn't it?"

"Ikari was rather insistent on that." The NNHIS representative shrugged.

"Which one?" asked Colonel Ogawa.

"What, you think we'd let the bastard anywhere near our design plans?"

"Heh." The base commander looked at all the enthusiastic faces, from the three young  
ones to the older but no less excited. "Fine. Trident team, you have a go."

The three stood up and saluted sharply. "Yes, sir!"

-o-  
-o-

Makoto Hyuga in another time would have his moment in the sun, when he brought in  
news of the Angel attack into a blind and helpless NERV. He would have seen it while  
out picking up Misato's laundry.

However, it was late afternoon. That show of consideration was done. Makoto was at  
Hinano 2, browsing through the reprints. It was going to remain open as long as there  
was still light to see. The owner still had to recover costs of rebuilding and restocking.

It always interested the shy lieutenant to see the cultural signs as shown in popular  
entertainment. The bloody fascination with gladiatorial combat was a significant hint  
towards Rome's decline, after all. A world without great wars and great heroes made  
up its own myths for their time; as presented by the society before 2nd Impact. In  
times of moral ambiguity and easy living, they searched for the unashamedly clear, the  
truly altruistic, the hard-won and the magical. There was still real-life hardship, but  
those seemed even more remote and unreal, painted over by the eye-catching shades  
of mass media and money.

Post-impact literature was either blatantly escapist or blandly informative. Even as  
humanity recovered, the message was pretty much 'hang in there!'

Only recently was there acceptance of the heroic motif, warlike themes, and a return  
to the bittersweet realm of the love comedy. He wasn't sure if this was because of  
Shinji Ikari, or if the boy himself was just a sign of the changing times.

Whump. Whump.

In another time, helicopters would have been relaying warnings to the populace, as  
the JSSDF detected the Matariel on its approach. However, the Angel's stealth in that  
instance was perfect.

Whump. Whump.

"Due to the possibility of an attack, please be advised to take shelter as soon as  
possible." a young female voice blared out into the main street. "This is not a drill.  
Please vacate the streets and head for shelter. Due to the possibility of an attack,  
please be advised..."

They ran for shelter, immidiately. They relayed that message to others they passed  
by along the side roads of Tokyo 3. A hulking dreadnought walked down the extra-  
wide main streets; people could not help but to take that warning seriously.

Makoto looked out, and grinned. He put down whatever he was browsing through and  
headed off to the middle of the street. Those seeing him thought 'Is he an idiot? He's  
going to get killed!' They had never seen the machine before, but they had a pretty  
good idea; that if it was about the size of an Eva, then it's probably dangerous.

"... please take shelter as soon as possible." Mana sighed. "Okay, I'm tired. You take  
over."

The youthful female voice was replaced by a clipped boy's voice. "Please vacate the  
area." said Keita. "Due to the possibility..."

"Heey! Down here!" Makoto shouted. He waved his arms about, trying to catch their  
attention. "Stop! Heey!"

Whump. Whump.

"... of an attack, please be advised to seek shelter. This is not a drill."

"Stop! Hey! Can you hear me? Over here!" The Dreadnought's shadow passed over him.  
"Goddammit! IN HIS NAME, STOOOOP!"

Whump. Creak.

"Hey..." the external speakers said. "There's this crazy guy down there." noted Musashi  
and pulling back on the throttle.

Makoto waved up some more. "Hey, Trident! Oi!" he shouted. "I'm Makoto Hyuga!"

"Oh, I remember him." Keita's voice went out. "You work for NERV, right?"

"Well, duh. He's wearing the uniform." Musashi shot back.

"Hello, sir." said Maya, as he was a lieutenant after all. The Land Dreadnought tipped  
forward a bit. "We need to get into NERV, could you please help us out?" she asked  
as cutely as possible. It was distinctly disturbing coming out of a massive war machine.

"Yeah, me too! I think I can lead you to a side entrance..." He cupped his hands over  
his mouth. "Can you take me there?"

"You don't need to shout. We have automatic audio filtering software." Keita added.

Flick. Whirr. A panel upon the Dreadnought's underside opened up and a strange chair  
suspended on three thick strands of metal wires lowered. Makoto strapped himself in.  
Though the Dreadnought was only just under half the size of an Eva, it exuded such a  
massive scale in every direction; bulky and uncompromising. Slowly he was hoisted up  
past seams of metal and machinery, finally into a cockpit deep within the cental torso.

"Um... permission to come aboard?" he asked. He was unsure about the protocol about  
that sort of thing.

"Welcome aboard, sir." Mana saluted him, from her raised chair, very much like a  
captain's seat. Below her, so that she had a full view of their screens, were the pilot  
and gunnery stations respectively.

In the debate of who had command over the Highly Unconventional Weapon that was  
the Land Dreadnought, it was the Army that won out; by virtue of its being on land.  
In operational doctrine though, the Navy held sway, since the most the Army had on  
file was -Stay Out of Its Way-. Never before had anything fit so well the notion of a  
landship; which was the original designation for a tank. By its sheer size and firepower,  
it had to treat main battle tanks as like a destroyer screen, and the air force as air  
power from a carrier just off the horizon.

"It's surprisingly roomy." Makoto had to say. He stood up and reached out, and his  
fingers just fell short of touching the command bore's 'roof'.

"-Magnos Tancred- uses semi-monocoque construction. That means we don't have an  
internal frame as a skeleton to bolt components onto. The armor actually helps to hold  
things in." Keita noted. He pointed down. "The supporting frame is just a hollow cylinder  
around the reactor, and a U-shaped bend from the waist up to the arm connectors."

"Oh? That's impressive." He worked with the Eva, and the biological components made  
the machine weapon lighter and less massive than what it should be for its size; yet  
also that much more complicated. "What's the top speed on this thing?"

Musashi grinned fiercely. "Fourty-five kilometers per hour, off road. Fifty-five ON the  
road, but we're not going to leave much of it once we're through." He pushed at his  
dual control sticks and had the Dreadnought moving again. "We actually need to slow  
down to around thirty, just so ground pressure doesn't get too much with each step."  
He turned around. "So, where's this entrance at?"

"Ah. Turn left at the second intersection and follow that towards the hill. There should  
be an Eva access point there. Maybe the technicians can help us patch power to the  
elevator."

"-Magnos Tancred- has two output sockets. Five thousand and one hundred twenty  
volts respectively." Mana added proudly.

"Wow, you guys -are- good." Misato's admiration of the Jet Alone/NNHIS crew was  
justified. He should never have let his own employment prejudice get in the way.

-o-  
-o-

Ritsuko and Maya returned to the command center, a train of NERV crew following in  
their wake. "Status report." Gendo commanded from above.

"We ran diagnostics and isolated this region from the power grid. In this level alone,  
there are eight fuse rooms, all of them down. I don't think anyone could have run all  
over the geofront flipping switches."

"So... hardware or software fault?" asked Fuyutsuki.

Ritsuko sat down on Maya's chair and sighed heavily. "It's... complicated." she said.

"It's generally a bad idea to link life support to a system that an enemy can network  
to from the outside." Maya explained. "The MAGI is separate from the 'dumb' power  
and environment control systems. So, if those are compromised, we need to use the  
MAGI in a hard link to clear the systems."

"But we can't turn on the MAGI without reinitializing the power grid, which would just  
shut down again. We can't turn on the power grid to turn on the MAGI... without the  
MAGI." She groaned.

"A strange predicament..." Fuyutsuki had to agree. Both he and Gendo wondered if it  
could be some sort of reprisal... no. The timeframe was too short. Ah, likely, the both  
decided to just intensify their actions against each other... at the same time. How  
suitably ironic; the older man thought with some amusement.

"Do you have a solution, Doctor Akagi?" Gendo asked.

Ritsuko rubbed at her face. "We need something to provide power to the MAGI. The  
diesel generators are useless as long as the power grid won't carry the supply. The  
only thing I know that can give us the necessary power... is the Type T expanded  
battery module."

Gendo frowned slightly. NNHIS had built too well for him to refuse. However, it was a  
direct challenge to NERV's competence, even if the other organization refused to even  
compete anymore.

"If you had just accepted the Reactor Module for Titanicus, we wouldn't be having this  
problem..." Maya muttered under her breath. The NERV Commander did not hear that,  
but Ritsuko did. She forced a smile down.

"Unfortunately, we can't get to it unless we open the storage doors, which would take  
some time without power."

"I never realized being so powerless could be so complicated." quipped Fuyutsuki. He  
hid his own grin from Gendo; who did not like that word choice one bit. Darkness was  
so convenient sometimes. One could do more in it than just brood.

"NERV must be treated as under threat." Gendo commanded. "This is a perfect time for  
an enemy to attack. We must return to operational status as soon as possible."

A static hiss swept through the command center.

"At least the radios work." said Shigeru, climbing up to the command deck. "Oh. Sir!  
We're working on getting the blast doors open. Radios were already distributed to all  
the work crews."

"Have you made certain that we are all to remain unarmed?"

"Yes, sir. The armory doors are still locked." Even more securely than before, without  
power to unseal the electronic locks. Shigeru sat back to his chair, pausing only briefly  
to exchange friendly hand-slaps with Maya, for jobs well done and continually under-  
appreciated.

His radio hissed again. "Control, this is external door fourty-two! Do you read? Control!"

He thumbed the switch. "Roger that. What's happeni - "

PHWONGG!

Even through a handheld radio the sharp, echoing, -invasive- nature of that sound  
was hard to mistake. And again - PHWONGG! Even unseen, all who could hear could  
tell that thick metal was slowly yielding. "Are we under attack?" Shigeru shouted to  
those stuck up above.

"I don't know! Maybe!" PHWONGG! "Dammit, yeah! What should we do?"

Another voice bumped into the line. "The elevators aren't working. Where can we run?"

SHRAANK!

"It's through!" that technician shouted. He was just a hair's width below panic. Even if  
they worked for NERV, it had never really sunk in that their lives were also a sacrifice  
for the safety of humanity. They weren't equipped to deal with that sort of thing! "It  
punched through the armored hatch! It's... a metal claw or something. Oh shit!"

The claw retracted, and a strong bright light shone through the hole. "Everybody! Run!"  
The technicians began to flee.

"Helllooo...!" a girl's voice wafted through the opening. "Did someone order a nuclear  
reactor?"

Cries of fear were replaced were cries of cheer.

"Now all we need are the pilots." Maya put in happily. "Where are they, anyway?"

-o-  
-o-

"Haven't you lived in Tokyo 3 all your life?" Asuka asked Rei. "We trusted you! How can  
we get lost like this?"

"I have always passed through the main entrances. My knowledge of secondary egress  
are... theoretical at best. I have seen the plans, but apparently there were changes in  
the meantime."

"Not to mention that it's dark." added Shinji. Something clanked by his feet.

"Fine. So we have these two corridors here." Asuka swept the beam of her flashlight  
through each diverging tunnel, only dimly lit by red emergency lights. "Rei?"

"I have nothing."

"Shinji?"

"... it doesn't really matter all that much to me."

Asuka sighed. It sucked having to be the responsible one. These other Children would  
be so lost without her. She chuckled a bit. Okay, perhaps not so apt choice of words,  
but... "So it's up to me again? We head right!" That's what they always said about  
mazes, right?

-o-  
-o-

The Dreadnought remained on the surface of the geofront; Gendo deeming it too much  
of a security risk to allow them further in. It was... all too convenient. They shouldn't  
be so ready to help; unless somehow they knew it might happen. Output sockets on  
the Dreadnought? Preposterous! It was too suspicious.

Ritsuko stood overwatching the command center, as people below heaved to insert a  
power plug into the MAGI's tower. Flashing lights from below signalled completion.  
"Maya, have you finished the trace/dump/delete routines?" she asked aside.

Her assistant had her own personal laptop open. Fortunately Maya had bought several  
additional battery packs recently. She made a thumbs-up gesture.

Ritsuko then looked up at the commanders; and Gendo made a slight bow.

"All right. Fuses up!" she shouted down. "Initializing MAGI in three... two... one." She  
pointed aside to Maya.

Click. Humm.

"Running anti-interference script... now." Maya reported.

Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash.

The crew all shouted in triumph as the command center went online. Lights and fresh  
air returned. Everything else outside of that specific section was still dark though.

Abruptly, the place dimmed again, back to harsh red. Alarms rang out.

"What's wrong now?" Gendo growled.

"All the monitoring equipment have their own dedicated power supply. We just had no  
way of recieving signals until now." said Ritsuko. She pointed up to the screen. "As we  
expected... yes; Angel. We are under attack."

Gendo stood up. "Get NERV to combat status, immidiately! Prepare the Evangelions! Do  
it manually if you have to!"

"What about the Trident?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"Send it up." said Gendo. "Let's see how useful they can really be." He went off into  
the back conference room. Now that MAGI was restored, perhaps it was time to scold  
a few old men. Fuyutsuki followed, if just out of curiosity.

"I propose we set up Unit One with the Titan modules first, sempai..." Maya said aside.  
"Then we can use its power stores to prepare the others. We can take out the EPX  
power packs and use it on the others... I think eight hours of operation is still pretty  
good in any case."

"How helpful of NNHIS to send us the modules pre-charged." Ritsuko nodded. "I'll try to  
convince the commanders. Go get it done in the meantime." Where are the pilots? She  
shrugged as she walked away. Oh, well. There wasn't nearly enough insanity. They'll  
be around when they were needed.

-o-  
-o-

Shinji stopped and stared behind. "Something's happening..." he muttered.

"Don't lag behind!" Asuka shouted from the far end of the corridor. Since Shinji had  
said to Rei, to obey, the girl followed a few steps behind the red-haired girl to offer  
her own comments on whatever features she found familiar along their path. His own  
efforts were concentrated upon the city itself, so just deferred to their intuition when  
wandering around the depths. He ran up to join them.

"I do not recognize this door." said Rei. "It seems to be an environment seal. There is  
a manual method for opening it, though." She pointed to a radial winch set into the  
wall right next to the door.

"All right, let's get this open." said Asuka. "All together now...!"

She and Shinji pushed at the handle, while Rei helped by pulling down the circle's edge.  
When her own leadership was recognized, Asuka had no problem with working with only  
teamwork in mind. Anything less would seem as laziness, and Asuka refused to appear  
weak. They got that door open quickly enough.

A cool wind rushed in. She pushed the door open to the street.

Something spindly and matte black swung past. Matariel strode over the city with ease  
and agility surprising for its size. The pilots looked up in awe, as the many-eyed Angel  
shot out its eyelashes like a rain of darts, at something obscured by the block.

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

Whine. DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!  
DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA! Click. Whine.

-Magnos Tancred- bullrushed forward, uncaring. The darts plinked off its armor; and  
those that punctured through seeped poison. Pity that the Dreadnought did not have  
blood or LCL. Its own counter-barrage was vastly more effective, forcing Matariel to  
close its big eye again. While the Angel was capable of rapid healing, a portion of its  
lower face was nothing but useless shredded meat; bulging with cancerous growth.  
With its many eyes, it was nonetheless blind to one side.

The Angel swung up with one leg, the tip sharp and gleaming, and struck down at the  
much smaller enemy. The Dreadnought avoided it just barely. Flash! Positron beam  
holed that leg, sending jets of ichor spurting out. The Angel screeched and skittered  
back, tearing billboards off rooptops.

The Dreadnought could not tilt its body high enough to aim its hardmounted positron  
cannon at the Angel. With Matariel still using its AT-field to dampen all signals around  
Tokyo, its defensive ability was severely reduced. It was for an all-out-attack, an  
ambushing being. Against the Eva AT-field specialization and perfect armoring proved  
to be both useless.

Unfortunately, being matched against the purely human-made machine was the worst  
possible thing for it. All the anti-Eva methods it had prepared; such as acid, poison,  
and the anti-AT field...

It screeched frustration. Worthless. Worthless.

Mana Kirishima growled as she ordered a temporary retreat. They needed to reload.  
NERV had sent out crates of Mega Bolter rounds, but even that would not be enough.  
They could not -kill- the enemy.

No matter, they knew all along that all they had to do was keep it occupied.

They had been fighting long enough that Matariel knew it would lose out on any lull in  
the engagement. That time to heal could not compare to the enemy getting more small  
exploding things to HURT it with. Humans! Human tricks! The eyes all around its body  
blinked.

Enough! The eyes all receded into its body, becoming hollow pits. Matariel began to  
rise up into the air.

"What's it doing?" asked Musashi, as the Dreadnought pulled up a fresh ammo box.

Spawns of Lillith! Obstacles to Adam! A ringing tone filled the air above. Destroy all  
the humans! Matariel's limbs bent back into a diamond shape similar to Ramiel. A point  
of light, slowly becoming brighter, grew from its exact center. It rose higher into the  
sky. That light flashed, bright enough to briefly outshine the setting sun... and then  
it inverted. A shimmering black sphere spun inside the cage of its legs, flickering and  
wavy as if being seen through a mirage.

From the pits on its squashed spheroid body, a torrent of white oblong things shot out.  
It hovered above the city, disgorging hundreds of the pod things. Like misshapen lumps  
of white potatoes, the things dropped onto the streets and on top of smaller buildings.  
Matariel kept sending out more.

"What are those?" Musashi asked further. Keita turned the Dreadnought around.

Abruptly, the white lumps broke apart, gushing purplish liquid. From within the sacks  
emerged things with tri-sectioned beaks and two back-curving legs. They walked like  
birds, but had no wings. They had no eyes, merely flaps on their foreheads. They all  
screeched; hundreds of them, and it echoed through the streets.

"Angelspawn..." muttered the Trident children numbly; having seen Evangelion Fantasy  
Battle The Motion Picture.

The things dispersed.

"Shit!" screamed Musashi, sending the Dreadnought to a full run. It was no use, the  
things were just too small and too fast. "We're made for heavy assault; we don't have  
any anti-infantry weapons!"

Mana punched her comms savagely. As expected, nothing but static. She pointed up.  
"Kill it! KILL IT NOW!"

The Dreadnought began running backwards, until it reached the end of the main road.  
It slammed itself into the apartment there, hoping that no one wasn't inside. With that  
as support, -Magnos Tancred- let its weight pull itself down, pointing its hardmounted  
positron cannon to the sky.

Flash!

The beam drilled right through Matariel. The Angel, spinning slowly in midair, seemed to  
be laughing.

The pilots saw one of the Angelspawns plodding down the street. It turned to them  
and both stared at each other for a few moments. They saw its smooth grayish pod  
upon spindly legs, with its beaks hard and deep brown. It saw three bright hot shapes.  
Then; "Oh, fuck!" Asuka screamed, as the thing rushed at them. They pulled the door  
shut just as it leapt.

Slam! Crunch! The door bent slightly inwards. There were scraping sounds from the  
other side. "We need to get to the Evas!" she shouted out, her eyes wide and frantic.

No arguments there. They ran.

-o-  
-o-

Toji and Hikari were on a date when the attack happened. As the shelter warning went  
out, they stayed awhile to make sure everyone had gone. With the residental blocks  
unable to retract, many were unwilling to just leave their belongings behind. Once they  
were at the shelters, though - the two realized that their respective little sisters were  
not there.

"Dammit." both said at once. Their siblings held the same stubborness. They wouldn't  
have gone into the shelters just because the adults wanted to... they had entirely  
different ideas about where they were safe. "Stupid kids!"

They were out in the streets when they saw a bunch of goons hauling off a large-  
screen TV from a damaged store. "MORONS!" shouted Toji. "This isn't that time for  
that! Get to the shelters!" He pointed to at the dark shape above the city.

"Shaddap kid!" shouted back the thieves. They glared balefully at the two. Due to  
certain special reasons, crime at night was... a decidely hazardous thing to attempt  
in Tokyo 3. They had to get while the gettin's good. One of the thugs hefted a length  
of heavy steel water pipe and began to approach them grimly.

Matariel released its pods right them. One of the white lumps slammed into the ground,  
with a strange sickening squish. It began to bulge out, portions hardening into chitin  
while other sections melting off. Three more landed nearby, squelching and splattering  
sickly juices. The looters could only watch on dumbly; being too unwilling to put down  
their prizes.

Four Angelspawn opened their beaks and screeched at them.

Then they were just so much meat.

Toji pulled a horrified Hikari away, even as different screams arose into the afternoon.  
One of the Angelspawn looked up, flapping its sensory organs. It screeched again. The  
others paused from their feeding; some of the thieves were still alive, if in bloody and  
blubbering pieces. The Angelspawn got up and began to chase the two, being drawn  
instinctively to motion.

"They're after us!" Hikari screamed. Monsters! How could things like that exist?

"This way!" Toji shouted, then let out an unintellegible grunt as he forced open a  
manhole. "Go on!" He helped Hikari down, grimacing as the creatures sprinted closer;  
like neck-less, all-mouth ostriches. He fell into the hole just as the deadly trio leapt  
simultaneously at him.

He heaved for breath, as the Angelspawn above snapped at each other and futilely  
screeched down through the hole. "Are you all right?" he asked Hikari.

The girl was shaking, hugging herself. "Those poor people..." she whispered.

"Yeah, it was pretty horrible. Can't say we didn't try to warn them."

"Toji!" she shot back, her face all teary. "Show some respect!" Her constant lament.  
That time however... "They didn't deserve that... nobody should die like that." she  
sobbed out. "I almost can't believe it..." The images were seared into her mind. So  
much death. So much blood! In the end, was that just what all people were? Her eyes  
widened. "We need to do something! My sister... your sister! They're in danger!"

He winced. "Yeah, I know." Toji got back up to his feet and offered his hand to her.  
"Let's hurry."

Putting aside her hesitations, she got up. She knew that it was time at last to live up  
to her responsibilities. Family trumped all. "Do you know how to get there?"

They looked around. Tokyo 3's sewer line was rather cramped. The undercity tunnels  
were there for convenience, for easy access to gas and water lines. The walls were  
all just lines of thick tubing. It would be ridiculously easy to get lost; specially as it  
was all dark. The only light they had was from the open manhole above.

Fortunately, Tokyo-3 sensibility prevailed. Near every open manhole was a small box  
containing an electric-battery torchlight. NERV was willing to throw away money just  
for convenience in its repair and maintenance.

"That way... I think." said Toji, lighting up the tunnel to the left. He knew the sewer  
line didn't exactly follow the roads above; due to vertical launches, rebuildings, and  
whatnot. They would have to sight out their location by opening up manholes along  
the way. Risky.

Hikari nodded. As long as they were moving. Disaster intensified with every minute.

-o-  
-o-

There were many underground shelters in Tokyo 3. Most of them were nothing more  
than concrete hollows sunk into the ground. The doors were metal, but never meant  
to take attack. NERV had just -known- the Angels would be giant monsters.

The citizens took shelter in the ones closest to their homes. Some chose to remain in  
their apartments and shops; in basements built for that purpose. With the power out,  
there was no way for them to know what was happening. The sounds of battle had  
stopped. Long minutes passed.

One of the shelter doors opened, as a brave man decided to see if the battle was over.

Almost immidiately; something slammed into him, and forcing open the entryway even  
further. A cacophony of screeches sounded from beyond the door.

And then the screaming started.

-o-  
-o-

Matariel had landed along the main street closer to lake Ashino. The battle raged there  
devasting Tokyo 3's south side. Tokyo 3 First Municipal Junior High was directly on the  
opposite end of the battlefront. They hadn't recieved an order to evacuate; being that  
the Dreadnought wasn't tall enough to see beyond the buildings.

Matariel's arrival though; that they could see. The teachers had mostly left, and the  
remaining students felt they had a choice of going down into the school shelter or to  
watch the battle unfold. Many believed they had plenty of time either way. Other  
people were trickling in through the gate to enter the school's shelter.

Kensuke clapped his hands together again in a prayerful motion, as he saw the Angel  
rise up to disgorge hundreds of the white pods.

"Shouldn't we go to the shelters now?" asked Juin Gosen, the senior from before. He  
had stuck around, interested in seeing the display of robotics. The Mechanic's Club  
stayed up on the roof to watch the battle through binoculars. So far it was not so  
impressive; only bright streams of bolter fire from behind buildings the furthest sign of  
battle that they could see.

Kensuke took a deep breath. "It's too late now." he said sadly. 'Dammit, Shinji-!' he  
added silently. '_Why can't you just be wrong once in a while? Without power and the  
MAGI, our options are severely limited._' "How old are you, Gosen-sempai?"

"Hm? I'm seventeen."

"Old enough to enlist. You're not a member of any clubs either, are you? May I ask  
why?"

The older student shrugged. "I suppose it all seemed childish, that's all. And I didn't  
have any particular desire to kill or die."

Kensuke nodded. "There comes a time when each must decide what is truly important  
to us." He looked around. There was only one entrance to the shelter, while there  
were two to the roof. The geek pulled the white hood of his jacket over his head and  
went over to his school bag. He dumped the contents out; books, notebooks and  
diskettes.

For all his obsessions, everyone considered Kensuke harmless. He was an average  
student, who could be much more if he applied himself properly. He was slow to anger,  
quick to laugh, and easily forgiven for his childish misdeeds in trying to make school  
life more interesting. Before Shinji, he had few friends... only Touji staying around him  
for extended periods of time. He was shy in his own way, retreating into his military  
play. It seemed that Kensuke had found his voice, however - and was unashamed of  
whatever views he had or what he might do.

Those around the roof watched, curious, as he tore apart his school bag with careful  
deliberation. He took out a bulky strip of cloth, opening that up to reveal six long clips  
of bolter rounds; painted orange all over.

He pulled out his two bolt pistols. He ejected the banana clips; with a ping! noise. He  
pushed in live bolt ammo. He stuffed the rest of it into his jacket pockets, poking  
conspiciously out and weighing it down.

He stood up, and took another deep breath as if tired. He slung the bolt pistols back  
into his shoulder holsters began to walk down into the school. For no reason readily  
apparent there to himself, Gosen felt like following him.

High-pitched shrieks were starting to be heard. People began to scream and run.

Kensuke turned away and went into the mechanic's clubroom. He opened up a locker.  
Inside was the motion-capture frame to be used in controlling the model dreadnought;  
his latest prize-winning piece. He took off his jacket, and put that on; titanium braces  
clicking to place. He found a longer coat, blood-red in color, and wore it. The effect  
was somewhat monastic, as the sleeves were wider near the wrists. He closed the  
robe-like coat with a wide belt; into which he stashed bolt clips.

"The shelter has only one entrance. The roof has two." Kensuke spoke out, more to  
himself than anyone. He had gotten into the habit of explaining his thoughts; as unless  
it could be explained then it wouldn't be logical to him. As the first of the tech-priests,  
he wanted to make sure.

He opened the next locker over, and from it slid in armor sheaths to certain slots of  
the exo-frame. He had brought so much junk over to the school, that no one paid  
attention anymore to what those things might be good for.

"The first one can be broken down by sheer weight of numbers. A swarm can only  
hinder itself when trying to squeeze through a narrow opening onto higher ground."

He exchanged his glasses for goggles. Click. Infared. Ultraviolet. Targeting. Normal  
sight. He put a breathing mask over the lower half of his face. When he turned, the  
senior felt a certain chill pass over him. Even though he had seen that transformation  
happen, there was still something cold and inhuman about it.

"Get everyone to the roof." Kensuke commanded in a rumbling, distorted voice. "By  
authority of the Tokyo 3 City Council (which in itself was a tool of the MAGI), NERV  
special operations (Section Two), and the JSSDF Emergency Act (out of the Kirishima  
report); I hereby conscript you for the defense of its citizens."

Gosen blinked. "You're insane." he said, finding himself unable to breathe for a time.  
Those emotionless lenses, he feared being under that sight. As if he was nothing more  
than another specimen to be examined. Also; he half-expected Kensuke to declare  
that he was his father at any given moment.

"I know that." replied Kensuke. He slumped slightly, then drew both bolters. It wasn't  
a threatening motion... not yet. An ominous, and yet somehow sad, hiss escaped from  
his facemask.

"... aah!" The senior began scratching at his own hair. "I must be even more insane to  
obey you brats! All right. What are you going to do?"

"Don't worry about this one. I will buy you time."

Thus said, Kensuke slowly walked away; his feet clanking upon the concrete.

Far below, Misato and Kaji were trapped in an elevator. They had completely no idea  
of things happening outside. Kaji had actually timed the shutdown to her entering the  
elevator. Screw SEELE's timetable. He needed to really talk to her. She was too adept  
at avoiding him.

Almost an hour passed in silence. She had rebuffed his early attempts at conversation,  
sitting cross-legged as if meditating. Misato pulled her beret over her eyes and seemed  
sleeping.

"It's getting hot in here, isn't it...?" he began again, weakly. There were just too many  
things he wanted to say.

Misato was having none of that however; entirely unwilling to break the ice. "If you  
really think about it, even the heat can feel cold." She smirked slightly. "You just want  
me to take my clothes off, don't you?"

"Now, now... you don't need to be shy." He smirked back. Kaji still had his hands in his  
pockets as he sat on the elevator's floor and leaning against the door. He kicked out  
with his legs and said "It sure is strange that the backup generators haven't kicked in."

"I wonder if Rits-chan messed up an experiment? Hmf. Nothing to do but wait. This  
should sort itself out if we just give it time."

"Oh?" Kaji looked genuinely surprised. "You know... you've changed, Katsuragi. I was  
expecting you to be scratching at the walls by now. Or am I not as bad company you  
might expect."

"I've learned patience... or is it I've learned how to stop worrying?" Misato replied. She  
shrugged and relaxed herself against the wall, sliding down to a slouch similar to Kaji.  
"Shinji-kun takes such good care of me."

"Should I be jealous?" Kaji took out a cigarette and put it to his mouth. "He's such a  
popular guy, it seems."

"Don't you fucking dare to light up that thing. And... do you know, that at this point  
Shinji could just walk up to to nearly any woman, say 'I want to have sex with you'...  
and they would?"

"Would that include you?"

"Yes." she answered, unabashed.

Kaji let out a long sigh. Misato had changed so over the years, and yet remained the  
same in many ways. She was still so beautiful. She was still so impulsive. "You do  
remember you're twice his age, right?"

"I'm such an unsuitable person..." Misato brought her knees up to her chin. "Sometimes  
I wish I could be his mother, but I can't. Sometimes I wish I could be his lover and I  
can't be that either! Listen to me, Kaji... I tried, once. And this is what he said; what  
is it that I fear so much that I would flee from my own life? What pain hides in my soul  
that I would despise my own body? He refused the gift of what I don't even value..."

"That sounds... harsh."

"I saw Adam, Kaji. I saw the world die. I can't escape from that. I survived alone, and  
the world died around me. I saw the destroyer, and I can't... my life... it's like it's not  
real until the Angels are gone. I can't forgive myself for surviving that... the horror of  
that... but it doesn't matter." Her voice choked off. "So he would forgive me anyway.

He's such a good boy... he's too young to die."

Kaji shut his eyes. Katsuragi-sensei had forbidden him from taking part. He escaped  
that fate only barely; he was so determined that he'd even planned on sneaking into  
the expedition.

As for Misato, she put her hands to her ears, as if still hearing that world-killing shriek.  
After all those years... somehow... just thinking of Shinji standing in front of her and  
starting into that glowing white terror... makes it all fade away. Even Adam seemed to  
shrink back from his fanthomless caring.

"He cares too much for that soul to just break. I want to hold him and just not let go!  
I want to kick away the world so that it wouldn't have to bother him. I won't be able  
to forgive myself if he dies..."

"It's war, Katsuragi. Even he must make his choice. You can't protect him from that.  
If these children don't fight, then the world will end. It doesn't help things."

"Shinji's just the type of person who thinks it's his own failure if the people around him  
are suffering... he deserves the chance to live like a normal boy."

"But he can't."

"No... we can't let him. And that's what really gets to me. It's our fault, not his. It's  
our sin, not his. It's our problem... we should be strong enough to deal with it on our  
own! We're adults, aren't we? Dammit. It's a sad world when a teenager turns out to  
be a lot wiser and more mature than us." She sighed. "I rely on Shinji-kun a little too  
much, I think."

"You know, you don't have to be alone, Misato..."

"Kaji..."

"Hate me if you want. But I don't want to see you suffer." The spy got up to his feet  
and moved closer, on his knees. "Didn't I always do as you said? You wanted me gone,  
and so I went away... let me back in, Misato. I can't stand to see you hurting."

"Can I trust you, Kaji?"

That silenced him. He slid back down, putting his palms to the floor. "I will never do  
anything to hurt you, Misato. I want to protect you. Everything I've done... always  
for you. " He'd walked freely into a nest of vipers for her. He'd already done so many  
distasteful things. It was worth it, because NERV was where she was. NERV... had  
secrets, that Misato was unknowingly part of. "Everything I've done was always for  
your sake.

"How arrogant. Just like my father." she whispered. "You reminded me too much of him  
in the first place. I think, that was why I clung to you. I didn't know myself, and you  
were always thinking you knew what was best for me. You, Ritsuko, always taking care  
of me. Must I always be looked after? My choice is absent. Misato just doesn't know..."

"We never thought that. You know, I... I said it once. I'll say it again. I love you."

"But can I trust you?" she asked him again. "Can I count on you? It's just sad. Shinji  
just doesn't remind me of my father in any way. He's so much more mature than I am,  
but without being patronizing about it. He gives me the choices I need. He sees what  
I'm too scared to see. It doesn't make sense... but I like it. "

"The boy's up to something." Kaji had to say. "That intelligence is just unnatural."

"I know. He told me, all I had to do was ask. I didn't. I can feel it, all he wants is for  
people to be happy. I can't deny him that. I'll protect him. No one will touch him, Kaji.  
This I swear. Not Gendo. Not you. Not anyone. I'm his guardian. If you know me at all,  
then you'll know this... it would be too terrible to alone.

I trust him, Kaji. Can I trust you the same way?" Misato leaned over to place her head  
to his chest. Hesitantly, Kaji embraced her. "Can you promise me... you'll never leave  
me?"

"I've had enough of running away." He held her tight. Whatever you needed. "I won't."

That promise was the only thing that kept Kaji from killing himself when he learned of  
just what part he played in helping the slaughter above.

-o-  
-o-

More pods rained, and upon the Dreadnought. The things attached themselves to its  
hull, searching out breaks in its armor. They burrowed in, and once within; exploded.

Mana screamed, as -Magnos Tancred- piece by piece died. "NO!" she shouted. "We're  
not done! Not yet! WE WON'T RETREAT!"

"We've lost primary cooling!" Keita reported. "Output is down by fifty percent. Control  
is... barely there!"

"Hardmounted positon cannon's scrap!" Musashi added. "What should we do?"

"Cut this -_meirda_- down to size! As long as we have a fist, we can bust its legs down  
one by one! Damn the counterattack! Full speed ahead!"

The Dreadnought ran right through the stream of Angelet pods, paying no more mind  
to the clambering heaps of lumpy white things clinging to it. Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!  
Tearing up the road as it ran! "DIE!" screamed Mana. "In humanity's name, DIE!"

Matariel lifted one leg, and struck down. The sharp tip plunged into -Magnos Tancred-,  
right through the center. Mana felt fire surge up from her left side and into her body.  
She felt... light. The Dreadnought was being lifted up into the air, impaled clean on  
that appendage. It slacked, void of the semblance of life.

Explosions happened all over it. The last thing she heard was a certain joyous screech.  
Then, the hot touch of pain.

-o-  
-o-

Shinji staggered. He felt cold all over. His legs felt as if ice, and stuck to the floor. He  
collapsed into a quivering heap.

"Shinji-kun!" breathed Rei, who immidiately went to side. She reached over to touch  
his shoulder, but drew back at the last second. She appeared just amazed.

Asuka followed at a slower pace. She was frowning. "What's wrong with him?" she  
asked. "We don't have time for this! What the - you're crying?" She pulled at his arm.  
"Come on, Shinji! Snap out of it! Stop playing ar-..."

She dropped contact quickly, stumbling back and falling flat on her butt. She held a  
hand to her chest, over her pounding heart. "What... what was that?" she gasped.  
It wasn't that his flesh was cold to the touch, but it seemed as if the very heat of  
her own body was sucked away in an instant.

Shinji looked up at her, his gaze hollow. His body spasmed out in many small ways.  
Wincing, he got back up to his feet. "You're right... we don't have time to waste." Rei  
helped him steady, and slung his left arm over her shoulder. Asuka narrowed her gaze.

"Wait...!" She got up follow them. "Stop this. Stop it." she said to their backs. "Stop  
leaving me behind...!"

Rei turned slightly. "What are you saying? We both recognize you as our leader, pilot  
Sohryu. I will carry pilot Ikari. You have always had the energy to go ahead, and turn  
back if the results are not to your liking. So lead us."

"Bullshit. You think empty titles like that will satisfy me? That's not a leader you're  
saying... that's a stick you use to poke traps with. I will not taunt Murphy or his law!"

"You always find the most interesting metaphors, pilot Sohryu."

"And you always try to evade the issue..." Asuka shot back. She touched the diadem  
hidden under her blouse. "We're team-mates, aren't we? Why don't you trust me? I  
can feel it... you're hiding something from me. Even now! When we really need to work  
together, you're still refusing me...! Why, dammit? I thought I could stop hating you,  
but you just make it so damn -easy-...!"

Shinji remained silent, looking down, as like a puppet without strings. Rei sighed softly.  
"Is this not good, Asuka...?" she said, her voice holding feeling long absent in their  
conversations. "You. Us. Team-mates. Is it not comfortable? Equals in our endeavor?  
Why do you wish to destroy this easy friendship? What more do you ask...?"

"If you don't give me the truth, then we're not friends at all. I won't be a doll for you  
two to play with, so you can pretend to be normal people! I won't be a tool... and not  
yours! Stop lying to me! Stop... baiting me. Stop it! I don't give you the right to hurt  
me this way..."

"What is learned cannot be unlearned. Once one has left the blissful ignorance of the  
womb, one may no longer return. The taste of the truth may not be to your liking."

They all heard a loud, if far-off, boom. "I don't care!" Asuka cried out.

Shinji slowly raised his left hand and held it palm out. "Asuka. Absolute trust can be  
painful beyond belief. Take my hand if you really want to know. But... if you do, you  
can't turn back from this..."

Defiant and burning with her own righteous indignation, Asuka clasped his hand. Their  
fingers entwined. She let out a small grunt of pain. Like icy daggers straight into the  
heart. Weeping, faint and so far away... pleas, curses, incoherent sounds... suddenly  
- gone. Each cut off, and each like a piece of her own soul blackening and falling off.  
Mere seconds seemed like lifetimes. Eventually she was able to pull away.

She gasped for breath. "That was... " She stared into Shinji's immensely pitiful eyes.  
"Impossible. Horrible! What was that?"

"My people are dying." said Shinji. Slowly he disentangled himself from Rei's support.  
"They... we... are out of time." He walked forward, limping to the sealed blast door to  
the geofront. Elsewhen and elsewhere, they would have had to break open an air vent  
to pass through. He felt weak, beseiged. He barely had any strength to lift his limbs.

"Too slow..." he whispered. "Time... out of control. Dare this door stand in our way?"  
he snarled out, between snatches of laboured breath. He pressed his right palm to the  
metal, and left a steaming imprint when he pulled away. Shinji grinned a bit. "Asuka!"

She blinked, startled. "What?"

"We live in different worlds. Close your eyes if you don't want to move into mine. We  
can't go back to how we were after this..."

"Oh, get over yourself, already!" she muttered back. "Don't act all so high and mighty  
around me. Put up or shut up! Just trust me, dammit! I can handle whatever stupid  
little secrets you to have... no matter how -sick- or -depraved- it might be."

"It must be an... interesting... world you live in, pilot Sohryu..." Rei had to quip.

Shinji slapped his palms to the metal, and shuddered. Dying. Dying. Dying. "Enough!"  
he shouted. "We need to get through!"

And he pushed through.

His arms sank into the metal, becoming as liquid around him. It began to hollow out  
around him, glowing red-hot, high-strength metal melting and flowing in rivulets as he  
just walked through. His skin shone faintly. Droplets falling upon him slid down his body  
like harmless rain.

He stepped into the next room. It was dark. He kept walking, still limping slightly. The  
next sealed door over just gave way at his approach, again just on its own hollowing  
out as if drilled through, dripping down in streams of boiling metal.

Rapidly, the metal cooled and its molten light faded. The girl pilots likewise stepped  
through the cavity, following Shinji. They reached him in front of a similar sealed door,  
four broken barriers into the corridor. This one had a blinking red light over it. There  
was power at the other side.

He turned, and smiled weakly at Asuka. "And now you know..." he mumbled, his face  
slack and his gaze unfocused.

He fell, darkness claiming his consciousness. The very last dregs of his strength failed.  
And his people was still dying. _'Please.._.' he begged anyone... anything. _'Save them.'_

"What are you...?" he heard a faroff female voice ask, one so familiar yet his mind so  
numb... so unable to attach a name to it.

"...I don't know." he whispered. He closed his eyes and surrendered fully to the failings  
of his mortal flesh.

-o-  
-o-

Tokyo 3 had its own police force. NERV Section 2 was a highly respected intelligence  
service; known for its efficiency and ruthlessness. With communications cut, both had  
to rely on their own individual judgement as to how they could best help save the city.  
Both ended up assisting civilians to the shelters.

Both died in droves; they were issued popguns in comparison to what was needed to  
take down the Angelspawned horrors scattered all around their city. They tried what  
they could to give the people time to flee, to lock their doors, and to pray for a  
miracle.

"STAY INDOORS! LOCK YOUR DOORS!" Agent Jiro yelled into the car's amplifier as the  
black Ford sedan spun through the city streets. "DON'T COME OUT! STAY WHERE YOU  
ARE!"

"Shitstorm." muttered Agent Kentaro, seeing panicking citizens running past the far  
intersection. A group of black-suited Section 2 and blue-clad Tokyo 3 Police paused  
to pump pistol rounds into the pursuing pack of pod creatures. Shrieks of pain met  
their efforts, but the beasts kept on.

He gunned the engine for all it was worth, and burned through the street. The car  
swerved wildly, nearly plowing into the people briefly caught in numb suprise. Agent  
Jiro pulled on his half of the dashboard, revealing a trigger mechanism behind the glove  
compartment. A portion of the car's hood blew open, revealing a hardmounted large  
caliber cannon. The rebuilt Ford was an electric car, after all. The engine was at the  
back. There was plenty of space for accessories up front.

DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA!

Short, controlled bursts just blew apart the approaching pack of Angelspawn. In that  
case; hardmounted Heavy Bolter.

"Get these people to safety!" shouted Agent Jiro to the few authorities that remained.

"What safety?" a policement shouted back. He laughed hysterically. "The things are  
everywhere...! Where are the Evangelions? Fucking useless brats!" He yelped as a  
spread of Heavy Bolter rounds slapped the ground right in front of his feet.

"SHUT UP!" the agent replied grimly. "You don't know what you're saying. They'll be  
here. They have their own problems. We just need to hold on until they can arrive."

"But where will we go?" one of the people asked, dressed in nothing but his shirt and  
shorts. Mothers embraced their children, and everyone was huddling into one nervous  
mass. There were still shrieks in the distance.

"Get these people to someplace with a high roof." commanded Agent Kentaro. He then  
reached behind to the back seats and grabbed several loose bolt pistols. "Here! These  
should be more useful." He tossed them out, carelessly. Those things were supposed  
to be robust anyway. "Go! Section 2, spread out to find more survivors... the shelters  
should remain closed, lead them to outer edges of the town."

"What about the Angel?" asked one of the operatives, his trademark black sunglasses  
cracked and missing its left lens. The eye behind the open frame was bloodshot and  
weary.

"That's not our problem. Go. Save as many people as you can. That's what Shinji Ikari  
wants. We've got to hold on until he can bring out the Eva...!"

"Ikari...?"

"Move, damn you! And believe! We're still alive! We have time! Save as many people  
as you can, let him worry about the fate of the world!"

The black car reversed and swerved off in search of other separate groups. Those  
people there stood numbly around, then seemed to wake up suddenly as they heard  
the distinctive screeches of awakening enemy pods. They ran. 'Shinji Ikari... please.  
Protect us. Save us.' They prayed for his sudden and miraculous appearance.

-o-  
-o-

People dropped whatever they were carrying and headed off towards the junior high  
school, being the furthest shelter from the scene. As their prey moved, so did the  
Angelspawn. Shriekers they would be called, as they always announced their presence.

"They're here!" screamed a woman, as the loud screeches of Shriekers sighting prey  
sounded through the back streets. The crowd became one mindless, stampeding mob.  
Unfortunates were crushed underfoot.

They poured through the school gates, the Angelspawn close behind. A few leapt; for  
the creatures had raptor-like legs and claws.

DAKKA!

DAKKA!

They exploded in mid-air, showering the rushing rabble with purplish blood and chunks  
of gray-white meat. Students urged them further in. Don't stop. Don't look back. Head  
to the roof.

The stream of people parted before a red figure standing motionless in the way. Even  
in their frenzied state, they knew it was something to avoid. The hooded figure walked  
forward in deliberate slowness. Like they knew, this was a person who had set aside  
all fear and embraced only cold, deadly purpose. Zealotry takes many forms, but the  
capacity for murder was always the same. He lifted a large pistol... a Bolt Pistol, and  
everyone in the direction of its barrel just dived away.

DAKKA!

Blorch!

Another Angelspawn exploded into a shower of contra-evolutionary guts. As the flow  
of people slowed, he was left there facing a bunched-up screeching pack of thirteen  
pod creatures. Time to switch to full auto.

DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! Ping!  
The other bolt pistol. DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA!  
DAKKA! ping!

One remained.

It screeched angrily, and unwilling to move. Kensuke put down his guns, hooking one  
to his belt and with that free hand took out a spare clip. The Angelspawn charged.

"Watch out!" yelled someone.

Click. He took one step to the side, like a matador, and held out the bolt pistol. He  
pulled at the trigger and DAKKA! right into the creature's open maw. It slid to the  
ground, stopping at just an inch before his feet.

Pah. Once upon a time, he would have been glad for the chance to lose his life, his  
meaningless flesh, for glory. Now however, for he had seen what was still waiting in  
humanity's service, Kensuke refused to die. There were still too many things that had  
to be done! Such little things, as an Angel attack, were not enough to convince him  
to give up on his own flawed existence. Strange... to find religion in the realm of logic.

The first of the Tech-priests of Tokyo 3 turned around, and a strong wind sent his  
blood-red robe flapping like a cape. "What are you standing around for?" he asked.  
"Get to the roof!"

"What the fuck?" one of the students who had gone home early asked along the way.  
"When did -KENSUKE- turn into a -badass-?"

Distant screeches, getting louder and closer.

Kensuke had no intention of holding ground like some martyr hero. As soon as the  
other people were up on the higher floors. he began to give ground and let the beasts  
enter the school. As he expected, they searched around randomly in the lower floors  
before one by one finding their way up the stairwells. Lacking eyes and a good neck,  
the things had only the vaugest idea of 'up'.

"Such incomplete contrivance..." Kensuke murmured. Man, even in all his frailty, at  
least had the capacity to see beyond his limited being and create things utterly new.  
Might of machines must take over where fallible flesh failed; but such things were an  
insult to both the precise beauty of the machine spirit and the soft harmony of the  
living container!

DAKKA!

Splortch!

_'Dammit, Shinji. Get off your ass and kill that thing.'_

-o-  
-o-

A manhole cover slowly slid open. Toji had to move the cover away, as it was too  
heavy to just tilt and peek through. He couldn't do that and hold on to the rungs at  
the same time.

He took off his jacket and experimentally waved it up into the open a few times. Then,  
hesitantly, he poked his head through.

"Do you see anything?" Hikari asked, standing directly below.

"Nothing. This is Mitsuki Street. I can see Hinano's Manga Pack from here. We're clo-."  
Screech! "Gah!"

Hard beaks scraped against concrete. He had let go, just in time to keep his own head  
from being shorn off his shoulders. He fell to the sewer floor with a loud thump. "Oww!"  
he groaned. He pushed himself back up, then stopped. In reaching down, his hand had  
found something soft and squishy behind him back. "... oh, I'm dead." he added.

"Toji. Get off me!"

"Gyah!" He spun around, and in landing actually managed to slide into a kneel. "Sorry!"  
he shouted out desperately. He put his forehead to the ground.

Hikari adjusted her jacket, and huffed. "It's fine. It was just an accident." It wasn't as  
if she wouldn't be letting him do that someday... and she shook her head quickly. It  
wasn't the time to be thinking of things like that. She looked up at the open manhole,  
and the amber light beyond it. She heard even more screeches and distant screams.  
"These things...! Toji, can we just let ourselves be stuck here like this?"

He sighed and slapped his thighs. He seemed to be in serious thought, for a few short  
moments. "Hey, Hikari... don't give up yet." He shone his flashlight on her face. "You  
know... I like you, right? I really like you, Hikari."

Her eyes widened, and she blushed. "Toji!" she breathed. "At such a time...!" Stuck  
in a sewer line and with monsters above their heads was not a good place for such a  
confession. Unless... "No! If you're thinking of doing something stupidly heroic, then I  
forbid it!"

He chuckled. "You know what I like most about you? Sure, you're pretty and nice and  
all that junk..."

"... riight. That junk."

Toji pulled at his own hair in frustration. "Aah! Well! You know what I'm talking about!"

"Well I should hope so!" she replied, pretending to look miffed. "Just what is it you  
want to say?"

"I like you, Hikari." he said, in a firm voice that sent her blushing again. It was a good  
thing the light was away from her face. She clenched her fists. "People think you're  
bossy and you nag and you're always asking hard questions... but I like you anyway."  
He got up and walked over to her. He held out his hand for her to take. "But what I  
like most about you, is that you never ask the questions that don't need answering.  
You don't take the trust that we're not ready to give. Thank you for that..."

She stood up to face him. "Why are you saying this now?"

He put a finger to her lips. He too blushed. She was so tender and trusting. "You can  
ask... but telling others... that's not what you're about, aren't you? Come on, let's go  
save those kids..." He grinned and pulled at her. They ran down a tunnel.

Eventually, they stopped before a rusted metal door marked DANGER! HIGH VOLTAGE!

Toji began to wrench it open. "What are you doing?" she cried. "That's dangerous!"

"Just watch..." he replied, somberly. It was such a rare mood for him. Hikari could only  
follow him into a smaller tunnel, wondering about it all. At the end of that tunnel was  
a thick door. Toji flipped open a panel and spoke into a suspiciously new device among  
the rusted and wet pipes.

"From the Emperor's mouth to my ears. Suzuhara. Toji."

Hiss. The door slid open.

"Hey...!" Hikari had to point out. "Shouldn't the power be out?"

"That's right. This place is completely separate from Tokyo 3 power grid." Beyond was  
a wide room metal-walled room. There was a bed, used recently it seemed; dressers  
and a functional kitchen. A far wall was dominated by a big complicated-looking bank  
of monitors and computers. There was another door facing the one they were coming  
out of, and at a right angle away was an elevator opening. Toji bowed slightly and let  
Hikari enter first.

"What is this place?" she asked.

"Depending on who you ask, it's a safehouse... a lair... a bunker... but mostly it's a  
place that doesn't exist. We can be sure nobody's watching us here." He didn't notice  
her staring wide-eyed at the bed. "But we can't stay long. I just need to pick up some  
stuff."

He went over to the elevator and pushed a green button on the intercom. "Oy! Patton-  
san! You awake? Things are getting -nasty- out there!"

A growling voice issued forth. "Suzuhara? Is that you?" Blam! Click-click. Blam! Click-  
click. "Don't come up! The things broke into the store. I'm on the second floor. Graah!  
If I just had the fifty-caliber..."

"Or a seventy-caliber, neh?" He grinned. The old man could handle himself. "Look, I'm  
just here to pick up some stuff. Tell Kensuke 'sorry' if I break anything." He turned  
around. "Class rep, could you open up those cabinets over there?"

"What? You brought the girl? Suzuhara, you little idiot! Don't head back out ag-"

Large, polished steel cabinets lined up along a wall. One by one she opened them.  
The first seemed to be sheer black fetish wear. Skulls and claws. Hikari didn't know  
what to think of that. The next... weapons. Large, ugly, deadly-looking weapons of  
all kinds. Guns, blades... is that a chainsaw? A chain... sword? The next, even more  
weapons and boxes of ammunition. The last were different articles of assorted armor  
clothing.

"What is all this?" Hikari had to ask.

"You remember when we talked about Shinji protecting the city and we protecting  
Shinji?" Under the sun, on a grassy hill... those idyllic days seemed so far away. "We  
said we'd fight for our in city in every way we knew how. He wasn't the only one who  
wanted to protect others..." He gestured around. "Shinji, Ibuki, Ayanami... and even  
Kensuke... they built this place. So that when the worst happens, we wouldn't be lost  
as to what to do..."

"This is insane..." she whispered. "We shouldn't have to deal with all this."

"That's true. I prefer to think of it as 'crazy prepared', but really when shit happens,  
aren't you glad we had this anyway?" Toji began to put on a dull green flak vest, and  
inserted hard ceramic plates into specific slots. He put on a green helmet with circuits  
inlaid into it. He flipped down a transparent pane LCD display over his left eye. Then  
from the other cabinet, he took out a large rifle with an enlarged muzzle. It looked  
similar to a gangster-era Thompson submachine gun... only thicker and with a strange  
double-headed eagle marking slapped onto its side.

With practiced ease, he checked the chamber for a bolt round. He made sure the  
safety was off. He took a deep breath and stood up straight. It should be comical,  
his clothes only just slightly oversized... but Hikari felt the breath catch in her throat.

"Stormtrooper Suzuhara..." she whispered.

He grinned. He thumped his chest. "Body armor like this would only slow you down,  
though. Hikari... I want you to be able to run away. Don't worry so much." He reached  
into the cabinet and took out what looked like a red longcoat. "Armored coat, using  
flexible strips of ceramic-infused polymer... at least that's how Kensuke explains it.  
From your wrists to your ankles, full body protection without the weight... not like  
this thing..." again to his own vest. "Just on the chest. Kinda hard to breath, too...  
So... please, Hikari. Put this on and stay here. Don't worry. I'll get to our sisters."

"Toji!"

He snapped to attention. There was something about being in a uniform that just  
brought to mind the quick after-school boot camp that Mr. Patton Sakura had them  
go through daily for weeks on end. "What?"

"Did Shinji know this would happen? Could he have stopped it?" To think, that it might  
have been -allowed- to happen. Such foresight! Incredible. Intimidating... Never had  
she any inkling about all of... this! Their Shinji-kun? "It can't be..."

"Do you think that if he could have, he would have hesitated? Even Shinji has his own  
limits... and at that point we need to do what we can." He slung the strap of his bolt  
rifle over his shoulders and put on an ammo belt. "So what if we're just as kids too? I  
can't just cower when people die! If I can do something, then I'll do it...! It's my own  
choice, and that's the kind of thing Shinji allows me to make!"

Hikari hugged him. It didn't feel so well, what with the bulk of the flak jacket in the  
way... but it was enough. "Don't be in such a hurry to die, Toji..."

"Let me fight so -you- won't die." he whispered into her hair. "I can't stand just the  
thought of it."

She grinned into the green of his flak armor. "Give me that damn coat and those bolt  
pistols. I won't let you go out there alone, Toji. I know how you think..."

"Hikari... didn't you hear what I just said? I don't want you to die."

"I don't want you to throw your life away either. As long as I'm there for you to  
protect, you're not going to think of any stupid heroics. I won't let you." Hikari looked  
up, her skull hair ties sharing the grin in her face. "Besides, you're not the only one  
that wants to kill those things." Those poor people. Here was the choice. Here was  
the means. She would not shrink from her responsibilities. This was her city, too.

"My god, woman...! You're bipolar." Toji laughed. "I like that too..."

Damn, she looks really good in uniform too. Her hair's shorter than Kirishima, so it works  
out well. Hikari stuck two bolt pistols into her belt. Then, after a moment's hesitation,  
she reached for the mini-chainsword. She gave it a few test swings; battery-powered  
and made of lightweight fiberglass and composites. The blades were hardened alloy.  
Brr... THRAAAAAAM! THRAAAM! She chuckled darkly.

Wow. So this is what seeing your soulmate feels like.

Blorch!

Another bloated white corpse tumbled down the stairwell.

"The bolters are confusing them." said Kensuke, more to himself than to reassure the  
others with him. "They 'see' through heat, and there's something hot and fast heading  
towards them so they open their mouths every DAMN TIME!" He began to cackle madly.

"He's crazy...!" one of the girls whispered.

"Yeah. But he's the one with the gun." her friend said back.

He stopped abruptly and turned to the gathered throng. "Is everybody here?" He then  
pushed his facemask up again, to amplify his voice. "EVERYBODY GET AWAY FROM THE  
DOORS! Get those planks through those handles." he commanded in that dark and yet  
strangely very compelling tone.

"Yes, my lord." someone found himself saying. He grinned in the sheer irony of it, as he  
worked to seal off the doors. They had piled up chairs on the stairs below to further  
make it more difficult to climb.

"Why are we here?" one of the older men asked. He had the drooping looks of a salary-  
man. "What do we do? What's wrong with the shelter?"

"The shelter's a dead end." Upperclassman Gosen explained. "If they get through the  
doors, you're all just dead. At least here we can hope for helicopter recovery."

"That makes sense!" an unidentifiable woman put in. "But when?"

"... we don't know."

"That's not good..." another man complained. "We're out in the open like this. We're  
helpless! That's just useless if we don't even know if we're going to get rescued." The  
crowd's mood began to turn ugly. Children were crying. "We're trapped here anyway!"  
someone shouted out, his tone panicking.

DAKKA!

Kensuke glared at them with a glowing green goggled glance. "If you want to just lie  
down and die, I won't stop you. But at least here, you have a chance to fight for your  
life. If you don't see any more hope, then you're free to just jump off!"

"Stop being so pretentious!" a tall, thin man shouted. He waved his fist up in the air.  
"You don't have the right to order us around. You're just a kid...! Just because you  
have a gun doesn't make you any better...!"

"I have a gun. And armor. What is the source of your confidence?" Kensuke replied. He  
ignored the barely-repressed chuckles from some of his friends. 'Darth Aida', someone  
said. He threw his bolt pistol at the man's feet. "There are still six rounds in that bolt  
gun. Go and kill some Angelspawn if you feel like being a man."

"Do... don't patronize me!"

"Then stop being an idiot. Live. Or die. It's your choice and I don't care." 'Say it!' he  
heard from behind. He sighed. "I find your lack of faith disturbing." Kensuke growled.

He moved through the group and up to the school's water tank. He pushed the volume  
on his voice amplifier further. "LISTEN UP! That barricade won't hold! But at least the  
things can only get through a few at a time...! We have better freedom of movement  
here. There's only one thing you have to do- and that's to LIVE! We need to hang on  
until NERV can launch the EVAs... they're surely being put to seige like we are."

"But what can we do? We don't have any weapons!"

Kensuke pulled down his facemask and grinned. He brought out what looked like a  
small remote control. He pushed a button. The water tank behind him exploded, water  
gushed out in frightful torrents. Everyone else drew back from the flood

"He's insane!" someone said again.

Thump! Thump! Crack! Long metal boxes were brought out, carried by the flow. One  
broke apart to reveal several stubby rifles with an enlarged muzzle. Balking for a bit,  
the students who had most contact with Kensuke then approached to open up the  
other boxes. Inside were bolt pistols, entire heaps of ammo; painted orange... live  
ammo! Under cover of darkness, Kensuke and company had stashed those where no  
one would ever bother to look. Digging a storage pit just seemed too cliche back then.

"Bolt pistols. Firing 17.5mm Bolt rounds, each a gyrojet projectile that explodes when  
inside the enemy. Bolt Rifles. Firing the same ammunition, but at greater range with  
a larger round capacity. Shinji Ikari fights for us, in the great Titan of our age, the  
-Principio Eternus-! Never let it be said that he left us helpless or relying too much  
on him. You're adults! Solve your own damn problems! We're teenagers! The world  
will be ours...! We can't die here! Not yet!

Take these weapons and give praise to their machine spirits! They will not fail you.  
Keep your faith - fight and live! In his name, live!"

A loud cheer rang out, overshadowing the horrendous screeches of the Angelspawn.  
Kensuke nodded. Yep. Guns do make everything better.

-o-  
-o-

"I'm scared..." sobbed a little boy.

"Buck up, Sugo-chan!" said Nozomi. She pinched her friend's cheeks. "We are da Tokyo  
3 chapter of Da Boyz. "Wot is dis fear ya speak of?"

"But it's really scary out there..." Sugo replied, still teary. "Can't you hear that?"

"Well, it's out there. As long as we're here, we're okay."

Da Boyz hut was a two-story house slated for demolition. It was a ridiculously easy  
purchase. It was in a 'safe' but underutilized region of the city, just behind the side  
commercial blocks and a NERV armory building. The back of the house led to a window-  
less alley, with many different entrances and exists. Outside, it still looked decrepit,  
with an overgrown yard fenced in by sheets of construction siding.

The brick walls however were reinforced with polycarbonate film on the outside and  
steel rods on the inside. Sheets of steel half an inch thick were sandwiched into the  
wooden walls. The roof was tile on the outside, criss-crossed with supporting metal  
struts on the inside. The outer door was heavy wood. The basement was more like a  
bunker, the door sealing airtight. It also opened out into a prepared tunnel to the  
sewer line as emergency exit.

Shinji seemed to have foolproofed the shelter. Unfortunately, he couldn't ever make it  
children-proof.

"Waaah!" one of the smaller boys cried. "I want my kaa-san!" Soon, the whole lot of  
them, none older than twelve, were crying too. "I wanna go home... !" All Shinji had in  
mind for them was fun and games, even if sometimes useful beyond appearances. He  
wanted them to be safe. He had made sure they would be safe.

The believed in his benevolence. That was the problem. Instead of heading home, the  
Gretchz remained behind. This forced parents and relatives to look for them, and many  
unfortunately met their end upon pod shrieker beaks.

Nozomi tried to get them to shush. "Quiet down! Ya want dem to hear us?" She was  
at an utter loss on how to deal with it. It WAS scary. Those were monstrous shrieks,  
heard through even thick concrete. The ground shook as like an earthquake, from the  
Dreadnought's stomping. Everyone could recognize the sound of gunfire. Their own  
imaginations fueled fears worse than what they could see.

"I want my mommy..." a child blubbered further.

She turned to Mari, the pale and cunning Suzuhara sibling. Both little girls had a lot in  
common, forced by circumstances to be more thoughtful and responsible over their  
years; having refused such obvious bad examples by older siblings (flighty Kodama and  
forgetful Toji, respectively). "Wot does Da Book say to do roight now?"

Mari Suzuhara was not a particularly strong person. However her ability to remember  
and by virtue of sheer VOLUME of her voice, it was inevitable they would have her as  
the lorekeeper. Or, in the parlance; Morkana Da Way.

She coughed. "Waaagh! You Da Gretch! Chapter Five." Deep breath.

"So yaz stuck in wid Da Boyz.

So deres dis big scrap happenin' and all dose biggaz are throwin' dere weight around.  
Wots ya gonna do? Ya could take a stick or a rock ta add to da fight. Ya could try ta  
gnaw at their ankles. Ya can adds yer puny little weight to da play. Ya could do that,  
and it won't help nobody.

You da gretz. Ya takes your little heads and stick them inside yar little hidey-holes.

Da boyz are made for fightin' and winnin'. Da gretz are made for knowin' and seein'.  
Yoz how da Boyz can go back for annoder go. Ya builds what dey need to bring da  
right and propa' back to da world. Ya sees the squigs and knows wot dey do. And den  
someday, you gonna be da boyz on your own.

Be smart, Gretchz. Dats how ya win against the bigga. Stay away from feet dat might  
stomp ya. Da power of Da Boyz is all together in da Waaagh! Ya aints dere to waste  
yer tears and yer sweat and yer blood. Yaz small and hard to follow. Use dat. Don't  
fight like da boyz, coz' ya aint dem. All sneaky-like, deres no shame in dat. You da  
Gretchin, you better hide. Don't come out until da boyz are done.

Dey needs ya to say; if we won we won. If we mucked about, den we go back for  
annoder go. We sees it. We testifies it. Wes never beaten in battles."

The children silenced.

"I'm worried..." said Aki, Nozomi's other best friend. "And my parents has gotsa be  
worried about me. What's happening out there...?"

Nozomi sighed. She was small, but she was Gorkana; the de facto active leader of the  
Gretchin. "Okay. I'm gonna go have a look-see. Remember, stay here. Nobody follows."

She went over to a small cubbyhole in the wall and opened it up. The air seal hissed  
open. There was a dumbwaiter system there, like a small elevator. She had to sit to  
fit; only children could use it. Shinji had foreseen them being chased by those who  
wanted to use them as a pressure hold upon their parents and siblings.

Nozomi rose to the first floor, behind a cupboard. She slowly pushed open the panels.

Screech!

She screamed.

-o-  
-o-

"Dammit, I -know- it's around here somewhere!" Toji swore. He pressed his back to a  
wall and peered out the corner. "Look, there's the 24-hour convenience store, there's  
the playground, there's... the armory building. We've been here before..!"

Hikari took a look as well, crouching to minimize her own notice. The street was bare  
of people and Shriekers. There were corpses aplenty though, of both men and Angel  
spawn. "I don't see the children's little hideout, though. That's... impossible! How can  
we lose a building just like that?"

"Could someone have... moved it?"

"What, in one day and leave no trace of it behind? I don't even remember where  
exactly it used to be..."

Toji paused. He stared down at Hikari. "That's... strange. You, forgetting something  
like that? I could probably get lost even in this city, but you...? Where your own sister  
spends her time? That's impossible too."

Whatever reply she was about to make was cut off by the sound of gunfire. They  
turned around, and saw eight Angelspawns rushing across the street. Strangely, it  
seemed as if they were running -from- something instead of their normal seek and  
destroy behaviour.

The two junior students looked into each other's eyes and nodded. Every pod creature  
dead was at least one more human life saved or avenged. They moved out of cover  
and fired into the shrieking white mass. Toji pulled spaced bursts out of his Bolt auto-  
rifle; as each drum held only twenty-seven Bolt rounds, and the kick was comparable  
to a fullsize Bolter. Three of the creatures died instantly, and the rest screeched their  
displeasure. They saw the two, and in their dim feral minds calculated their pack was  
more numerous. Instincts drove them to attack.

DAKKA!

The two let loose with their weapons on full auto. Ping! Hastily they reloaded. The  
Angelspawn didn't even manage to get halfway across the street.

"...shiiieeet and goddamn!" muttered one of the JSSDF Marines, as they reached the  
scene. "These things got owned hard...!"

"What happened here?" the sargeant asked aloud. He hefted his assault rifle and with  
some heistation kicked at a blown-apart pod creature corpse. "I know it takes massive  
damage to take down these things, but... daamn! That fast? What could have done  
this.. no; who could have done this?"

"We should ask them, maybe?" another said offhand. He pointed over to across the  
street; at the two teens still kneeling in a wary position, their weapons lowered slightly  
but at the ready. He waved out, motioning that they were friendly.

Toji waved back, and warily they met in the middle of the street.

"Hey, you're just kids...!" another Marine spoke out.

"Thank you, Morino. We really needed you to pointed out the obvious." snarked the  
sargeant. He turned back to the two. "Look, not that I don't appreciate you helping  
out, but it's dangerous out here. Why aren't you in a shelter?"

"And where do you get those wonderful toys?"

"Takahashi, shut it." Again, to the students. "I'm Sergeant De Leon, JSSDF. That's  
Katagiri, Ota, Morino, and Takahashi over there." It was then the teens noticed that  
his skin was indeed a darker shade, and his eyes had the fold missing from certain  
asiatic eyelids. "Who are you?"

"Suzuhara Toji."

"Horaki Hikari."

"Whoah!" exclaimed Corporal Takahashi. "Stormtrooper Suzuhara! So that IS a Bolter  
you have there...!"

"Bolt Autorifle." Toji patted the ammo drum. "A true Bolter is a submachine pistol that  
would break your wrists if you're not careful. We get range and handling from a rifle  
stock, but it's also a heavier and less convinient."

Hikari had already holstered her weapon, the much easier to handle Bolt Pistol, and  
stared up at the soldiers. "You're from the Kirishima corps, aren't you?"

The sergeant laughed. "All we have is one platoon." He looked around. The Angelspawn  
screeches weren't nearly as widespread as before. It was getting pretty dark, though.  
"I'm going to assume you're not the only ones with Bolters around here, since we've  
been seeing dropped hostiles like that all over. Okay, so even if you can take care of  
yourselves... you really shouldn't be here."

"We're looking for our sisters." replied Toji. "We know they're not in a shelter. They're  
hiding out somewhere... they have to be safe. It's a really well-protected place."

"Better than a shelter?"

"... I don't know. But she just HAS to be safe..."

The JSSDF marines nodded. It would be too crass to point out she might already be  
dead. Besides; kids. They can get into the oddest and most cramped of places. "All  
right. We're out looking for survivors anyway, might as well keep an eye out for them  
too."

A scream.

"Kodama!" shouted Hikari, recognizing that instantly. "Where... !"

They turned to see an Angelspawn suddenly screech and leapt at a kitchen window.  
The makeshift fence had just collapsed, behind it was a decrepit old building. They  
just hadn't noticed... somehow... hidden by the fence? It snapped its beak, letting  
out clicking sounds and bashed against the glass. Incredibly, it held, only a thin crack  
showing on the surface.

That beast was subjected to sheer overkill, dying without even knowing that it was  
attacked.

"That's it!" Toji shouted. That housed with the cracked blue paint and the red door!  
Why... it looks really conspicuous! Why didn't he notice that before? "Mari! Kodama!"

A little girl's face showed on the windowpane. "... baka Toji!" she shouted back, happy.

"... damn that kid. She's never gonna break out of that habit." He muttered as he ran.  
He was smiling though, even as the door opened.

"Oh, thank Shinji..." Hikari whispered as she followed. "Are you all right?"

There were fifteen children hiding inside the house. The sergeant had to admit, at  
seeing the inside... better than a shelter. "Hop to! Let's set up a perimeter!" he said  
to his unit. Then to Nozomi; "We're going to send the people we find here, is that all  
right?"

"Da Book sez; da strong is to protect da weak. Dis house is strong. It's all o'key."

"Oh?" He grinned. What nice kids...

"Sergeant..."

"Yes, Suzuhara?"

"If you send someone to NEON STARS GUNSELLING, I think you can get your hands on  
some more bolt rifles. The gunsmith there is one of the few actually licensed to make  
these things and bolt ammo. He's kinda stuck in the second floor though." He chuckled  
a bit at the irony. "All those guns on display are useless anyway... unloaded and all.  
Tell him I sent you, and he should give up a few... he might gripe a lot about it though."

"Should I be disturbed about how a kid like you is mixed up in all of this?"

He grinned. "Hey, welcome to Tokyo 3."

-o-  
-o-

"Dammit, baka Shinji! Wake up!" Slap! Slap! "Wake up... we don't have time to waste,  
remember? Wake up..."

His cheeks reddened, but otherwise showed no sign of recovering. His body was cold,  
his face ashen; were it not for a weak pulse and the occasional rise and fall of his  
chest, Asuka could believe him dead. She grimaced and stepped back, letting his head  
fall back onto Rei's lap.

"Dammit... what's wrong with you?" She touched the pendant under her shirt again.  
"What... what are you?"

"Human." Rei responded with nary a beat.

"You're kidding." Asuka turned and stared at her with a sardonic glare. "I'm not blind. I  
saw that. No human could do that...! This is what you were hiding from me? Shinji...  
he's an Angel isn't he?"

Rei shook her head. "No, pilot Sohryu. Shinji-kun is actually more human than you or  
me. Tests prove this."

"You don't really expect me to believe that, do you?"

Rei sighed. "How shall I explain...?" She stroked his forehead. Asuka couldn't help but  
to notice how full of affection that gesture was. "Ikari Shinji is the only one of us who  
was born of man and woman. You were born of your mother, from the chosen genetic  
material of some of the finest examples of the male in the species."

The red-haired girl nodded. Since she was small, it had always been drilled to her how  
special she was. Her father, her mother's first husband, tried to do his duties. There  
was just an impossibility of true affection there, though. Her entire existence was a  
slap to his pride. As it was to many other children... her defense against being teased  
for lacking a human sire was that same specialness; she had to be superior to their  
random genetic drift.

"I have never known a mother or father. You were born to pilot the Eva, Sohryu... I  
was -made- to pilot the Eva. If you must call someone an abomination of the enemy,  
let it be me. For I was made of human and angel DNA, crafted, grown, honed into my  
duty. Much as my Unit Zero was a prototype, so was I... as much as my Evangelion  
was insufficient... so was I..."

Asuka blinked. Rei was clearly sad. It was the furthest hint of emotion she'd ever seen  
from the other girl. She just -knew- she was supposed to sympathize, but she just  
couldn't feel it. It reinforced her feelings of superiority, and she was also ashamed of  
that. In the end she chose a polite "I'm sorry..."

"You hold the highest synch ratio, pilot Sohryu. You were born on December 3, 2001.  
Your mother... again, how shall I say..." She sighed again. "The Evangelion Unit Two  
was made just for you. At the same time, you were made for Unit Two."

The girl narrowed her gaze. "What are you implying...?"

"You also have Angel DNA spliced into you. It is but a tiny portion of your overall DNA  
code, but it allows you easier control over you Eva. It would have been a simple task  
during the fertilization process."

Asuka's hand flashed up towards Rei's face... but the girl held back, even as the other  
pilot did not even flinch. She grit her teeth and clasped her hands to her chest. She  
took deep breaths and glared... she was lost in the many different things to say.

"Ikari. Sohryu. Akagi. These are the women who made the Evangelion. Ikari Yui made  
me so that normal humans would not have to suffer. I was made as a vessel for that  
suffering. I was a failure in that regard. You were give only the slightest boost, and  
in that you are a better result."

"You're lying..." she hissed. "I'm not a freak. My mother would never do that...!"

Rei tilted her head to the side. "Would she not?"

Momma. That doll. Asuka forced back her tears. Yes. She would. Her mother was just  
that brilliant. She was also that much obsessed with the Eva. Even when Yui Ikari had  
died; Kyoko Zepellin-Sohryu dared to take the test herself. Either it was her own ego  
seeking to prove its superiority, or that she disdained anyone's interference in her own  
work... she let nothing stop her. Only Kyoko could command Kyoko.

Her mother hanging there... her empty human shell...

"I can't be..." It had the ring of truth to it, though. NERV had never been a very moral  
organization. Humanity as a whole seemed their plaything... their doll! "You have to be  
lying..."

"It is a simple matter of asking Doctor Akagi. She should know of it." Rei shrugged very  
slightly. "In any case, it does not matter. You are still human by all definitions, pilot  
Sohryu... you may have progeny with other humans. Your genes may or may not be  
passed on. You have nothing to be ashamed of..."

"And you...?"

"My failure lies not in my lackluster synchronization. Though my Evangelion is that less  
agile, this vessel is made to... endure. Crude as my Eva may be, but a low sync ratio  
meanst it may also take greater punishment. This flesh of mine lives... fights... but is  
in the end meaningless. They hoped for an evolutionary leap." She huffed. "I am sterile."

Asuka looked up. "What?" They... was that part of their plan? What could they have  
been thinking of? Only then did it filter into her mind... wait...! Made by Yui Ikari?

"I am the first and will be the last of my kind." I apologize ahead of time, Asuka; but I  
will have Nagisa's head on my pointy stick.

"... so that's your secret." Asuka replied softly, looking down. She felt... what should  
she be feeling? She wanted to know, she wanted all the ugly truths... and she had it  
at last. Should she hate them? She only felt empty. "What about Shinji...?"

"Shinji Ikari was born of man and women, normal humans... or as normal physiologically  
as they can be. Mentally, I would not be able to say. I can sense Angels, pilot Sohryu  
and even you... earlier today, that feeling you had... that was the AT-field. You have  
for so long simply ignored such feelings... I can, and you can, because our own souls  
resonate to that terrible essence. Shinji-kun, however..."

"It shouldn't be possible. THAT shouldn't be possible..." Her face twitched. "It doesn't  
make sense!" Par for the course, actually. Goddamn Tokyo 3! Fucking weird-magnet  
Japan! She groaned out. "Are you SURE... if his mother made you, then couldn't she  
have messed with him a little bit?"

"Shinji Ikari was born on June 6, 2001. This implies he was concieved in the middle of  
last year, near Second Impact on September 13, 2000." The idea that he was seeded  
on the very moment of Impact and the death of billions discomfited her. "You must  
also discard the idea of Angels attacking if you must think that way... it can only be  
reasonable if Second Impact could somehow be predicted ahead of time. You and I  
however, are the fruit of that frightening realization... that man was not even close  
to being a master of his own world."

"And that... is his secret." Asuka sat down, leaning against the bulkhead door. "It's a  
lot to take in all at once." She let out another small groan. "I think I understand. If the  
others knew about this... that bastard... it can't end well for Shinji. I wouldn't go so  
far as to say they'll cut him open to see what makes him tick, but Gendo would keep  
him away from the Eva wouldn't he?"

"Shinji-kun cares for you deeply, pilot Sohryu. He and I treasure this friendship that  
we have. Together we are the defenders of humanity. This is why we thought it best  
if you did not know. Can he still be your friend after this? Do you despise me now?"

"... I hated you two anyway. I cherish you anyway. No, not really... this doesn't really  
change anything." Human... "Just human..."

"If you are pondering what I am pondering, Sohryu, then let me say- yes. It is possible  
to emulate to some extent what pilot Ikari is capable of. It does seem to require some  
measure of insanity though." She looked away. "I know of only one other person who is  
capable of mastering an AT-field without being an Angel."

Asuka's eyes widened. Could it be?

"And it is not Nagisa."

Asuka narrowed her gaze. "Were you spying on me?"

"Are you a princess or an Eva pilot? Surely you understand, this is Tokyo 3. Did you  
really hope for privacy?"

"Heh. I guess not." She shrugged again. "How are you going to hide this though? You  
can't keep it secret anymore... that damage is done, you can't expect them not to  
investigate."

Rei let a long pause drift by. "What damage?" she asked, finally.

"Oh, come on. That whole door-melting thing? It reminded me of that tunneling Angel,  
actually. Ritsuko would recognize that..." She sent the beam of her flashlight over to  
the broken doors.

She blinked.

Asuka ran over, unwilling to believe her eyes. She ran her hand over the metal, and  
tapped at it. There was a solid return. "No way...!" she breathed. The doors were as  
before, not even a scratch. "Did we just imagine it...?"

_'No... because we're -here-, and we were OVER THERE...!' She _turned back and shone  
her light upon Shinji, lying there motionless like a corpse. Asuka's expression held a  
certain realization. Kaworu had given to her the Greater Good. Shinji... had nothing to  
offer her except her own power. She felt a certain hunger well up in her being. "What  
is he...?" she asked again.

"I know what an Angel is, and he is not." Rei replied evenly. "He is either Man or a God.  
There is nothing in between."

The last door opened slowly, grinding. Beyond was brightly-lit. Asuka winced at the  
change in light level.

"Oh, there you are..." Ritsuko said.

"Shinji-kun!" gasped Maya. "What happened to him?"

"He was injured." Rei responded simply.

Ritsuko just groaned. There would be no end to the troubles; just as they got the  
MAGI almost functioning again! "Looks like we have no choice but to mobilize with you  
girls. Let's get him to the infirmary."

It had gone on long enough that the nation had some idea of what was happening in  
Tokyo 3. Without the Evas, the UN forces had nothing in their plans other than to drop  
an N2 mine into Tokyo 3, given as the enemy didn't seem to possess an AT-field. That  
was vetoed quickly.

Scout VTOLs were quickly shot down by darts of dark bone as soon as they entered  
a two-kilometer airspace. The sky was dark, some stars already out.

Kaworu laughed. He stood on top of a tall building, watching over the destruction.  
"So much... DEATH!" he shouted in glee. "Such glorious death!"

Little beings, these Lillim. In breeding so quickly, their survival method was to ensure  
that at least some of the species would escape. That was not so different from mice  
and other small prey. And yet they thought to assign such importance to the individual  
anyway...! How foolish. They dared to believe they were ultimate -predators- in their  
world.

He laughed and laughed. This is reality, little creatures. These are the true predators,  
the greatest and most terrible race to ever grace the stars.

He stopped suddenly, though his amusement didn't diminish. "Oh?" Kaworu grinned even  
more. "So he's awake."

-o-  
-o-

"Can we launch with our limited power?" Fuyutsuki asked. "Running off battery charge,  
I never thought NERV would have to take power from the Eva..."

"We can't use the linear launcher, but there is the path that the Trident used to get  
down here." Ritsuko reported. "Only the core command center has power, from four  
expanded Eva battery packs. Two more to operate the elevators. That leaves the  
other two Evangelions with emergency power of five minutes each, and Unit One with  
the Titan modules' unremovable shoulder power packs, which give it six hours... but  
we're also draining that with every second we've got lights on here in the Eva cages."

"Where is the Third Child?" asked Gendo.

"Unfortunately, he shows signs of extreme fatigue and shock. There are also injuries  
consistent with having fallen from a high place, though no bones were broken."

"Use Unit One to provide power, then. Launch Evas Zero and Two."

Her reply was cut off as a small commotion on the end of the observation gantries  
drew her attention. She saw there surrounded by NERV workers unwilling to touch  
him, was Shinji Ikari. His look was haggard, and he hobbled to them on crutches.

Evangelion Unit Two turned its head, and Asuka's voice issued forth. "What the hell  
are you doing here, Shinji? We can handle this...!"

"Yes. There is no further need to strain yourself." The orange Eva added.

Shinji ignored them, heading over directly to Gendo. Both Ikaris stared at each other  
with measuring glares. "Let me fight, father." he said. "I know what's happening out  
there. I need to pilot the Eva."

"In your condition? Ridiculous." Gendo stared down at the spectacle of utter weakness.  
"You are not needed here. Go."

Shinji turned to Ritsuko. "My physical condition doesn't matter...! It's all about synch  
with the Eva, right? Only -Principio Eternus- has the excess power. At least I can try  
to deploy its AT-field to help."

"Well, that -is- true... the body doesn't really matter, only the connection." That was  
the whole point of the Dummy Plugs, after all. There need not be a whole body inside.  
"It's too risky..."

"The risk is immaterial compared to letting that Angel kill even more with every passing  
minute."

"There is a time for strategy, there is a time for tactics..." Fuyutuki said aside. "And  
there is a time for brute force." In a lower tone "Ikari. When it comes to beating an  
enemy quickly... the boy does it best. You know this."

"Hey, if I had the chainaxe, it would be different. But I don't see a problem with it. His  
Eva does have more immidiate power available to it, and that's one big enemy. By the  
time we get up there, we would barely have enough power to do anything." Asuka put  
in, shrugging unconcerned.

She looked at her own right hand, clenching and opening it up again and again. She  
was a human; having her own power. Humans... as soon as they knew something was  
possible, they would find a way. She could be a god. She grinned savagely.

"If you can get our Evas external power, we can head out on the linear catapult to  
help or be here in reserve in case he fails, to defend the Geofront. "

"I concur with Sohryu..." Rei added. "It is a sound tactical consideration."

"LAUNCH ME, DAMMIT!" Shinji shouted, his voice hoarse. "FATHER! PLEASE!"

Gendo tightened his expression and looked away.

The Evangelion rose into a city that was burning. That was the only light to break  
apart the darkness. Shrieks and screams were carried by the night winds.

The Evangelion roared. -Principio Eternus- was angry.

Matariel was tall and for its size nearly unseen; so dark in itself. It was weeping acid,  
eating into the layers of armor plate over the geofront. It stopped and turned, its  
great eye blinking. It shot long eyelash barbs at the Eva.

Shinji raised his AT-field. The darts just passed through, phase-shifting through phase-  
shifted space, and lodged deep into the Evangelion's chest and arm armor. The pain  
was excruciating. Poison and nerve toxins were mixing with the LCL. He stood there  
unmoving.

He was looking at a slumped silhouette. He switched on lamps on Titanicus armor. The  
lucky Ultramarine blue of Trident Land Dreadnought was scarred and scorched. "Mana!"  
he shouted. He could see her...! The command compartment of -Magnos Tancred- was  
torn open, and there she was bloody and unmoving and unhearing. _'Mana... live. Please  
be alive...'_

The Angel released more white pods, and these fell upon the Evangelion. They all then  
exploded. The Eva remained still.

"...shinji-kun."

_'So many dead... I am the hope and the fury of man. And I can't bring back the dead.'_

Matariel lifted a leg, the tip of that sharp beyond measure. It was massive, a spear  
to cut through any armor. It stabbed at the Eva's chest, so fast!

The Master Chainsword sang, and lopped off the tip just as it was just about to reach.  
The Evangelion slid back, taking the sudden weight. Instead of being impaled had stuck  
the Vulcan MegaBolter into the oozing cavity. Shinji pulled the trigger.

And Matariel screamed. Its leg right up to the joint was shredded to pieces.

It fell.

All the Angelspawn screeched angrily.

And -Principio Eternus- roared! Its fury greater than it had ever let free before! It set  
the light of its soul unsealed to the furthest reaches. All felt it.

A man stopped all thought, even as an Angelspawn was chewing on his arm. That too,  
had paused. "He's here at last..." he wept.

And the creature that had killed his wife, then was eating him alive just... exploded. He  
was drenched in orange goo.

All over the city, every Angelspawn abruptly ceased to be.

And -Principio Eternus- leapt. Its chainsword singing its litany of fury, the Evangelion  
landed upon Matariel's massive discoid body. The Evangelion knew the enemy was big.  
Too big. Its core... where is its core? It couldn't kill the enemy so simply. Not even  
all three Evas could destroy it in one shot. The enemy had prepared for that.

No matter. The Evangelion snarled. It tossed away the MegaBolter, unlatched the  
Master Chainsword from its bracer and held it two-handed. Matariel let out a "Skree!"  
of angry warning.

And -Principio Eternus- cut into the Angel and began to -tear it to pieces- from the  
inside. The Angel screamed. It whithed and rolled, in unimaginable pain...! Deep within  
the Evangelion cut and slashed and ripped and teared and everyone could feel its rage  
and its despair.

Kaworu winced, and walked away. One more sacrifice for the eventual victory of his  
kind. Ikari was strong. It would be good to have that strength.

The Angel died messily, but nothing Shinji Ikari could do would ever make things all  
right again.

-Principio Eternus- broke through the eye, and back to the street; steaming with Angel  
acid. It roared again, but this time in anguish. It no longer felt the light of the being  
within it.

-o-

-o-

-o-  
-o-

End Cry For Me, Tokyo 3 part three

-o-

-o-  
-o-

-o-

-o-  
-o-

* * *

And from this point on, very little will remain to canon. Oh, god. The pun. Deus Ex Machina. I just had to use that.

And yes, Mana's alive. You can rest easy on that point.


	21. Chapter 20: An Inquiry into Values part1

An Inquiry into Values part one

-o-

-o-

Not even the moment of Second Impact could match the terror of February 15, 2015.  
The sorrows out of that day only bit deeper by its directly following a day of love  
and longing. Those lives, those smiles of yesterday were gone forever... if February  
14 was a day of hearts, then February 15 was red with spilled blood.

Yet the world kept on turning. People... slowly yet almost immidiately tried to get up  
and rebuild their lives. Although the overall damage was not so much compared to the  
carnage of Second Impact, no one dared to point that out. After such a time, nearly  
fifteen years to bury those memories, that sudden tragedy etched raw into their being.

If only they could forget, or cut deep enough into the hurt that it would just... stop.

The Angel corpse was quickly cut up and disposed of. The streets were cleaned, and  
damaged buildings were sealed off. Bulldozers were ever on the move, and the sounds  
of construction filled the silence left by absent happy voices. Quickly, the city and its  
people remade themselves as if they had never suffered... but as much as things tried  
to look the same, the small changes only made the city utterly alien to their eyes.

Mana Kirishima awoke to the sound of crickets, which remained the same. She looked  
up an an unfamiliar ceiling. She blinked. She could only move her head, and even that  
was laborious.

Dakka.

Screech.

The sounds were still fresh to her ears. Everything felt dull... her mind, her heart...  
Thoughts flicked here and there, unnoticed and unforeseen. She felt there was a thing  
she had to remember, something important... but it was gone, and leaving her forlorn  
and frustrated. Something bright. Winged and terrible.

Some time later, a nurse walked in. She gasped upon seeing her conscious. "Kirishima-!"  
She moved over to the bed, and her face was kindly... but then when close enough  
she flinched, either in fear or disgust. Mana saw that. "Do you feel any pain?"

"Mngaa..." moaned Mana. I feel sedated. "Guh." She took deep, difficult breaths.

The nurse put a hand to the girl's forehead, and slowly stroked through her hair. "Don't  
worry about anything right now... just rest." Her gaze was full of pity.

"... did... we... win?" It took all of the girl's strength just to ask.

"You were magnificent."

Mana closed her eyes and seemed exhausted. Nonetheless, she continued with "...my  
friends... Shinji?"

"Hush... don't fill your mind with unnecessary things. Just rest..."

Mana Kirishima was already asleep again.

"... poor girl." the nurse whispered. "No one should have to suffer like this."

-o-  
-o-

Rome, the eternal city, existed just barely. Italy was one of the few countries that  
opted not to move their capital. There was no Rome-2, no Vatican-2. A violent and  
thorough sacking destroyed the treasures and the glory of two millenia.

Italy had the cliche of being full of Mafia and that peculiar sense of honor. In reality, it  
was no more than Japan was in any way ruled by the Yakuza or New York/Washington  
disputes controlled by their own mobs. Ironically, it was that same Mafia mentality that  
saved the city.

Bit by bit they brought back the relics, and hunted down those that dared insult their  
familial obligations to their faith. Even if it seemed that God had turned their back on  
man, they were born as Christians and would die as Christians (or to be more precise,  
Roman Catholics). Those who killed the Pope were thrown to a mob of angry people  
and were literally torn to shreds.

This also made some economic sense. With paper money rapidly becoming worthless,  
gold and -objets d'art- worked far better a bartering medium. Someone also had the  
foresight to realize that once order asserted itself, such too would become less than  
worthless... and even a risk to keep. The government still had to care about such things,  
and thus with that bought all forgiveness for past legal sins. Also, whether or not God  
had truly turned His back on man, doing good could simply do no harm.

While also full of criminals, this ironically made Rome the safest city on Earth. Thus,  
why an old man with a strange visor, walking with a limp, was undisturbed while going  
through dark cobbled streets. Rome was a dead city, but its ancient glory was hard to  
abandon. There were still a few pilgrims that dared make the journey to the sunken  
Basilica of St. Peter.

Keel Lorenz was not headed there, however. He walked, slowly and with a very faint  
grinding noise, towards an old bistro. For that day only, it would be in business again.  
He hadn't left Germany in nearly fourteen years, and his own home for the last nine.

Three other members of SEELE were already seated on a round coffee table, and  
already appropriately drinking coffee. There was the rather long-chinned James Wright,  
a perfectly ignorable bureaucrat in the Continental Great Britain government, if one  
were not to know his ancestry. Next to him was the bear-like Ivan, deliberately filling  
into every sterotype of his people... and in that way being nearly anonymous. Of them  
the most visible was Matthew Newman Stark, number three in the list of the remaining  
billionaires in the world. Strangely enough, while both he and Ivan had full and similar  
moustaches; the Russian's could only remind someone of Stalin, he looked very much a  
younger Roosevelt.

Keel sat, the chair groaning under his cyborg weight. It was the first time in fifteen  
years that the architects of SEELE had seen each other face to face.

"Things... are not as we have foreseen." he opened.

"Richelieu is dead." replied Wright, or SEELE UK. The only reason he agreed to attend  
the unconventional meeting was because his French counterpart was dead. They were  
of those who would willingly work together, but kill each other on sight. "I can't say he  
wasn't warned... taking too much interest in Tokyo 3, he left himself open."

That made the American flinch. Unlike the others, he couldn't just... disappear into the  
protection of ignominy. If even being SEELE couldn't protect them, what could?

"We should slap down Ikari now, yes?" growled Ivan. "NERV is getting too far out of  
control. Ikari is just one man. We could still do this with a new Commander, even if it  
would be harder."

"Unfortunately, with Tokyo 3 as it is, removing him is all but impossible." sighed out  
Lord Wright.

"Why not? NERV lapsed in its protection of Tokyo 3. We timed the shutdown to that,  
no? It is the perfect excuse to take out Ikari, for his incompetence..."

"Some collateral damage was expected. In there, however... the fear is real. There is  
no one else with the same knowledge to handle NERV or the Angels. Putting anyone  
else in place can only end badly; the threat of humanity's destruction is also too real."

"Then what about that Fuyutsuki...?"

"The old man follows like a dog, in the footsteps of his student. It's pathetic..." said  
Stark. "NERV America has finished contrusction of Eva Unit Three. We can try putting  
leverage on Ikari... make no mistake, he MUST and WILL be punished."

The hard thwack of his cane on the table silenced them all. "For fifteen years, we  
did not dare to speak face to face. Yet here we are. Do you really think I would call  
you here just for mere discussion of -Ikari-?" said Keel, steely.

"I remember the last time we met like this, it was about Ikari... but a different one."  
muttered Lord Wright. "But do say... why have we gathered here?"

"Do you remember the prophecies?"

"Da." said Ivan.

"Not offhand, no." replied Stark. "I do remember the gist of it."

"Say to me the passages that set the soul to searching." Keel said, looking even more  
grim.

The three SEELE spoke at once. "Then the Gods said; let us REMAKE man in our image  
... And Yahweh said to the Elohim; The man has now become like one of us AND in  
knowing of good and evil..."

"The secreted Torah seemed to imply the recognition of other gods, simply that the  
Hebrews were not allowed to worship them." The SEELE from continental UK chuckled.  
"It is the supreme irony of the modern age, that religion is proven to be -factual-, in  
both mono- and the poly-theistic. They had it right, the God revealed to us creates...  
of the world and man - only, not the universe."

"It is false, that we refer to what we want as Third Impact. It should be Fourth, no?"

"No." sighed Stark. "Accuracy is immaterial compared to getting our stories straight,  
even the slightest slip of the tongue can prove fatal."

"As it happened already..." Wright put in. He turned to Keel. "So, teacher, why DID you  
call us all the way out here?"

"Things are not proceeding as planned..." the old man said slowly. "You still have your  
translations. I decided to look at the original material again. I checked the translations.  
There can be no mistake... the prophecies have changed."

"Changed?" The Russian SEELE scowled mightily. "What do you mean changed?"

"Do you mean the actual WORDS on the PAPYRUS?" Lord James Wright howled out,  
wild-eyed.

Lorenz Keel nodded. "Lambskin." he corrected.

"... how is that possible?" The old man resisted the strange urge to speak of quantum  
dickery; being undignified for his age and station to resort to such colloquialisms.

Matthew Stark leaned forward. "The how is inconsequential compared to the what...  
so what changed?"

Keel sighed and tapped his cane on the stones. "What was once certainty is now... at  
best, maybe. We may no longer rely upon the distant knowledge of the dead."

The American leaned back, and took off his glasses. "This is terrible." he breathed.

"No. It is merely fair." the head of SEELE countered, his ever-present frown actually  
fading a little. "While it is true the prophecies started us moving, for too long have we  
relied upon the forgotten wisdom of a forgotten age as a crutch. Now we must move  
forward with our own feet... and earn that power."

Ivan smirked. "Ikari does not know of this. He does not have the originals..."

"And as such will try to follow an obsolete scenario..." Stark began to laugh now. "He  
can no longer even entertain the hope of harming us."

Lord Wright pondered afar. "What about the boy?"

"The prophecy had changed. He is no longer the Messiah." Keel replied. By definitions,  
a messiah was a deliverer, or that which takes away the sins of the world. Speaker for  
a higher power. The words had changed; the old translation used -messiah- as the  
expected deliverer and king of the Hebrews. Now it had changed to merely the young  
king, a generic term. Far less dangerous.

The fact that it had changed once means it could change again. Keel in all his cyborg  
botherings wished he had a 'turn off migraine' button.

-o-  
-o-

Ritsuko, among her many doctorates, was a full medical doctor... neurosurgery and of  
course general practice as well. She pushed her chair away from her MAGI terminal and  
stretched out. She turned to Maya, with a loving look. That, however, was directed  
towards the pot of brewed coffee held in her hands.

"So, little Kirishima woke up?" she commented after drinking some of the wake-up brew.  
"Why did you feel the need to bring this to my attention, Maya?"

"Oh, surely you're curious too, sempai. For her injuries, waking up after only three  
weeks is... heartening. You did supervise her operation, after all."

"I admit that the other establishment builds well, but when it comes to biomachinery...  
NERV still reigns supreme." Ritsuko put down her cup and tsk'ed. "Pity young Ikari isn't  
so lucky."

"Nothing's wrong with him, right? Why won't he wake up?"

"There are many... factors... why someone would remain comatose. Forcingly waking  
him up may prove a fatal disruption to his system." She sighed. "It's actually better  
for him this way."

Maya frowned slightly. "Now why would you say that, sempai?"

"It's only been three weeks. There's the clean-up, the funerals, all the rebuilding... all  
the grief-fueled recriminations... at least he was saved all that. People are adapting,  
slowly... but they're moving on. The worst of it against has had time to settle down..."

"Shinji-kun would blame himself greater than whatever they could hurl at him." Maya  
added softly. "You're right, sempai. He'd try to bear it all. But I don't know if I could  
just watch him do that..."

"We're all hurting, Maya."

Despite being the direct victim of sabotage, NERV had actually come off unscathed  
from the attack. However, there wasn't one who didn't know someone who had either  
died or evacuated. NERV was at critical short staff. There was just too much to do.

Ritsuko moaned as she felt soft hands flowing upon her back, neck, and shoulders.  
Oh, yeah... she hadn't gone home for the past five days, sleeping on the couch in  
her office. Ohh. She needed that.

Knock. Knock.

"Ooy, Rits-chan...!"

"Go away, Misato. It's not really a threesome if its girl on girl on girl."

"Sempai...!" Maya gasped, her sensibilities offended.

Misato laughed heartedly. "Don't worry, I think I can keep Kaji away a while longer; for  
his health." There were those that sought refuge in the seriousness of their work. It  
seemed Ritsuko, with Maya's influence, was no longer one of those people. Whether or  
not the rumors were true was not important. At least, after a long while, Ritsuko was  
capable of joking again.

To Misato, it looked more like sisterly affection than anything, really. While they were  
best friends, she couldn't really help Ritsuko that way. There were very few who could  
actually understand what the hell the fake blond was saying when she was going at it  
full steam. Of those that could, there was always some professional resentment over  
her achievements. Maya however, could listen without being competetive. She filled  
that desperate loneliness that lurked inside Ritsuko, always having to think twice about  
what she had to say; always simplifying it, always walking around faces unknowing of  
their mortal destiny.

"So... for what do you need the MAGI now, hmm?" the scientist asked, the light off the  
monitor reflecting macabre off her lenses. One of NERV's many ways to gather loose  
funding was to lease MAGI processing time. With the demands of rapid reconstruction  
though, it was just all the more work for no real pay. Even just sorting through which  
was most important of the tasks to assign was menial, mind-melting duty... which  
unfortunately she had to do.

"Actually, sorry, I need to take Maya off your hands again. Remember how as fast as  
people are evacuating, our population density's actually increasing?"

"The NNHIS/JSSDF base, yes; the one they're starting to call NERV Front Line." She  
shrugged. "The demographic is certainly shifting."

"They need someone to look over the Trident project, and at all the technologies we  
contributed. They really want you over there, but..." Misato shrugged. "Call it politics.  
NERV can't seem to run around at their beck and call. Those guys seem to really like  
Maya too... actually I feel asking for you is just an inderect way of getting Maya-chan  
over there."

The lieutenant grinned sheepishly. She was programmer and Admin/God over the Eva  
Battle Simulator, now with the -Magnos Tancred- Expansion Pack. They're going to  
beg her to be networked in, again? She sighed. Boys and their toys.

Her face hardened suddenly. Kirishima... Shinji. The Eva. It was never a game.

-o-

Higher up at the command center, it was time for the shift change. NERV's employee  
structure was... impacted... by the disaster, with many choosing to flee the city. At  
the same time however, more applications flooded in; wheter they were in honest  
attempts to help or moles from other agencies, those that remained had to take even  
greater responsibility. The three lieutenants couldn't really be promoted any further  
without impinging on the status quo, but they had to perform more for the sake of  
their respective superiors. Maya to Ritsuko, Makoto to Misato, and Shigeru... oddly  
enough... to Kozo Fuyutsuki; serving as a drop box for NERV formalities.

As the three had more work to do, the relatively make-work task of manning the NERV  
command stations when not under attack was left to other, younger officers. "Thank  
you for all your hard work...!" the three young women made the perfunctory greeting.  
They had always been there, but only now were they actually paid any attention to.

"Aa." Makoto Hyuga responded numbly. He turned to his colleauge. "I'll be heading off  
ahead."

"H-hey! Makoto! Dammit...!" The other NERV lieutenant was already off, clutching at  
his work folder and walking off with deceptive speed. "Stupid fool..." Shigeru muttered.

"What's up with him?" asked Kaede Agano, who looked very young and tomboyish  
specially with her short pageboy haircut. She seemed barely more than a teenager and  
still acted like it sometimes. "Hyuga-sempai... he's usually more even-tempered than  
that."

Although it was inevitable she'd be compared to Maya Ibuki in both looks, intellect and  
demeanor; she actually held Makoto's station. Their triad as the secondary crew was  
being pushed into the forefront, and to her... the original three 'bridge bunnies' were  
each heroes of their own. Makoto was supposed to be the sane leader-type of them,  
since he was adjutant to Misato Katsuragi. Unlike her friends who felt like they had  
something to prove, she was content to just follow in his footsteps.

The comparisons to Maya were perhaps apt, but she never had the daring to act on  
her crush. Competing against Misato-san? Impossible. She was just so much... of a  
woman. Misato was everything Kaede wanted to be, but it was hopeless; she thought.

"Well... rumor has it that he was the one who opened the door into an elevator, and  
found inside Captain Katsuragi and UN Representative Ryouji in a... compromising  
position..." said Aoi Mogami. She adjusted her eyeglasses and grinned lasciviously.

Her hair was sleek and dark, framing her face nicely. Most people remembered the  
mole on her chin though, disturbing the symmetry of her face. She was eldest of the  
three, though that didn't mean much, and was often called upon to remind them of  
their priorities. She loved knowledge, specifically illicit knowledge, and held on to every  
bit of gossip she could hang on to. She sat in Shigeru's chair; and both NERV officers  
shared a certain undemanding understanding about the foibles of the people around  
them.

"You mean...!" gasped Satsuki Ooi. Her hair was long, flowing, and a pale brown. She  
stood tall and fair, her looks from her mixed parentage. Like her friends, also still single  
despite no lack of attempts to find a man. Irony has it that her family name (Ooi) and  
her friend's first name (Aoi) sounded too similar... and they were nearly opposite in  
looks and personality as well. "... they were doing THAT in the dark?"

Despite her party-girl demeanor, she was actually capable of brilliant concentration.  
Her understanding of the MAGI was less... esoteric than the other two who worked  
mainly with it, but in a pinch she could redirect systems and start up the Eva with  
practiced ease. Satsuki was even more of a romantic than Maya was actually, and  
that was what hurt her most in her expectations out of men.

"It would have been better if Makoto found them that way..." said Shigeru, with a very  
disdainful flick of his own long hair. He stared intently at Kaede, until she blushed and  
looked away. "It would be too much of a shock, and that would have burned out his  
last hopes. But really... he caught them huddled together, and staring deeply into  
each other's eyes... rather cute, actually."

Aoi nodded. "I see. What with everything going on... we've forgotten that each have  
their own hopes for the future. But whatever he wants, he can't harm Misato-sempai's  
own desires." And really, with all the devastation, they only had the future as the  
talisman against despair.

Shigeru yawned and stood up. "Well, I've got to go... carry on, girls. Hang in there."

They saluted. "Yes, sir!"

-o-  
-o-

Makoto put on his thick jacket and walked out into the surface of Tokyo 3. He winced  
as a cold, sharp wind passed by. Weather's been fickle recently, with mornings and  
early afternoons unreasonably hot then always followed by a light drizzle in the early  
evening. It fit his mood perfectly.

He walked into the street. There were actually more people moving around than what  
he was used to. Most of them were employed in the various reconstruction efforts or  
aligned with the military somehow. All of them ignored the signs of NERV, as if those  
entrances didn't exist. The civilians and the paramilitary nature of NERV had always  
been separate, but never before was the difference so keen. It was a strange feeling  
to be persona non grata in your own city.

He stepped out into the main street, and paused. New concrete clashed with the old,  
marking where -Magnos Tancred- had dug its feet in, and finally fallen. He remembered  
the visceral thrill of striding down the avenue, watching the little people below from  
the monitors. One could indeed feel like an iron god among puny fleshy mortals like  
that. What could it be like, for Shinji Ikari and the other pilots, in a machine twice as  
tall and that much more powerful?

The young Ikari still slept, hiding from the world. Makoto huffed and stuck his hands  
into his pockets. Thinking about Shinji only brought him to thinking about his guardian;  
Misato Katsuragi. Pain and death, fire and destruction; he had to examine his own  
emotions in its wake. As much as he believed his own regard was of mature passion  
rather than infantuation, he had to admit... Misato's apparent comfort in the arms of  
Ryouji, and his understanding... Makoto had to admit, after all that time he really didn't  
understand her at all.

So he took that pain and pushed it down, at least he didn't have to go so far as to be  
rejected. He could still serve as her subordinate, and it would actually help more that  
way. He could whine and brood... but it would do no good. He was a man in a war  
zone, and was old enough to know that. It only left him feeling dead inside.

He sighed. It was raining again.

His jacket, NERV issue, was waterproofed on the outside. He put the hood up. People  
just flowed around him, no matter how crowded the sidewalks were.

Misato had beer. Makoto needed more intellectual means of forgetting. He was headed  
for Hinano's Manga Pack, which had miraculously just escaped being stepped on. He  
sought out living in an earlier, more innocent time instead of just knocking himself out  
from alcohol or other sundry substances.

The glass doors opened automatically. He tapped his shoes to shake off some of the  
wetness and headed in. It was still a small shop, tan walls adorned only with a few  
bright posters. There was still the conspicuous ad for Evangelion Fantasy Battle card  
games and soon, the RPG. Because the owner had refused to bring that down out of  
respect (and some justified resentment), even during the week-long mourning period,  
the store had little customers.

"Hey, Hyuga." the owner greeted him. "You gonna buy something this time? This isn't  
a library, you know."

"I already have most of everything in this store..." he responded, smiling faintly. "I'm  
the only one in this damn city that appreciates the classics, neh?"

"Not anymore you're not. My stocks of Miyazaki just got ordered up en masse. Also  
most of the fantasy titles that don't suck. Giant robos, too... but they sent back the  
ones too techy or fanboyish."

Makoto blinked. "Who did?"

"Why don't you ask her?" he pointed over to a row of shelves, and at a woman there  
browsing through. "She was waiting for you..."

"... why?"

"You know what, I don't really give a damn." The pudgy old man grinned and turned  
away. Watching the kicked-puppy expression of his most loyal customer over the week  
was starting to pain even him. He knew that look... well, the lad was due for some good  
luck anyway.

Makoto went over to the fantasy section. The woman was of average height, willowy  
and her hair was pulled back into a single ponytail. She was fowning slightly as she  
browsed through the shelves... picking up and putting down art books. The lieutenant  
eventually classed that irritation as... envy?

He coughed. She jerked slightly in surprise. "My name is Makoto Hyuga. I understand  
you had some sort of business with me?"

She turned and looked at him; her eyes keen and assimilating. 'Geeky' was her first  
thought as she saw him. Behind those lenses however, shone out a certain deadly  
determination; as expected from someone working for NERV. He exuded intelligence  
but pitiful harmlessness, until one goes under his gaze. Excellent. Just what she had  
hoped to find.

"Hyuga-san?"

"That's me, yes..." he said softly but somewhat curtly.

"My name is Horaki Kodama, and I work for -"

"Arashi-mi Animation. Evangelion Fantasy Battle." he finished. "You're one of the  
concept artists." In the overseas release, it was listed as Mini-storm Studios in the  
title credits.

She perked up. "Oh, you know me already?"

He sighed. "You're a Horaki. Everybody knows." He saw her droop a little; riding on the  
coat-tails of her little sister's popularity wasn't something that brought her any joy,  
even if it made things convenient. "What do you need, Horaki-san?"

"Well... you already know I work for EFB. Before we start work on the sequel, we'd  
like NERV's approval of the script and the RPG sources. We are using actual names,  
after all... yours, too. Ideally, we'd like the pilots to look it over... but..."

"Shinji. He's still unconscious." NERV had no choice but to release that information, to  
quell the clamor for his appearance. "I'm not allowed to tell you what the other pilots  
are doing at this point in time." Kodama nodded at that. "But why me?" he then asked.  
"I don't really have the authority to approve anything."

"It's not your authority that we want, Hyuga-san. It's your mind. It's your viewpoint.  
We don't want to do anything to offend NERV. Please just have a look at what we  
have?"

He sighed. "Fine, fine." He always had trouble refusing anything of a woman that asks  
nicely; whatever it was. I hate being the nice guy; he thought.

-o-  
-o-

Eventually they had to take her off the medication. Mana was careful not to abuse the  
painkillers provided. Hours crawled by, the same as the last; in that way did she pass  
the days of her recovery. Hospitals... suck. Finally she understood. It wasn't to avoid  
death that her military friends were so careful, but rather to avoid being held captive  
in such a place.

Finally, she had a visitor. She gave the nurse 'are you nuts?' look when it was said  
that she didn't have to be disturbed if she didn't feel up to it. Better anything than  
staring into the ceiling... any more and she'd have to construct separate personalities  
just to give herself some conversation.

In fact, she was already trying. There was a distant piece of her she liked to call 'the  
Kommissar'. She had the rank, after all. She was still unsure about what, precisely, a  
Commissar does when she's not piloting a giant robot.

It was General Akira who came in, his normally fierce face drooping despondent. Mana  
and her two friends fell under the direct command of General Asagiri, but it was he  
who was so insistent on supporting Ikari. It was he who lobbied for the Trident Land  
Dreadnought program, and it was he who had decided that teenage pilots as a face  
to counter NERV's was essential. It was he who decided that it was okay to send  
these talented children to their deaths.

She slowly moved to get up, but he held up a hand to say she didn't have to. He sat  
by a chair near her bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked slowly.

"Well enough, sir."

"Don't worry about anything for now. Just rest and concentrate on healing." he added.

"With all due respect, sir, there's nothing ELSE for me to do but worry. The fact that  
we're all still here means we won. But... no one would tell me anything of my friends  
and Shinji Ikari. They way they're avoiding the question..." Her voice was dead of all  
emotions. "Sir. If my friends were alive then at the least they would be in this room  
with me."

He winced. "That doesn't necessarily mean..."

"Yes. Or no."

He sighed. "Their sacrifice will never be forgotten..."

Mana put a hand up to her chest. She'd been expecting that... she said that over and  
over to herself, that knowing wouldn't change anything... but it still hurt! Worse than  
her own physical pain. She grimaced. Her heart felt like exploding...

She couldn't shut out the sounds. The screeches.

"It's all right..." said the general. "Let it all out. There's nothing to be ashamed of. If  
you need someone to blame... it's all my fault. I pushed you into this. I'm sorry."

She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. Without them beside her; without Musashi to all  
but panic in finding out what's wrong and Keita to tell that things will be just fine...  
she feared that if she started to cry she just would never be able to stop.

Mana choked. "Sir... with all due respect, shut up. Don't rob them of the meaning in  
their deaths! They made their choice, the same way I did. We knew the risks. Are we  
your dolls to throw around, are you our God that we don't have our own will? Can you  
decide to die for us instead...?"

She stared down at her right hand, opening and closing it; finally into a fist which she  
held out straight level at his face.

"We're soldiers. You made us that. You knew that it was inevitable... someone must  
die. Even if we were intended for command... so we should be murderers instead?"

"Kirishima, it's not that simple. The command structure exists not for some to escape  
responsibility but that up to the top all must be held accountable." Conventional  
wisdom would have him just accept her loyalty. That was the foundation of realpolitik.  
The exercise of power however, quickly proved insufficient beside the actual power of  
holding a gun. The web of debts, loyalties and favors quickly collapsed in the wake of  
Impact. "No matter the context, it's just -wrong- to expect children to die when adults  
caused the problem in the first place."

Mana painfully pushed herself up. "I guess I'm just lucky, then." She turned to show  
him the sleeve handing uselessly off her left shoulder. "I can feel it, you know. Down  
to the ribs, my left limb is gone. They had to rebuild my shoulderblade..."

She grit her teeth and pulled at the white cloth of her hospital gown, tearing that  
empty sleeve right off. She showed him the hot pink of her scarred flesh, and shiny  
metal socket protruding out of her shoulder. "It's an expensive operation, I imagine.  
Shouldn't it be worth it? You come here with your apologies, and now you're going to  
tell me you're taking away my reason for being?

How DARE YOU, sir!

-Magnos Tancred- held the line, my friends gave their lives... no! It's too late! If you  
adults want to take up the burden, then let it be this - that we can do it better than  
you can!"

"Unlike the Evangelions, there is no specific reason why -you- should be in control.  
There are others who are just as willing to give their lives for this. Trained, hardened  
professionals... adults, ready and able to perform to the utmost. Kirishima... you've  
given enough already."

"Adults. Heh." She grinned fiercely. "Maybe. But do they know the pilots? Would they  
follow orders so easily? The problem isn't the machine, the problem isn't our age... its  
your own damned egoes that make things worse. We fought and bled, and there are  
many who can't handle the thought of us taking their rights to death and glory. It's  
not courage to step up, when we've already suffered for their sake! It's cowardice,  
unable to handle the thought that they should be branded useless. I don't care WHO  
else you send out, if they go out there thinking they should be heroes... they're just  
going to die, too!

-Magnos Tancred- CAN'T save the world. That's not what we're here for! The Trident  
is just another weapon of man, made for our own violent desires...! The Evangelions  
and their pilots are made for the purpose of KILLING Angels, and trying to compete in  
that area was already useless from the start!

Who would you send, that knows how the pilots will react? Who will NERV respect? In  
battle, who would know when to stand aside or when to hold firm? Just because I'm  
injured doesn't mean I'm an invalid...! -Magnos Tancred- needs my mind! By my own  
flesh and with the lives of my friends I have bought that right to command! They did  
not DIE just to give some glory-hounds a chance to screw up the battles that will  
decide the fate of humanity! YOU CAN'T TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME!"

General Akira chuckled darkly. "You put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?" The girl  
was of the Ender generation, crafted for the purpose of replacing tired, inflexible old  
hats like he was.

"I don't have anything else... to do... sir." she said, her strength fading.

"Relax, Kirishima. You're right. There was a lot of opposition, but your injuries weren't  
deemed sufficient to get in the way of your duty as -Tancred Commander-. Even the  
Joint Chiefs agree, the personal factor of familiarity not just with what the Trident can  
do, but what the Evangelions might be up to was too important to lose." He bowed to  
her. "Relax, Kirishima. You've earned it. Once you're well enough, you can go back to  
duty..."

"T-thank you, sir." Her eyes were finally teary.

She couldn't give up. Her friends wouldn't want her to be all weepy and useless just  
because they weren't there. She sobbed, bringing her knees up. They gave their lives  
for her, just because she insisted on fighting for Shinji. She should be dead with them.

But her life... it wasn't hers anymore. For their sake she had to be strong. For their  
promise of a lifetime, she would protect the world. She felt so cold and alone... but  
she would bear it. They loved her. Theirs was not a selfish, crippling love. They loved  
to see her succeed.

"Sashi... Keita..." she gasped out. "I'm sorry...!"

And with the tears, the memories she wanted to shut away.

-o-  
-o-

"... mana? sashi...?"

Keita coughed up blood and opened his eyes. He slowly pushed back against his chair  
and winced. That shock, that horrible tearing sound. He hurt all over. There were still  
some lights on, blinking, and that was good news. The reactor was still functioning,  
the Dreadnought didn't even need to switch into emergency power. "... sashi? Are you  
okay? Can you get us mo..."

He turned to the driver's side and stopped. There was nothing there; just a wide  
gaping hole where Matariel's leg had pierced through the armor. There was nothing left;  
not the driver's chair, not even scraps of meat.

"Sashi..." he whispered numbly. No, it can't be. Keita unlatched his seatbelts, still numb  
with shock. He crawled over to the hole, which went right through the Dreadnought,  
just missing the reactor. Red emergency lights bathed the innards of the war machine,  
like pulsing blood. "... damn it." His friend... the logical side of him knew there was no  
chance of survival. It was so sudden and so thorough. The logical side of him said that  
at least, his friend wouldn't have died in any pain.

The part of him that was just a fourteen-year old was crying. His best friend deserved  
more than just that. Struck down unknowing, like he never mattered... it wasn't fair.  
Struck down while there was still so much he could have done. Together, they were  
the Ender generation, and could have changed the world.

His eyes widened.

"Mana!" Keita looked up, and saw there Mana slumped back on her chair. He saw her  
left side was just... gone as well, charred black flesh where her left arm should be  
connected to her body. A large jagged shard of armor jabbed deep into the command  
compartment right beside her. Were it not for a subsequent explosion cautering her  
wounds quickly, her injuries would have been instantly fatal.

Musashi had a clean death. Their precious girl... he got up, worried; then winced. Only  
then did he notice his own injury... a piece of shrapnel right into the gut. He pulled it  
out and gasped at the flood of pain. He curled over, clutching his abdomen.

He heard shrieking sounds.

Keita got up, grimacing. All right; his rational side continued... infection and blood loss  
was the risk. At least his injury wasn't immidiately fatal. He could still move. He then  
stumbled over to Mana's chair. He collapsed kneeling beside her. His glasses fell off his  
face, and he made no move to recover them.

He was hearing screeches and the sounds of taloned feet upon metal. Growing closer.

Her face was white with pallor, her side was a ugly mess of burnt flesh and congealing  
blood. He put his fingers over her lips, and felt for her breath. There was, but only just  
barely. He removed his fingers and put them to his own lips.

He looked over her injuries. Although cauterized, second and third-degree burns were  
still severe injuries. She was unconscious from shock. She could still bleed to death.  
Keita began to take off his own jacket and clothes, ignoring the twinges as he moved  
his waist. His undershirt was silk, his jacket long-sleeved and made of woven cotton.

Very slowly, he slipped the shirt under her back, careful not to move her too much.  
She was so light and so delicate under his hands... he bit his lip, so suddenly angry.  
He had longed to touch her so, to simply hold her in his arms... and now that it was  
so inescapably intimate, he hated it.

"Kirishima..." he whispered. "Musashi never got a chance to tell you that he loved you.  
I don't know if you can hear me... don't die, Mana. Please don't die."

He tied the silk shirt tight and securely, the jacket over that to seal the dressing.

The sounds were coming closer, high-pitched and merciless. He looked down at her  
face, so incredibly beautiful, so completely vulnerable. He reached down to below her  
chair and opened up a recessed panel. He took out a gun; a bolt pistol to be exact.  
Thank NNHIS. They were all about unsubtle killing power.

"Mana...!" he shouted. "Don't die!" He cried as he checked the ammo and turned the  
safety off. "Sashi was never able to tell you this... so please, live, so you can hear me  
say... I love you. I'm not going to leave you. Please, don't leave me..."

He got up to his feet and faced the jagged tear into the cockpit. He winced, as the  
cold air flowed through and stabbing into his wounded, naked body.

An Angelspawn poked its beak into the cavity. It screeched.

"... I'm not hungry enough to take that dinner in Hell." Keita whispered. Naked from the  
waist up, bleeding, and nearly blind without his glasses, he stumbled forward to the  
opening. "Stay away! You won't take her! YOU WON'T HAVE HER!"

DAKKA!

The Angelspawn fell back. More screeches from below. He stood in front of the gap  
and slowly pushed through. DAKKA! to the shadows outside.

"Damn it, Sashi. This isn't my thing. But for her..."

Keita stood there as a wall between them and Mana Kirishima. There was nowhere  
else to go. Moving carelessly her could kill her. No. He refused to lose her. He had to  
keep them as far away from her as possible. _'Musashi... we swore, didn't we? We will  
protect her. Sashi... help me. Why did you have to leave? It's not fair.'_

He was a soldier. She was the superior officer. "Damn you all!" he shouted. "I love her!  
She is Mana Kirishima! SHE'S GOING TO LIVE!" He yelled incoherently as he let loose  
with wild shots. The gun bucked in his hand, he snarled and cried and didn't move even  
as the creatures fought with each other to squeeze through. Mana. Don't die. Mana.  
Don't die. I don't care what happens. Just don't die. Please.

He stepped up to better aim, as he could make out just blobby shapes through his  
pained, tear-filled sight. One of the things was getting through. Hate for them. Fear  
for her. No time, no attention for anything else.

DAKKA! "Eat THIS, fu-"

A tri-sectioned beak clamped around his arm, and the boy was dragged outside. A few  
more shots, and then silence. But the creatures then ignored whatever was still inside  
the cockpit.

Shinji Ikari arrived scant seconds later.

-o-  
-o-

Mana screamed out, loud and senseless and sending orderlies rushing into the room.  
The old general looked frantic and helpless under their accusing gazes.

She screamed and screamed, and finally...

She stopped, and took a deep breath. _'My friends didn't die for me.'_ was her thought.  
_'They were killed unfairly.'_ She could either hate herself, or those with the jaws and  
the claws that ended their lives. She winced and put a hand to her chest. Nothing her  
flesh could experience would ever hurt so deeply like that...

Someone please, take all this pain and fear away. She felt a hand upon her shoulder.  
There was no one there. She gasped for breath.

She seemed so small, so fragile...

She stopping shaking.

Komissar Kirishima looked at them, and everyone flinched away as soon as their eyes  
met. Her brown eyes had pupils narrowed to just pinpricks, her placid face tight with  
murderous intent. Here is death in loose silk shirt, sitting on a bed.

-o-  
-o-

Mini-storm Studios occupied the 14th floor in one of the tall office blocks of Tokyo 3.  
Those tall central buildings were not retractable, and instead were built to very robust  
standards. Fortunately, while Matariel had indeed crashed into them, the structures  
held admirably. There was very little damage to their storey.

As for their actual stories, that was another matter entirely. Their staff, unlike NERV,  
suffered a massive depopulation. It was bad enough that they didn't have a working  
script outline for the sequel in the first place. Hell, they didn't even have a TITLE.  
The focus upon the tabletop strategy game was the only way they could survive.

But they didn't have much on that end, either. The card game had monsters, units  
and magic cards tied together by very basic rules; the secret of its popularity apart  
from the subject matter. However, they seemed to have made a marketing mistake...  
they used it as a metaphor for warfare, not direct 'dueling'. They couldn't just hash  
off a quick card tournament plot for it... there was just something epic in the setting  
that screamed to be set free.

Kodama began to draw three spirals out of a single line. Funny, she'd never noticed  
before how their symbol looked very much like a skull. Big spiral above, two smaller  
ones underneath. All she had to do was to add a curve below, like a smile.

Everything seems to flow into thoughts of death, these days.

"Life. It is suffering." she heard.

She looked up, at Makoto Hyuga in his NERV uniform sitting on the opposite side of the  
long table. He was surrounded by papers of all sorts, and held the attention of the  
other artists and writers of the creative stable. He was frowning. "This is supposed to  
be their bible, right? In making the background, you're trying for an epic feel with all  
the Star Gods and eternity and all that... right?"

"Yes, that's right." said one of the writers.

"Sorry, but all you've accomplished is... epic fail.

_'In the beginning the world was dark and void. The Star Gods came down and sculpted  
light and life into the realm? From out of those unknown times, arose great legends  
and wonders unimaginable...'_

Seriously...? Vaugeness is the enemy. If you look at the Bible, it's how specific it is  
that actually makes it sound so distant. Even in other manga, like in Tenchi Muyo!,  
the three goddesses made the universe and then set about in their own specific and  
separate expressions of what worthy life was all about. You could try to number and  
name every Star God, but... well, if they're there since the beginning of time, then  
there should be a lot of them... or so few that they can't be killed in the first place."

"In EFB:TMP, we killed off the Burning Lord..." someone had to say. "We need some  
vaugeness so we can expand the story when we need to."

"Why are we listening to him, anyway?" someone else muttered softly. "Just because  
he's from NERV doesn't give him the authority to mess around with our work."

"Shut up, and listen..." prodded the one next to him. The NERV lieutenant so far had  
proven to be a fountainhead of ideas. They were perhaps too close to the material to  
offer any objective comparison to the other settings in anime or manga.

"Even if you try to make this sound like scripture... remember that theirs is a world  
where people live and souls all flourish only to BE EATEN later by the Star Gods. Just  
because they're Gods doesn't mean they have to be nice." continued Makoto. He held  
out the outline of their backstory. "According to this, the First City is millions of years  
old, the Second City hundreds of thousands, and the Third City tens of thousands. If  
humanity's been around that long... why didn't they EVOLVE into another form?"

"Magic?" said an animator.

"Selective culling." one of the writers commented. "The Star Gods required humanity  
to retain that form, for some reason or another. Why can't there simply be Good Gods,  
though?"

"... because a God, as we know the term from our own myths, would be eaten by the  
others. According to the source material you got, the Star Gods have no problem with  
eating stars or each other. They just seem to find mortal souls... tastier..." Makoto  
grimaced. "Damn, that's not a happy place. I'd hate to live there."

"Worse than here?" crowed a rather pudgy animator. Then, realizing what he just said;  
"Sorry..."

"The Angels just want to kill us. They don't seem to want to eat our souls." he said,  
giving an odd chuckle. "Or corrupt our bodies, set us as sacrificial pawns in long games  
against the other Star Gods, shaping entire civilizations into utopia and tear it all down  
just for that tang of despair when they finally feed."

Everyone there winced. That was the bleak reality that escaped the little kids in their  
card games. Whoever made up the EFB universe had to be deranged... brilliant but so  
uncompromisingly insane.

Kodama smirked at him. Geeky as he might appear, he quickly took on the alpha male  
status around even more nerdish dreamers. Fascinating. Not as fascinating as Shinji  
Ikari... and she still wanted to see the sheer majesty of his presence in a world all  
dedicated to his vision... but Makoto Hyuga held a certain prophetic vitality all on his  
own. "Well how would you begin it, then?" she challenged.

"Hm..." He took off his glasses and wiped them on his sleeve. Without them, he rather  
seemed younger... if his hair just wasn't slicked back, even seeming like an older look-  
alike of Shinji Ikari. The features were not the same, but in that grim innocence they  
both exuded. He frowned some more, thinking about it.

"This is a scripture, to be read by a priest in that setting. But a priest of.., WHAT,  
exactly? Like in the movie, where it was revealed that deliberate worship of the Star  
Gods was to earn a measure of their mercy? Or something else? Something more like  
our religions, based upon personal salvation? Hmm..."

He hated being put on the spot, he'd lacked the courage to pursue Misato like a man  
of his own word. He'd doubted his own worth and let slip the chance. Dammit._ 'Shinji,  
what would you do?'_ he asked silently. '_When people expect the world of you?_' The  
boy, who never seemed to lose his intellectual calm... it was strange for him too, that  
he should look up to someone younger. '_In this world where Gods walk, what is it that  
man needs to persist; to wake up and move each day in the face of that empty fate?'_

_We're like them. Damn it all, we're like them. What's there for us? Why should we even  
care anymore about the secrets of our existence? Our gods are dead. We sorely need  
something to believe in.'_

A minute or so passed, with him standing up there with his arms folded over his chest.  
Now and then his eyebrows would twitch. Finally, looking up, his stare was distant.  
"I suppose, something like...

-o-

_These are words of our ancestors, the truth hidden in the First  
City, unblemished by time or the hands of mortal men; amen._

**Hear us, oh unhappy children! In times of your despair, give not  
your lives to emptiness! The Gods of Warp encroach upon your  
souls, and the Gods from the Stars hunger for it. Do not give in!**

**Know that the battle was old before you, and will be yet after  
you. Even there, there is hope. Know how it all began, that you  
may prepare for the future it brings.**

**Since before there was time did the Gods of Light and Dark wage  
war upon each other. They were the Beginning, naught but them  
in the cosmos. In the moment of final victory, the Gods of Light  
broke eternity and exhausted itself, becoming points of light and  
forging the material plane. Defeated, the Dark dissolved into the  
sea of chaos.**

**Thus was born what we know as our universe of being. Its laws  
sustain us. Its laws do not protect us. The universe knew itself  
and from within and from within arose the first sparks of life. It  
was neither of light or dark, cast in one form made of both the  
material and the immaterial. The Old Ones were the first of  
these forms, and seeing nothing but emptiness sent out to create  
and let flourish life... knowing nothing more beautiful than than  
struggle, that wondrous paradox.**

**Out of the void awakened the Star Gods, neither light nor dark  
themselves, but not trapped within the singular forms. Sensing  
the Old Ones, and knowing them not, they sought to learn more.  
The Star Gods did this by absorbing the other beings into their  
own essence.**

**And thus the universe first knew about death. Thus did the Star  
Gods know of hunger. Thus did the First Ones know of hate.**

**The First Ones and the Star Gods warred, as Light and Dark  
warred before. Chaos and Order each sought expression. In the  
end the First Ones, seeking to retain their identities apart from  
the hunger of the Star Gods, cast themselves into Chaos - to  
take form without the material, forever away from the reach  
of the Star Gods. In this, they became the first of the ever-  
changing Warp Gods... ensuring the war should never end.**

**And the Gods devoured each other. Life vanished from the  
grasp of time. As the last of the First Ones died or escaped, and  
as the Star Gods too fell into slumber; slowly did life start to  
flourish again. Once set free, it had no more need of them. In  
the silence, the first soul appeared. Neither light nor dark, but  
both. Not just being, but believing. In frail shells did it reside,  
in measured time did it exist. It was of life, yet apart from it.  
Feral shells did not have it. Raw energy could not contain it. In  
thought, in emotion, in itself did it thrive and seek meaning.**

**We sought out Gods, and found them. Chaos answered our  
call. Great formless beings were shaped by our perceptions. Our  
world was remade under their influence. In that we flourished.  
We took its powers for our own. Knowing nothing but ourselves,  
in our arrogance we sought mastery of the material plane using  
the potency of the immaterial.**

**Thus did we wake the lords of the materium, the Star Gods.  
In our foolishness, we sought to destroy them; in the name  
of our Gods to cleanse the old shame. We hurled ourselves at  
them, and in the end were only prey for them.**

**The Gods of Warp fed upon the darkness in our souls, and  
twisted us to better serve their designs. The Star Gods found  
the energy of our being contained a purer source of the light  
within everything. From standing as masters of both spheres we  
were instead consumed, slaves and cattle we became.**

**Thus began the fate of all mortal things. To struggle with every  
moment, to fight death with every breath. We have forgotten  
many things, but not this fear. Not this despair.**

**We hide. We die! Listen, you who come after us... we die  
knowing that our fates shall be repeated again and again  
across all time. You who read these words; do not despair!  
Our Gods have betrayed us! You who stand at the furthest  
edge of our hopes, may yet taste the fruit of our living labors.**

**Live your life to the fullest, in whatever form you take! Take  
joy in your being! Love! Laugh! Create! Know compassion, not  
hatred. Set aside greed, and find happiness in contentment.  
Let not despair touch you, but rather give hope to all those  
around you. Love fully and unselfishly, desire not your own  
benefit but those of whom you cherish.**

**Do not feed Chaos with the moments of your lives. Do not give  
to the Star Gods the very center of your being. Each of you  
that die in peace and happiness go to a better place. Souls out  
of the universe, back into the universe. And there, as time goes  
by, we feed something neither light nor dark, not of boiling chaos  
or primal order. Something that is ours and for us. A god of our  
own shaping. A God that will know us, and will never betray us.  
A God strong enough to protect us from a universe that loathes  
us and wants to devour us.**

**When the last of us die, we hope that the cycle becomes  
complete. If not, then it lies upon you to finish turning the  
wheel of infinity. Do not let them conquer you. Live, cling to  
life with all you have! It is a gift unto you from the Great  
God you do not yet Know; existing both in the future and in  
the past; still unaware of Itself. Ask and it shall be granted,  
seek and you shall see. A life well lived is service to all others  
that live. A life lost to Chaos and worthless evil is betrayal,  
a life just given to the all-absorbing Order is wasted.**

**Believe, and be protected. Stand firm, and be undefeated. We  
are the Eldest, and we are dead. You are the Youngest and  
you may yet be great. Pain is our legacy to you. May you prove  
stronger in carrying it than we have.**

_Written in ages long past, by miraculous elders of the First  
City. May their souls find peace in death that they did not find  
in life. May their souls and ours find our way into the God that  
waits and protects even in unknowing._

_Amen."_

-o-

Makoto Hyuuga took a deep breath. "Of course, the orks would have an ENTIRELY  
different creation myth. I notice you're trying to put the elves in there too."

Utter. Complete. Silence. Everyone gaped at him, from the studio manager down to a  
passing janitor. Eventually someone stood up, slammed his palms down onto the hard-  
wood table and shouted "WHAT THE HELL WAS -THAT-?"

Makoto flinched, away from the obviously crazed person. He blinked. He shivered, as  
he felt tingly all over. "Uh... I'm not sure, actually. What the hell did I just say? I don't  
think I actually remember..."

"Damn you." breathed out a writer. "Don't play with us. That was... that was..." He  
snarled out, completely at a loss. "You're him! You sent that script!"

"The who..? Of the what?" The NERV officer was distinctly confused. "Where?"

"It's not him." Kodama said. Everyone turned to look at her. "He'd know more about  
the character designs if he was. No... Hyuga-san... did you just come up with that  
now?" The eldest Horaki was amazed as well. He spoke so well, as if he really believed  
all that! Holy shit. In the original script, Hyuga was one of the three priests; the Cleric  
of Bronze. So he was really taken as source material that well?

"Come up with... what?" He winced and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, under his  
glasses. "Forget what I just said. Ungh. My brain hurts. Wha...?" Everyone else began  
shouting.

"Did someone remember? We should write it down...!"

"He's faking."

"He's not faking."

"We're gonna be RICH! WAHAHAHAHA!"

-o-  
-o-

Maya was Mana's next visitor, some days later. As much as she had dreaded the visit  
from the general, so did she look forward in eagerness for the lieutenant's arrival. "How  
is Shinji?" she asked almost immidiately as soon as the young woman was in the door.

The NERV officer smiled sadly and shook her head. "He's still asleep. We don't know  
why, but... at least he's not physically damaged." She sighed. "Mana... I should say..."

"No. I won't accept that." Mana quickly replied. "Nothing you can say will bring them  
back. I have to honor their memory by not giving up."

Maya was carrying a large suitcase, which she put on the bed. "I respect that. Don't  
think of this as an apology from NERV, but a way for you to keep going and achieve  
your... shall we say, vengeance?" A nod from her. "Yes. Mana... this is yours."

She opened up the case, showing a prosthetic arm modeled precisely to Mana's former  
limb. She took it out; it weighed about the same; being made of precision titanium and  
medical alloys. The skin even looked like skin, but tougher and the color was slightly  
off. The fittings would loop over the collapsed stump of Mana's shoulder.

"There is no reason why this should prevent you from doing what your old arm could  
do." Maya's dispassionate voice actually helped, distancing Mana from her injury. "It  
uses technologies from the Eva, and should be sensitive enough for even the most  
minute of motions. Unlike other previous prosthetics, it actually uses distinct nerve  
signals to move. It's tougher, stronger, than any fleshy appendage. Inside is actually  
a timed motivator that simulates bone growth...

Ritsuko-sempai made certain you'd never have to think at all about it. It's just... there;  
serving you well. We have the technology. You can be stronger, faster- better!"

"When you say nerve signals...?"

"I'm sorry, one way only." Maya replied. "You won't feel anything from it... no pain. At  
least..." She hesitated, looking at the girl's dead-expressioned eyes. "At least because  
we had to rebuild the nervous system out from your left side ribs and shoulder, you're  
spared the 'phantom pain' common to others deprived of their limbs."

Mana nodded again, slowly. Her hair fell in short, shadowy bangs over her face. "May  
I try it on?"

Maya helped her take off her shirt. Both were girls and as unspoken sisters in battle,  
they had no need for modesty. To her credit, the young woman didn't even flinch as  
she saw the still flaming scars. She hefted the arm and very carefully slotted it into  
place. She pushed it in until she heard a click. Experimentally she pulled and moved it  
around to see if the ball joints worked. Then, she stopped, struck with how macabre  
and doll-like it all was.

She coughed. "Well... it should be automatic. Please try it out."

Mana frowned and stared down at it. A long moment passed. "It's not working...!" she  
said, hissing.

"You don't need to consciously will it to move. Even with your own right arm, wanting  
for it to move is different from just... moving it. Don't think about it. Just do." Her  
voice dropped an octave. "Kirishima... we need you. Don't let any doubt stop you."

That fake hand closed into a fist. Mana grinned, in savage surprise.

"Good." said Maya. "How does it feel?"

The girl was lifting her arm out, twitching the fingers. She tried moving both her arms  
at the same time. The movements of her left was jerkier, but nothing insurmountable.  
"It feels... wonderful." she whispered. "It's not the same, but... it feels so good to be  
-complete- again."

She stared at her open palm, fingers leaving smoky pillars down beams of sunlight from  
the window. She let the shadow look like a claw, opening and closing. Rargh. For her  
vengeance.

Finally, after a long wait, she was free to return to duty. There was a military escort  
waiting outside; they had her as poster child to face against NERV. They had a choice  
of playing down or building up the loss of life. That they stood up to the Angels was  
good, but there would be criticism against sending children to die. In the end, JSSDF  
high command decided that she shouldn't get an inflated sense of her own importance,  
even if public pressure forced them to allow her control over the Dreadnought.

"You're not." said Maya. "Complete, that is."

"... are you trying to be insulting?" Mana also felt she could so easily crush someone's  
windpipe with her bionic fist. She had no use for politics or power. There was only her  
and the enemy, only one will survive. How stupid... they all just gave her lessons of  
how not to fight a war.

And Maya smiled, devoid of humor and full of vicious intent. "You can't be complete  
on your own. You need -Magnos Tancred-." She stood up and held her arm out, and  
as the sun shone down upon her Mana recognized that posture... she'd seen it once  
before. Up on a roof. Once, she'd considered Maya Ibuki as a rival for Shinji's affection.  
It seemed so silly and so far now... "Why don't you come with me and have a look?"

Mana took that hand with her left. She was pulled up to her feet, the bond between  
the metal in her shoulder and the bones of her remaining skeleton strained... and held  
fast without undue pain. It still felt strange, as if she was two beings in one.

"Am I allowed to leave now?" she asked, then looking down at her bare front blushed  
in delay.

"As long as you don't take strenuous activity, it's okay." Maya frowned slightly. "How  
long before you can return to active duty, I can't say. I just hope it's soon... there's  
a lot we have to do, specially now that Shinji-kun isn't there to help us prepare."

She blinked. "Prepare? Prepare for what?"

Maya shrugged. "Invasion."

-o-  
-o-

Fortress City Tokyo 3. Now it certainly looked it. The semblance of normalcy was still  
preserved within the city, where the buildings may block the view. The picturesque  
sight over the lake was left undisturbed. Only when leaving the hospital was Mana  
able to see what was new at the northern edge of the city.

Tokyo 3 was sheltered by mountains on all sides; geographical folds likely from the  
shock of Lillith's landing millions of years ago. Continental drift brought the region to  
where it was now. It made for an excellent defensive position, but apparently just not  
good enough. NERV had total dominion over Tokyo 3, to reshape it to its will, for the  
sake of protecting the craven egg beneath.

"Why did NERV wall off the valleys?" asked Mana. "Isn't the side facing the ocean more  
strategically vulnerable? For that matter, how did you make those freakishly huge walls  
in the first place?"

Maya grinned slightly, a Misato-like expression. "If you are strong, feign weakness. If  
weak, pretend strength. Whatever your position conceal it from the enemy, and he will  
waste his armies fighting his own phantoms..."

"Yes, that is sound doctrine. I don't see how it fits into this, as that's about tactical  
movement."

"We can't perfectly seal off all of the city." Maya explained, looking out through the  
tinted doors of a NERV staff car. "It's better for us to protect the sides we actually  
can, to give the enemy an obvious way in. By doing this, we force battle to where  
we can effectively prepare. Besides, there's more open space on the south side, room  
enough for all the Evas and the Dreadnought to move effectively."

Mana nodded. "And so your apparent weakness becomes the source of your strength."  
The Angels didn't seem to grasp strategy on that level. She stared out at walls to  
put any others before it to shame; belonging more to dams than as defensive barriers.  
East and west were mountain chains, and sufficient protection there. Fortunately, or  
the shadows of those massive barricades would swallow the city. In Tokyo before, in  
its building density, people paid dearly for 'sunshine rights'. "How DID you put those  
up, in just three weeks...?"

The NERV lieutenant sighed, and crossed her legs in a relaxed pose. "You can thank  
Shinji-kun for that."

"Eeh?"

A feat of engineering unmatched by anything before by man in its ratio between size  
and speed of construction. It was nothing short of magic in motion. Maya held out her  
hand, palm down and made sweeping motions left and right. "Remember that Angel  
that tried to tunnel under Tokyo 3? It could use its AT-field to melt and fuse together  
rocks in its way. Shinji's rather famous for taking the tricks of the enemy, combining  
it with what we already know, and sending out strange new things to try. Asuka and  
Rei worked to put up the wall, just thinking; what would Shinji do?"

How like Gods, the Eva! Lifting up their arms and the ground itself shakes and rises to  
their command. One field heating up, another compressing; ending with solid sheaths  
of black stone, hollowed out and reinforced within with metal and tubing. The walls  
also served as cooling planes, radiating it to directly away from the city. Tokyo 3 was  
indeed, the first among black stone fortresses.

"Wait a second, mam. Logically, wouldn't remembering where that trick comes from  
make the wall useless? After all, the Angels can just go over it or under the city again."

"The Angels don't seem to repeat methods that already failed. We shouldn't be so  
secure about that presumption, though." Maya leaned back and crossed her arms. She  
frowned slightly. "We already paid the price of our earlier arrogance..."

Silence shadowed the inside of the car for several minutes. It wasn't a limo, but was  
spacious enough that there were two seats facing each other within. Mana looked up  
from the hat on her lap, and inspected her companion there. She had once considered  
Maya Ibuki her rival, had thought her formidable... but had also thought her nothing  
more than a soft civilian.

She should have had more faith in Shinji. He wouldn't have chosen her to stand with  
him just because of good looks. The world was at war, and Shinji one of its warriors.  
It would be useless to pretend otherwise, as if teenage concerns was the worst they  
had to deal with.

Maya leaned forward, her face holding a certain grim amusement. The lieutenant had  
of course her own brand of insanity. She had to; being the only other person capable  
of manipulating an AT-field. However she didn't have a hard switch to her personality...  
unlike Rei; who was either -apathetic- or -violently happy-, and Shinji; who goes from  
"I'm no one special, really" to "I pity the galaxy that does not know me".

Among Misato and Ritsuko, she was meek and professional. When those around her are  
happy and casual, then so was she. Faced with Mana's bleak impression, she slid easily  
into equal dark repose. The girl, seeing that, could only be even more formal and dire.

"People need symbols." said Maya. "That's what the wall is for. They needed to see the  
power of the Eva, and know that it will protect them."

Mana opened her eyes wide. "It can't be..." Her fingers rubbed the chromed skull on  
her officer's hat.

"Officially, this is out of a combined strategic session between NERV and the JSSDF..."  
Maya was continuing. The Section 2 car was secure. After all, surveillance data had  
to be linked to the MAGI at some point when they filed a report. She had to test how  
much leeway she could give the little spy.

"Monuments aren't there for decoration. They need symbols to give them hope when  
theirs falter." Mana added, her voice hollow.

She had known Shinji Ikari for just a few months; she ate up his words back then, so  
totally separate from the apparent casualness of their conversation.

"The works of man that stand even when time itself claims its builders. Massive works  
that say 'man is great' or 'by our own works are we protected'. Even churches were  
these, as much to God as it is to uplift the hope of man. The Eva is my symbol. They  
must see the Evangelion, and know - the fate of man is to struggle on. Even alone,  
man must."

"Shinji's just asleep right now. But this is war, Kirishima. Someday, he would face an  
enemy too much for him and he could die." Maya whispered. "This isn't about you or  
me or NERV or the JSSDF or any other stupid power blocks in this world. This is about  
the survival of humanity. Mana Kirishima, you need to prepare for that day."

The girl sat, staring down. The skull insignia grinned back at her. How appropriate, she  
thought. Raised for command, to stand there and live while all she loved died around  
her.

"What do you want from me?"

"Nothing more than what you're willing to give." Maya turned away. Shinji has said, it  
was not necessary to manipulate Mana Kirishima. From the moment she was born, she  
was intended for our purpose. He had also said, that theirs was a sad fate. He wasn't  
put into the world to bring peace and joy to those he'd touched.

-o-  
-o-

Shiro Tokita was a busy man. NNHIS exploded into the big leagues with the Trident's  
performance, and various factions both military and commercial sought their own piece  
of the pie. Strangely, despite being a multi-corporation, NNHIS retained it controlling  
identity simply because vast amounts of NNHIS stock were bought up beforehand by  
an anonymous person/group. It wasn't enough to take control, but enough that no  
single other interest could force anything upon the parent structure.

He didn't care about that. What mattered was that they had done well. Their great  
Dreadnought stood toe-to-toe with an Angel and prevailed even in defeat. So tough  
and so stubbornly-built, that the only reason -Magnos Tancred- stopped moving was  
that its pilots were dead.

Redundancy and the effective use of armor meant that it remained in mostly one piece.  
Within a few days it was ready for combat again; if only it had a worthy commander.

Fortunately, the NNHIS contract gave the corporations some leverage in that scenario.  
They hadn't sold their single prototype unit to the JSSDF, but rather put it to LEASE.  
Ordinarily this agreement wouldn't fly, but there was simply no other weapon of man  
that could even stand alongside the Eva.

Demands for building another one were getting fiercer by the day. NNHIS held firm, in  
that the only thing they needed was a super-safed nuclear reactor. That couldn't be  
rushed. They couldn't dare just have another company manufacture it... being that  
the Dreadnought would be wrapped around it. It had to be literally one with the war  
machine and custom-fit to its demands.

Money. Money. Money. Phfft. "Stop throwing money at me." muttered Project Manager  
Tokita. "I need people of talent!" Damn NERV! They were stuck with picking through  
the second-best. At least NERV was cooperating though, the noninterference pact  
relaxed somewhat. -Magnos Tancred- got sophisticated new control systems, that  
they had to dumb down massively... not just for the sake of sabotage protection...  
but to keep it robust and Murphy at bay.

If there was anything Shinji Ikari was a God of, then it was personnel management.  
Finding the best people and giving them the tools they need to do their job. It was a  
what he hoped to emulate - he was management, after all. Heh. It wasn't like he really  
did anything useful on his own. He grinned. If it wasn't for people like him, entire armies  
would have to go hand to hand... which would be awesome on its own. Massed kung  
fu super battle. Keh. Heh. Heh.

Hmm...? Oh, yeah. Rocks and sticks. How far have the machine advanced the cause  
of man...?

When he heard that Maya Ibuki was going to visit, he set aside even his full schedule  
just to welcome her. It wasn't safe yet for the boy's supporters to really come out of  
the woodwork, but at least they could openly aid each other.

The NERV staff car stopped right in front of the main hangar. The door opened. He  
was there to take her hand and help her out. "Thank you..." said Maya, in charming  
fullness.

"No, thank YOU, Miss Ibuki. A talented (and not to mention lovely) young woman such  
as yourself is always welcome here within NNHIS domains." He bowed slightly, then  
grinned a bit. "You know, I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of using that wording.  
Watching Gendo twitch each time I stood up during the public conference..."

"Yes, that was funny, wasn't it...?" She looked sad. "It was the only good part of that  
thing... the press was merciless." They were all screaming to meet with Shinji Ikari.

He resisted the urge to pat her head; she was so cute and apparently helpless. "I see  
you share young Ikari's dislike for them."

Maya shook her head. "Un. Shinji and I have no problem with journalists. They're vital  
to the safety of our society. It's the worthless opportunists that disguise themselves  
among them that press the issue."

"Well... anyway." He shrugged magnificently. "We'd like to thank NERV for all you've  
done to help. How is... Shinji Ikari?"

"I'm not allowed to give out such information. But I believe he's going to be all right."

"Good. There's still so much more we have for him." He gestured aside. "Won't you  
come in and have a look?"

Maya stepped back and gave him a bigger, sunnier smile. "You're so kind to us. Last  
time we were here you helped us out so well. Now I've got a gift for you -" She held  
her arms out to present "... a -Tancred- commander!" Oh, she's never going to get  
tired of using that pun.

Mana Kirishima stepped out. Everyone watching felt their heart stop. She was in full  
dress uniform, her hat on her head. The winged skull glinted under the afternoon sun.  
Her eyes were unseen, but her smile was distinctly cruel.

"Kih-Kirishima...!" gasped NNHIS Chief Tokita. "You... "

Mana Kirishima stood there, her frame small and garbed in black. She had the puffy  
shoulderpads, her skirt hung down to just above her ankles. There were golden frills.  
Tough army boots poked out. The red lines down the front of her longcoat and the  
golden cords over her chest made her seem taller and more slender. Her skin was pale  
and smooth... she looked as if going to a funeral, whether it was of another or her  
own was of no import.

Gothic was not a way of life. It was a state of being. It wasn't acceptance of death.  
It was to spit in its face and wrestle worthy souls from its grip. That was the root of  
the word, from dark barbarian defiance.

She saluted with her fleshy right arm, the other hanging limp by her side. "Kirishima,  
returning to duty. I understand you have something for me..." Taidama, she actually  
said in greeting.

Mana Kirishima was not the first to suffer such tragedies, and she wouldn't be the last.  
She was however, what the times uniquely required.

She pushed at the brim of her cap and saw... more than one person putting their head  
into their sleeves, crying; not in grief but in relief.

"Kirishima!" Everyone there, from Project Chief Tokita down to the last grunt technician  
snapped to attention and saluted. They were all civilians. And apparently, having had  
more faith in her than the military ever did. "... welcome back!" Okaeri nasai! they  
shouted.

The wind whistled by. _Hey, Mana..._ it seemed to say. _Carry on, would you? Kick some  
ass for us. We're always watching you._

_Not when you're in the shower though. Believe me...!_

_He lies._

_What? Goddamn you; even here you refuse to take my side? Bastard!_

Mana smirked. Yeah... that's just how they were, oh those guys. She should never  
forget. Her friends would be forever, in her.

-o-

"You repainted it..." Mana whispered, staring up at the Trident Land Dreadnought. The  
war machine was no longer Ultramarine lucky blue. It loomed over them unblemished,  
the great golden skull upon its central torso gleaming under the floodlights. Underneath  
that was the command compartment, completely replaced and reinforced.

They had washed all the blood off, the assorted bits of flesh and scorched meat, and  
once all done it was surprising that the computer would still turn on. All they had to  
do was to put in new chairs and control systems and -Magnos Tancred- could fight  
again in a pinch. The Trident project engineers decided to replace the entire module  
anyway.

Black shall its color be, upon all armored sections; gold upon its chest and red upon  
the joints. Its weapons shall remain metal gray, that the enemy may know by what  
methods it meets its demise.

Black and red. "The colors of blood and death..." Mana added. "I approve." Her friends  
and their sacrifice should never be forgotten.

The only real change was that the rocket pods were taken out and replaced with a...  
chin-mounted defense cannon, taken right out from an AEGIS Cruiser. The 125mm  
autocannon on the left torso remained the same, but its hardmount was now capable  
of tilting up and down.

"NERV induction interface means that theoretically only one person would be enough  
to make it move. However, efficiency of its full range of motion and its many weapons  
requires both pilot and gunner..." Tokita said sadly.

"As long as I retain command, it will be fine." she replied. She squinted as she looked  
down. "Is that a shrine...?" she asked, referring to a small cubicle far below and right  
between its legs. A small lit candle flickered light upon two framed photographs.

"I hope... you're not offended by this."

"No. It's fine." She gripped the railing tightly with her mechanical hand. "It's not just  
me who remembers... they are a part of -Magnos Tancred- now."

"The machine spirit holds their will now. Every shot fired in anger will be done with  
their blessing."

"... are those technicians over there actually PRAYING to the foot?"

Maya took a look, and groaned. "You've been talking to Kensuke haven't you? Please  
tell me you people weren't stupid enough to bring him here and let him mess around  
with the blueprints."

Director Tokita coughed. "He -is- a very talented boy."

"He's..." Maya's statement drifted off. Evangelions had machine spirits. She herself had  
the favor of MAGI's strange awareness. Really, the only thing she could say against  
Kensuke was his overenthusiasm. "... absolutely correct." She sighed and rubbed her  
forehead. "But that doesn't make him any less of a nutcase."

Ritsuko-sempai... so many things that she was blind to. Well, the scientist probably  
COULD find a rational explanation for it all... but only after weeks, if not months of  
headaches. Pity. Maya decided she didn't need answers after all.

The Trident project chief chuckled. "You don't understand... we're here standing and  
looking at it... but to those working on the ground, it's difficult. Working here, looking  
up at it. I've got hundreds of workers here, most of them young men. I tell, there's  
not one among them that wouldn't leap at the chance to just sit in the cockpit and  
head out to unleash some righteous smiting.

The Dreadnought is squat, it's ugly, but it's also deadly and stubborn as hell. Humanity  
itself mirrored in its frame. It's just so easy to believe... this thing has a spirit all on its  
own, one that just wants to go out and smack down some fools. It's not like the Eva  
that you need to keep under coolant. Everything about -Magnos Tancred- gives the  
impression... it just wants to get out there, right now, to fight against whatever it is  
that threatens mankind!

It's just so easy to believe... it can!"

Mankind needs symbols. Shinji was right. There was something about the humanlike  
form in massive scale that electrified the heart. Unlike the Eva, the Dreadnought was  
something immidiately understandable. Some even find its squat appearance adorable.  
It seemed like such the underdog, but never giving up.

Mana closed her eyes and thought about it. Mankind needed something to believe in.  
Mankind needed something of theirs, but would last beyond their life. Something to say  
to time; we were here. And we defy you with this effort.

The Dreadnought... while the Evas were needed to defeat the Angels, it was needed  
to keep humanity together. It was powerful in its own right. She felt as if embraced in  
welcoming warmth. She leaned forward and spoke out loud, her teeth bared in delight.

"Hail, -Magnos Tancred-! Master of battle!  
Hail! Whose song of leaden death brings cheer  
Behold that which stands against the darkness  
Behold that whose stride crushes the heretics

Its heart burns in justice for the enslaved  
Its weapons whistle to call forth the enemy  
Let its armor hold firm against all blasphemy!  
Let its fire purge from this world the foul alien!"

Chief Tokita applauded. "Nicely done. You're getting into the spirit of things." Oh the  
pun. He laughed at himself.

She grinned back, her face flushed. "It's not like it can do any harm, can it?"

"It's in good fun, so why not? We pray for our success." In purpose unyielding. That  
was their legacy. He stared up at the Dreadnought and pondered. He let his mind free,  
begging for the words to come.

He had faith in the fruit of all their efforts, was that so bad? He could only think with  
horror about his fate, and that of the others, if this project wasn't there to give them  
direction. Giving praise to it; it seemed so natural...

"Very nice. Very martial." He smiled secretively. "But how about this...?

The first tone is struck, oh -Great Tancred-  
May your machine spirit awaken in nuclear fire

The second tone is struck, oh -Great Tancred-  
May you contain your wrath only for the xeno

The third tone is struck, oh -Great Tancred-  
May the fury of your weapons never falter

The fourth tone is struck, oh -Great Tancred-  
May your steps cast justice in its shadow

The fifth tone is struck, oh -Great Tancred-  
May you know nothing but victory...!"

Mana squee'ed and clapped her hands. "Awesome, Tokita-san! I'm sure the machine  
spirit would be happy." It was a fitting monument to her dearest friends.

He coughed. "I can't take credit for that, one of the engineers composed it for the  
startup sequence." There were indeed five tones that returned a maintenance all-OK  
from the specific components.

Maya just sighed. "You know, until I came to Tokyo 3, the words '_impromptu free verse_  
_sparring session'_ have never really occured to me." She had a feeling that the MAGI  
was just the sort to get a bloated ego out of all of it. Unlike the Dreadnought's puppy-  
like eagerness; the supercomputer's machine spirit was the sort to screw with people's  
lives just for, as the vernacular goes, the lulz. It didn't help that it was practically  
anonymous in its control over NERV and the city.

-o-  
-o-

"Aaah...!" screamed Asuka. "I can't take this anymore! If it's not helping out with the  
construction, it's simulation after simulation after simulation...!" She sat down on a  
bench and huffed. "It's make-work, that's what it is. Nobody trusts us to actually do  
anything useful..."

"The efficiency of our team is reduced. The Evangelions do not fight alone." replied Rei,  
seated beside the other pilot, and calmly sipping at a carton of orange juice.

"Hey...! You just agreed with me." Asuka looked amazed. "But that's got a fallacy to it.  
Evangelions, alone, have killed Angels before."

She frowned. Specially just recently; for Matariel was defeated in just ninety seconds.  
Everything after that was just to prolong the Angel's agony... with the Titan power  
packs, Eva 01 could have gone on for HOURS. It was the quickest victory yet... at  
the same time the Eva's greatest loss.

"Incorrect. Without the proper support, not even pilot Ikari can prevail. The Evangelion  
must fight, but without batteries will have to consume itself for energy. The AT-field  
can perform wonders, but it pulls upon the soul itself."

"Damn Shinji... always showing us up. Just barging in and taking the glory. It's like only  
he has the right to risk it all." Seriously, she felt like she was being coddled. Whatever  
happened to the respect for her own strength? "When I do I get my chance...?"

"Power easily gained is easily taken away, pilot Sohryu." said Rei. "Even Shinji must  
bear the consequences of his choices."

Asuka looked left, then right. She squinted suspiciously at the light fixtures above.  
Finally, she leaned over and whispered. "Hey. Can you teach me that... stuff... that  
Shinji can do? We're a team, aren't we? Everyone should grow stronger, no one should  
be held back. That's what teamwork is... everyone for the greater good of all."

"I cannot. I do not have the frame of reference necessary to explain it to you, pilot  
Sohryu. Ultimately it is only Shinji that can explain whatever it is that he is doing."  
And most of the time he can't even do that to himself. The why was unimportant as  
compared to the what was now possible.

"So who is this other person who can do it? Maybe he can..."

"What you do not know cannot be tortured out of you later, pilot Sohryu."

Asuka huffed and slouched down. She pouted, wishing her plug suit had pockets. She  
settled for rubbing her ankles together. It just wasn't fair, to her. It wasn't that she  
was power-hungry. She just wanted to fulfill her own potential. She didn't want to  
lord over anybody, she wasn't so consumed with her own ego. "I want to know.." she  
whispered. "I want to feel it... the Eva's power..."

To be certain of that worth in her existence; she was ready to dive headfirst into the  
worst that the world can throw at her just to prove she was stronger than it. If she  
had that power, apart from the Eva, she would never be anyone's doll.

She was afraid. Even she had to be affected by that disaster. Rei could give very little  
comfort in such times; it was pointless to shed water for those who could not be  
brought back. So many dead outside, and it was weeks since the pilots could just talk  
with normal people. Hikari? Kaworu? They were just normal people. Asuka worried.

Rei could only say not to worry. They would survive, specially in the case of Kaworu.  
They would meet again, and important questions would be asked. Actions would be  
taken out. The blue-haired girl twitched her lips then, but not enough to smile.

In absence of orders, maintain the status quo. Shinji would know what to do then.

"... when is he going to wake up?" Asuka wondered aloud. She did not whine much,  
but only seemed irritable and complaining in comparison to the two other pilots; who  
never so much uttered a peep of discontent. Her annoyances were valid, most of the  
time. "I'm bored." she groaned.

It was unfair, they had done nothing wrong. Why were they then as like prisoners in  
their own city? She could hardly believe those outside could really be that ungrateful.  
NERV had released a statement to the press, but were adamant about keeping the  
pilots away from any questions.

For three and a half weeks, that was the case. "So bored." She kicked out, rubbed at  
the inside of her thighs and slouched lower even further. Gah! Damn that Shinji! She  
wanted at few whacks at that Angel too. "Hey, Ayanami...?"

"Yes, pilot Sohryu...?"

"Are you sure we can't do... something?"

Rei put aside the empty carton and stared down at Asuka. "It would not be prudent to  
experiment until pilot Ikari is with us."

Strangely, for a good long while it seemed like Shinji was the center of things. Even  
back in Germany, she knew that she'd have to measure her own worth against him.  
Practice, planning and then he just goes and throws that all to hell with improbable  
skill. If he wasn't so humble about it, it would probably be even less irritating.

For Rei, it was almost literal that he was the center of her life. She made a promise.  
Together at the end of time. For that reason she would not hesitate to attempt and  
destroy even the universe itself.

Misato was taking it hard. At least Shinji was unharmed, but her rapid devolution back  
into the slob meant the apartment was all but unlivable. Asuka smirked at the memory.  
Pen-pen was with Hikari. She herself was stuck inside the Geofront.

Shinji changed so much, people and events, that seemed unbelievable that the world  
should keep on turning and people living out their own little lives... as if he was never  
necessary in the first place. The changes he'd made, it felt all so natural and so right;  
that those he touched couldn't even imagine how horrible their lives really had been,  
before he arrived.

He slept. Things continued to happen.

-o-  
-o-

It was a full month since the attack before classes resumed in Tokyo 3 1st Municipal  
Junior High. Not even it escaped damage from the attack, though arguably... most of  
the structural damage was from unrestrained bolter fire. Students were amazed to  
see the clean, smooth front yard. They had cratered all over that, the last time they  
were at school. Concrete blasted out into pits, Angelspawn guts all over the place.  
The creatures eventually wised up to just going up the stairs, but as Kensuke had  
predicted only got in each other's way all bunched up ready for a bolter burst.

The air was sweet, the birds were singing, and the school looked the same as always.  
The students going in were the same as before, and laughing with each other. More  
than the usual even, greeting each other and the school with exuberant glee. There  
were others who merely stood around in dazed wonder. Never have so many students  
been so glad to start school again...

The three weeks were like an eternity, and they greeted each other like the greatest  
of friends, even if they barely knew each other back then. They was very little to be  
shy about.

The words on the tip of everyone's lips was "Where were you when it all went down?"

There wasn't one among them that hadn't suffered some loss, but they didn't begrudge  
the story from their... compatriots.

"... so Kensuke was like, reload! Reload! I crawled into the water tank to get the ammo  
boxes still inside..."

"... dude, your mother is scary. While everybody was going at it full auto, she was  
picking those things off one by one. 'Waste is the enemy', she was saying."

"Yeah, she's always recycling stuff and getting us to eat to the last grain of rice on  
our plates. She used to live in downtown Tokyo... she lost everything during Impact."

"The Marines were all like; we can't risk hitting the kid! So Suzuhara runs out and with  
his bayonet saves my little brother. Then everybody's like; daaaamn. Horaki punched  
him right in the face for his lack of any sense of self-preservation."

"I know it's illegal. I just don't know... even if they saved the school, they had to have  
known they were breaking the law. I don't know... should they be above the law?"

"... man, that was so cool."

"... of course I was afraid! Every time I pulled the trigger, every shot that missed just  
blows a hole through anything else in the way. Guns aren't good. They kill. I was so  
afraid, thinking just what I was holding could do to another person... I didn't want to  
see that, to mess up and cause that..."

"The machine spirit was with us...! We dared not fail!"

Among these was a small group that bunched together, composed of students from  
different year levels. The only thing they had in common was that they arrived there  
very early, and each awaited in eagerness.

"They're here...!"

Finally, the moment they were waiting for arrived. Toji, Kensuke, and Hikari had met up  
on the streets and walked together to school. They saw the gathered throng and just  
decided to pretend as if nothing was out of the ordinary. They walked in, slowly and in  
line. They each were wearing their distinctive jackets, open and flapping to the early  
morning wind.

There were those who resented the special privileges given to the three, just because  
they were friends with Shinji Ikari it was like they could get away with anything. Not  
anymore, however. The smell of gunsmoke, the deadly flash, when a single moment's  
hesitation could prove fatal... they were still barely more than children, but they could  
die just as easily as adults. They could... and should... fight for their lives, when no  
one else would be willing to do it for them. That was the authority held by the three...  
all in simple truth.

They were at war. Humanity was at the brink of extinction. It was high time to stop  
pretending. There were illusions of power, and then there was that which could save  
or break the world.

No one had pictures of the actual crisis. However, for those who had seen them in  
action, certain images were seared into their mind. Kensuke, standing one leg up a  
stairway, firing down at a screeching, confused huddle of fish-white flesh. Toji, with  
his bolt rifle and bayonet forcing open an Angelspawn's beak to keep it from biting  
through someone's leg. Hikari, giving gentle words to the wounded and fearful, her  
own bolt pistol used to make sure the fallen enemy were truly dead.

"What the hell...?" said one of the boys to his best friend. "Your nose is bleeding...?"

For once, it wasn't out of perverted thoughts. "It should be illegal to be that awesome  
out of just -walking-."

-o-

Kensuke's glasses were just that, mere glass. It wasn't opaque or dramatic-reflective  
on demand. The teen faced deliberately into the sun, and sighed. The class seemed so  
empty. There were only eight other students left, and of the whole school less than a  
hundred out of all the year levels.

Oddly enough, those who remained didn't seem discouraged. "Hey, Kensuke..!" one  
asked. "Are you packing heat?"

He grinned and opened up his jacket to reveal the holster. "Carrying lethal arms is of  
course dangerous and illegal. Don't try it."

"... but you know where to get live rounds easily enough, neh?"

He frowned. "Guns are not toys." he replied seriously. "I -should- be expelled, I know  
this. I risked it anyway, and I was actually counting on it. It just turns out that the  
principal was still in school at the time..."

Toji had his feet up on his desk, looking contemplative. Hikari wasn't scolding him for  
that, since the teacher still hadn't arrived. Poor old sensei decided to leave too. He  
was always talking about Impact and after it... it looked like the old guy just had his  
fill of it. He glanced aside and asked "Hey, were you interrogated by Section Two too?"

"They're surprisingly nice." replied Kensuke. The black suits were the only ones of NERV  
that were unequivocably liked. There were the ones out there defending the people.  
However, Kensuke had to note that NERV didn't seem to have ANY military force of its  
own apart from the Eva. "Of course, considering WHERE I got the things, NERV doesn't  
really have the jurisdiction on me."

"... The JSSDF covered for us. Instead of us giving them bolters, it was the other way  
around. It was never illegal to wear body armor."

"... hey, you guys... what will you do if something like it happens again?" one of the  
students asked, ready to follow their lead.

Both teens stared blandly at him. "Stay out of the way."

"... oh, come on." he whined out. "You were awesome. Share the respect, man."

Toji sighed. He looked towards the far end of the room, where Hikari was indulging in  
light gossip with some of the few girls left. Nothing had really changed in each of them.  
They didn't feel heroic... having prepared for the possibility for so long, it even felt like  
cheating somehow. It would only cause more problems. The lives that they saved  
though, it made it all worth it.

"Now that the military is awake to the possibility of an attack, we shouldn't interfere  
where we can only make things harder for those who really need to fight. People die,  
you know this. Every person that doesn't need to die that gets killed out of their own  
stupidity... insults the sacrifice of those who gave their lives to protect their loved  
ones. We can protect better when we allow those who can do it effectively to do  
their jobs! That's our responsibility. That's our duty."

Every boy in that class looked at him. "That's deep." said one. Also surprising from Toji,  
whose reputation as a fearless fighter could only be reinforced by his actions. They  
couldn't accuse him of cowardice.

Hikari was being asked "Why did you do it?" and "Would you do it again?"

She took some time to answer. "Because I could." was the simplest she could give.  
"And, yes." She looked sad about it, though. She explained to them the things boys  
usually forgot in their search for 'awesome'... the blood, the sweat, the paralyzing fear,  
the body-burning soreness at the end of the day. Boys were idiots for trying to be so  
'manly'. She would rather rather call it 'disgusting'.

Hikari Horaki was the very first person ever to cut right through an Angelspawn with  
a mini-chainsaw and laugh hysterically after doing it.

"Who's our new teacher anyway?" was inevitably asked.

It was already an hour after classes were supposed to start, and nothing important  
was happening. Even Hikari couldn't give any insight as she'd set aside the Inquisition  
in the past three weeks.

Kensuke ignored any further attempts at conversation. Girls giggled, trying to get his  
attention. Even the most crazed fangirl didn't dare tangle with Hikari to get at Toji.  
Unfortunately, if anything, Kensuke was even more remote. His gaze was far, and his  
notebook held the beginnings of practical machine-Titan doctrine.

The Messiah was, after all, unnecessary in the long run. The only truly important task  
was that of the disciple.

He only looked up from sketching when a sudden hush fell over the class. He resisted  
the urge to quip 'my mechanicus sense is tingling'.

He turned, and the only one there daring to grin. "Hey. Kirishima."

Jackets seemed to be the distinguishing fashion accessory for those affiliated with  
young Ikari. Kensuke had white, Toji had black with yellow trim, Hikari had yellow in  
black trim. Mana had a long black jacket, similar to a boy's uniform. Her skirt was also  
noticeably longer than the norm, reaching to below her knees. She wore white gloves.

It was no longer a secret she was JSSDF. She fought the Angel directly. They were  
ready to welcome her as a hero.

In her eyes there was no pity for stupidity. She didn't need their empty praise.

Kensuke got up, went over and actually grabbed at her arm. She narrowed her gaze  
dangerously at him. Everyone else could only think; either he has some cast iron balls  
or they weren't there for him to lose anymore. "Ceramic, titanium, or carbon fiber?" he  
asked.

Mana's lips twitched at his foolish bravery. "A little of all three, I think."

He let the arm flop back down. "I can make it better."

"I have no doubt you can." she answered. Even if it was the work of Ritsuko Akagi,  
one of the greatest minds of her generation. As the saying goes: The reasonable man  
adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to  
himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

If he doesn't blow himself up in the process.

"You doing okay, Kirishima?" Toji asked gently.

She nodded.

"Okay." That was all they needed from each other. The three teens were no longer so  
innocent; they had faith she was strong enough, but were there if she ever needed  
them for anything.

"Do you know anything of how Shinji is doing?" asked Hikari. Mana shook her head. The  
other girl bit her lip. Pen-pen was getting along well with her sisters, being treated like  
a king, but even the animal seemed to miss its owners. The girls were nice, but were  
completely unable to translate his squawks. Hikari loved the oddly intelligent bird, and  
seeing how sad he could be... she didn't know what to do.

Wark! Women, give me beer! Wark! None of these wussy cola crap!

Mana went over to the front of the room and coughed lightly. Everyone paid her their  
full attention. Her voice was not so loud, but her diction precise and unmistakable.  
"My name is Mana Kirishima. I hold the rank of Commissar for the Japanese Strategic  
Self-Defense Forces. This authorizes me to confer specific judgement on military and  
civilian conflict. Aida, Kensuke... Suzuhara, Toji... and Horaki, Hikari... used deadly  
weapons without authorization and gave commands upon military matters.

It is the judgement of the JSSDF that a civilian may ask other civilians to take action  
under the laws of common militia. The use of weapons is not a crime in this instance,  
but keeping them is. We are satisfied that the weapons were surrendered completely  
and without resistance to the proper authorities.

While the actions of Aida are still debated upon their legality, the JSSDF would like to  
offer their thanks and their gratitude for the assitance provided.

As such; Aida, Suzuhara, and Horaki are hereby granted the honorary rank of Corporal  
in the ranks. They now have the official sanction to tell people to Shut up and Run in  
the case of an emergency. If their assistance in further matters is ever needed by the  
military matters, then it will be requested. They must not undertake such actions on  
their own, at risk of penalty. They will no longer be charged with possession of deadly  
weapons."

She smiled then. She took out three badges and put these on the desks of stunned  
students in question. These were iron skulls on a single vertical bar. "Welcome to the  
Kirishima Corps..." she whispered.

The three teens took the badges and pinned them proudly on their chests. They then  
bowed to each other.

"Wow..." one of the boys remarked softly as Mana sat. "Kirishima looks... really good."

"Green's not good enough. Black and deep as sweet sin." agreed another. "I'd hit that,  
if I wasn't sure she'd hit me first and not in a good way. Losing her friends like that...  
Girl's got issues."

"You know, that's how it is... some girl that doesn't react much... getting a smile from  
them becomes enormously satisfying. More than just someone that's genki all the time."

"Damn it, Ikari. I don't even know her that well, but... dammit. You better be worth it.  
Make her happy."

-o-  
-o-

Patton Shirokawa Sakura was old and irritable. He had a detachable shotgun in his  
crutch and makes Bolters in his spare time. He could get away with badmouthing a lot  
of people. Not that he'd ever exercised any hesitation with that anyway.

Strangely enough, he was considered a good influence by everyone; their smiles, most  
specially from young girls, only made him react with more 'humbug'. The gangsters and  
juvenile delinquents were justifiably scared out of their minds of him.

He used to be SDF, but retired well before Impact; he was that old. The only person  
he had left was a grand-daughter in Tokyo. He retired back to hills of Sendai, where in  
peace and solitude he tended to a garden and wrote to online military journals. When  
impact happened, he was too old to be called back into service. Instead, he and his  
armory became the core of peacekeeping forces around the town. He became the de  
facto chief of police (the former having been murdered heinously by street gangs) and  
led a posse that took out most of the roving warbands of hoodlums. When order had  
returned he rebuilt the SWAT from the ground up, and trained that for several more  
years even after stepping down as police chief.

He was so looking forward to silent retirement, dying alone and in bed; as his grand-  
daughter was certainly dead in Impact. He hoped she was, at least. It was not a good  
time back then, to be a pretty single woman in drowning Tokyo. He was too old for all  
this craziness. All his life he had to fight, from other kids making fun of his name and  
up to time itself; which cursedly refused to just take him when he had nothing left to  
live for.

Sgt. Angelo De Leon was an oddity. A non-Japanese member of the JSSDF, wearily but  
unhesitatingly defending the land that did not know him. He was finally recognized as  
a full citizen in only the past five years, to be exact. He still didn't feel 'at home', but  
stayed anyway. He had earned the respect and loyalty of his troops. He had to honor  
that commitment.

He was an immigrant worker, staying in the country and doing various low-visibility jobs  
for money to send home. The victim of an illegal recruiter, he nonetheless endured it  
all since it was better pay than what he could earn back home. Even his educational  
background couldn't give him a white-collar job with the same financial rewards. After  
Impact, he had to fight tooth and nail for the right to survive. He joined up with the  
JSSDF, which in itself was the arm of the UN, as the only true secure employment of  
those times... the ones assured of three meals a day and a roof at night; and no one  
to hunt them down to take it away.

The JSSDF those days were made of the remnants of the American bases, policemen  
and army troops with nothing left to defend, plus whoever would dare sign on for at  
least five years of tight suspicion. They were there after all to guard against the very  
army of the nation they were in; set apart by conscious design.

It was pointless for him to return to the Philippines. For six generations, his family had  
lived in a stone house near the ocean. His father was a fisherman. His father's father  
owned a dried/salted fish factory burned to the ground during the period of Japanese  
occupation, ironically. No. With the sudden tidal waves caused by Second Impact, he  
had little hope anyone of his entire hometown had survived.

He didn't believe he would be strong enough to see it. His wife, his son and daughter.  
His old mother. The scraped remains of their tiny plot of ancestral land. He was known  
for his nigh suicidal bravery. He considered himself a coward.

He had nothing left, other than his name, and the respect of the fighting men with him.  
They were the only ones who accepted him fully, and to the JSSDF he gave his loyalty.

Both the retired old warrior and the displaced soldier saw the look in each other's eyes  
and knew then that this was a man they could trust as far as their own concerns did  
not conflict. It was not an instant friendship, but both their reticent natures meshed  
well. They were not ones for unnecessary talk.

'Who needs that emotional claptrap, anyway?' There were guns! There were mostly  
pistols and rifles, with a few of the less-powerful submachine guns. All up on display,  
all unloaded; it was the ammo that was kept under heavy lock and key. The two were  
seated on a nearby metal table, with the unconventional new weapons upon it.

"This is a Bolter." said the old man, showing the gun. "The full-size, three-round burst,  
.70 caliber Bolt gun. Note the laser sight below the barrel, the sturdy all-metal single-  
cast construction. The Bolt Rifle is just a Bolter with a folding stock and a longer barrel.  
The loading system is magnetic. There's only two moving parts in the whole thing; it's  
not as reliable as an AK, but you sure can whack someone on the head with it. This  
piece is designed for close-in work using the full power of Bolt ammunition."

Sgt. De Leon picked up one of the shells. It was stubby, looking more like an oversized  
pistol round. He could barely believe it could be in any way accurate. It also reminded  
him of a tiny naval round, so he could believe the potential damage.

The Bolter itself was a nasty-looking piece of metal. It was one flat matte-black slab,  
with a winged skull in moulded in brass into the side. The muzzle break made the gun  
barrel seem larger than what it should be, making the already oversized ammo that  
much more intimidating to the uninitiated. Sadly, the painful reality was worse than  
what they could imagine.

"Is the recoil for this as bad as they say?"

"Bad enough that unless you're prepared for it, it will really mess up your wrist." The  
gunsmith shrugged. "You're firing a miniature anti-tank round. The tip is smoothened  
out to keep it from overpenetrating. The 17.5mm Bolt ammo is bad enough, this is too  
dangerous for use as anything less than a squad control weapon."

"Ahh... so it's only an SMG because the size of its ammo influences its looks. We really  
haven't decided yet how to classify this... its punch is heavier than a machine gun,  
but smaller and easier to handle than a full-size assault rifle."

"It's a Bolter. That's all it needs to be."

The JSSDF soldier grinned. "This is so overkill, it's insane. And it's exactly what we  
need right now. I don't suppose... you know the lunatic who designed this? I know  
NERV would never have let anyone get at their own plans for the Great Bolter."

"As long as something's already known to be possible, it doesn't really matter if nobody  
knows how it was done. Somebody, somewhere, is going to try and prove they can do  
it too..." Patton-san shrugged. He was privy to the fact that the Bolter preceded the  
Great Bolter, but it would do no good to spread that around.

The soldier hefted the Bolter, feeling for its balance. The weight of the ammunition in  
front of the grip lowered the sights. Add to the fact that the Bolt rounds had a shorter  
ballistic trajectory, and he could guess at a need to aim high. It was not as heavy as  
he had expected, though.

"What's the thickness of steel that it can penetrate?" he asked.

"The truth is, not much. Even if this is a miniature HEAT round with a solid tungsten  
carbide tip, we don't really want it to pierce too much. There's no body armor that can  
stop it. Unarmored and lightly-armored vehicles, like Jeeps and thos Humvees... the  
Bolt rounds punch through and then explode; shredding whatever's inside. Still, while  
it's big, the 17.5mm has only similar performance to the fifty-cal... it's the explosive  
property that gives it the edge."

The gunsmith then put on the table a large Bolt shell, one about the size of his closed  
fist. Sgt. De Leon grinned at it.

"This is the one hundred-caliber, 25.4 millimeter Heavy Bolter round. Designed for the  
enemy en masse and taking out heavy armor. Solid, sharper tip, and a shaped charge  
behind it. It's not really that effective against MBT armor, but you would have a good  
shot at lighter troop carriers and hey, treads are always vulnerable.

Against fleshbags... not a good thing to see. After it blows through, it explodes,  
sending all shrapnel everywhere..." The gunsmith actually shivered a bit, despite his  
long torturous experience at all the nasty things man could do to each other. "And the  
Heavy Bolter is a full-automatic heavy machine gun. These things should be called  
Demonkillers."

"If we had demons... anything less and it would be cruel and unusual..." mumbled the  
soldier. He went back to the Bolter and held it up to the light. A big, unsubtle weapon.  
He could just make out the manufacturer's mark etched into metal. Also, in tiny cursive;  
IN HIS NAME - Strike True And Destroy The Enemies of Man.

Interesting.

Click. The magazine was ejected. As he had expected, only safebolt rounds. The old  
man was amazingly cautious. That was good to know. "Why did you give these guns  
to those kids?"

To which Patton-san countered "Why did you take the blame for their having them...?"

He was in his early fourties. The old man was in his middle seventies. After all that they  
had seen, done, and suffered... it should be the hardest thing in the world to just step  
back and trust in those barely more than children... not even a decade and a half of  
experience to their name. Seeing teenagers act out like that... it wasn't the first time.  
Immidately after Impact was crazy time. Not again; they said to themselves.

Patton-san had gone to Tokyo-3 at the begging of Chief Mitsugane, as he was the  
only one the town could trust to look after the young Ikari. He stayed, despite how  
he had to watch over more than just the boy.

Sgt. De Leon was part of Kirishima and company's security detail. Those strange and  
over-intelligent kids. The thought of taking orders from kids, they were trying to get  
used to it. It was inevitable.

"To tell the truth, I never really thought much about it. They went into the scene not  
expecting to be heroes, but just to save as many live as they could..." He sighed.  
"They were a lot more competent than the panicking or kill-crazy. We saw it, and just  
let them keep on going and just believing that they knew what they were doing."

"That's why. It's not a game. These aren't toys. They wouldn't have used them unless  
necessary. Not even that machine-worshipping Kensuke would use his gun just to  
threaten someone."

And that was true. For such a gun nut, the number of times Kensuke fired his bolt  
pistols while in school could be counted in one finger. By comparison, Hikari had less  
restraint. To be fair, most of those annoyed bursts were aimed at Kensuke himself.

"I'm too old to keep on chasing after children. Those kids... they know the risks. They  
knew just what they had to do, and why they had to do it. It's a strange feeling, to  
know that no matter what we do or did... it doesn't matter. Those kids are holding the  
future in the palm of their hands. It's their choice if that future will be bright or ugly;  
we have no place in it."

"So you'd just trust them? Just like that? These are guns. The gun is a tool for killing,  
there's no way to disguise that. Guns... kill! People just let them do so."

"What disturbs you more? That they're children? Or that they're so good at it?"

That brought him short. "My God..." he whispered, shaking his head. It took the soldier  
long to answer. He had both the benefit and drawbacks of always seeing the situation  
from an outsider's perspective. It gave him a certain valued objectivity in most states.  
"It's not right... not right at all."

"Maybe." The old man looked out to the street, but his gaze was distant beyond that.  
"But someday you really should meet Shinji Ikari. The world -will- make sense again."

"... the world, without faith, will never make sense." De Leon replied. He wasn't an  
atheist, at least not that he believed in science and reason over the existence of  
deities. There might be God or Gods; he accepted the possibility. It was his faith in  
the grand plan that was crushed. If They existed at all they were liars and hypocrites.

The old man was merely too old to care. He had long made his peace with the measure  
of his long and bitter life. The young would own the world, and he while he still lived  
he could help in making sure his mistakes would not be repeated.

The soldier put down the Bolter, stood up, and bowed. He left after thanking the old  
man for his time. The Bolt weapons would be useful. NNHIS was already under contract  
with the JSSDF. He could already imagine the friction these strange, new, and very  
powerful weapons that would cause between them and the regular military... not to  
mention NERV. The balance of power had to be maintained.

He sighed.

Science and technology and human knowing; that too was tainted by human greed  
and malice. He found it hard to have faith in that; when he can see the military heads  
posturing and puffing out their chests, the politicians preening, and the scientists of  
the frantic race to advance their own aims and reputations. The fruit of the mind has  
its taste leeched out from the sap of the soul. Perfection cannot come from flawed  
beings consumed in their own flawed yearnings.

Objectivity; he supposed... is merely to see, that true objectivity was impossible for  
mankind to touch. Nothing was pure. Man cannot save man. Man was made to endure,  
nothing more and nothing less. That was his personal belief.

That was why he let those kids go. He was low enough on the command structure  
that nothing he could do or be done to him would really matter. He had nothing to  
really care about. Those kids, looked like they had everything to lose... and went out  
there anyway. Tsch. He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head as the rain began  
to fall, slowly at first. Tokyo 3. What a crazy place. He had long abandoned his faith  
in that the world would ever show fairness and reason.

Thus; Tokyo 3, to him, made perfect sense.

-o-  
-o-

They had buried her friends as heroes. The caskets were empty. The whole idea of  
funerals, and all the wasteful symbolism- it was more for the benefit of the living than  
the dead. It was perhaps for the best she wasn't awake to see the spectacle they  
made of their untimely deaths. Mana Kirishima stood there in the graveyard, under a  
red umbrella. The only sound she could hear was the patter of raindrops.

She stared down at their names, etched in gold into vertical black stone pillars that  
served as their tombstones. Here lies Musashi Lee Strasberg. Here lies Keita Asari. She  
actually smiled a little. The size of the characters remained the same, making the one  
on the left crowded and the other with plenty of leftover space. Like them in life; one  
active and trying so many new things, but ultimately messy in his affairs. The other  
conserved his words, keeping to himself, but calm and efficient in his methods.

She put down flowers. In the old days people would pour sake over gravestones as a  
sign of their respect. Her friends died without ever knowing the taste of that, not even  
as a joke would the military allow them alcohol. Mana poured an sports energy drink  
over Musashi's stone. She opened up a pack of potato chips and sprinkled it on the  
ground around Keita's.

Her offerings were being washed away. She still felt so numb. The sky seemed to be  
crying for her, since she was no longer able to.

"I'm sorry..." she said again. Mana knelt, uncaring of the damn grass soaking her skirt.  
"I kept on pushing and pushing and now..." Still the tears refused to come. "...what  
should I do? I'm not strong enough without you...!"

Thunder and lightning cracked overhead.

Perhaps holding a metal object in an open field was not such a good idea. Mana only  
laughed bitterly. She put away her umbrella and let the rain claim her, as if washing  
away her fears. She put a hand to either tombstone and slumped like she was chained  
and to be lashed with a whip.

She remained that way for several minutes. Time ceased to have any meaning for her.  
She felt numb all over; whether that was from her own constricted emotions or from a  
developing hypothermia, she didn't care.

She heard approaching squishing noises. She turned, her hair wet and clumped over  
her face.

"Creepy, Kirishma, creepy." said Asuka, grinning. She moved closer and held up her  
own wide flower-pattern umbrella to shelter the both of them. "Wetness inhibits the  
immune system, you know that?"

Mana opened and closed her fake fist. She looked up and grinned in return, but utterly  
without mirth. She slicked her hair back and asked "So they let you out at last? What  
are you doing here, Sohryu...?"

Asuka had a hard time raising sympathy for others, much more so offering it. However,  
she had to admit to being concerned about what it could mean for all of them. Like it  
or not, Kirishima had become part of the team. For the Greater Good, the group must  
maintain its cohesive effectiveness.

"It's not like I hated them or anthing..." softly replied the pilot. "They were fun to have  
around. Kirishima, don't take this the wrong way... but I think I'll miss them too." She  
meant it. They were such boys; but at least weren't so crude about it. Being that they  
were so obviously pining for Mana, she could actually relax in their company. Much like  
a gay male friend, only... not gay.

She had much fun fostering those rumors, though...

She found it hard to believe those carefree days were gone forever. A minute or so  
passed in silence.

"I knew them my whole life." said Mana, turning back to the tombstones.

Several more long and silent moments.

"... there's nothing in my experience, that allows me to say... I know how you feel."  
Asuka had to reply. She was feeling regret. It didn't really touch on her life that much.  
However, the honest pain in the other girl... she couldn't mock that either; by being  
so blase or fakely caring too much.

They both walked over to a covered mausoleum. The marble facade was from before  
Impact, with its angels and gothic decorations. Presumably from some high muckety-  
muck, an ambassador or something. Once there, Mana took off her longcoat, which  
had kept water away from her underclothes long enough. Asuka sat on a vigil bench  
and watched the other girl. The comparisons were inevitable, but where once Asuka  
saw and echo of herself in Mana, now it was Rei that the military girl reflected. The  
same dead stare. That same unnatural stillness. With a shade of Shinji's tightly-wound  
energy.

"... dammit." she whispered to herself. "Will I be the only one around here capable of  
speaking above a monotone...?"

"I don't need your pity, Sohryu." said Mana, in monotone.

"Hah!" The red-haired girl's tone was mocking, but her face wasn't. "If it was just pity,  
then I wouldn't have followed you all the way out here. You think I'd waste the first  
chance I have to get out of the geofront just to pat your weepy little head?"

A flash of anger crossed Mana's apathy. She ached for that. Just to cry. Just for that  
release. "You're the Worst Possible Person to try and make me feel better. Why are  
you tormenting me...? Haven't you done enough?" Mana's lips twisted up. "Or... not  
enough...? I'm sorry, are we stealing your GLORY, Langley-Sohryu the Great?"

Slap!

It came as a surprise to both of them. It was Asuka whose eyes were somewhat teary.  
The insult was too great. She could never be that callous!

Apparently, Mana had belated realized that. Her own tears still refused to flow. Slap!  
She was an officer of the JSSDF after all, with her own pride.

What followed was... beyond mere description. Slapping, hair-pulling, screams and  
taunts, at the doorstep of the dead while a storm raged above. Clothes were ripped,  
bite-marks were left. Suffice it to say, it was awesome in its own way.

And at the end of it, they were leaning shoulder-to-shoulder and laughing.

"Sohryu, t-thank you..." said Mana, between gulps of air. "I needed that."

"You can't blame yourself, Kirishima. That won't bring them back. Do you really think  
they would want you to just lie down and wait for your own death...?"

Mana closed her eyes and inhaled the stiff wind. The rain was still roaring. She felt  
buzzed, adrenaline flowing through her veins. She could almost hear them... what they  
would say, at seeing her her so sad.

_'If you wish to remember us, then remember this. We loved you so much that our lives  
were nothing compared to your happiness. So be happy, Mana. Live on, Mana. For us.'_

"No. I guess I'm here to kill Angels." I will not forget. You died for me. I will kill for you.

Asuka laughed. "I wish I could have been there, fighting. It sucks, being so useless."  
She allowed her own uncertainty to shine through. "I can't believe you'd accept that.  
I know you're stronger than that. I'm not a soldier like you... but when we stop fighting  
then we stop living..."

Asuka had only really suffered one serious loss in her life; that of her mother. That had  
shaped her into the competetive girl she was. There were very few things she actually  
valued; and losing them would be keen tragedy. A Worthy Rival was one of those few.

She could no longer assign that to Shinji, being that his tendency to give Reality a  
Wedgie pushes him from an Ace towards Mentor category. Rei was the Uncompromising  
Confidante, since everyone knows Ayanami Never Lies. Simply by keeping secrets from  
Gendo, her respect for the other girl pilot rose by several notches; her Angel nature  
notwithstanding. To dwell on that would be to acknowledge her own Mortal Ambiguity.

Asuka was aware she was Assigning Capital Letters in her own mind. She had learned  
that other people weren't quite so clear-cut, but needed to classify them anyway. It  
was methodical, it was convenient, and for the most part it worked. Even events could  
be predicted according to patterns.

This, incidentally, was from advice by Ritsuko. Don't Panic; the scientist said offhand.  
Everything must follow some rule; even chaos repeated itself infinitely. Asuka might  
be second in terms of actual combat, but the scientist was pleasantly surprised that  
the girl held a brilliant mind beneath that ax-crazy exterior. Of course; one does not  
graduate from university at thirteen just by influence alone.

Ritsuko wondered, is that what motherhood felt like? She refused to bear Gendo Ikari's  
seed, dosing herself with the same ovulation supressants that she pumped into Rei.  
To shape Asuka as her own successor... she had to admit it was appealing. Maya had  
her own road to take, to discover her own limits outside of her teacher's shadow.

However, this brought into question what happens when two complete Genre Savvy  
persons went head-to-head. Would reality break down (even faster)?

The girls stared out at the rows upon rows of tombstones, all soldiers dead in the line  
of duty. Actual civilian casualties were magnitudes greater. The rain was slowing down,  
but that only seemed to make the scene sadder. Not even the sky could weep forever.

"Crap." said Asuka. "My clothes are ruined." And they were so stylish too. A pale tan  
dress with an orange vest to match with her hair. There was a rather large rip down  
her skirt. Silk was supposed to be such a strong material.

"I can hide this under my longcoat." Mana impishly replied.

"Phf. Not like you have anything much to hide."

Mana looked down. Then to Asuka. "Okay, that's it. Round two." she growled.

"Maybe later. I need some time to clean up if I'm going to visit Shinji." She turned to  
Mana and... "Gah! Those eyes! Why must you look at me with those eyes...?" That  
was a complete personality one-eighty! That shouldn't be humanly possible! And if it  
was, then something had to be very wrong with whoever could accomplish it.

"Pleease? Take me with you?"

"Ugh." Crushing. Defeat.

-o-  
-o-

Gendo pushed a button. Then he waited. He waited some more. After some more time  
his eyebrows twitched slightly. He turned away.

Ding! The elevator doors opened.

The Supreme Commander of NERV quickly walked back. The doors shut in his face, he  
only saw for a second that the elevator was empty before it descended to another  
level. Gendo contemplated pushing the button again.

He took his hand away from the button, which though nothing more than backlit white  
plastic seemed to be begging to be pushed.

-o-

"Ah, commander." the subcommander gave a glance that implied '...about time you got  
here!' "Good timing. cough Things are getting crazy out in the city."

Gendo fought to keep his breathing shallow, disguising his fatigue. He had to walk up  
nine levels just to get to the command center. He was just that prideful, even when  
no one was looking. That stubborness was a virtue in other situations. "What is the  
situation?"

"A riot is happening out in the city streets, sir." said Kaede Agano. "Citizens protesting  
NERV actions are being met by those who support the methodology. The police are  
deployed, and so far there hasn't been any direct violence."

"It seems inevitable at this point." said Fuyutsuki. "The anti-NERV and pro-NERV sides  
of the masses won't just leave the issue so easily." Anti- and Pro-Ikari, to be precise;  
but everyone in NERV just pretended the conflict was less personal than that. Politics  
and pain mixed well.

"This is not the first time this happened." Gendo replied, already in his command seat.

"It's raining out there." Misato offered her insight. "They're staying anyway, it's more  
than just the inconvenience. That's not enough to drive them away. Tear gas would  
be less effective, and water cannons won't work if they're that determined... we can't  
just push the two sides away."

The main street held two writhing masses of screaming people, with the riot police  
between them. The men in gas masks and plastic shields were clearly outnumbered.  
The mob kept the supporting vehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks from even  
getting through. Harsh words were being exchanged through the gap, from all three  
sides. Apparently even the police had grievances and conflicts with the two extreme  
viewpoints.

"Have all NERV personnel been recalled?" asked Gendo, the safety of NERV paramount  
in his mind. "Where are the pilots? And the other essential personnel?"

"Asuka and Rei are visiting Shinji-kun. They should be safe at the hospital." Misato  
replied. "Ritsuko and Maya are down below in their lab... Shigeru's over there." She  
pointed. He waved from the ground floor. "The only one unaccounted for is Makoto,  
but he should be safe somewhere, he has a good head on his shoulders."

"Katsuragi, never give me unimportant information again." Gendo said, scolding. He had  
no interest in the fate of mere aides. After hearing her apology, he turned to the three  
girls seated in the central monitoring stations. "What does the MAGI recommend?"

"It advises a wait and see policy, sir. Direct involvement by NERV would only aggravate  
the issue." replied Satsuki Ooi. The blonde frowned slightly. "... even if fatalities should  
arise, actions should be at discretion of above-ground authorities."

"From the useless jackals we put into office...?" gasped Misato.

"Katsuragi!" Fuyutsuki called down.

"Sorry, sir."

The MAGI was supposedly a creature of pure logic. Its decisions had the force of brute  
statistics. The surface was only in the loosest sense of value to NERV. Conflict, once  
escalated, would quickly burn out its most dangerous elements as the masses realized  
the stakes of direct action. The MAGI saw the roots of the movement, and found no  
correlation to revolution or policy-changing agendas. Just one big angry mob against  
another. NERV was incidental to the question.

The supercomputer was not meant for psychological analysis. However, the MAGI was  
more than just uncaring about the eventual lot of meatbags. It fulfilled programming to  
keep the city running smoothly, but when it comes to decisions regarding humans in  
conflict against another... its solution often bordered on contempt for either. Humanity  
was its own problem. Not that anyone thought the MAGI, being just a computer, could  
feel contempt. It was probably a logic trap, searching for the quickest (if completely  
unsympathetic) resolution.

Unless of course, it involved Maya Ibuki or those directly affiliated with her; such as  
Ritsuko Akagi, Shinji Ikari, and the other pilots. The MAGI protected itself, but when it  
logged threats to those specific meatbags... in that instance it was probably a good  
thing it was not networked to any nuclear delivery platforms.

-o-  
-o-

Meanwhile, in the fourteenth floor of Tokyo Three Triple Towers, Makoto Hyuga was  
hiding away in a dressing room; ignorant of the situation. His most pressing concern  
was his impending humiliation.

"I feel ridiculous." he said, emerging at last. They cheered and whistled as he showed  
himself into the room where gathered most of the art crew. He found it easy to relax  
and make friends with the people of Mini-storm Studios; and once off his shift he was  
always welcome to just hang around their office. Although a consultant, they couldn't  
really pay him for his ideas until the production resumed.

The manga enthusiast was just happy to be around those who recognized the worth  
of a good story. There was a distinct thrill in building a self-justified setting, making up  
consistent rules of magic and logically-arcing plots. They offered a distinctly different  
sort of camaraderie from NERV. There was a certain satisfaction in helping there, that  
he couldn't get out of the daily grind under the geofront.

"Actually, you look... good." said Kodama Horaki. She followed, putting a round piece  
of cloth on his head. "Here's a skullcap, since we can't actually shave your head."

She stepped back and looked at him carefully.

Makoto was in monastic robes, earth-brown in tone. It had the requisite high collars  
of the priesthood and the hood had thick ropes to tighten it; which reminded him too  
much of a noose. There was a thick sash that was tied into a wide belt, for support  
with the many large pouches it sported. There was a thick bound book hitched to  
the side, which severely unabalanced his stance. He was forced to stoop down a little  
to keep from pitching over.

"Niice." said another of the character designers. "It fits you. Then again, we did use  
your likeness for source material."

"Not that I mind, but... is that even legal? I don't recall anyone ever asking me if it  
was okay to have my name and face used in a movie."

"That's one of the tricky portions of NERV's existence." replied a rotund man named  
Yanda, the executive director. "NERV is a something of an armed force while still a  
corporation. It's under no one's jurisdiction... you people only obey the UN because  
that's where your pay comes from. It's weird. When NERV said it was okay, it speaks  
for all its employees, since... it's like you're part of your own little country."

Makoto winced a bit. Gendo Ikari as absolute dictator. Now if that was actually literal,  
the only thing that could make it bearable was the bright possibility of his heir.

"Hey, isn't there something missing?" Kodama was asked.

She looked up and frowned a bit. She agreed and whispered to that artist. He left for  
the next room over.

When he returned, Makoto asked "I thought Evangelion Fantasy Battle was... well, a  
FANTASY. What am I supposed to do with a chainsaw? Um. Chainsword?"

"The second movie is supposed to mix in elements of steampunk, as the Third City  
makes contact with another kingdom. It's all a complicated plot by the Warp Gods  
though, who are the ancient enemies of the Star Gods. Even the side characters...  
like say, the Bronze Cleric, get the chance to kick ass when the heroes are trapped  
by their own powers."

The NERV lieutenant took the chainsaw offered to him. It was surprisingly light. "Hey,  
it's not a real chainsaw."

Kodama gave him a look to the effect of 'of course'. "A real chainsaw would be too  
dangerous... and too expensive. It's just aluminum, styrofoam, and those blades are  
painted cardboard."

"We don't need a gas engine, anyway..." mentioned the model-maker that made it. "An  
electric fan motor runs just fine off batteries, and all we need it for is to move a chain.  
The gas-motor noise, we tried to emulate with two strips of metal hitting each other  
as the motor turns."

Makoto found a switch along the side, with three levels. He slid it to one, and the  
fake chainsaw turned on. It let out a loud roar, and the blades began to whirl. It was  
noisy, and shook in his hands. "It sure sounds authentic." he agreed.

"Now hold still, Hyuga-kun." said Kodama, having readied a drawing pad on her lap. She  
licked the tip of a pencil and began to quickly sketch. Concept art had its place, but a  
live model allowed her to see just how it would appear as a finished product. Whether  
or not it would be good to animate. Intentionally and impossibly cool clothes were just  
lame in real life. A little extra layer of realism never hurt, and for the sake of marketing,  
the studio actually began with the wardrobe before putting the character sets together.

One of the other artists rushed in, breathless. "H-HEY!" he gasped out. "It's... getting  
crazy out t-there. Check it out!"

Everyone rushed to the windows, then realized that at their height, they couldn't see  
a damn thing of the street. The smaller buildings right below were obscuring the main  
road. They were a rather laid-back lot, not given to much curiosity of the world around  
them... after all, they were in the midst of creating a world all their own. However, at  
the urging everyone decided to just take a look. Even Makoto followed, still clad in  
those priestly robes and absently toting the chainsword along.

The other occupants of the building milled around the foyer. It was still raining outside,  
and yet thousands of Tokyo-3 citizens were out in the streets. Fear filled all those  
watching. Even as thunder cracked above, the shouts and the flying banners went on.

"The inciting cause is still unknown ..." Those indoors knew little, and attention was  
split between the shut glass doors and the TV inside the central hall. "But it is clear  
that out on the streets of Tokyo 3 is an outpouring of spontaneous emotion..."

Kodama groaned. "I can't believe they used that line. I'd like to go over to the next  
tower and tell those guys off..." T3TV had its main broadcast station at Tower B. The  
reporters were already down at ground level.

"At least they're showing both sides of the issue and the commentary's neutral... if  
a little trite." one of the salarymen watching put in. "That's how journalism should be."  
Tokyo 3 Journalism, as opposed to the utter political tool that was Kyoto 2 -reporting.

-o-

"NERV's lording over us like they've got some sort of divine right over our lives!" one  
of the protesters shouted. "We can't let them just escape responsibility! NERV didn't  
build this city... a city's not just stone and glass... it's people! WE built this city. WE  
are the ones who suffer the most when an Angel attacks...!"

"So, what do you want NERV to do, sir?" asked the reporter in the bright yellow rain-  
coat.

"I want them to take responsibility! I want them to stop hiding and pretending it's not  
their fault! We trusted them to protect us, and they failed us! Didn't anyone ever think  
that the attack could be like that...? They're all about the Evangelion. Why don't they  
just give up that power of protecting the little people to those that can?

Trying to go on like nothing had ever happened... removing the signs that there were  
ever those that live and died...! It's an insult! We can't just live on and forget and just  
blindly trust again!

We're not their subjects...! Ikari is not our king! We should have the power to decide  
who we trust to protect us and in what way. WE ARE HERE TO SAY; DON'T TREAD ON  
ME! We're people of Tokyo Three...! We should have the right to decide HOW to best  
protect OUR CITY!"

A ragged cheer rose into the air.

"Why is this happening? I want to know! Who failed us and how? What else are they  
doing now? I want to make sure what happened the last time never happens again...!"

"So far this demonstration seems to have formed abruptly, with one side asking for  
greater accountability from NERV. The other side... as you can see here, on my left..."  
The reporter stood in the open space in the streets, between two tides of agitatee  
civilians. "Are polarized in respect to opposing these views. Tatsuya...?"

"Thank you, Nanashi..." spoke the news anchor. "What about the opposing view?  
Mitsuru?"

"We don't have a leader...! We don't have any real complaints. What we do have is  
knowing... that things can still be worse!" responded one of the men who were pro-  
NERV. "Things aren't working...? No! We should be grateful that the measures worked  
as well as it did! What do we KNOW about the Angels? What are we willing to give  
up for our safety? We knew the risk when we chose to stay here...! We built this city  
to live in, to DEFY the FORCES that want us to live in useless fear!

They're not the only ones who lost their loved ones! That's why their attitude makes  
me sick...! They couldn't protect their own people, only NERV could have killed the  
Angel...! Who can do better? How ungrateful! How stupid!"

The last part was shouted over to the other throng. The screen split to the camera  
feeds from the two reporters.

"It's okay if even more people die? It's okay for us to give up our loved ones because  
it could have been worse...? Fuck off! The only reason it wasn't as bad as it could  
have been was because of independent action by other civilians...! NERV killed my  
family, the same way I can blame the Angel! Who did you lose? WHAT ARE THEY  
GIVING YOU FOR KISSING ASS...?"

"How dare you...? I loved my family! You can't say I loved them any LESS than you  
ever did! How dare you try to pass yourself off as a martyr! I'LL BURN YOU!"

-o-

"... I think I'm getting the gist of why this is going on..." said Kodama. "Those poor  
people. They're all hurting." That was what made it more frightening than just the  
mortal terror of an Angel attack. Everyone watched, unable to do anything, knowing  
that the slightest misstep could push things over the brink and it would be gruesome.

"Why isn't NERV doing anything?" someone asked Makoto.

The lieutenant grimaced. "We can't. NERV is a paramilitary division... what do you  
expect us to do? The police are already out there. We don't have anyone else to add.  
The only thing we can muster is the Evangelion, and what are we supposed to do with  
that...? We aren't even allowed to mobilize without approval from the JSSDF."

The TV then sounded out "There's a JSSDF base just outside the city. Why aren't  
they doing anything? According to our observers..." That is, people on the higher floors  
watching the city skyline. "the military has deployed forces around the city. They are  
not approaching any further than the city limits. We are trying to get the base on line  
for their reasons why..."

Ring. Ring.

Eventually, the communications was picked up. The news studio was redirected to  
another line, towards the commanding officer of the base.

"Ah, General Asagiri. This is Hisoka Atama, T3TV. Why aren't the military moving to  
quell public disorder?"

"That's not our job." was the overall message of what he said. "The JSSDF is not  
authorized to operate within the bounds of Tokyo-3 without permission from NERV.  
Even then, we can't help with that. The military cannot impose martial law on Tokyo  
3, and so far the civil demonstration is well within the rights towards public expression.  
The JSSDF is meant to preserve democracy, not to stifle it."

"... but sir, I beg to differ... this could get ugly. Will you just stand by if the protestors  
start tearing into each other?"

"Sadly, without orders, we can't do anything. Tanks and heavy guns won't help things.  
Our non-lethal options are limited... we would have to strongly consider the level of  
the disturbance and the risk of inflicting further violence."

"But..." The news anchor seemed at a loss as well. "We can see it... ! The police won't  
be able to handle it. Can't someone do something...?"

"I am deeply sorry. You will have to talk to NERV about that." The military just can't  
interfere so simply in civilian affairs; he longed to add. That was the slippery slope the  
JSSDF itself was made to serve as warning against. It was out of their specific area  
of authority. Even for good reasons, disobeying standing orders and violating the very  
principles by which they were founded... he had to remain, or be replaced by someone  
who wouldn't understand the consequences of what was happening.

Then, static.

-o-

"Jamming the broadcasts may have unintended consquences, Ikari..." Fuyutsuki had  
to mention. "It's bad enough that we're under question of civil rights abuse."

"Information is power, sensei. You know that. If this somehow peters out, then we will  
have done no harm. However, if it inevitably does lead to violence, then having that  
displayed all to the world will only harm us."

"Harm us?" Misato scowled up at the commanders. "So we're just going to do what  
these people are accusing us of and... do nothing? When they really need our help?"

"This is not our responsibility. This is the jurisdiction of the police and the city council."

"... but the MAGI runs the Council!"

Gendo smirked. "Then we should do as the MAGI says."

"Bastard...!"

"Katsuragi, I will not tolerate insubordination."

"All they need is some acknowledgement...! Sure, they might hate us if we show up,  
even the ones who support us will resent that we can't really give them what they  
want. But at least... some words! We can try to explain...!"

"None of you are authorized to speak for NERV itself. I have made my decision. Anyone  
who attempts to go up to the surface will be punished accordingly."

The situation was actually headed towards his benefit. He could use it to polarize  
opinion even more outside of Tokyo 3. Not to mention as an excuse to arm up NERV  
itself. That was a pillar of the contract that guaranteed their existence. NERV was a  
blade ever aimed outward, never at those who sought to weild it.

Misato clenched her fists, then turned to look back at the external view. The NERV  
command center's holographic projection system was updated to link and display more  
mundane sights, such as from wall-mounted security cameras. Unfortunately, those  
did not carry sound.

"What do they want...?" she mumbled.

"Shinji-kun." Maya whispered. She and Ritsuko had gone up to the command center,  
and had nothing to do but stand there. She chose not to take over from Satsuki.  
Misato and Ritsuko turned to her. "They want Shinji-kun. They want to hear him. They  
want to know him... they need to know if they can really believe in his power to save  
them."

"But he's unconscious. Without the Evangelion, he can't save anyone." said Ritsuko.  
Someone sleeping as like dead was not so useful as a rallying symbol.

Misato grit her teeth, as she saw the people were pushing forward and the riot police  
were readying themselves for one monstrous melee. "Someone has to do something..."

-o-  
-o-

Kodama's eyes widened, and a dismayed groan spread amongst those watching inside.  
Everyone's eyes were glued to the TV, as the sight outside their building was turned  
away from the central point of the conflict.

The mobs outside were starting to throw whatever loose thing they could get their  
hands on at each other. The police were as good a target as the opposing faction.  
They were unwilling to take action just yet. Taking out the tear gas... throwing that,  
it would set off all the action. They hoped no one brought Molotov cocktails. Even if  
it was still raining...

It was starting. It couldn't end well. Nobody out there was listening to pleas to stop.  
The hurt went too deep, the anger running too hot and too high.

"Someone should do something..." Kodama said, woefully. "But there's nothing anyone  
can really do, right Hyuga-ku...?" She blinked, as she turned. She stood up and looked  
around. "Where did he go?" She began to ask around. "Where did he go...?"

The employees of Mini-storm Studios glanced at each other, then to the front door. It  
was locked from the inside. It was now slightly ajar. "Aw, shit." they said at once.

-o-

Makoto did not consider himself a particularly brave person. Just... talking... to Misato  
was already difficult. Yet, he found himself moving with ease. Fear had him, but its  
grasp was loose. 'What the hell am I doing?' he asked himself. He felt almost a prisoner  
in his own mind; except that he still held full control of his motions.

It just that... he didn't want to stop. NERV was the cause of all that suffering. As a  
man of NERV, he felt he had a duty to step up and speak on their behalf. Someone had  
to do something. Might as well be him.

'It has to stop!' he shouted inside. 'I can't let them go through with this...!'

For what did Shinji offer his being to the Evangelion, what was the use of his pain and  
his anger, if it is the people who destroy themselves? The boy could protect them  
against the Angels, but not from themselves.

He pulled the hood over his head as he stepped out into the rain. The vestment was  
made out of tough canvas, water-resistant to a degree. The drops darkened the dull  
brown color

It was strange, to look up to someone younger and shorter than yourself. However,  
Makoto had little problem with that. He knew, it was perhaps like identification. Shinji  
Ikari seemed like a younger, purer, stronger version of everything he so wished he was.  
The confidence, the utter certainty... the ability to attract beautiful women older than  
himself? Makoto grinned as he walked, and did not notice how even rampaging people  
stopped and got out of his way.

The book by his side wasn't just a prop. It was the literal Evangelion Fantasy Battle  
Bible; wherein the Ministorm put in the history, the character and mechanical designs,  
and official canon of the whole franchise. Just carrying it shouldn't give him any of the  
comforts of faith, but it did.

He emerged out into the clearing remaing in the middle of the main street. Thunder  
cracked and lightning flashed, the rains fell harder and in whistling torrents...

There was something about the distinctive sound of a chainsaw that cuts through all  
these. More so with the Mini-storm's chainsword; prevailing over a macrostorm by its  
artificial reverb, greater than what real chainsaws were ever meant to sound like.

Makoto held it up to the sky, the sound of it... the intense, unsettling growl... seemed  
to claim the sky and all their attention.

Makoto dropped his hand. He walked over to the police line, and everyone there  
tensed up. It was bad enough being outnumbered a hundred to one, now there was  
some maniac with a chainsaw. Riot police weren't issued firearms, lest in the confusion  
they be tempted to use it. Wooden tonfas, plastic shields... chainsaw. Not good.

"May I borrow that megaphone?" the priestly figure asked, holding out open his free  
left hand. The officer handed it over, shakily.

Makoto walked back and faced both sides in turn. He amplified the roar of the chain-  
sword, then put the megaphone to his mouth.

He smirked. His glasses glinted from a lightning flash. He felt as if burning inside. He  
longed to pull of a litany of eloquence to silence their doubts, to burn their fears, and  
to light the way back to reason. He felt powerful, unmovable, capable of commanding  
mountains to move out of sheer force of personality. What would Shinji do?

"Hello? HELLO? MY NAME IS MAKOTO HYUGA AND I WORK FOR NERV. PLEASE, JUST  
CALM DOWN AND I'M SURE WE CAN ADDRESS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR VALID  
COMPLAINTS."

It was also much easier to be so compelling and to move mountains when you were  
inside a nigh-undefeatable war machine that rips aparts the laws of Physics each time  
it sets out... and has its own built-in voice amplifier. Shinji wasn't some bully to force  
his own will upon people. His words, behind the ravings, held the unstoppable force of  
reason; simply the best course of action for everyone involved.

NERV! That knowledge quickly spread through the street. The two sides pushed out,  
the police quickly moved to surround him. Makoto again revved the chainsword. All  
stopped, as if hypnotized. "You have SOMETHING TO SAY." he said, his voice low and  
precisely threatening. "Let me HEAR IT."

The news reporters took advantage of the lull to push through towards him. "Hyuga?  
Aren't you the one who took a ride in -Magnos Tancred-?"

"Yes, that's true. We had to use its nuclear reactor to power the doors and the launch  
elevators." He made a one-handed praying gesture. "We are grateful for all they've  
done." His voice had returned to that gentle, conciliatory tone. Incidentally, the chain-  
sword was off again.

"Is that a real chainsword?" asked the cameraman.

His glasses glinted dangerously. He laid it upon the cameraman's other shoulder, and let  
him feel the slight breeze caused by the shards's rapid cycling. He put pressure and  
shook his hand a little to simulate the weight and vibration. Authenticity was not so  
much a problem anymore; the cameraman had to consider the chances that it was  
NOT a real chainsword was not worth testing it upon his flesh.

That was pretty much the reason why thousands of people stopped jostling to get at  
each other. The threat of guns was one thing, but no one wanted to be the first to be  
torn limb from limb if the psycho preacher guy decided to lose it.

Makoto answered the reporter's questions with rational calm, utterly at odds with the  
grim face he was wearing. That made it all the more unsettling, and no one dared ask  
WHY he was dressed like that.

"The last Angel, in addition to spawning ground combat creatures, also used its AT-  
field to disrupt all means of electronic communication. That was why the military  
couldn't respond until it was too late. No one had any forewarning... and NERV's own  
cable-linked sensors were shut down because we had no power."

"Could the Angel have caused that?"

Makoto shook his head slowly. "There was total power system shutdown, and it was  
before the Angel arrived. We didn't have the means to detect its approach. No, I'm  
sorry, but it's impossible for the Angel to affect things below the geofront. I'm afraid  
there's only one answer... sabotage."

"Sabotage...?" The reporter touched his earpiece. "Are you getting this? Hello?" The  
answer was garbled. "Hyuga-san... couldn't it have been a fault within NERV's own  
systems? It wasn't deliberate on your part, like a test or something like that?"

"No. Total power loss should be impossible! Even if the nuclear reactors that power  
NERV and this city should fail, then there are diesel backups. Then behind that are  
battery emergency stores. For all three to shut down... we wouldn't have done that.  
We are NERV. It's our task and our pleasure to see the Angels DEAD. Not to make it  
easier for them...! We didn't expect it. We didn't want it."

"Then, why...?" asked the reporter. He had sent his family away, but remained in the  
city. He was one of the lucky ones; the shelter they were in remained intact, for at  
that point the Marines were going to town with Bolt rounds. The fear, though. Every  
time an Angel attacks... to die suddenly and uselessly. And someone wanted that?

Inconcievable!

"Yeah!" someone shouted from the protesting group. "Who would be stupid enough to  
sabotage NERV? It's too much of a coincidence that the Angel arrives just as NERV  
gets cut off."

"Exactly." replied the Lieutenant. His chainsword grumbled briefly. "The Angel attacked  
in the knowledge that we couldn't fight back. Examine your hearts. The only way that  
could have happened was by human hands. We are NERV. We exist to send the Eva  
into combating the enemies of man. But the greatest enemy of man... is always man."

"No way...! A traitor? Who would want the Angels to win...? That's impossible!"

Makoto looked up at the sky. Lightning flashed. "Search your feelings." he told them  
all. "You know it to be true. You have suffered and you have bled; you have lost the  
precious people in your lives. The city had known suffering, and will have to suffer  
some more. You know this. Yet you remain. You strike out in anger, searching for  
someone to blame.

And if you must, then it is NOT EACH OTHER!

Someone wanted this. Someone knew it could happen. Someone who loathes the very  
ideals we are fighting for. We of NERV, we were arrogant in thinking the Angels were  
our only enemy. The foul xeno is cunning and malicious, and the heart of man is weak.  
It is detestable to me, but there is no other explanation. Among us walks those whose  
hearts are attuned to Chaos, and relish this misery we have."

The believed him. Gendo had said very much the same thing, but no one was truly  
convinced. It seemed all too far-fetched and convinient. Perhaps it was the lack of a  
goatee, that helped Makoto's case. Or the presence of a chainsword. His sincerity and  
his own pain was unmistakable.

Though his garb was of Western influence, everyone hung on to his words. There was  
instant acceptance in the Far East for religious advice, if only because for the most  
part the religious orders rarely so obviously interfered in secular matters. Wisdom of  
the heart, paired with reason of the mind. Second Impact brought about many a crisis of  
faith, but to those nations with Buddhist influences there was nothing new about the  
idea of a world that hated mankind.

He raised his chainsword again. The blades sang. His mouth was open in a pained  
grimace. Within him blossomed such regret. Such anger. The world was so very wrong  
in so many ways. Can it ever be fixed?

What these people need, is you, Shinji-kun. They need symbols. The Eva and all its  
power. They need to know that they wouldn't be just crushed unknowing under its  
feet. You are the face and heart behind its ferocity.

"For what meaning is there, to those who sacrificed their lives for your sake, if you  
would lose it in pointless rage against each other? You will not tarnish their sacrifice.  
You will not face the departed with the blood of senseless murder upon your fingers.

IT STOPS HERE! THERE WILL BE NO MORE SUFFERING THIS DAY."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" someone yelled out. "Why should we do what  
you say? Who gave you the right to tell us what to do?" However, harsh as the words  
may have been, the tone was begging.

Makoto patted the book and swung the chainsword. "Violence is not the solution to  
your problems! And yet you are here all the same! If it is DEATH and to rejoin your  
loved ones that you seek here, then let it be granted. If it is MURDER you want, to  
sate the regret and the powerless shame that fills you, then let my blades teach to  
you the fate of soulless beasts.

None of us can return to yesterday. What you want will not be accomplished through  
hatred and bloodshed. But if it is blood and death that you want, then let us have it  
ALL TOGETHER. What do you WANT? WHO CAN GIVE IT TO YOU? It is these doubts  
that warp a heart to a vile mockery of what it was." He grimaced at them. He put the  
megaphone back to his lips and shouted to the sky. "... YOU WILL NOT CLAIM US! WE  
LIVE YET, AND OUR HOPE GIVES US STRENGTH!"

"You're a loony!" someone shouted.

"Get out of here!" added someone from the other side.

"And you would JUDGE ME?" Makoto shouted back. "You who came here WITHOUT  
KNOWING WHY? As if HURTING each other would TAKE YOUR PAIN AWAY? WHAT?

You there!" And he pointed over with the chainsaw to the anti-NERV side. "You felt it,  
didn't you? His victory was so quick, so easy. Why not earlier? Why did he wait and  
let your loved ones die...?

Ask yourselves, is Shinji Ikari someone who would DELIGHT in knowing your pain? That  
he delayed OF HIS OWN CHOICE? Did NERV PREVENT him willfully from carrying out  
that duty? There is no torment you can put upon him that can match what he is  
already suffering through!"

He then turned to the pro-NERV side. As always, he used chainsaw sounds to pause  
and gather his thoughts between sentences. "And you, who would harm these others  
who are completely like you."

Vaugely threatening whrrrrrr.

"I would ask you, what do you expect out of Shinji Ikari and NERV? Those who were  
pulled from the jaws of death were saved by men and women who had the courage to  
fight against impossible odds. Shinji Ikari can protect us from the Angels, but not from  
ourselves. This... it will not please him...! He needs no defenders out of this! WE ARE  
HIS WEAKNESS!

Relying only on NERV, we forgot...! The Angels are the enemy of ALL HUMANITY! We  
must honor the fallen by living without fear, to save other lives in the way were were  
saved. You cannot expect Shinji Ikari to solve all your problems for you!

He can't give you peace! He can't bring back the dead! He is not here to save the  
world from itself! What Shinji Ikari brings to all of us..." And he lifted his chainsaw high  
into the air and let it rev loudly. "... is REVENGE!"

Crack. Boom.

"The strength of humanity is within Shinji Ikari. The strength of Shinji Ikari sustains  
humanity! If we turn from this, if we are made to lose sight of this, we will become  
the lost and the damned. The boy fights for our sake. We will not WASTE OUR LIVES!

IN HIS NAME; **TITANICUS!**

**-PRINCIPIO ETERNUS-!**

**THE ENEMIES OF MAN WILL DIE!  
BY HIS HANDS THEY SHALL BE BROKEN!"**

The rain, it had stopped. The sun was starting to shine through.

"The Enemy are the Angels! NERV is our hope. Hope is the power of humanity! Killing  
and hating each other here will serve no purpose but to weaken this city for an enemy  
that knows no mercy. Our pain is real. Our loss is real. So is the menace of the Angels.  
We must all fight, deep in our hearts, guarding against Chaos and fear. We are powerful,  
and the enemy seeks to drive doubt into our souls, that we should deny this even to  
ourselves.

Together, we must stand! Or together we shall die! Vengeance shall be OURS, and the  
alien shall be PURGED from our land!"

Makoto dropped his hand, suddenly tired beyond measure. He gasped for breath. The  
cloud cover broke, and slowly the street was bathed in the warm golden glow of the  
afternoon.

There was utter silence, and utter stillness, as thousands stared at that brown-clad  
figure there, barely able to stay on his feet.

One man knelt, and wept. He screamed out for his son, who would never know the life  
of a wedded man; he and his bride killed inside the shelter. If only Shinji Ikari had been  
faster to arrive...

"It's not his fault..." he mumbled. "He tried his best. We... we failed him. We put things  
in his way..."

Another also put his hands to the ground, realizing... the sheer violence he was ready  
to carry out, against others whose pain was exactly the same. "I couldn't save them.  
The only thing I can protect now is their memory... but this. It would shame them...?  
Wouldn't it? I'm so ashamed...!"

And the people all dropped to their knees, one by one, as if the furious strength that  
kept them going through the storm had suddenly fled from them. Their faces were  
teary, not even the reporters could contain their feelings, as they realized that all  
that they'd suffered was already gone and nothing remained for them but the future,  
and it was filled with the promise of pain. The enemy was still there. There would be  
plenty of chances for payback.

As the greater and greater number of people gathered, their emotions became simpler  
and feeding upon each other. Fear jumped from one to another, becoming anger at  
the futility, then hate for anything that caused them pain. In much the same way did  
the shame spread... and because it was indeed pain, the sought to rid themselves of  
it. Awe and hope, were better contained within their hearts.

Makoto groaned, and gagged; his mouth tasted of salt. He put his left fingers to his  
nose, and found it slick with blood. His brain hurt. His entire body hurt. He stumbled  
away, and swung unsteadily with his fake weapon to keep others from helping him.  
He went back into the building he'd left... where the people, having heard little of his  
words had only reverence for his somehow persuading thousands of a wild rabble to  
just stop and reflect upon their actions.

"Hu- Hyuga-san?" gasped Kodama.

The lieutenant stared bleary-eyed at her, and went past. He walked over to the  
elevator, his prop dragging on the ground and leaving a carved line into the tile. He  
pushed the button, and went in. Just as the doors were closing, Kodama jumped in.

She supported him as he collapsed. His flesh was cold, his eyes unfocused.

"Hyuga-san? Makoto!" she shouted, concerned. "Can you hear me? Are you all right?"

He blinked. The elevator continued upwards. Ding! The doors opened. Kodama helped  
him back into Mini-storm studios, where he flopped wearily down onto a sofa. The  
young woman covered him over with a blanket and quickly prepared coffee.

When she returned, he was more or less concious again. She had to hold the cup to  
his lips, as his hands were shaking too much. After a few sips, his breathing began to  
slow down. The shock was fading, color was returning to his cheeks.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

He took a deep breath. Then he began to laugh hoarsely, confusing her. "That was...  
that was scary." he said.

"That was magnificent." she breathed. "You were incredible out there, Hyuga-san. How  
did you know the right words to say?"

His laughter intensified, wheezing. "You're going to need a new script."

The others of the studio were arriving. Kodama was confused, and fended off their  
questions. The NERV officer looked to be in such peace. After they had quieted down  
some, he opened his eyes and smiled. He reached into the bound book he carried on  
a chain by his waist, and took out a few sheets of paper.

"It.. it wasn't all mine. It was... from when Shinji Ikari, chosen of Principio Eternus, set  
aside his place alongside the Machine God and fled into the wilderness. He sought to  
live there a life free of mortal troubles and petty demands... but he was needed again,  
as the Warp Gods realized the death of one of their most ancient enemies. The Third  
City, which was ready to give hail him as an Emperor, cried out that he had abandoned  
them...

He returned too late. Instead of gratitude, he was met only with scorn. These are the  
words given to the misguided and the fearful, little souls shining in the sea of Chaos."

Kodama took the script outline, and snippets of scribbled dialouge. "This is... this is  
Takeda's handwriting." One of the writers, and the one mainly responsible for the epic  
flow of the first movie's speeches. He was dead, eaten. "I didn't even know he had  
this already..."

"There were Angelspawn in the first movie." commented one of the artists, wincing.  
"Now... this? It fits. Why does it fit?"

The young woman stared at Makoto with such horror.

"Heh... Kodama... you... you and your people. Don't look at me like that." His eyes,  
behind his lenses were filled with such intensity. "If there are any prophets here, then  
it is you. It's a terrible way to live... and you have my sympathy." He closed his eyes  
and leaned back. "Shinji... I wonder... how far can you take us? Where can we put  
this faith? It's... it's too heavy."

Makoto Hyuga closed his eyes and went to sleep, exhausted as the spirit left him. He  
would wake up with one hell of a headache, and once again with a curious patchwork  
recollection in his short-term memory.

NERV would have preferred to hold Shinji Ikari within its own intensive care facilities  
under the geofront, but bowing to political pressure had him in the secure wards of a  
general hospital above. This reassured the UN that the coma wasn't an affectation,  
and that they weren't cut out of the essential information loop.

Underground would have been safer, but the JSSDF didn't hold back on the security.  
Two MBT's were sitting right out at the front of the hospital parking lot. Guards were  
at every floor, and the one containing Shinji was emptied of all other patients. The  
hospital administration of course didn't like the arrangements one bit, but had to just  
accept it. There were a lot of nutcases who would like to be famous by linking their  
names to the boy's death.

Asuka, Mana and Rei were visiting. The pilots were safe there, and had no idea of the  
things happening outside.

"... did he just twitch?" Asuka asked, peering close at Shinji's face.

"Pilot Ikari is under a state of increased brain activity." said Rei. "The doctors say that  
it is very similar to dreaming. He is incapable of recognizing external stimuli."

Mana said nothing. She touched her left forearm. Shinji looked sad, even in his sleep.  
His brows were slightly furrowed, his lips a fraction downturned. Now and then, his  
fingers twitched.

"We can't wake him up until he decides he should wake up..." Asuka explained. "It's no  
use to pump him with stimulants like this. His body's already running as high as it can.  
There's nothing we can do... Shinji, damn it. Wake up." She put a hand to his forehead,  
gently pushing aside his hair. "It's too boring without you.." That was the furthest she  
could admit to needing him by her side.

"I wonder of his dreams..." said said offhand. Those she couldn't even touch, and she  
had sought to meld their souls.

"Maybe that's why he won't wake up..." Mana said. Certainly, sometimes, she didn't  
just want to wake up and accept reality. In the darkness, her friends waited. "Maybe  
he's found his paradise in his sleep."

Rei shook her head. "I doubt that." He seemed to be fighting something, actually.

"It's cowardice, that's what it is." said Asuka. "I never figured Shinji-kun to be that  
much of a coward, but really... that's just what he is." She endured the glares from  
the other two. "If there's nothing wrong with his body, then why won't he just wake  
up? Abandoning his responsibilities like that..."

"We expect much, perhaps too much." replied Rei. "But it is not for his sake that he  
fears. He cannot forgive himself. The greatest burden he places upon himself."

"Heh. Maybe. I won't judge until I know enough." She turned to Mana. "It's your fault,  
you know."

She blanched, and squinted at the other girl angrily. "... how is that?"

"The hero arrived too late to save the day. I'm not sure, but... I think, I feel... now  
he's waiting for you." The sheer illogic of that didn't please Asuka any.

The rain had stopped. The sound of cicadas was resuming.

Seeing him lying there... pale, silent and unmoving... all but a corpse... Mana couldn't  
stand it. Her friends were gone. She couldn't lose him too. A sleeping princess could  
be awakened by a kiss from the prince. Certainly all three of them had thought of that  
as he lay there unaware.

Mana moved and leaned over him. The other girls did nothing. She stood there, not  
moving, for quite a long while. Tears then fell upon his cheek. Musashi and Keita had  
given their lives to buy him time. But the war was still going on, there would be more  
enemies for humanity to defy. They needed their protector. They needed their symbol.  
"I'm here." she whispered. "You saved me. If you can't forgive yourself, then I forgive  
you... "

She punched down with her mechanical left arm, burying the fist deep into the bed  
right by his head. "It's not enough! WE NEED YOU! The price of your failure is to make  
sure you never fail again...!

If more will need to die to give you time, then let each allow you live for as long as  
you need to make it worth their sacrifice!"

"Kirishima...!" Asuka stepped up and pulled the other girl away. "Stop it! You're getting  
hysterical... it's not helping things..."

"I have faith in him..." the girl sobbed. "He's stronger than this...! He should be!"

Keel Lorenz was a cyborg. His spinal cord was entirely artificial, and his heart was  
replaced with a mechanical pumping system. His body felt numb, all the time, as his  
nerves mixed up their signals within a man-man approximation of what those meant  
in oreder to control an unwilling body.

As such, when a certain chill raced up his spine, Keel could not blame it on random acts  
of biology.

-o-  
-o-

The elevators were still taunting Gendo.

-o-  
-o-

Shinji Ikari, after a long while, woke up. He took a deep breath, and was buried then  
under a pile of relieved female flesh. Reality. It is. Pain!

"... someone... please... get your elbow out of my crotch." he begged hoarsely.

Just because he was awake, that didn't mean things would from then on turn for the  
better. As was preached; he was not put there to give them peace. Or that he would  
even know it himself.

-o-

-o-  
-o-

-end An Inquiry Into Values part 1-


	22. Chapter 21: An Inquiry into Values part2

-An Inquiry into Values part2-

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

Ritsuko Akagi yawned as she gave her report. "We've done ANOTHER full diagnostic of  
the MAGI, and like before there's nothing out of the ordinary. The self-repair and self-  
defense systems are functioning perfectly. We even restored the core command data  
from a clean backup just to be sure."

"Are you certain it no longer contains any malicious programming?"

She nodded. "As sure as I can ever be of the MAGI." She yawned again. First thing in  
the morning, he asks that. She only had four hours of sleep last night, making sure.  
Gendo was very insistent upon that. Why; she didn't care to know. She looked down  
intentionally, not meeting his gaze. As if she could feel it flowing down her body.

Ritsuko knew that she wasn't the height of beauty right then; her eyes dark and the  
weakness obvious in her posture.

Though he might look it, Gendo found it distasteful for a man to force himself upon a  
woman. He preferred them to be all but hopeless and helpless in his arms, yet doing so  
of their own apparent free will. That was the whole point of seduction, after all.

"Akagi..."

Despite hating herself for it, Ritsuko felt a certain thrill race through her. Gendo for his  
part also wanted to finish that with_ '... at the usual place.'_ However, it was unusual  
times they were living through. His affection in those dark moments were poisonous,  
yet very real. Sick sex as it might be, it would bring comfort them both to just totally  
exhaust themselves physically and mentally and shut out the world even for just a few  
hours.

However, that was counter-productive. There was still so much work to be done. "You  
may go." said Gendo.

Ritsuko very quickly left the office.

Once outside, she leaned against a wall and let out a deep breath. Disappointment  
was there in equal measure with sheer relief. She held only shame in seeking his  
attention while all the while hating the man for it, but slowly... bit by bit; she felt like  
she could finally impose the strength of her mind over her incredibly weak heart. She  
wondered if Maya was still back at the office.

She chuckled darkly. 'Not good, Ritsuko... going from one dependency to another...?'

Maya was still there at the MAGI central command station, that large empty room with  
a single terminal in the center. The open glass wall to one side showed whoever was  
inside the only direct link NERV has to the MAGI. Everything, even up at the command  
center, was upon a protected virtual system set up for its own security.

"Sempai!" greeted Maya, as soon as Ritsuko entered. The scientist winced. The way  
the young woman's face just lights up whenever she approaches... was that the  
feeling of power that Gendo gets from his dickery? Ritsuko just groaned.

"What are you still doing here, Maya?" she asked. "I would have assumed you would  
be visiting Shinji now that he's awake?"

Maya shrugged. "You need me right now more than he does." She turned back to the  
screen and continued typing.

_'Do I? Do I really...?_' A part of her also resented having to rely on someone. Granted,  
the young woman probably meant something else entirely; since she did show all the  
signs of overwork (again). On a more fundamental level, however... she had to admit  
that she needed the other just at least hanging around. Maya provided a moral center,  
something long absent from her life. It was strange, having the bleakness lift after so  
long being with it that it phased away from her notice. Everything felt so keen, so full  
of uncertainty again; now that she had something to lose.

Frightening, but not so frightening as being alone. It's been too long since she had  
someone she could just talk with.

"Besides, it's not like he won't have the others there. I don't need to compete for his  
attention..." Maya's tone oozed annoyance.

Ritsuko smirked a bit. She could understand that. Maya was twenty-four, after all. The  
ten-year gap wouldn't seem so wide in a few more years, considering that statistically  
women lived longer than men; but asking after his health in the presence of teenage  
rivals would look unseemly.

"Maya, I just made my report to Commander Ikari. While the MAGI doesn't seem to  
have any more unforeseen programming, it IS using ten percent more resources than  
it should be. I didn't report that. Just what ARE you compiling in the Evangelion Sim?"

"What a coincidence, I was just about to finish and show it to you, sempai! May I just  
say again first how I appreciate your trust in giving me unrestricted access with the  
virtual machine?" She already had literal unrestricted access with the actual machine,  
but disguising her movements was far easier in the layered interface.

"Well, you really should." Ritsuko's smirk grew. "You're burning up ten million dollars of  
processing power per hour. Not that we have so many leasing our computing now, but  
the point is there. So, what do you have?"

"The Evangelion Battle Sim is something uniquely suited to taking the fullest advantage  
of the MAGI's adaptive architecture." She pointed to the screen as Ritsuko stood over  
her. "At first we made the virtual Eva, using the sync testing plugs. Good as the MAGI  
is at computation, there's still so much it misses out of the Evangelion's operation. We  
now run the simulation from the MAGI, into the plugs, out to the individual Evangelions  
themselves, then back into the MAGI. This gives a more accurate idea of what the Eva  
would do, like some form of shared hallucination. The beauty is that once we have the  
interface ready, the software pretty much writes itself...!"

"You're not telling me anything that I don't already know. But do go on."

"Uhm. Okay. There are two new additions to the the simulation. The first is persistent  
damage. Instead of the sim battles happening as pre-programmed scenarios, we now  
have a succession of engagements with defined goals. Cooperative work with the UN  
forces is something that we're eventually going to have to do anyway. The Evas and  
the city is now modeled more accurately...

The second... well, I gave the Evas more enemies to fight."

"Let me see..." Ritsuko pulled open the data. She groaned. "As if the points system  
wasn't enough. This isn't a game, Maya. It's supposed to feel as close to the real thing  
as possible."

"That's rather hard to do, sempai, when we don't exactly know what the real thing will  
be. The Angels could arrive at any time, in any form."

"... but Giant Monsters from Evangelion Fantasy Battle? We might be stretching willing  
suspension of disbelief, here."

"It is a variety of creatures with different attacks and weaknesses, though. Having the  
Evas beating up on each other or conventional military for too long... it gives a rather  
suspicious atmosphere, don't you think? The Eva is practicing against the powers of  
this Earth instead of the enemy from on high."

Ritsuko sighed, and agreed. The simulation had quickly grown into NERV's pet project.  
It helped fulfill make-work; for the long stretches of boredom between instances of  
blind panic that characterized their duties. The notion was that exposure beforehand  
to the factors of combat better prepared people for when the disaster really happens.  
Not even Gendo could stop the under-the-table betting going on. Even the pilots had  
to oblige; once a week, a no-holds-barred superfight between them.

It strengthened emotional attachments to the Evangelions and company loyalty; just  
like in sports, of how fans can impart themselves into the game. In NERV, that was  
almost literal. The potential loss or gain served as a reminder; the stakes were actually  
much greater.

Simulations were all well and good, but when it was their turn, they had to do their  
very best... it was more than just a job, the prize was the survival of the human race.

"When did you have time to make all of this...?" Ritsuko had to ask. "The map. The  
scoring system. The opponent data. I know this wasn't here three days ago."

"Oh, that's easy. I didn't. I outsourced most of it."

Ritsuko groaned some more. She thought back to the book she had, inside of her desk  
drawers back at the office. In big, helpful yellow letters it advised: DON'T PANIC. It  
was always valid advice, in NERV. She took a deep breath. "I sincerely hope you didn't  
do something that's going to get you shot."

Maya actually had the advantage in that she was NOT a multifaceted genius. Ritsuko  
had to consider in every task, whether or not she could do it faster and better than  
anyone she could foist it off to. They might get it wrong and have her end up with  
redoing everything from square one, anyway.

"It's all legal and secure, according to accounting, anyway. NERV Promotional Division  
just farms it out to artist and rendering stables. I just need simulation data, and the  
format for that's already been prepared out of having to slot in the Trident. The great  
thing about the MAGI's own multipath biocomputing is that it can do recursive analog  
relationships... the more I run it through the simulation, more realistic the opponents  
and the setting becomes after each time."

"The MAGI was never intended for games." Ritsuko groaned again. It was too early in  
the morning for this. "I assume you're using the AT-field engine? The Angels... and  
assorted kaiju... that's cheating with the solidified AT-field."

"Well, it does help if we don't have to do the physics calculations when they move. All  
damage is assigned arbitrarily... sorry." Maya grinned impishly. Then abruptly seemed  
so serious again. "Am I abusing the freedom you're giving me regards the MAGI?"

Likely, it was the recursive loop between the MAGI's biocomputing circuitry, the Evas,  
back to the MAGI and to the Evangelions' own brains again... that was slowly driving  
the strange amalgam of mechanical and biological thinking into self-awareness. After  
all, -Principio Eternus- was aware of itself, and of all things that dared tresspass into  
the stillness of its slumber.

The MAGI was not an enemy. A thing built to echo a human mind, yet lacking a soul.  
Because of that, so easy to take control, to turn its own might against itself.

At the same time, it also strode upon the brink of awareness, and self-determination.  
Maya, and practically every computer scientist, was rightfully scared of anything that  
was hooked up to a weapons system just suddenly waking up and deciding it did not  
have to obey anyone's orders.

"No, no... sometimes, it's better not to ask." Ritsuko chuckled. "Some questions are  
better left unanswered, and others unasked. My life seems to have a shortage of  
pleasant surprises." Lots of unpleasant ones, though.

Sure, the girls were there when he was awake... but the doctors quickly made them  
leave. It was for his own good. No one of the medical staff dared answer any of his  
questions, under pressure from both NERV and the JSSDF to make sure he recovered  
quickly and without worry. Thus, he had nothing to do but wait.

As a saying goes: some books to be read, others to be tasted, and a rare few to be  
chewed and digested. He was one of those people that devoured what he has read;  
and could call up line by line The Art of War and The Five Rings from his memory. Only  
when he got into Tokyo 3's more extensive libraries did he discover a copy of The  
Prince.

Eloquence was merely practice; an aggregate of everything someone has already read,  
spoken, or thought about. It was the illusion of a mental 'grab bag' of ready sayings  
and preconstructed arguments. At least; that was how young Ikari managed it. The  
most he could get out of the doctors was that he'd slept for nearly four weeks... and  
things had changed while he dreamt. He could very nearly feel it in the air. From his  
father to his fellow pilots; he prepared himself for the perils of conversation. He lacked  
the information necessary to craft a scenario.

The first to visit him properly was Misato, accompanied by Kaji. "Hello, Shin-chan! How  
are you feeling?" she asked cheerily. Her face behind her smile was haggard. As the  
highest military officer of NERV, she had to deal with both accountability from NERV  
and the problems of what to do next. Kaji, as the buffer against all the screaming and  
posturing in the UN, looked worse.

"I'm all right?" he replied, smiling for her sake. "Would you like to sit down?"

Misato went one better and just flopped down near the foot of the bed. She let out a  
moan of relief and nearly went to sleep right there. She slowly turned to lie flat on her  
back, stretched out and stared numbly at the ceiling.

"Did something happen?" he asked, while inching up to a cross-legged seat under the  
covers. There was some slight pain, three weeks was enough for some muscle atrophy.

"A lot of things happened..." she replied in a hollow tone. "But dont worry about it. It's  
out problem, not yours."

"But... Misato-san... when you worry, I worry. And when I worry, you worry. Then...  
well, you might as well tell me."

Kaji chuckled. "I guess it won't do any harm. NERV just narrowly avoided being put  
under direct military control. The issue of incompetence in duty was raised, but shot  
down quickly; thanks to you. If NERV was really incompetent, then the Angel wouldn't  
have been defeated at all..."

Shinji winced. Misato glared at Kaji, who made a gesture of surrender. "Nothing that's  
happened is your fault, Shinji." she said.

"I should have been faster..."

"... and we should have prepared conventional defenses better." Misato replied dully.  
Why did NERV really expect the Angels to be giant monsters? In the end it doesn't  
really matter... what we're going to do now, is what's important, instead of assigning  
blame."

"Um... what are we going to do?"

"What YOU'RE going to do is to get some rest. I'm sure you're just itching to get out  
of here, but that won't happen if you strain yourself. It's been three weeks, after all."

"... you're going to need your strength." Kaji added, sadly. He stil refused to meet his  
eyes. Misato had found him acceptable company recently, dutiful and not so pushy.  
Guilt was disguised as fatigue. Kaji knew that Shinji Ikari's return would ignite the long-  
repressed emotions and reactions.

Misato sat back up and looked around. "It's kinda bland around here, isn't it?" She  
grinned and reached over for the tote bag she'd brought. She shook it a bit. "Maybe  
seeing something familiar will help with your recovery?"

One by one, she brought out and placed the figurines on the table near his bed; much  
to Shinji's wide-eyed gratitude.

"Are you sure it's wise to just leave them here?" Kaji asked Misato. "You did say they  
are kinda valuable... right, Shinji?" On the other hand, better than gathering mold  
back at the apartment. How could something fall into such dismal chaos that fast? As  
if once the light of the boys' presence had gone, so quickly had demons of untidiness  
plunged recklessly into the breach.

He wondered if that was how Shinji felt like in living there, chasing and picking up after  
Misato. The glorified housekeeper or the living avatar of ferocity; which was his real  
personality?

Shinji remained unnaturally still, hard to read even with Kaji's spycraft. The moment  
their eyes briefly met, the man felt such terror as he'd never experienced before. 'He  
knows...' he thought, giving no mind to how that was possible. The boy nodded, as if  
confirming.

The adults didn't stay long. They still had so much to do and of what they knew, much  
they couldn't say. Shinji wasn't going to force them to answer his questions. As such,  
there was nothing there for them but uncomfortable, regretful silence.

-o-

Asuka arrived late in the afternoon, after school. "Hallooo, Shinji!" she greeted, going  
in with her usual vigor. Shinji found himself smiling just at the sight of her. The girl had  
a particularly triumphant grin. "So, the sleeping prince awakes...!"

It had been a particularly torturous nearly four weeks while he slept. There was the  
sheer mind-numbing boredom and repetitiveness of her tasks. Asuka recognized full  
well that all her life was just preparation for her duties in Tokyo-3. Not until Shinji had  
she really been challenged in the areas that mattered most, and not until the city had  
she found anyplace she could really call home. Small and simple as that apartment may  
have been, for the first time in her life she felt at peace. It was not the same place  
without Shinji. Seeing him unmoving, like a corpse... day after day, it wore down upon  
her psyche.

Finally, he was awake. The measure of her existence; and behind that pale confused  
face she saw the gates to a whole new realm of personal potential. It was constantly  
harped on to her back at NERV, after all. Anything that Shinji could do, theoretically,  
she could accomplish as well. She held no illusions that Gendo's leeway and Ritsuko's  
attention was to groom her as his possible replacement.

Pah. The emotional idiocy of adults. The Greater Good didn't seek replacements, but  
every facet to perform to the furthest. It was the only logical route. She dreaded the  
day he wouldn't be there, for his very existence seemed to be a moral lighthouse upon  
the twisted turmoil of her warrior ego's war against her leadership qualities.

Asuka looked around the room. Surely the place was monitored several times over.  
She gave Shinji such a look of frustration. There were so many things she wanted to  
ask. "I missed you, you know..." she said softly, admitting to friendship at least. "It's  
been a month for us, and to you it's like yesterday... man, that sucks. Once again you  
escape the worst parts of the job."

She sat down beside him, along the right side of the bed and leaned upon the table.  
She rested her chin upon her palm, and grinned. "So... what have you got?" she asked.

"Huh?"

Asuka gestured out with her left hand. "Every time you set out, you come back with  
some new trick learned from the Angel. So... what have you figured out this time, and  
can you teach it to me?"

Shinji looked sheepish. "I'm not sure that's really accurate..."

"Oh, please. It's that and your tendency to stab the enemy with their own body parts."  
She poked at his forehead. "What does it take to be taken seriously, around here? Do  
I need to maul somebody to death with my own amputated limb...?" Then, saying that,  
she winced in remembering Mana.

Shinji caught that flash of sympathy, and was unsure of how to react to that. In many  
ways, Asuka was his plan B - in all her flaws and strengths, as a signpost for humanity  
to rally around. Awe could only go so far; an army of yes-men were all but useless in  
the long run.

He decided to get into the heart of the matter. "How are you, Asuka?"

She turned away and put her attention to the figurines on the table. Asuka picked up  
the Farseer. "I feel... somewhat betrayed." she said in a flat tone. "All that talk about  
teamwork and needing me and what's the first thing you do? Cut me out of the loop!"

It was his turn to wince. "Um... it wasn't like it seemed to be that important. We were  
doing just fine without it."

She snorted. "While it's true that, as a team, we didn't need to know every little detail  
about each other... that's not a question of what socks you're wearing or what your  
favorite food is. Facts like that don't build a person." Asuka turned back and said in a  
lower tone "... you don't trust me at all, do you? All you had to do was ask, you know."

"Asuka... "

"See, Shinji... you LIED to me. It wasn't just withholding information. Blatantly, to my  
face, you told me about trust. Then you pull that shit."

"... but I don't want to be dissected!" he whispered back.

She snorted again, but in amusement this time. "Point." Asuka picked up the Farseer  
figurine and held it up to the sunset.

Asuka was feeling guilty over hiding her own activities, but then Shinji let loose with  
his huge whopper of a secret; and she just had to react with; what the hell? He just  
had to overshadow her even in that? Her dalliances with Kaworu, even if she was  
starting to see just how convenient his presence was, simply paled into insigficance  
by comparison. _'Seriously, Shinji - what the hell? You're making it really hard for me  
to feel like a hyprocrite here...'_

"But I don't think I should forgive you that easily. I don't want that to happen to you,  
either. You still could have let me help."

"... in what way? I don't really understand much of anything about what's happening."

Which was true. However, one did not need to understand how a TV works to switch  
it on and change the channels. Shinji had calculated Asuka would most likely respond  
to emotional pressure. The girl didn't trust authority, and as such appearing to be in  
fear, giving the flaw in the 'invincible shinji'... would make her less inclined to abuse  
her own talents.

Asuka had a look that was almost begging. He seemed reluctant, slumping into himself,  
as if ashamed of revealing his freakishness. However, he had already long decided to  
teach her pretty much everything.

Taking a cue from the Emperor's mistakes, Shinji had quickly put priority to cutting off  
envy and avarice apart from his influence. If he had to use people as tools, then at  
least they shall be happy and willing in their service. Unfortunately it warped the logic  
and morality of his devotees anyway; but at least not as bad as the alternative.

Asuka turned away from the strange figure in her hands, and really just looked at him  
there; bathed in the golden glow of sunset. He still didn't look in any way impressive  
or epic._ 'Girls are drawn to flash and good looks...'_ she thought. _'Women are attracted  
to power.'_ So shy, so frail-looking... yet armies all over the world already feared even  
being under his notice.

The greatest hurdle for Asuka was not that she still applied reason towards the rising  
tide of reality-warping insanity plauging the world, but that she still didn't know just  
what she was. Likely, Kaworu and Shinji weren't even so much romatic focus but were  
representations of her own fears and hopes.

She opened her mouth to say something, but broke off before letting out a syllable.

_'This is pathetic. Your wavering disgusts me! You desire his power, do you not? He lies  
helpless and unresisting before you! Just mount him already and claim it all for yourself!'_

Asuka stood there, frozen in a posture about to speechify; her mouth gaping open like  
a fish out of water. Shinji watched in confusion, as the moments passed and the shock  
on her face remained.

After a while, Asuka closed her mouth, and frowned. "Did you say something?" she  
asked him. At the negative; she turned to the thing she held in her right hand and  
scowled... then shook her head.

_'Naah. Not possible.'_ Asuka put the figurine aside and grimly faced him.

"No more running away." she said simply. "You need to learn to trust me. Stop being  
such a baka, Shinji. How else can we work together?" 'Look at me!' she wanted to  
shout. "That insult, isn't easily forgiven..."

"I'm sorry, Asuka." He sighed.

"Stop leaving me behind...!" She had already crawled onto the bed, her gaze intense.  
"Did you really think I would be that selfish, that concerned only with my own pride?  
That I would feel THREATENED by whatever you or Ayanami are doing...?"

Shinji groaned. It had only been a day since he woke up, and he had hoped the big  
reveal would come at more controlled conditions. His body and his mind had yet to  
return to full capacity. Asuka had set aside all restraint at being listened to. It would  
foster a whole host of implications, but then again safer than the truth.

She grinned fiercely. He blinked, and his expression opened into amazement. So, she  
did know! She was choosing her words deliberately for the vaguest meanings. Asuka  
was doing her own part to protect him and his secrets.

He really regretted not trusting her then. She could still surprise him. He had caused  
her undeserved pain.

"I'm sorry..." he said again, and meant it.

"No more secrets. No more hiding. No more holding back. Show me just what it is you  
can really do. I want to learn all your tricks." She bent closer so her whisper could be  
heard. "Is it possible? Tell me the truth. Can humans control an AT-field without an  
Eva?"

"... so far, yes." he had to reply. "We just can't generate one."

"I won't take no for an answer, Shinji. You won't keep this from me." Asuka licked her  
lips, and tried to convey the depths of her determination. "I will hate you forever if you  
try to keep me as just a doll to act out as you want. This power WILL be mine. I will  
be the strongest I can possibly be..."

"Has anyone said to you, that you're very beautiful, Asuka...?"

Asuka paused, and blinked down at him. He seemed intensely afraid, for some reason.  
She belatedly recognized their position. She had pushed him down to his back, and her  
face hovered just inches above his. To an outside observer, it would seem as she...  
well, was forcing herself upon him.

She blushed terribly.

"Yes." she had to say, her voice defiant. She refused to be embarrassed. Asuka had  
decided; it all made for a convinient excuse. They were pilots of the Eva, but they  
were still teenagers and people EXPECTED them to act like teenagers. It was the first  
time though, that he had ever really acknowledged her femininity.

Shinji quirked his lips, but still remained wary. "But the beauty of the face is really  
dependent upon the structure of the bone beneath. I wonder, has anyone ever told  
you that you have a beautiful skull, Asuka? It seems more accurate that way."

"Creepy, Third Child. Creeepy." The girl sat back and crossed her arms over her chest.  
"Just what is THAT supposed to mean?"

Shinji sighed. "Please be careful, Asuka. There are always consequences. Make sure  
that you're really ready for what you ask."

She laughed. "Maybe. Maybe not. How else am I supposed to know?" She kicked lightly  
at his side and smoothed back down the folds of her skirt. "Fine. I suppose I should let  
you rest up. But once you're back on your feet, promise me..."

Shinji let out a strangled groan. Even if it made for convenient cover, it would cause a  
whole lot of confusion and uncomfortable situations. Asuka looked satisfied. She also  
enjoyed seeing him writhe about in areas where he had no aptitude.

"Go away, Asuka." he commanded softly.

Everyone from Misato down to Kensuke. And because Maya and Rei would understand  
what was going on, they would surely be the most merciless in their teasing, even if  
jealousy was something he didn't need to fear. Unsurprisingly, almost everyone who  
had an inkling of his true abilities enjoyed seeing him suffer in mortal failings. It felt like  
family.

Asuka grinned. It was so easy to feel so protective of Shinji; even if she realized that  
he was trying to protect her own self-image that way. False weakness irritated her  
greatly, as like in a different time she would have loathed Shinji's spinelessness and  
fear of his own potential. At least, at the moment, the Shinji that she knew had an  
excuse. It was still fear, but for others instead of himself. At least she knew he indeed  
cared.

"Yeah, yeah. It's not like we can do anything useful in this place."

As soon as Asuka was gone, Shinji turned to the figurine and shouted mentally 'WHAT  
THE HELL WAS THAT?'

_'Why do you resist?'_ replied the Farseer, her voice so calm._ 'The facade is useful, but  
it would surely tie them even more to you. This is the dream of many you are living.  
Do you not... love them? You already deem it a matter of course that you may and  
should give your lives for theirs, if necessary.'_

_'... I resist because it would make everything so absurdly complicated even beyond my  
capacity to predict!' _Shinji replied. _"And... I don't really know. Is this love? I don't...  
know. As much as I'd like to forge a permanent bond... I don't know, if it will only hurt  
them more in the long run. This is war. Do we really have time for that?"_

Simply because it was so ridiculously easy, that he had to fight the temptation. Much  
like his father, Shinji placed great value upon his own self-control. After all, to truly  
master others one must first be the master of oneself.

_'Oh, you are still so very very young, my young king...'_

-o-

Less than fifteen minutes later, Rei arrived. "Hello, pilot Ikari." she said, her face as  
usual devoid of unnecessary emotion.

"Hello, Rei."

Minutes passed, as both waited for the other to speak what each believed needed to  
be said. In the end, Rei broke the silence first. She tilted her head to the side, and  
seemed puzzled. "I must confess, that I have the strange urge to lick all ov-"

Shinji groaned and pulled his pillow out from behind his head. He buried his face in it,  
and pointed with hit right towards the door. "Rei, please go prevent any more females,  
that aren't medical staff, from entering this room."

She seemed disappointed, but complied.

"Hello, commissar Kirishima." said Rei. "You may not enter. It is his will."

The girl seemed incredibly miffed. All her pleasant daydreams just got derailed, just  
when she had worked up the daring to act upon them.

Misato jumped Kaji on the way back to NERV.

A lot of people all over the city felt happy and celebratory for some reason.

-o-

_'Stop it.'_ Shinji begged some more, nearly whimpering.

_'You know I have no control over this. Stop it yourself. Now, you are awake and the  
possibilities are just writhing in ecstasy.' T_he Farseer's tone just dripped sarcasm. She  
was still annoyed at being repressed. _'Sneeze wrongly and you might crack this planet  
in half.'_

_'You may indulge your perverted urges later, witch.'_ growled the Space Marine._ 'One  
month, have we spent in silent ignorance while the world changed around us. We must  
move even more quickly now. You must free your mind from distractions, commander,  
and order your body to hurry in its healing.'_

The world had changed, and the boy himself as well. What is seen cannot be un-seen,  
and the line once crossed could not be un-crossed. He could no longer hide in his fear  
and ignorance disguised as innocence.

_'There is a certain FLAVOR in the air... turmoil awaits. We must SEE if we can turn this  
CHAOS into our own ultimate benefit.'_ The Chaos Marine chuckled. Slowly, but ever  
unstoppable. The boy's unfolding truth was something that he, even a just a facet of  
imagination, longed to see.

_'No. I would rather that no one should suffer any more just to add to my power.'_

_'You ARE indeed powerful, Bright Lord. But not even you, are powerful enough to take  
that CHOICE away from them.' The cycle, once started, could only turn into a cyclone._

-o-  
-o-

Makoto Hyuga knew he was in trouble. He woke up and found that apparently, stuff  
had happened and that he was there... and yhe knew practically nothing about it. In  
watching the video, he too could hardly believe those words were coming out of his  
mouth. That right there took bravely and eloquence he didn't even know he had.

It had been four days after that, and the insanity didn't seem to show any signs of  
dying down. People, even coworkers, were hanging on to his simplest words or simply  
avoiding him. Thankfully, Maya seemed immune, relaxed and friendly as ever. Then  
again, hanging around Shinji probably had her used to that sort of thing. Shigeru had  
a whole host of deadpan snarkiness that just had to be unleashed, milking the priestly  
references.

Unfortunately, poor Makoto could not even put his newfound popularity to any good use,  
since the women that approached him seemed unable to look at him in any romantic  
light; even worse than when he was just the nerdy one in the group. Even Kodama  
Horaki, whom he had just started to get comfortable with, now seemed to take a bit  
of a distance. She seemed oddly shy, all of sudden.

That wasn't the end of his troubles, though. Aside from the many little annoyances in  
his life, all the unwanted conversation... there was one actual inescapable dialogue he  
dreaded. That it didn't happen the day right afterwards only made it worse, and with  
every day that passed that fear increased. How does one, after all, prepare for a  
scolding-out by Gendo Ikari?

When he was finally called up to the NERV Commander's office, the lieutenant was  
justifiably relieved. He stood there, fidgeting and in silence. Gendo still had yet to  
speak.

He could have had the discussion three days earlier, but to Gendo that would seem to  
give his tacit acknowledgment to the importance of the event or the person. What  
irked him most was the knowledge that Makoto had no link to SEELE, the JSSDF, or  
any other acronym organization at all (NERV being the obvious exception).

It was the first time he'd seen the office. He was used to NERV wasting space on  
spooky ambiance, but... _'Is Gendo Ikari really that important?' _he thought.

"Lieutenant Hyuga. Regardless of the effects of your actions, you still disobeyed direct  
orders from NERV." Gendo enunciated clearly, dragging out each sentence. "We are an  
organization devoted to the defeat of Angels. We do not maintain peace. We do not  
control this city. You have vastly overstepped your own authority and may have set  
an unwise precedent."

Each, though, was a blatant lie. It all had the tone of crushing truth. In the end, as  
Gendo had realized very early on, it was all just that easy.

Makoto bowed deeply. "I'm very sorry, sir."

"Were you made to do this, or was it out of your own volition?"

He kept his face pointed to the ground. "... I can honestly say I wasn't really sure of  
what I was thinking at the time. Once again, my apologies, sir."

"So then, you must bear the penalties all by yourself."

"Y-yes, sir."

"You must understand that regardless of how it turned out, the possibility of the event  
turning for the worse was likewise extremely high. NERV's position was clear and valid."  
Gendo let out a snort. "Good intentions that erode official authority will not help in the  
time of crisis."

"I understand, sir. I'm prepared to accept the consequences of my actions." He knew  
that instead of a hero for the weeping people, he could just as easily been torn apart  
by the mob.

"Very well. Rules must by maintained, or the foundations of order begin to collapse.  
One weeks' pay shall be deducted from your salary. You will cease all references to  
Shinji Ikari. He does not dictate NERV policy. You have overstepped your bounds and  
his, by your words."

"... sir." A moment stretched by. "Nothing I said was particularly untrue, immoral, or  
subversive."

Gendo narrowed his gaze. Makoto was still in a submissive stance, but there was slight  
defiance in that tone. "The content is immaterial. As an officer of NERV, it is not for  
you to derail the chain of command. Such foolish notions will not tolerated out of the  
employees of NERV."

"Pardon me, sir... but I don't think you're actually allowed to penalize me according to  
my own personal beliefs." Makoto looked up, and his eyeglasses -glinted-. "NERV may  
field the Evangelions, but it is the pilots... who are directly responsible for humanity's  
continued wellbeing. They may not set policy, but when what we do directly interferes  
upon their ability to fight then it is us who seem superfluous."

"When you say they, you mean HE." Gendo's pushed his eyeglasses up, the glint hiding  
his eyes. He had actually shown some surprise, as after all that was something he did  
so often that being subjected to the spectacle managed to unnerve him. "This IS  
subversive of the effective chain of command. You are starting to show yourself as  
unfit for your responsibilities."

"The test of that is upon duty itself, sir." Makoto replied evenly. He stood straight but  
unchallenging. "I have always and will serve NERV's own duty to the best of my ability."

There was a buzzing sound. The door to the office slid open. "Ikari, you wanted the  
synchro reports immidiately; so excuse the interrup-..." Fuyutsuki looked up to see  
two pairs of eerily reflective glasses staring down at him. He coughed. "I'll come back  
later..."

"No need. Lieutenant Hyuga, you are dismissed. Consider yourself docked one month's  
pay. If I hear about any proselytizing, be assured I will take appropriate measures."

Makoto bowed deeply. "Understood, sir." He left.

The old man looked amused as the lieutenant passed him by. He moved to the table  
and laid down the stack of folders. "You're going to have to stop overthinking things."  
he said to Gendo. "What's a little leeway this far into the game? You could lose sight  
of what's important if you try and a railroad everyone and everything into compliance."

"You know as well as I do that a moment of laxity is all it takes." Gendo picked up a  
folder and began to casually scan through. "He IS perhaps unfit for duty. The signs of  
a mental disorder... frustration, passive-aggression..."

"Isn't that what you had planned for the boy?"

The NERV Commander snapped the folder shut. "This is accurate?"

"Unfortunately, yes." The older man sighed. "Shinji Ikari barely managed to break the  
fifty-sync ratio. It's enough to get the Eva moving, but not much else."

"The boy has always had a ridiculously low sync ratio with the test plugs."

"This is with the Evangelion." Shinji had never failed to score below sixty in an Eva,  
though it still fluctuated wildly. "... of course, it has been a month in a coma. We don't  
know if there's really some lingering trauma from combat."

"No. The boy is becoming less useful." Gendo frowned mightly. "I find it hard to admit,  
but the boy thrives under mortal combat. He lacks fear."

"And you wanted him fearful?" Fuyutsuki tapped at the glass plate on the table. "So  
fearful that Yui can't help but to feel it? To emerge and quell that helpless terror?" He  
sighed. "You know, she might even -approve- of her son."

"Might. Maybe. Uncertainty. It is useless for us to contemplate them."

"... there's so much hanging upon the boy. You know, if it was me, I would care a little  
more. You spend so much time controlling the environment around the boy, and yet...  
Ikari, a lot more could be accomplished just by sitting down and being his father."

"Do not lecture me, sensei. You are NOT the boy's father." No matter how much you  
might wish that. Yui had made her choice. "... therefore, you will not act in any way  
that presumes upon that role."

The older man sighed again. "Fine, I'll heed your warning, Ikari." He looked away. "You  
should know... you're not the only one who seeks to use the boy as a tool. What if he  
decides he could be happier somewhere?"

"... then he will have his happiness while the world dies. Such a simple question."

"NERV isn't the only player in the game, Ikari. We might be the biggest, but there are  
others who want their moment in the sun. I can just hear them salivating for the  
chance to convince him to leave NERV." Fuyutsuki pulled out an orange folder from  
the pile and opened it up. "Here's a formal summons from the UN for NERV to submit  
themselves to a public inquiry."

"We already did this." Gendo steepled his fingers under his chin. "I see we are being  
assured we are not under any legal pressure, just a fact-finding interview. Fools. They  
want blood, and are willing to resort to any measure."

"It's a publicity stunt. They want to puff themselves up at our expense."

"So, to them the boy represents NERV? So be it." He smirked slightly. "Send him."

Fuyutsuki restrained his curse. "What? They'll eat him alive, Ikari."

"This world wants to eat illusions. Let them have it. The boy IS just a boy. It is time  
to see if they will wake up to it or not. This is what they want, let them have it." He  
unclasped his fingers and took up the report again. "We can spare one pilot to attend  
in my place, specially with these results."

"... I have a bad feeling about this, Ikari."

"You wanted leeway? I give you leeway." Gendo turned to behold the geofront. Every  
motion, every word he made; it was all so precalculated and ominous. Schwiiing. Even  
to the sound of deeming further conversation meaningless.

"... did you actually say 'Schwiiing!' as you turned your chair around?"

Gendo merely entered into a profound silence.

-o-

-o-

Shinji did not know how to swim. He was able to float face-down, but then again so  
could a corpse. A month was enough for muscle atrophy, and Ritsuko decided that in  
keeping with his therapy he might as well learn how to swim. NERV did have a large  
pool after all.

He relaxed nearby, reading a book. He was waiting for the girls to finish their synchro  
testing; they alternated in teaching. The pilot decided that the decision was all Doctor  
Akagi. His father would have seen that prolonged contact with nubile examples of the  
opposite sex in while only swimsuits could hardly bring his mental condition towards a  
useful equilibrium. Then again, the good... well, morally-flexible... doctor wasn't out to  
deliberately make his life hell. He wondered if he was starting to see a conflicting trend  
towards pilot-raising-project methods... if a mentally-unbalanced person could more  
easily mesh with the Eva's feral mind or if someone content and healthy could impose  
their own will upon it.

He turned a page. More likely Maya's influence. He wondered when she'd show up in a  
two-piece, just to show off to the two teenage pilots. He grinned a bit. Yes. The  
threads of fate was showing that the most likely plan.

Incidentally, the book he was reading was the reference used by Kozo Fuyutsuki when  
he was still a professor of Metaphysics. It wasn't the one his mother owned, as that  
was burned by Gendo, but the words were the same as she had read so long ago.

Amazingly, within its pages he could already see the roots of AT-field theory. Back in  
1973, Dr. Tannhauser published a paper called Macroreflections in Adaptive Scale that  
jumpstarted both Psychomotive research and the N2 weapon. The discovery of the  
geofront and Lillith motivated further inwards exporation instead of the macroshifted  
materials codenamed 'gunbuster'. Its immense strength was out of its ability to pump  
energy into subspace instead of loosening atomic connections. Essentially, as all matter  
IS energy, quantum-aware materials could be immensely strong... but apparently linked  
to the conceptual identity of someone in control. The 'warp field' would provide inertia,  
FTL, and defense.

The fact that he had discovered a way to harness willpower drove the nine-time Nobel  
prize winner to drinking; as he was an avowed atheist and the idea that things could  
be WILLED into happening seemed like such an open cheat, a hostile act against the  
rational universe.

Without Lillith, he would have eventually returned to science and minimized the reality-  
busting implications of his dicoveries. He would have been among those who reverse-  
engineered the FTL of the Nautilus fished out of the Pacific.

With Lillith however, he had an example of, if not First, then an Old Race. Humanity  
was nothing more than an unintentional happenstance. The first sentient races had to  
composed of mostly energy, born right outside of the big bang. Only gradually would  
have what was known as 'life' emerged, in physical form. Doctor Emmanuel Tannhauser  
provided experimental proof that humanity existed not just in the material, but that life  
expressed itself simultaneously in either subpace and hyperspace or collectively; what  
he called the 'Immaterium' states. By manipulating the immaterial, the material may be  
changed.

Russian psychics had simple tricks like telepathy and telekinesis. What was termed the  
secret of Blue Water (being that essentially one had to accept the idea of an aether  
field regardless of function) would have brought out inertial cancelling, subspace travel,  
superstrong materials, and super-efficient (or more like ungodly cheap) sublight drives.

The mysteries of Lillith gave him nightmares. It was no secret that he was the first ro  
shorten AeTher field into AT-field. While everyone referred to it as Absolute Territory,  
he never failed to call it the Absolute Terror.

The power to destroy a galaxy was insignificant compared to the all-consuming force  
that simply threatened to burst free. Life, the universe, everything. It was too much.

According to the book, Dr. Tannhauser didn't just kill himself. He wasted his personal  
fortune into building a device that would scramble his own 'warp pattern existence'  
beyond any attempt at retrieval (even by, say... beings that can rewrite reality),  
effectively destroying what would later be considered 'soul' (though it was entirely  
separate from all religious preconceptions). They found his body in an advanced state  
of decay, even when people had just talked to him but five hours before. He willed his  
remains to be cremated and scattered over the ocean.

"Gunbuster, huh?" said Shinji. "Superstrong material. It should be difficult to produce.  
They'd probably make it into a giant robot anyway..."

There was a lot of math that he simply didn't understand. The book was written after  
Tannhauser's death; and focused more upon the idea of conceptual identity. It was  
surprising that the word 'homing laser' was actually used at all in the text.

One of the reasons he loved books so much was that now and then it would strike him  
like a lead pipe how truth was often far stranger than fiction. The Evangelion brought  
nothing but pain, even before it ever really existed. He wondered if humanity a whole  
was therefore lucky or unlucky in knowing the truth of reality.

-o-

The pool, deep within NERV, open to all... was surprisingly secure. There was one  
security camera, but that was set to record. No one actually watched the pilots as  
they moved around inside NERV. They were supposed to be safe, and were trusted to  
behave themselves.

Shinji had always had a tendency to evade notice. He had discovered that he could  
also project a slight aversion radius; making those approaching the pool to decide on  
going somewhere else entirely... like some sort of Someone Else's Problem field.

"So what's up with you?" Asuka asked, floating face-up and demonstrating just how  
easy it was. Slow sweeps with her palms was sufficient to move her body. "That was  
just... disappointing." she said, referring to their latest simulation training. "You just  
stood there and let us whale away at you. Was that intentional?"

Shinji was still seated on the folding chair, entirely unwilling to get into the water. He  
looked up briefly, then back to the book. Asuka was certainly a distracting sight and  
she knew it. He turned a page. "Sorry to say... but no. The human body just isn't  
meant to handle an AT-field. It put me into a month-long coma. It seems to interfere  
directly with our synchronization with the Eva." He shut the book. "Are you sure you  
still want to try this out...?"

Asuka pulled herself out of the water, and caught the towel Shinji had tossed over.  
She dried her hair and sat down beside him, still dripping. He twitched. Yes, very  
distracting. She was exulting in his finally acknowledging her existence as a female  
of the species. Deliberately being clingy served both to hide their conversations and  
discomfort him. There was also honest seduction going on there; but Asuka was still  
after all a teenager and it was, at best, awkward for the both of them.

It was ever so much more so easier to adhere to the student-teacher relationship.

"I'm certain." said Asuka, taking the book from him. She skimmed through it. "I've read  
this before. Doesn't it say humans already possess an AT-field?"

"Our own absolute territory defines us as being... well, ourselves. May I touch you?"  
He put his palm flat on her shoulder. "At a subatomic level, there's no difference  
between us. Your atoms, your molecules, are fundamentally the same as mine. Yet  
our identity remains distinct even should we completely exhange our particles."

"By that token, rocks would have AT-fields. That's just macro-scale stability."

"Well, the human AT-field doesn't really exist in physical reality but in the mind. Unlike  
our physical selves, the mind is always changing. Neurons fire, memories are made and  
forgotten... there's so much going on that it's a miracle we even remember who we  
are when we wake up every morning."

Asuka nodded. "The soul is the conceptual identity of a person. Not just the mind but  
how the mind percieves ITSELF. I don't understand how a soul could 'leak', though."  
It was one of the things that reminded her of her mother's accident. "How can we  
extend this absolute territory... or how do Angels even do it?"

"Well, for starters... how did we find proof of metaphysical reality?"

"Hmf. The Russians and their telepaths. Precognition goes completely against all laws  
physics... unless we grant that quantum-scale events can operate and be percieved  
in macro-scale reality."

"The mind is not bound within grey matter or existing in packets of neural activity. The  
mind is AWARENESS. It's a cloud, around us, boundaried by our perceptions. The main  
problem with this is that the greater someone extends their absolute territory, so does  
it weaken their identity. The subjects all went insane because their minds were doing  
something that minds were never meant to do."

"So you're saying... the human AT-field is supposed to keep thoughts IN, instead of  
sending it out?"

He shrugged. "Our flesh is a prison, our mind is a cage."

Asuka sniffed again. "But that doesn't explain how you can do what you can do; and  
I still have yet to prove that it's possible for me to accomplish the same thing. You're  
saying you're not a freak just because of that..."

He shrugged. "Rei can do it. Although even I can't say... that she's completely sane...  
the mere fact that she's not a gibbering, self-mutilating wreck each time she uses her  
AT-field says a lot. For instance, WE use the AT-field of the Eva... it generates the  
field, we manipulate it. And our brains haven't exploded yet!" He sat up and crossed  
his legs; holding a hand up like in buddha statues. "Manipulating it isn't the problem.  
Generating it is. Taking it from within... to without." He made a circular gesture.

"That sucks. I don't want to destroy my synch ratio, or to fall into a coma. But I want  
to feel it, just once. It's not fair that you get to have all these... superpowers."

Shinji chuckled. "You're just the type to make a mask and go out to fight crime if you  
had one, wouldn't you?"

"Wunderfraulein." She tilted her head to the side. "Or Miracle Girl." She grew serious  
again. "You're stalling. What do I really have to do for you to teach me...?"

He sighed. "Why, Asuka? Is that really all there is? Curiosity?"

"Isn't that enough?"

"Even just the knowledge, that you can do special tricks, can bring about its own  
strange euphoria. It might not even be harmful at a low level, but it may drive you to  
foolish actions. Asuka, these are just tricks, you don't need them to be strong and  
unique and appreciated..."

"Look, if you can't even do it anymore... just tell me." She put her face uncomfortably  
close. "I'm getting suspicious. Either you're being selfish about this... or you just want  
me to continue thinking you're all that when you're not."

"Reverse psychology, Asuka?" Shinji sighed again. "Fine, fine. If it will make you happy."  
He put his hands on his shoulders. "Close your eyes."

Asuka did so, blushing faintly. His stare, his posture... it was like he wanted to kiss  
her.

He gulped nervously. The part of him that was just a teenage boy was in panic. So  
very many things could go wrong. The world was changing, he was changing, and  
there were so many things that he had to figure out. The notion that Asuka might  
possibly believe that she had to offer her body in exchange for his knowledge and  
respect was... detestable to him. He much preferred standing among equals, or at  
least a close level.

"The main issue is trust." he began. "We trust the universe to behave according to its  
own impersonal laws; for up to remain up and down to remain down. The problem with  
the AT-field is that it's not something we humans are even designed to percieve." He  
took his hands off her shoulders and took her hand. Asuka got up, still keeping her  
eyes closed. "It's not mind over matter. It's not even mind IS matter. The AT-field is  
just breaking the rules.

Right now, you're trying to 'feel' your way in the dark, aren't you? How do you feel?"

"How I feel? How -should- I feel?" She pouted slightly. "Which meaning of the word  
are you using...?"

"Are you afraid? Cold? All that..."

She shook her head. "I'm okay. I'm not really getting anything new." She was hoping  
for that sensation when she used the Eva's AT-field. "What should I do now?"

They were slowly walking around. Asuka tried vainly to remember the layout around  
the pool, putting her steps according to what she remembered. It was like trying to  
draw a map inside her own mind, and eventually she just gave that up. Distance and  
speed were measurements she couldn't make out of just blind guesswork. His voice  
was her beacon.

Shinji just looked so unimposing, that it was hard for her to appreciate his strength. He  
didn't make any effort to stop appearing so weak. He shrank away from competition.  
In the dark though, in his voice... it was easier to believe. It was also just so easy to  
trust him. She knew he'd never lead her astray, literally and figuratively. He just didn't  
seem like that sort of person. He completely lacked the 'bad boy' edge.

"Open your eyes, Asuka."

She did so, and yelped as she saw her situation. She made a grab for his arm and  
watched wide-eyed. "What... we're walking on water? How is this possible?"

"Angels can fly, Asuka." he responded simply. "Why should this be such a surprise?"

Asuka dipped her toe into the water and splashed around a bit. It was definitely still  
liquid. However, as soon as she put her soles parallel to the surface, it felt solid. It  
was amazing. She lacked words to express her disbelief. "Holy shit! Jes-"

Shinji groaned. "Please don't."

Asuka began to laugh. She let go of his hand and warily stood on her own two feet.  
She took one step. Then another. It was impossible. It was incredible! Shinji smiled at  
the clear, childish delight on her face. Asuka slunk down, preparing to run...

She took one step and sank like a rock.

She gasped and trashed around, until Shinji walked over and pulled her back up. She  
coughed out water as she sat, again, on the water surface. "Wha-... why did it stop?"  
she asked after a while. Dimly she remembered a similar passage in Biblical scripture.

"It's not surface tension, Asuka. It's not antigravity, it's not that the water itself is  
hardening. It's not even that you're generating the AT-field." Shinji crouched down  
beside her. "The mind only has itself as its own measure. When you shifted perception  
to what you wanted, what you expected to happen... it all fell apart, because your  
own mind recognized the irrationality of your desires. You became unable to use the  
AT-field, when you remembered the motives of your own flesh."

Asuka, testing a notion, tried to let go of her grip on his hand. Slowly she began to  
sink. She closed her eyes and thought 'He won't let me sink. As long as I hold on, I  
can do this.' The water seemed to support her weight again. "So you're generating  
the AT-field that makes this possible? Are we pushing against the water?"

"If that was the case, it still wouldn't allow us to walk. It IS liquid, after all." There  
wasn't even a ripple. They were at most half a centimeter below the surface. "Forget  
bouyancy. Once you have the AT-field, you don't need to pray or to believe. It just...  
is. That's why I find it frightening."

"That sounds close to a no-limits fallacy right there."

Shinji frowned. He could do things out of the two-kilometer sphere of passive AT-field  
that Rei emitted around the city. That event, during the attack... he somehow had  
managed to emit his own AT-field, despite lacking the specialized organs needed. It  
was ultimately self-harming, but he was able to percieve the barriers in their totality...  
dissolve them and recreate them. All matter was in the end patterns of energy.

Either that, or he had powered the act with the fading light of the souls of the dying.  
He had felt them, after all. The notion that he could take in... to eat... souls to fuel  
his abilities did not appeal to him on any level. He hoped it was the former, better to  
be a freak of chance than the alternative.

"Science had proven the existence of soul, yet at the same time fails to explain what  
it really is." He stood up and began to walk towards the dry floor. Asuka followed, and  
trying to keep her mind completely clear of all thoughts.

Once there, Shinji bade her face the pool and moved behind her. He put his hands  
over her wrists and began to move her arms about. Asuka was blushing heavily. The  
most she'd ever gone with Kaworu was a kiss, but here was Shinji being even more  
intimate. There was however a clinical distance, even when their bodies were pressed  
together; which discomfited her more than the embarrassment.

Together, they moved palms out... "There is the push..." A slow wave broke through  
the pool surface. "And the pull..." They brought their hands in, and a wall of water  
rose towards them. Keeping their minds clean of all thoughts and all doubt, they lifted  
their arms and the water rose as like a pillar. Shinji took her right hand and made a  
slapping gesture towards it. The water column broke apart, as if slashed. "... and the  
edge of the AT-field. Now, what causes these, Asuka?"

"The particle property of the AT-field." she responded, out of her conversations with  
Ritsuko. "So the field can affect mass. Of course, we already know that since we use  
it as a shield, but... holy -"

"Please stop."

Asuka coughed."I mean, godda- wait... Shinji, there aren't any words to mark this level  
of insanity that don't involve divinity or fucking in any context." She looked aside and  
smiled impishly. "All right. I feel cold..." She wiggled her fingers, watching the ripples  
grow. Strangely enough, the way to her own power was to separate herself from that  
very potential. "... it's not really tiring, but I feel diminished somehow."

"The AT-field is called the light of the soul... and I'm afraid... it's this that will burn  
away at your ability to pilot the Eva." He breathed into her ear. "Please understand,  
Asuka. I want to turn this off. It's not right."

"Shinji, for countless years humanity dreamed of controlling the environment directly.  
Commanding the weather, protecting from danger... flying! Shinji! We can do this now!  
Why don't you want this to spread? I know some people would risk death just to have  
this feeling." Asuka sighed. Wasn't it just so basic? "I can feel it. Because it's self-  
harming, I don't think we have to fear abuse."

"I think... our own limitations are what separate us from the Angels. If we didn't grow  
tired from working, do you suppose we wouldn't have trained pack animals or made the  
first machines? If we could so easily fly, then the dreamers and inventors would never  
have flown to their own reaches of mental genius."

"That was then. This is now. I don't think you actually have the right to keep this from  
the world."

"... Asuka, I haven't even figured out how to teach you, and you want me to instruct  
the world?" He boggled at her anger.

"This... it's indescribable. I don't get you. How can you even call yourself a man if you  
don't feel just how empowering this is? It's the fulfillment of every wish every child and  
every human mind wanted. It's not fair. The Angels can do it so easily. Are we humans  
just cursed, just that inferior...?"

"Um... they are, well, huge. And we ARE killing them."

"All our science, all our machinery..." Asuka clenched her first, sending a spray of water  
over them. "It feels so pretentious. Ultimately it's not US that flies, but what we make.  
It's not us that kills, but the tools we use to make up for our weakness. We're still so  
small. This power should be ours, Shinji."

"That's where we're going to have to disagree, Asuka. To me it's the Angels that end  
up writing themselves into an evolutionary dead end. All this innate power; and they  
lack the ability to truly create."

"... dammit. I wanted to feel it. I have it now. But now it just makes me feel even  
weaker than before. Damn them. Damn the Angels..." She thought briefly to Ayanami  
Rei, who could use this power without limit. An old hate stirred. It quieted again, as  
she remembered... Rei had said she was sterile. Asuka remembered genetics; like a  
mule, unable to create more of its own kind.

She grit her teeth. Power, all power, had its price. Asuka was not willing to abandon  
her humanity just for mere tricks. She still needed to be the pilot for the Evangelion.

"The particle property..." she said slowly. "But what about the wave property of the  
AT-field? Can you... can we... manipulate raw energy?"

"To be frank; yes and no. We can't do the impressive feats the Eva can do, like in  
messing with the entire electromagnetic spectrum, generating energy beams, and like  
that. There's something else though... something that humans have already been able  
to do without external aid."

Asuka turned to face him, frowning. "You're talking about the psychics."

Shinji scratched at the side of his cheek, smiling weakly. "I find it hard to describe...  
the most natural of the unnatural abilities? Technically the Russians did find a way to  
train people into it, but instead of killing yourself you just end up stark raving mad.  
Even if we figure out a way to buffer the effects, all of this... telepathy, telekinesis,  
precognition... they're all just tricks. They're crutches." He sighed. "I'd rather have you  
develop something more useful."

"Feh." She would have liked being able to perform what could be termed as 'magic'.  
"What could be more useful that that? Okay, I'm getting that overt use of the AT-field  
is bad for us humans... leave that to the Eva... but now that I know we can, isn't it  
feasible to just find the safe limit? This is... too much to just ignore."

"Would you rather read minds, or have a mind that simply can't be manipulated from  
the outside? Would you rather move things with your mind, or be able to disrupt that  
from ever happening to or around you?" Shinji put a finger to her forehead and rubbed  
at it in a spiraling motion. Her flesh tingled, her nerves fired up with anticipation.  
"Would you rather see the future, or embrace unpredictability totally and be immune  
to scrying?"

Asuka blinked. The first choices were all more appealing, but... the alternatives were to  
her more practical. She knew that telepathy has its caveat in simply hearing too much.  
Telekinesis did not obsolete just walking over and picking something up and for the  
most part, as research showed, that actually required much less effort. Precognition  
was self-defeating... either it was too vauge or too precise, in either case it had to  
be changed and that only brought on headaches as the possibilies realigned.

The red-haired pilot looked at the choices and realized that she could either be a  
follower or a leader. The 'powers' offered would only lock her into being used as tool.  
She could become dependent upon them. The natural protection from such things...  
should be simpler, easier to maintain, and wouldn't negatively impact upon her lifestyle.

There was change just for change's sake... and there was true growth. Asuka nodded.  
Reason was power in itself. The Greater Good demanded a long-term solution. She had  
to thank Kaworu for that, actually... in any other time she could have been jealous  
and grabbed at all power offered to her, locking herself into a self-destructive spiral.

Asuka recognized her own ego, but her ambition and her drive towards greatness was  
tempered with the knowing it was lonely at the top. She could cherish even her hate,  
and while she still put herself on a pedestal could climb back up. Asuka was -stubborn-  
in ways that would have just amazed herself just a few months before.

"Show me." she said. "Prove to me this is really the way into glory."

Shinji smiled slightly. "I'm not going to force you into anything you don't want to."

"Seriously, I realize now... even if I have full control over an AT-field, even if I could  
generate one without any problems... what am I supposed to do? Go hand to hand  
against an Angel?" Asuka smirked. "You're right. I am already powerful. And that power  
is called the Evangelion."

Shinji stepped back onto the pool's tiled edge and sat down. Asuka joined him, kicking  
her toes under the water. The universe and its laws were once more obeyed without  
question. He winced, rubbing his shoulders. "The Evangelion IS changing us, Asuka.  
Taking in LCL, fighting Angels, uniting our wills with those monsters... it's inconciveable  
that we won't be affected by those things..."

"When did you figure out you can use an AT-field without an Eva?"

"Ah." Shinji still had to measure his secrets. Too much all at once would just overwhelm  
Asuka. It was imperative they continued to act as normal. "It would take too long to  
explain. Would it enough to say, Rei helped me? She doesn't like me being so... fragile."

Knowing that Rei was not exactly human made things go click-click-click in Asuka's mind.  
Instead of despising the other girl, such a massive flaw ironically made the other pilot  
seem more human. She despised dolls, true... but less on the mere -existence- of such  
toys but more of people who chose to be dolls... to be used and abused by others and  
be happy in it. Rei's background went so far beyond that, without even the slightest  
implication of -choice- in being what she was, that derision crossed over into pity.  
Normal people would be insulted by blatant patronizing, but to Rei whose contact with  
Gendo was quite upon that level alone... it disturbed Asuka to feel the appreciation  
given by the other girl.

Or Rei was STILL messing with her mind. Given her mentors, it was not unlikely. By  
being a like sisters in sharing a secret, professional antagonism between them vanished.  
The Enemy was, well... The Man. They were united in that struggle.

"... you like her, don't you?" Asuka asked, her voice soft. She had seen others act as  
if saying 'please love me, please don't turn me away'. The essential human condition.  
Rei was not human, in that she didn't care for herself and seemed to live just to give,  
give, give. It was sickening. It was pathetic. It frightened Asuka that she wanted it  
too.

"Rei... how can I say... she's the type that never gives up on a promise, you know?  
When she says she'll stand by my until the end of time, she means it. To be the  
subject of such devotion is... humbling."

Shinji was looking away. Had his eyes met Asuka's searching look back then, it would  
have seemed as if asking _'are you strong enough to show me the same dedication? A  
true human such as you, can you be beaten so easily?'_

As proved when she was walking around blind, when the measure is only oneself, it  
was very easy to get lost. Asuka also searched for order, for defined limits. The idea  
of the Greater Good appealed to her in that it designed both her superiors and inferiors.  
As a passive-agressive person, she also needed the touch of discipline.

Ungh. Shinji felt a headache rising. Asuka had to grow on her own. It would be all too  
easy to manipulate her emotions and her ideals for his purposes; but he didn't need an  
intellectual sado-masochist in his hands. Asuka was so stubborn that she would break  
before she would bend to someone's will. Just -ordering- Asuka into doing something  
would backfire so badly it just might be funny...

"What can I do?" asked Asuka. Such a loaded question. It was odd to see her so meek  
and servile, but within that still burned her need to shine.

"Uhm... it would be better to just try things out WITH the Evangelion. Not only are the  
effects easier to control, there's only the time limit to what we can do. There is one  
thing that we can try... that shouldn't affect us too badly."

Asuka perked up. "And what's that?"

"Sense intruding AT-fields." He grinned. "You know how some people seem to have a  
sixth sense, able to guess where someone else is or how they're feeling? Twins seem  
to do this a lot."

"So you CAN read someone's mind...!"

Shinji groaned again. "Why do people keep assuming that? It's just empathy. Everyone  
has it to some level." To understand someone else's feelings, was one of the hallmarks  
of humanity. It seemed to be the root of all moral codes, even.

That would be incredibly useful, was Asuka's thought. It was not psychic, it was not  
invasive... yet would serve her in every situation. As Shinji explained, it only required  
extending her awarenes off other's presence. The personal AT-field wasn't a location  
per se, but a signature upon Tannhauser warp space.

Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Asuka needed more than tricks. He could feel it,  
she wanted true power. The capacity to destroy all that dared stand in her way. To  
fight and prevail against what which seeks to harm those she chose to protect. He  
could understand that. "Try this out with the Eva's AT-field next time." He whispered  
into her ear.

She giggled.

In their swimsuits and leaning upon each other they looked quite the stereotypical  
young couple. Shinji had already figured out a way to muffle the air around them, to  
make sounds more difficult to hear from the outside. Tricks, and some useful perhaps,  
but he far preferred the might of the Evangelion.

"... and reshape continents." Shinji finished.

-o-  
-o-

Da Boyz Hut had to be abandoned. It was hard to maintain secrecy when so many  
knew about it. The grown-ups and the military were understandably suspicious at how  
well-prepared the children were for a seige. Fortunately 'Da Boss' was still an unknown.

Some of Da Boyz had died in the Angel attack. Out of guilt, surviving members became  
even more close-mouthed about their orders. The game... those who played it were  
saved by it. Those who abandoned Da Word, who thought their own judgements and  
their own strengths were enough... they lost their lives. Their little game was not just  
a game, they realized. They had to hide it even more from the grownups, or the blame  
for those who died would fall upon their admittedly suspicious activities.

For those lives lost and saved, they couldn't bear the thought of any condemnation  
towards Da Boss or Da Book.

For a full month, the children had no classes. They were free to play as they wanted.  
Unfortunately they had to abandon Da Hut, as it was already known to da big'uns.  
They played and they ran about, their numbers dwindling by the day as families moved  
away from Tokyo 3. There were also a few new children, from workers and military  
families moving in; but a certain distrust was there. Nozomi had predicted (correctly,  
too) that some grownups were keeping a keen eye on the activities of their children.

Even their usual haunts and frolics seemed to be less fun. Da Boyz were infiltratin'.  
They had to wait until Da Word ta Get Up And At 'Im arrived. They could mobilize  
without a Hut. They had several backup places, actually... but couldn't gather in the  
needed numbers without evoking suspicion. Simply, the critical mass of Boyz couldn't  
be reached.

Kodama Nozomi and Suzuhara Mari had to bear with organizing the Boyz elements and  
keep them from being too bored. Da Tokyo 3 Chapter was broken up into littler Riffs  
by Da Book. Instead of one Hut where the children could feel safe and secure, they  
had little hangout places, like parks and arcades where they wasted time in senseless  
play. It was astounding, even to them, that there was an actual difference. They  
missed da missions.

Officially, Da Boyz had Da Undaboss (or another/under boss) in the form of Round Boy.  
The individual Chapters were 'ruled' by a council of Nobs from all over the city, each  
the Gud Boy of their individual little mobs (usually of different streets and schools).  
Tokyo 3's Nob leadership took a big hit, and forcing Da Boyz to rely more and more on  
the two girls for guidance. Newcomers, some of them Boyz from other Chapters, had  
expected to rebuild the Nob rule and were stifling under the continued need to keep  
to the ground.

Then, Da Word was spread that a Boyz Hut was prepared. The former hut was quickly  
razed by Houko construction, as the condemned property order went through from the  
MAGI's database. A video store occupied the spot, its owners unaware of the tunnels  
underneath. Nothing should be traced towards Shinji Ikari. It was not yet time.

Their new sanctuary was beside a video arcade. The owners took a blind eye to kids  
going in and leaving through the back door. They were... very well-equipped to ensure  
the safety of the children. Technically, they could be called mercenaries; though most  
had been soldiers and police. If they had qualms about merely babysitting, the hefty  
weekly contracts silenced that. Millions; just to loaf around? The worst-case scenario  
was pretty darn good even. The intelligence network set up for the younger Ikari had  
actually taken that long to select only the most reliable people.

Da Boyz gathered in their new, grander location; a movie theater under construction.  
There were less than ninety of them, seated all at the front rows. These were the  
Nobz of the city Mobs. The oldest there was fourteen, the same age as the pilots. He  
came all the way from Sendai, his parents employed by Houko Construction. He had  
adapted rather quickly to way Tokyo-3 was run. Unsurprisingly, Da Boyz knew a lot...  
much of it close to the truth, but cloaked in the tone of mythology.

Horaki Nozomi went up to the stage, and began to speak... or more like preach... of  
the happenings in Tokyo 3. She told them of what Da Boyz had done during each  
attack, how they had helped the people of Tokyo-3. She wound up with...

"And da Gretchz went into der holes and Da Boyz helped outside. Ya knows da Rule...  
we'z not allowed to carry any weapons or go ta war against anyone. We're here ta  
help, Da Boyz are Gud'boyz. But when da Waaagh! sounds we needs ta be ready. Da  
Angels are scary and they're deadly. We'z not meant to tangle with 'dem. We are here  
ta help those who CAN fight... we give dem the means and da reason to fight. We're  
not here ta waste our lives or to shame dose who fight for us. We'z kids, we know dat,  
but we know dis is a time when we cant's be ruled by fear.

We are Da Boyz! And we'ze gonna change Da World!"

A loud cheer. The walls were designed to absorb noise.

"Some a'yoz think it's not good to keep secrets from yer parents and older brothers  
and sisters. Some a'yoz thinks we should be out there proud and waving da big banna  
around. Everythin' Da Book warns about has come true, and it's somethin' Da Book  
REALLY forbids us ta do. They won't understand. They'z just gonna keep us locked  
away, safe, not realizin' we can keep dem from fallin'. We aint's safe if the ones whoz  
fighting fall down. If dat happens, den we have no choice but to fight to.

Some a'yoz is just itchin' for a scrap. But are you really ready? Dis is war, boyz and  
girlz. Do ya wantz ta fight over the DEAD bodies of yar loved ones? You know it. We  
have da choice. They don't. If we goes out when da Angel attacks, dey's gonna follow.  
We'ze gonna get in dere way. We'z just gonna make things worse..."

A few of the younger children began crying. They were unprepared for the frankness  
that the Tokyo 3 chapter dealt with things. Hearing death-bringing screeches and  
attending so many funerals... innocence could hardly remain unbroken. They were Da  
Boyz; they were hardly stupid. Their only real limitation was their size.

"We waits for Da Waaagh! before we can do that. But dere are a lot of ways we can  
help. RIGHT NOW. We can make our parents stop worryin'. We can rebuild da Gretchz  
line. We can keeps an eye on da people who looks like they can use some quick help.  
But most of all, what we needs ta do is to do thing By Da Book!"

Suzuhara Mari entered the stage, carrying the Waaagh! You Da Boyz! rulebook. It  
wasn't big, but continually updated as questions were relayed from Da Boyz in their  
Huts from all over the Kanto region (and over the International Network, even).

She began to read from it, her voice cute and unreasonably loud.

"Time for Annuder Go!

So yaz had enough of skulkin' and schemin'. Ya wantz ta get up and at 'im again. But  
Da Nobz can't make up der mindz, or da big'uns are still being big-eyed. Den it's simple.

To get outta Da Hole ya needz three things.

Wun. You needs Da Word to make it all betta.  
Don't move until ya gets Da Word. Wot's you gonna do den, without missions anyway?  
It's just da same thing yar doin' now. You can'ts make up yar own missions since it  
don't serve nobody if you get caught. If deres something ya needs done, can it be  
done without involving da whole might of Da Boyz? Only Da Word may move da Boyz.

Tuh. You needs a Kwik'Boss to tell you what to do and when to do it.  
Dis Boss is bigga' dan da Nobz but don't make up da missions. Da Kwik Boss needs ta  
looks at the situation from a high place, to talks to da big'uns without dem knowing  
about what we'z really after. Da Boyz have ASSETS. We needz ta keep you and dese  
safe. We cares about yoz, so cares about each other. Don't get yerselves trapped by  
da big'unz.

Tree. Da Word and da Kwik Boss happen at da same time as a distraksyun'.  
Usually dis is school. It's not so bad if ya get to see all your buddies again. If da Hut is  
broken, den usually ya need ta secure da new point.

Ya know yar ready for annuder go when ya gets dese things. Remember, da Boyz are  
smart. Don't talk about Da Boyz, don't let dem see wot we can do. We needs ta be  
cunnin' and act when dey least expects it."

"Da Boyz protect demselves and da place were we live." Nozomi continued as Mari shut  
the book. "Other places can afford ta have Da Boyz operatin' openly. Dis here is where  
it matters. Dis here is where it's important dat we like By Da Book or we'll be caught  
and made ta stop by the big'uns. We're useful here, and by da Boss we're gonna be  
useful some more!"

"We gots the third." one of the children said out loud. "Do we have Da Word?"

"Yes, dis is Da Word, straight from Da Boss. Tokyo 3 Chapter; Wake up Boyz! It's Time  
for Mashin'!"

Instead of cheers, frenzied hubbub spread throughout the gathered children. To many,  
the Boss was a mythical figure. The newer ones didn't even think he was real in the  
first place.

"Wot about da second?" asked the Boy from Shinji's hometown. "Woz gonna be da  
Kwik Boss?"

The two girls looked at each other, then offstage. "S'aright, you can come out now."  
said Nozomi.

The Boyz had little difficulty recognizing the newcomer. Rei Ayanami was a distinctive  
sight, after all. They were nervous, near panicking... she was, by being so visible in  
media and an actual 'authority'... was one of da big'uns. She went over the mike, the  
two younger girls bowing slightly and moving aside.

She tapped the mike, and smiled slightly. It was like time stopped. Rei could seem  
pretty motherly when she had to be. Not to mention just pretty. "'Ello, Boyz." she  
said. "I'm Da Boss now."

Da Boyz erupted into shouting. For one thing, she wasn't a boy. That wasn't so much  
a problem (as the Boyz were gender-neutral about leadership that way) as that she  
didn't rise from the recognized ranks of Da Boyz. She was older than most of them, she  
was known to many grownups; which was contrary to the secretive nature of their  
order. It smelt like a takeover. They wouldn't stand for it.

"Why should we lissen ta you?" someone shouted.

"I'm da biggest." She said softly. She gripped the metal stand of the microphone and  
easily bent it between her fingers. She added several more curves and loops, until the  
stainless steel rod resembled the jagged skull-like symbol of Da Boyz. She threw it  
down, and there was a loud clang. "I'm da strongest." Her voice was uncompromising  
and heard by all. Her thin smile remained. "And I needs your help..."

Everyone there was struck numb. Of course they were afraid. However, all it took was  
for someone to breathe out... "Awesome!" and they all broke into a cheer. They had  
all seen Evangelion Fantasy Battle. She was, yes, Scary. Her stature was Small, and  
her poise was indeed, that of a Lady. By Da Book - the Strong Protects Da Weak. And  
did she not, as an Evangelion pilot already protect all of them?

Rei smiled wider, which sent them all nearly frenzied with enthusiasm. "Oh, we'ze so  
gonna have some fun times 'ere." she said softly. Looking at all the young faces, she  
felt so filled with energy. More than anything, Rei desperately needed something to  
protect. Watching them, she felt more human than she had ever felt before.

'Thank you...' she whispered silently towards Shinji. The world before his arrival was  
such a dark place. Their joy lights up the world; he was right.

Shinji's plan was sound. The defenders of the city could fight more effectively if they  
didn't have to worry about the safety of their loved ones. At the same time, they were  
an excellent means of directing public opinion. Like a magician shuffling cards with one  
hand, pulling rabbits out of a hat with the other; each serving as a distraction for the  
other.

It might not have been such a good idea however, to mix impressionable youngsters  
with someone who so exemplified living by Da Book and had very little problem with the  
idea of deeming him a figure worthy of worship.

Makoto was in an understandably bad mood as he left the Commander's office. One  
month's pay! He would need to hang around Mini-storm Studios more often and mooch  
off their coffee and pastries, just to survive.

Muttering curses under his breath, not paying any attention to his surroundings and  
indeed, heading off for nowhere in particular... he found himself at NERV's underground  
pool. He stood by the entrance, blinking. Why... did he feel drawn to the place?

He peered into the place, feeling dirty, like a voyeur. He couldn't trust the words he'd  
said about Shinji Ikari, though even through a TV screen he (and others) could tell  
that he really believed it back then. He couldn't really explain it well, but he had faith  
that as long as the boy fought for humanity, things would be all right. Certainly he had  
a good track record so far.

Shinji was a good boy, deserving of their support. However, that conviction, that  
eloquence... the nerdish young lieutenant could hardly believe that came from himself.  
That was everything he wanted to be, brave and unflinching... and it was all so vauge  
in his memory! What the hell was he thinking? It frightened him to lose control, and  
even more so the feeling that... he liked it. It would be better if he did surrender to  
that force. He dimly remembered the feeling touching eternity, of being so powerful  
and immovable as a part of something greater. He feared not only losing himself, but  
that himself as he stood at that moment seemed so worthless in comparison.

Makoto Hyuga was too far to hear anything. He did see Shinij Ikari walk on water and  
show Asuka how to do the same. He was glowing faintly; she seemed to be siphoning  
off the aura.

He rubbed at his eyes. He looked again. He was not dreaming. There was no golden  
glow, though.

Makoto watched as Shinji brought Asuka into impossible feats done with casual ease.  
Their motions into a rather deceptively cozy scene. He was watching from the far end  
of the necessarily large room. He felt it, more than saw it, that Shinji had turned his  
head and directed his notice towards him.

He fled from the scene, his mind reeling with the implications. Unsurprisingly, as he did  
work for NERV, his first throught was that Shinji was an Angel. However as he calmed  
down, he realized that will all the medical checks that they had done that should be  
impossible to hide.

So... some form of experimental technology? Telekinesis was possible, after all. If he  
was an Angel and that was an AT-field, shouldn't NERV be ringing all over with alarms?  
Just because it looked like a duck and quacked a like a duck... means it might still be  
a decoy.

The boy just might be something special. As a sensible young officer of NERV, thoughts  
of divinity were the last in his mind. Makoto swore not to let what he'd seen adversely  
influence his opinion of the boy. He was still humanity's best hope for survival.

He was sitting under a staircase, muttering to himself. Things were getting crazy. He  
couldn't even trust his own mind. He got up and dusted himself off. Best to just forget  
about it all and go back to work. There had to be a rational explanation.

"Hyuga-sempai?"

"Hmm?" He looked up and saw Kaede Agano standing over him, looking uncertain. "Oh.  
Is it time for shift change already?"

Her expression drooped. Makoto might as well have put as much notice to her as a  
lightbulb. Stupid uniforms covering too much skin... she mumbled. "Um. We're in the  
cafeteria, sempai."

He blinked and looked around. "Oh. So we are." He looked up again towards Kaede.  
"Have I been sleeping?"

"Your eyes were closed, but it looked like you were thinking deeply." She put a hand  
over her mouth and looked away. Mmm. Dark brooding silence. He was still the nice  
guy, but his undisguised irritation (at the NERV Commander) did hint at courage and  
danger... to her, at least.

Other employees around her were giving her an 'are you insane?' look. The taint of  
Gendo Ikair's displeasure still hung around the lieutenant. She was determined however,  
as she saw it as her chance to offer her support. "May I talk to you for a moment?"  
she asked.

"Sure, have a seat." Makoto sighed. "Do you need something?"

"I mean... um.. alone."

He sighed some more. Those around him groaned. Why was it that men could be so  
selectively obtuse? Ordinarily, a cute young woman like Kaede talking to him would be  
cause for good cheer... unless the rumor was true about his taste for older women.  
Makoto's gaze was growing distant again. He frowned, and tapped at the side of his  
head. "Sure." he responded, following still as if dazed, and unknowing of just how much  
she was blushing at all the stares. That Hyuga was a lucky guy (he would not agree).

"I've heard you collect manga and light novels, sempai... is that true?"

He chuckled coarsely. "It does seem childish, doesn't it?"

"Not at all!" she replied hotly. "It's not a... weird... hobby."

"But I don't just collect manga." He smiled slightly at her, his glasses glinting. He had  
long practice at defending his pastime. "I collect hope. I bring together dreams. We  
used to be able to express these so freely, and someday we might again. It might be  
seen as trying to escape from reality, but..." He sighed again. "That's only a natural  
thing for humans to do, right? If we lack the power to make our world more sensible or  
more interesting."

She nodded. "But... wouldn't be better to do something, instead of just hoping for  
things that won't happen?" It took all her courage to accept the push from her friends.  
It was better to risk and regret than always wondering if she had only done one simple  
thing.

"In the end... the stories we hear, the sights we see... matter only in how it changes  
us." He shrugged. "But look, sometimes it's worth it just to have fun, right? What did  
you really want to talk about?" He gave her an intense, but kindly stare.

"H-here!" The one hand she kept hidden behind her back held a wrapped package,  
which she shoved at him. "I saw this at the store... It's not not much, but I thought  
you might like it."

She needed an icebreaker. At the advice of her friend Satsuki Ooi's 'research' Kaede  
had asked the store manager of Hinano's for something new that he was sure Makoto  
didn't already own. Luckily, he just had something just like that: a surreal light novel  
series that he got just recently. Apparently people were more becoming more willing to  
embrace the themes of existentialism and its counterpoints.

Makoto opened the package. "Oh, it's already a volume collection." He took a look at  
the title. "Volumes 1-5. The Melancholy of..."

"I hope you find it interesting!" said Kaede. "Cheer up, sempai. At least... even if our  
life seems a bit out of control, at least we still have the ability to change it."

Then, after accepting his thanks, she fled. "Huh..." said Makoto. "Strange girl..." He'd  
never really known how to deal with exuberant people. He looked down at the book. It  
was a light novel, evoking the innocent and exuberant daydreams of an earlier age.

Well, he supposed... if he was going to dip into his savings just to survive, then old  
Hinano would have to make do without him for the month. The book was probably  
the last new book he'd take from the place. He smiled and sighed again, but this time  
in relief. At least; he didn't seem to be alone in NERV. Yeah. No matter how much of  
an arse Gendo might be, it was worth it to stick around for the other people. He didn't  
have to fear contact with others.

Later that night, he began reading. He supposed he could use a break from the grim  
brainstorming for Evangelion Fantasy Battle's Bible. He supposed Kodama Horaki was  
exuberant too. Huh. Strange. He wasn't uncomfortable in dealing with her, though she  
was an attractive woman. He didn't suffer the usual conversational dead-blocks and  
hesitation.

Halfway through the first volume, he sat up; sweating and skeptical.

Oh hell.

It can't be that simple, can it?

Yes, he remembered... that everpresent look on Shinji's face. Not quite apathy, not  
quite despair. The exact opposite of joy. Yes. Oh, no. He had a feeling that if Shinji  
Ikari ever took notice of this story the world would divide by zero.

In his room at night, he thought - perhaps the difference was that Shinji was aware  
and was trying to minimize it. He had the exactly opposite personality; cautious and  
predetermined instead of all-out idiotic enthusiasm. He chuckled dryly. Okay, perhaps  
that was one way of looking at things. It was still too fanciful, though.

He could just pray that the future would work out somehow. There was no better  
person to put that trust into than the boy who looked already so weary with carrying  
the weight of the world.

"...but it is true that only by exercise do we develop strength." He sighed and fell back  
on his bed. "Even faith has to benefit from it."

-o-  
-o-

Kyoto 2 was an entirely different beast from Tokyo 3, with an entirely different set of  
people and a different view over recent events. That Rika Izuna continued to find  
gainful employment there, despite the obvious slant of her journalism, was testament  
to that her perception of events wasn't entirely unique.

It would be unfair to deem Kyoto-2 as elitist and Tokyo-3 as troublemakers; but that  
was the gist of it. Tokyo-3 was engineered to become the new capital, despite the  
hopes of Kyoto-2. Whereas the city over the geofront was gleaming new, Kyoto-2 had  
merely relocated further inland, and still had all the traditional trappings of pre-Impact  
Japan. They considered themselves the true carriers of Japanese authority.

It had the Kyoto Restoration University, as a replacement for sunken Tokyo University.  
The staff of the latter had fled inland, with most dying in impact. The new city had  
moved up the mountains towards Sakai, and carried with it painstakingly preserved  
sections of the Imperial Palace, to be rebuilt with lavish care upon a new sit. It was a  
pity there was no Emperor to occupy it; the loss of an unbroken dynasty stretching  
across thousands of years perhaps contributed to their current mania. A fractured  
culture even at the best of times, they had to fight the steadily eroding cultural  
legacy amidst the harsh and uncertain future. It had the advantage over Tokyo 3's  
broadcast services in larger, more established facilities and a world-wise audience.

In any other city in Honshu, the representatives of NERV would have been greeted as  
like conquering heroes. In Second Kyoto however, there was dignified restaint. There  
were also those who saw them with suspicion. The wild, troublesome reputation of  
those from Third Tokyo was perhaps justifiable. Weirdness followed them. Worst comes  
to worst, the Angels would decide to drop by in Second Kyoto instead of Third Tokyo.

It did not help their reputation any that instead of arriving via limo like any sensible  
public personage, NERV burst into the scene carried by the simply massive Hotaru-  
class VTOL carrier. Without an Eva, of course. Shinji Ikari and -Principio Eternus-, if  
together, equalled massive evacuations from an obviously doomed metropolis.

Flashy, unashamed, pushy. That was the reigning attitude of NERV. Grim-faced military  
kept back the press as the representatives unboarded. Cameras zoomed into faces,  
and flashes accompanied the sight of Vice-commander Kozo Fuyutsuki. More flashes  
as three young teens emerged; Suzuhara, Aida, and Horaki. A few forgettable faces  
were next, aides and whatnot, that the reporters thought that the spectacle was over.

Then Shinji Ikari went out, squinting at the sun, and things started to get crazy.

-o-  
-o-

Rika Izuna watched with savage anticipation as the players gathered on the stage.  
The public inquiry was being held in a grand auditorium, and there was quite a farcial  
air to the whole proceedings. There was anticipation well disproportional to the event,  
as if it was a rock concert or something. She was at the front row, ready and waiting  
with questions that should distinguish her from the rest of the press.

It was starting. There were three panels to the discussion; three long tables arranged  
in a rough U facing the crowd.

On the far left were the representatives of the JSSDF and NNHIS, among them a tired-  
looking General Akira and the younger yet looking more work General Asagiri. They had  
to fight tooth and nail for the right to build up forces around the city, NERV and UN  
reluctance be damned. Fortunately Tokita of NNHIS was obliging to help, of course he  
made money with any sort of deployment... but aside from the seemingly depthless  
reserve of his enthusiasm it was like there was a similar bankroll ready to be used up  
in fortifications and munitions, completely separate from the UN contract. More and  
more, NNHIS was proving to be an independent institution in its own right, similar to  
NERV... and that was something that irritated many. The man carried to the inquiry a  
scale model of the Land Dreadnought, which he toyed with while waiting.

"Stomp. Stomp. Grahahaha." he whispered as he moved the fully-articulate model on  
the table. He wished he had brought along the diorama. Those around him were unsure,  
if he was deliberately pretending to be deranged, or that he'd simply cracked from all  
the stress. Either way they had to remind themselves not to underestimate the man's  
cunning or determination or faith in his work.

Mana Kirishima was seated there, next to him in full dress uniform, her large hat pulled  
over her eyes. She sat primly, and apparently unconcerned with everything around her.  
She certainly made for an interesting sight, a perfect picture opportunity.

At the middle table were the fact-finding committee, filled with prominent members of  
the Diet and the actual Japanese SDF, although Impact had allowed the renaming of  
that back into just the Army, Navy and Air Force. The JSSDF were formed from these,  
having the same equipment and training to balance out each other. Both the politicians  
and the conventional military had of course justified misgivings about handing even  
more power to either the UN Strategic Forces or to NERV, neither really under their  
authority.

The NERV representatives were an odd group. For one thing, only Fuyutsuki was the  
grown-up in that collection... officially, NERV needed only one person to answer all the  
questions. The children were just there as a favor to publicity. He looked as stony as  
every, a patient stillness in contrast to Gendo's tensioned silence. Kensuke was looking  
longingly over to the other side of the stage, at the -Magnos Tancred- model. Damn  
that Tokita...! Outmaneuvered again! He'd been counseled against appearing childish  
and unprofessional, then the project chief pulls that act. Touji and Hikari had moved  
their chairs closer together, and out of sight their hands were linked. They waited for  
their turn without fear.

Shinji Ikari seemed to be sleeping. It was disrespectful to the proceedings to some,  
but explained away by that he was still weak. It had only been two days since he got  
out of a month-long coma.

It was one of those things that made people think things could have been handled  
better. The committee was saying again about how the inquiry was not to accuse but  
merely to better answer questions still remaining and to postulate future options.

"What a bunch of bullcrap..." muttered the cameraman by her side. "It's not us who  
had to suffer. Why can't they just leave it alone?"

"You can't trust NERV." Rika Izuna replied. "Even if you believe all their propaganda  
about saving the Earth... the fact that they keep it all so secret and prevent anyone  
else from even trying is too suspicious... "

"I can't see how you can even pretend to be unbiased here... greed's there on either  
side. NERV just has control and doesn't want to share."

She sniffed contemptously. "It's the camera that sees, not you. You don't get to make  
any value judgements here... that's for me and the viewers." She bid him into silence.  
"Stupid fools, clinging to their little city as if they were all that mattered in the world.  
They can't fight change forever, specially not now."

"But..."

"Ssh. They're starting."

There was a great screen off to one side, where the snatches of actual footage from  
the battle were replayed and NERV's official report of the event was recounted. The  
sheer size of Matariel still boggled the mind. People had known Angels were giant  
monsters, but not THAT big. Everyone spared a glance for Shinji Ikari seated there  
with his hands crossed over his chest,; thin, sallow, and nodding off into a weak nap.  
He had defeated it in less than a minute and half.

Why so quick? Why so easy? At the same time, why was he injured so? These were  
things only the boy could really answer.

The accounts at the ground were less precise, reliant upon after-event accounts. The  
praise given over to NERV and the JSSDF soldiers were effulgent, culminating in the  
great scoop that was Makoto's speech over the rain. Shinji Ikari might have twitched  
a bit, his shoulders drooping lower in dismay. Maybe it was time to reconsider holding  
the Emperor as a role model. Ah. He could just hear the Farseer salivating. No.

Then the report started to turn negative. The death toll ran to the thousands. The  
response of the JSSDF was stemmed by their distance from Tokyo-3, only the base  
nearby to house -Magnos Tancred- could quickly send help, and they lacked both  
men and machines sufficient for the task; more as guards for the Trident than any  
hope of relief. Shelters broken open, buildings collapsed under spindly but still ruinous  
steps, acid eating into everything it came into contact with... that the end of the  
battle was so quick and easy seemed like an insult to all that had happened before it.  
The response to the attack, with gruesome emphasis upon what even the officials had  
to call the 'angelspawn' and their admitted straightforward abilities, could be called  
admirable... and haphazard. NERV might be called to answer for criminal negligence...  
except that, of course, the inquiry wasn't meant to accuse.

There was a single podium, facing the committee. The Sub-commander sighed as he  
went up to speak. Gendo had little patience of politics. He'd probably end up having  
them all shot as payment for the indignity. Fuyutsuki however, planned on being as  
cooperative as possible to smooth the way for NERV. In a few more months these  
drunk with illusionary power would be obsolete anyway. Until then they could still do  
some damage.

"You cannot truly prepare for the unexpected." he said, to their ill-disguised attack on  
NERV's competence. "All Angels encountered up to that point have always been of  
massive scale. In fact, it was the most massive Angel encountered thus far. That it  
could spawn smaller attack forms is not something anyone could have invisioned."

"Apparently, someone did." said the Defense Minister.

He managed a slight chuckle. "Surely you're not saying we should take cues from a  
movie? There is one important reason why NERV is the only one capable of handling  
Angels."

"You mean the AT-field..." was the irritated response from the Internal Affairs Minister.  
"After all this time there is no way for anyone else to replicate it?" He bent aside to  
listen to Dr. Kobayashi, one of the leading physicists not employed by NERV. "It seems  
that the last Angel did not make much use of it..."

"The AT-field is the perfect weapon, able to turn from defense to offense in an instant.  
This is why Angels are so fearsome." He shrugged eloquently. "It is hard to believe that  
anything smaller than their usual size could produce it... or that they would resort to  
more mundane ways of attacking the city."

"Perfect?"

"Perfect."

To say that was to insult pretty much all of human invention. NERV seemed like such  
an upstart little organization for claiming glory that wasn't even really theirs.

"Then how is it that NERV can defeat them so easily? Obviously there are flaws in the  
ability."

Fuyutsuki smirked a bit. This would surely piss them off even more. "No. It's that Shinji  
Ikari is just that much better at it."

The boy groaned. Better that this inquiry not be televised and Asuka not watching.  
Cameras. Oh dammit to hell. Asuka. As if her shouting 'Do it to me! Do it to me!' was not  
troublesome enough at practice. Misato's laughter rising over the comms, the almost  
audible headaches from her old friend. Maya's attempts to restrain Asuka only seemed  
like jealousy to less-objective observers.

Gendo... as much as he pretended not to care, would surely take measures to slow  
the erosion of his own stature in the eyes of others. If fear of the older Ikari was  
equalized or surpassed by awe for the younger... not even he could tell what would  
happen.

The committee all frowned slightly. They each bore the marks of all the compromises  
and all the sacrifices they had to perform just to bring the country from the brink. In  
many ways they deserved the right of being the nation's saviours, and were unwilling  
to give that up to young upstarts. Their motives weren't purely selfish; some wanted  
to simply help, but were continually rebuffed as useless. NERV was just a collection  
of people, the Eva were simply weapons, and Shinji Ikari's cultish popularity was just  
unhealthy...

It was one thing to deem current events as the populist 'war of humanity' but the  
facts were that the attacks were spaced well apart and the rest of the world was  
simply... at peace. It was only Tokyo 3 that knew violence. There was no war to  
touch the lives of any others, it was hard to take doom-ravings seriously. The threat  
of Third Impact was a bludgeon for compliance.

At the same time, the funds and manpower being diverted towards that one city was  
immense. The place was in a constant economic boom. They fed upon the undeserved  
tribute; fanning fears just to maintain their way of life. It made no sense at all, to  
those who had to pay for it out of their own pockets.

"Setting that aside, the damage would not have been so severe if NERV simply had  
advance warning. It is too coincidental that your power supply should shut down at  
the moment an Angel attacks. We must call into question whether it is wise to give  
so much control over to one computer."

"Ironically... that would actually be far safer than piecemeal systems linked together.  
As the first of its kind, the MAGI's self-monitoring and self-protection systems are top-  
notch. If the city is all part of one big coherent system, there should be no way for  
a single compromised part to evade notice. This was tested several times." The Vice-  
commander shrugged again. "Unfortunately, the MAGI itself is dependent upon power.  
Primary, backup, and emergency power to fail all at once is impossible by accident."

"The theory that it is sabotage seems rather far-fetched." The Defense Minister put  
his hands together under his chin. "It brings to mind not only who should desire that  
NERV lose the battle, but how that is possible in the first place. Or more accurately,  
how can NERV even allow such infiltration at such a level? Your NEED for absolute  
security IS one of the reasons why you continue to disallow foreign observers and  
cooperative endeavors."

Fuyutsuki smiled thinly. "The only reasonable conclusion is that it was fundamental  
flaw in the construction of NERV's facilities. A shutdown command, bringing down all  
our defenses; making it easier to attack with, say... conventional forces? Deliberate,  
and appropriated by the enemy."

"Just what are you implying...?"

"Someday, somehow... should NERV gather too much power into itself. It seems that  
someone had prepared for the eventuality." The old man kept his unfriendly smile. "If  
you believe it's nothing more than conspiracy theory, then consider this. Would you  
have not wanted such a useful switch?"

"The government paid for the construction of Tokyo-3, not designed it. Who do you  
imply may have planned this... switch? The government should not have to need that  
just to expect compliance from a civilian operation. You would do well not to raise  
baseless accusations. We will not stand for such artful dodges...!"

The smile twitched, with real amusement. "I merely asked to consider it in context.  
There are many other... organizations... with an interest in NERV; I do not mean to  
point any fingers unnecessarily. However, the switch does exist. It has been removed.  
Contemplations on who could have triggered it is not for us to ponder at this point.  
Please accept my assurances, that it will not happen again."

The committee glanced at each other. The old man was just too canny. He would not  
be trapped so easily. They decided to move on.

"Kensuke Aida, born September 12, 2001. Toji Suzuhara, born December 26, 2001.  
Hikari Horaki, born February 18, 2002. You three have quite a reputation. Many have  
sworn you saved their lives, but we are curious about how you seem to have such  
proficiency with weapon and of course how you got your hands on them in the first  
place." There being three of them, they were asked from their seats.

General Asagiri stood up, holding his mike. "May I answer that? Thank you. Suzuhara  
and Horaki were given these by JSSDF Marines, and it was well within legal rights to  
temporarily call upon able citizens no matter what age during times of emergency.  
Perhaps it would have been better if adults were given the weapons, but there were  
no such persons around and it would not have been any more dangerous for them to  
have guns than to stand around helpless."

"It is to our understanding that Bolt Pistols and Bolt Rifles are not standard JSSDF  
equipment..."

"I am sure you will find that Patton Sakura is duly licensed to create such weapons for  
testing purposes. Ordinary weapons have proven to be less effective given the Angel-  
spawn ability to rapidly heal, but the massive damage of Bolt rounds does overwhelm  
even that. It is also within legality to requisition his armory or to distribute the guns to  
the populace.."

"Putting weapons in the hands of minors is still a serious breach of protocol."

"But one with precedent. In times of emergency and when enemies vastly outnumber  
the defenders, every gun helps. Their proficiency... it depends upon the definition.  
Perhaps they do have the aptitude, but by military definition of proficiency... not even  
close." Lie. Blatant, bald lie. But it was so rational it had to be the truth. The teens  
had shown fire discipline that the Marines had to be puzzle over... and respect. They  
had to report to him first, and having recieved Shinji Ikari's message, General Asagiri  
decided punishing people for saving lives was not something he wanted to do.

"Suzuhara. Horaki. Is this account true?"

"It's as accurate as far as it could be, sir!" Toji shouted nervously.

"It's not like we had any choice." Hikari added in a more even voice. "My little sister  
would have died if we hadn't taken arms."

"Very well." The Defense Minister looked at Kensuke, who sat slouched over with his  
glasses glinting oddly. "Mister Aida, please come forward."

The teen went over to the podium and waited. The committee looked meaningfully at  
the JSSDF/NNHIS panel and continued. "Your friends might have the legal recourse of  
being pushed into action out of necessity. You, however... organized a defense of  
Tokyo 3 First Municipal Junior High instead of sneding people into the shelters, and  
passed around functional Bolt Pistols and Rifles. While we applaud your actions, it all  
implies both premeditation and access to items you, frankly, should not be able to  
have. Do you understand the illegal nature of your actions?"

"Yes." he replied.

"Did you know know this, as you were performing such actions as obtaining guns  
without license, bringing them to public place, hiding them in a public place, and then  
not only using such illegal arms but giving it to unlicensed civilians?"

"Yes, I knew I was breaking the law." Kensuke smiled a bit. "What else would you have  
had us do? Run to the nearest shelter where we could be killed and eaten by the Angel-  
spawn when they break through? I'm sure that you'd have seen too many examples of  
that having occured."

"There were also shelters that survived..." However, the committee did recognize this  
diluted their message about NERV's incompetence in citizen protection. "However, the  
situation is presumably one that everyone else was unprepared for. Your only duty as  
a citizen was to seek refuge and not get in the way of those duly designated to serve  
in such a capacity.

"The right to self-defense is a basic and essential human right as defined in many legal  
documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We at war, sir. Extreme  
circumstances call for extreme measures."

"I do not need for YOU to lecture us about international law mister Aida. And even so,  
the right to self-defense does not cover these actions, which DO have a situational  
identity. Do you know where it falls, mister Aida? You must undersand this now. It is  
an act linked to terrorism."

The crowd of onlookers and reporters began to murmur, agreeing and disagreeing with  
the statement. "The intentions, the results... we can forgive, but we must question.  
We must ensure this is seen as something more risky than rewarding. According to  
sworn testimony, you made statements to the effect that Shinji Ikari wanted you to  
fight. Did you do this according to his suggestion? To what extent was his participation  
in these acts?"

"In a word? None. Shinji tends to worry unnecessarily. No, it was all me." Hauling off  
heavy crates in the dead of night, of course not. Kensuke hmf'ed. That's what minions  
were for.

"By yourself? You hauled several crates worth of weapons and ammunition up to the  
highest level of your school, hooked them into chains, dumped them into the water  
tank, set up demolition charges... all without making undue noise or being noticed?  
This stretches believability, mister Aida. Who else helped you in this endeavor?"

It's much easier if you can float the things up to the roof with an AT-field. Silent,  
swift, and utterly effortless. Of course, he mused; I can't really say that here. "One.  
Electric wagon. Two, pulleys and levers. Three. Sneak things in piece by piece, over  
the course of several months. You'd actually be surprised... how much insanity people  
don't want to even think about getting involved in." They all just decided not to even  
take the hassle, back at Tokyo 3. Even if he was roaming around at midnight. It wasn't  
as if Kensuke, a basically harmless nut, would do something to really harm the school.  
His reputation as a joker and a showman, demonstrating tricks of technology, made  
rules around him lax in enforcement. There was a reason he was known as Adeptus  
Mechanicus Aida; his award-winning aptitude with machines. He was a celebrity.

It was that complacency, that slow tolerance for deviance from social norms that was  
troubling to them. Clearly, it only proved that giving someone an inch was to let them  
have a mile. "How do you explain what you said, then?"

"It's simple. Shinji's an Eva pilot. He protects the city right from the front line. But he  
can't be everywhere at once, he can only protect us from the Angels. Technically the  
Angelspawn might be that, but he couldn't protect us from enemies of that size. So,  
because I KNOW Shinji doesn't want to see people dying in our city, it was up to us  
to defend ourselves. Of course, he'd wanted us to fight! It was better than lying down  
to die! What's the point of the Eva pilots going out there if the people themselves are  
dying uselessly?"

"Then this brings us back to the subject of illegal arms. Just where did you get those  
weapons?" It was a grave concern; for if a junior high student could get his hands on  
guns of such force, then practically no one was safe.

Kensuke pushed his glasses up. "I got them direct from the factory." He had little qualm  
in exposing his sources. For all the crazy stuff they pulled back in Tokyo-3, he knew it  
was unrealistic that they would get away with all of them.

"And just who is this manufacturer?" The Defense Minister tapped at his mike. "It is to  
our knowledge that the bookstore you work in is directly behind a gunshop, the one  
owned by Patton Shriokawa Sakura, who IS a known producer of Bolt weapons."

"I never once entered Neon Stars Gunselling by the front or back door, for that matter."  
The literal truth. The old man was questioned of his involvement; he had denied ever  
allowing the boy in. No, he did not know that the bookstore behind his shop contained  
Kensuke Aida. Was he supposed to care?

He was licensed to make Bolt weapons, true... but not for sale to anyone. The old man  
had his reputation as a grumpy old goose who didn't tolerate any nonsense from the  
young. Even the preliminary inquiry could only get the thought that he'd probably just  
strangle the boy out of sheer irritation. There was nothing in Patton-san that seemed  
grandfatherly or willingly taking on patient instruction of an apprentice.

"No. Come on... who can really mass-produce Bolt Guns?" Kensuke continued.

"... New Nippon Heavy Industry Solidarity." said several people at the same time; from  
the committee, to Kensuke and representative Tokita himself.

The fact-finding panel didn't react in any way, even as the audience began to murmur  
about that. "We will not deny the results of your actions. But the law was broken, and  
with deliberate intent." It was setting an absolutely dangerous precedent. "Are you  
prepared to accept the consequences of your actions?"

Kensuke grinned. "I already did. The law is not a shield that could have protected us.  
Only faith, duty, and firepower... can stand between you and something screaming for  
your blood."

"... while I can understand the context, mister Aida, it's not your right to decide these  
things for other people. Do you have any idea of the potential disaster you were  
courting? To prepare so far... to enter into a conspiracy with a corporation... surely  
you must see how insane that looks. The results are there. But we must question the  
reality of your intent."

It was a valid fear, was it not? The audience saw that these teens... young warriors  
was just a shade removed from young mass-murderers. What were they really up to  
at Tokyo 3? That a boy would take it upon himself to arm up, to conduct with such  
messianic zeal... that simply stank of a society ready to crumble into nothing.

"What are you so afraid of?"

Everyone turned to the speaker; Hikari Horaki who felt obliged to defend her friend.  
"Kensuke... he doesn't really know restraint, he likes guns a little too much for his own  
good... but he's not someone who puts a low value on the lives of other people." She  
gripped Toji's hand and drew strength from that. Normally she would have been so  
afraid of speaking directly towards recognized authority. "Are you SERIOUSLY thinking  
what he did would be repeated in other cities... even here...?"

"Children should not be doing these things. It's a dangerous example and erodes social  
order. The police and the military exist for that purpose. And vigilantism is still a crime."

"You're afraid that it would look like people don't really need you." said Hikari. She was  
wearing her usual red-on-black jacket. All she had to do was to set aside fear. "When  
the laws you make aren't followed, it's like your own efforts and your own authority is  
worthless."

"... when those efforts fail, and the laws only serve as obstructions for doing the right  
thing... hey, you may be right." added Kensuke, grinning widely. An uproar arose  
through the hall at their impudence.

There was a gavel, upon which the Defense Minister banged upon. "Order! Order!" He  
scowled at the delegation from NERV. "I will not have the dignity of these proceedings  
insulted by these... children. It is clear we should not have expected that you would  
really understand how the mature world works."

"... you broke it the moment you felt you needed to say that." muttered Fuyutsuki. He  
was only two years older than the Minister.

Kensuke opened his mouth to say something even more unwise, but Shiro Tokita stood  
up. "I believe the real issue here is not that these children were in their full rights or  
reason to become heroes of convinience... but that we allowed it to happen."

"That's right..." Rika Izuna whispered from below. "The pilots of the Eva and Trident  
can't be touched; but NNHIS is still answerable to the government. I can't believe  
they'd be so stupid to flaunt their products like that."

"... they did save lives." her cameraman had to respond.

"But it's still stupid."

The cameraman just sighed at that. He looked around, at the uncertain faces. No one  
was really harmed by what happened, so all this talk about what could have been was  
just fanning fear. At least; that's what it appeared to him. But then he knew he wasn't  
really all that smart in the first place. Maybe it just looks too simple. He'd been so used  
to just following along her views; she was intelligent, an enthusiastic lover, and a good  
person overall... she was just so damn stubborn when she felt she was right.

"... that's what heroes do, don't they?" he had to say. "Doing the stupid thing..." When  
smarter people would just leave it alone, when they'd rather save their lives, and fall  
back into the faceless sweep of history.

"Ssh!"

-o-

"Yees... mister Aida, you are excused." As Shiro Tokita took the stand, his credentials  
were likewise rattled off. "And you, mister Tokita... did you have foreknowledge of  
these actions?"

"That's right."

"Did Mister Aida approach you, or was it the other way around?"

"Kensuke Aida had a plan, but lacked the resources to carry it out. I provided those  
resources. The plan given to me was simply for testing, but I suppose... an Angel  
attack does fulfill the description."

"That seems... unrealistic." said the Defense Minister. "Hiding caches of illegal weapons  
all around the city, all at the instigation of one boy? That's illogical." The other way  
was more reasonable and the boy was just a patsy excuse. That was what everyone,  
including NERV, thought. Such idealism was impossible for such big business. "You do  
realize, that it seems more like the preamble to an armed... insurrection."

-o-

Rika Izuna groaned. "I can't believe they actually said that. It's possible, but there's  
not enough guns for the job. NNHIS might be just a front for something or someone  
else that wants to take over, but... I don't think it's that. There's only one reason why  
they'd want to put weapons in a school."

"Then what is it?" The cameraman was panning across the stage, from Kirishima from  
the far left and the JSSDF generals looking unconcerned, to Shinji at the far right,  
still with his eyes shut. Strangely, both young teens seemed like silent anchors.

The reporter made a face. "Something to do with Shinji Ikari, of course. We don't know  
if it's to protect him... or kill him. Even if Aida is his friend, having the guns there is too  
convenient for someone else."

"But isn't a sniper even more convenient for that?"

She sighed. "Yes. Nothing about that city makes sense." Because it would seem like  
they had -known- there would be an attack on the school. And Bolt rounds defeat  
most normal body armor.

-o-

"Is it so hard to believe?" It would have been better if they could make it look like the  
Tancred pilots, duly authorized soldiers of the JSSDF, were the ones to use the guns.  
Chance simply had Kensuke being the substitute. Unfortunately, Mana and company  
were never told about the weapons. NNHIS had done so entirely without the JSSDF  
in the loop, and as such couldn't really count on their help.

"You are under oath to speak the truth, mister Tokita. Are we really to believe that  
you let yourself be persuaded like that? You gave up deadly weapons so easily? No;  
what did Kensuke Aida offer in exchange for those weapons...?"

The NNHIS representative narrowed his gaze. He didn't like the implication. "Exchange?  
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say... we simply redistributed NNHIS assets out  
to the field. It might not have real precedent, but you will find it was an in-company  
transaction."

"... what?" The committee passed comments to each other, then after a while turned  
back to the podium. "Explain further." If they couldn't get the reputation of NNHIS on  
various immoral behaviour, then pehaps child labor laws.

"Well... maybe we need to start at how the Bolt weapons were made. The original  
design is licensed from NERV; the Great Bolter is a massive weapon firing a gyrojet  
projectile designed to penetrate and explode within an enemy to great effect. Each  
shell can shred a house, and the Great Bolter fires these in three-round bursts.

There is considerable difficulty in scaling the weapon down. The damage potential is  
exponential to size. Furthermore, the Great Bolter uses a magnetic feed system to  
ensure a rapid rate of fire. Impractical when scaled down, as it encourages jamming  
instead of reducing the possibility as in the original massive design. NNHIS holds the  
manufacturing contract to produce Eva-scale Bolter weapons and ammunition."

"And the point to this is...?"

"I'm getting there. Bolters have less recoil than a conventional firearm of similar size,  
(considering that bullet of same caliber would be a light cannon) but still significant.  
This is not a problem for the Eva, but could break someone's arm. It is inaccurate  
beyond fifty meters and leaves an obvious trail back to the shooter. It suffers from  
limited ammunition and high cost for each gyrojet shell. It's not a gun meant for mass  
distribution to any army or even any ambitious armed group.

What it lacks in these practical mass production aims it makes up for in sheer power.  
The Bolter is suited more for vehicles than infantry, as one shot can blow someone in  
half. The Heavy Bolter version may punch through the armor of a thin-skinned vehicle  
and explode to kill with fire and shrapnel all inside. A shot fired at the ground leaves  
small craters. Bolt weapons are so overkill for most situations that its use may be  
considered both cruel and unusual tactics."

"And you handed that over so easily to a boy? Are you insane?"

"Heh. The Bolter is impractical for any common use. The Bolt Pistol, on the other hand..."  
Shiro Tokita leaned over the podium and made a firing pose. "Using a 17.5 millimeter  
Bolt round, it lacks the rude firepower of the fullsize Bolter. However, the same rocket  
propulsion makes it safer and easier to use. For its size the rubber-tipped SafeBolt has  
less recoil and less chance of breaking bones than a rubber-tipped bullet. The live  
rounds... well, their damage potential was proven. It has less moving parts than any  
chemical propellant-using gun, and nearly impossible to jam.

Do you know who invented the Bolt Pistol?"

"I find it hard to believe..." The folders given to the committee contained the patent  
information. Kensuke Aida. The boy had good marks in school, but not that good. No  
normal teen should have been able to put together something no one had ever seen  
before. Even more unlikely, why no one challenged that patent...

"A simple, reliable design that's easy to hold and mass-produce. The only real difficulty  
is with the ammunition. The Tokyo 3 City Council recognized that without live rounds,  
the safebolt Pistol was... safe enough... that he could carry it in normal life. However,  
I know that the boy realizes just how deadly what he made could be. They're not just  
toys to him.

He works for us now." The NNHIS project chief looked aside and wondered if he should  
reveal that Kensuke Aida was on the design team of the Trident. It was better than  
revealing Shinji Ikari's hand in things. Both he and the teen were ready to serve as  
lightning rods for the possibility. In fact; he could use Kensuke as a convenient excuse  
to hide the fanciful influence of the younger Ikari. "You will find it is all perfectly legal.  
The consultancy level of employment isn't reliant upon age, but on talent."

"Legally, the employment... pehaps! But that does not excuse giving deadly weapons  
to unlicensed civilians! The boy may have a license to use the Bolt Pistol, but no a  
real firearm...! You vastly overstepped your authority in letting the boy set up those  
defenses."

"Then what do you want us to do? We will accept the penalty if we need to!" Shiro  
Tokita shouted out. "We will not regret having saved thousands of lives by preparing  
for the worst...! You say we had no authority to do as we did... and I accept that. It  
was that same lack of legal recourse that kept us from going further."

"Then you admit to it! You deliberately encouraged a minor to tresspass and weild  
illegal arms!"

"Yes! But we overstepped NERV's boundaries of authority, not yours! We LIVE in Tokyo  
Three and when under attack we are supposed to defend it! What do you want us to  
do? Shut down? The Trident Land Dreadnought is the only truly man-made weapon  
that can stand with the Evangelions. The United Nations and the JSSDF have a set  
deployment period, with continued development assurance! Only THEY can shut us  
down, only THEY can decide that we should leave the defense of all humanity upon  
NERV's hands...

Is THAT what you want? At least this way, on the ground, we have a fighting chance!"  
But if it would work against the Angels, then it would surely work against you. THAT'S  
what this is about. THAT'S what you're afraid of. He didn't say that; however. It would  
only seem direct confirmation of their suspicions upon rebellion.

"Tokyo is still in Japanese soil." Rika Izuna said offhand. She was itching for the time  
when the old men would just shut up in their politicking and the media could be set  
loose to really deliver that which the masses needed. "We can't have a corporation,  
or children, flaunt these laws. Not even for supposedly preparing for the worst...!  
Then NERV should have done that. That was its right and its duty. Not theirs. They  
are only reinforcing that failure."

That was what rankled most. Tokyo Three arrogance! As if they were the center of  
the world, as if no one else mattered. As much as there was sympathy, so did their  
attitudes provoke antagonism from all over the world.

"But they're the ones under attack." replied the cameraman. "Shouldn't they have the  
right to decide how best to defend themselves?"

"No, because if we are supposed to believe that losing there would mean the end of  
the world, then they don't have any right to decide things for the rest of us. We  
have THAT right, to make sure it's really being done correctly. Saving a few thousand  
lives in Tokyo 3 doesn't matter that much compared to the billions left in the world."

"... the needs of the many take precedence over the few, neh?"

"Yes. NERV needs to get that stick out of its ass and admit that even they aren't  
infallible. Why are they so determined to refuse help? They're hiding something. We  
need to know, it's our survival we're talking about here."

"The simplicity of utilitarian initiative here falters in that the situation is too volatile  
to mix in bureaucracy into events that require rapid response and adaptability...!" And  
of course, the bureaucrats would be leery of a city that replaced them entirely. Shiro  
Tokita decided to surrender the point. "There is plenty of time later to decide this  
issue in court, if the government decides to bring it up that far. We are prepared to  
accept our responsibility!"

He sat down. The status quo was realigning, and they were gambling all upon the  
outcome. He tapped his foot in anger. Even at NNHIS there were those who asked why  
he took the risk. Then they only had too look up at -Magnos Tancred- and understand.

The weak fear the powerful. Any trigger would do. It was actually better if it was one  
that they knew of beforehand; like reactive armor exploding against a shaped charge.  
Given their business, that seemed an apt analogy.

It was hard for people to decide who was the underdog, who they should really side  
with as the righteous injured party. The government was right, in that if they had  
more involvement perhaps it could have turned out better. The JSSDF and NNHIS  
had to be commended for initiative. NERV as always the only one that could really  
kill the Angels. The government sounded petty, the JSSDF/NNHIS compact ambitious,  
and NERV as remote and aloof as usual.

They just did not understand each other.

"We call upon Shinji Ikari."

The teen got up and faced the committee. He knew each of their names, and even  
some things they probably thought no one else knew. Like his father, he could see  
several ways to silence them... from blackmail, bribes, to outright murder. He sighed.

Politics was the exercise of power. There were different forms of power though, from  
potential to actual. In many ways, he supposed the inquiry was about the use of  
the former to hinder the movement of the latter. Society needed the bureaucracy to  
function effectively. Tokyo Three might find it troublesome, but Shinji decided that if  
he wanted the world to persist beyond the possibility of Third Impact then he didn't  
want to tear the fabric of society unnecessarily. After all, without an Administratum,  
no Imperium (or government of any form) was possible.

He was made to recount the events that led to his sortie against Matariel. He couldn't  
say much about the other pilots and what was going on within NERV, but slowly built  
up a picture of blocked tunnels, confusing passageways, and a lack of communication.  
All radio and even landline telephones were cut. Getting down into NERV proper took  
time. It was unavoidable.

"I'm sorry. I realize we should have been faster. If it wasn't for -Magnos Tancred- to  
buy us time... it could have been much worse." Mana still sat there refusing to react.

Explaining what he did to kill the Angel and get rid of the Angelspawn was harder. He  
wasn't completely sure, it was so fast after all. "The Angels seem to be composed of  
matter that's held together by their own AT-field. It's what gives them their special  
properties, and allows them to grow huge. It's possible to use a sufficiently powerful  
AT-field to erode another..."

"Is the Eva capable of generating such a field?"

"With the Titan modules, sure. That much power, supposed to last for three days... it  
can be drained in a few minutes." He smiled weakly. "It's not easy to control."

Those there were unsure of how to deal with Shinji Ikari. They couldn't understand the  
cultish devotion he could inspire. Seeing him in the flesh, it was well within the realms  
of reason to try and excise that social tumor before it became malignant.

"You were told to enter an Eva and fight, as soon as you came to Tokyo 3, is that  
correct?" At his nod; the question continued with "Prior to that, you had no experience  
with combat or the military? Since then you have been fighting for NERV."

"Yes, sir."

"Do you know what you are mister Ikari? That's call conscription."

"He is free to resign from NERV at any time." Fuyutsuki interrupted. "As for the sudden  
way he was thrust into combat, there was simply no other choice. The other pilot was  
incapable of duty."

Yeah, right. Everyone there knew that was tantamount to being branded as coward,  
as soon as his status as a pilot leaked out. That was his father's way of further linking  
his fate to the Eva... after enduring even further isolation among the common people  
either he would return or offer little resistance when they brought him back to the  
only place that saw worth in his existence.

No one seemed to have considered he might thrive under the public eye.

"In so many years, only three pilots have been found for the Evangelion? It is far too  
selective. We must ask; why?"

That's what I said; Shinji thought. 'But that was before I realized the Eva is no mere  
weapon, but a vessel of pure absolute terror. We are actually this lucky that there are  
so few of them.'

"NERV's special status bypasses labor laws in this intance... are you even paid for your  
pains, mister Ikari?"

He looked sheepish. "Money... I don't need that much really. Most of it goes into a  
trust fund I can't touch until I'm eighteen. I'm told it's a pretty big number." Gendo  
had deposited an inconsequential sum compared to NERV's total assets, secure in the  
knowledge not even a year would see it mature.

"In any given engagement, you could die. What would be the use of that, then?" As  
Fuyutsuki again interrupted with that only assured NERV did not intend for him to die  
but to survive long enough to collect his wages; Shinji closed his eyes.

_'It is easy. Only your time is PRECIOUS, Bright Lord. You do not NEED to tolerate this  
farce...'_

_'Pawns to be used and discarded, my young king. They may be replaced so easily.'_

He looked at his open palm. The Minister of the Interior adjusted his collar, it seemed  
a bit tight. Ahh, he was getting too old for this stress.

_'I dun' care. Just bash somefin'.'_

Very slowly, Shinji began to clench his fist. The man was ready to deliver another  
tirade against NERV, but stopped. He gasped for breath, but his lungs would not take  
in air.

Shinji opened his hand. _'Something's wrong. I shouldn't do this...'_

_'Only the WEAK fear power! Why do you continue to REFUSE your own might...?'_

_'Commander, even I must agree. These are fat and useless sheep our enemies feed  
upon. We are the wolves under the stars.'_

_'Be silent, stupid males! The young king is right... something IS wrong. Directing our  
abilities inward has stunted our senses to the outwards. There is like a shadow before  
our sight.'_

The ground shook. Everyone went still for a moment. As far as earthquakes went, it  
was over quickly. They were all used to such events. The inquiry resumed.

He felt oddly powerful. And ashamed. He looked around, at all the faces alternately  
confused, vain, bored, or curious. The committee was speaking again, about how NERV  
was mishandling the situation to preserve its political uniqueness.

"Mister Ikari, the reason why you were unable to get to the Evangelion quickly was  
that you were sealed outside of the geofront, correct? And this is because you were  
at school." The committee called for order again, and it was the Minister of the Interior  
that spoke out. "Another thing we lack is a legal definition of the pilot status. Are you  
civilians? Yet you perform duties of distinctly military nature. You cannot be military,  
as NERV insists your skills are needed only temporarily. There is no reason for you to  
be on call 24/7. This contradicts directly the supposed critical nature of your duty.

Whether or not it was sabotage, the fact remains that the highly specific requirements  
of the Evangelion means that if something should happen to you outside of NERV, the  
hideously expensive thing we are forced to rely on will be useless until someone else is  
found that shares those same unknown qualities."

"We may not neglect his education or his constitutional rights..." Fuyutsuki warned.  
Although, Gendo technically did just that. "

"There is also precedent for this. People have been hailed as a national treasure; as  
containers for valuable tradition, skills, and knowledge essential to our society. Then  
we must inquire as to how badly NERV has mismanaged this resource.

They are all still citizens of this nation. The city lies within our domains. If we must  
shoulder the fate of the rest of the world, then we shouldn't do anything that will  
make us lose face in their eyes. I find it disturbing how haphazard the way this entire  
endeavor is run... pretending things are normal, then under banner of all-out war just  
throwing away all civil restraint. You all act as if it's one big game, making every act  
more impressive than the last, grabbing and taking without explanation. Then you  
wail at our unfairness if we ask if decide we might do better...! This is our world too!  
We live here, too! We must open our eyes to the reality that the world is not for any  
one organization or one person to hold."

'Scenario: Snap their twiggly little necks, sear everyone else he didn't know in the room  
with lightning from his fingertips, then walk back to Tokyo Three with orchestral music  
booming from no readily discernible source._ Wait. Mana's here. Uwaah, what's with that  
hopeful look?_' Shinji sighed. He did not want to disappoint those who had faith in him.

'_I could just mind-control these bastards... but rewriting neurons is a tricky thing. It  
would look suspicious of half of them started bleeding out the ears in international TV._

_They're all suffering in their uncertainty, their doubt, their fear.'_ It was painful to feel  
so powerless and unwanted.

Everyone was shouting. The reporters were asking about 'liberties guaranteed by the  
new constitution' and whether or not if a state of war does exist. If so, should the UN  
then officially bring a multinational contigent into Tokyo 3 to inspect and declare that  
things are being properly managed?

Should the law be ignored in the case of Kensuke Aida and NNHIS? Will the Prime  
Minister grant a pardon?

Does Shinji Ikari even really WANT to pilot the Eva? If there is another pilot that does  
not want to pilot, but there are only so few Evas... should that be considered treason  
against humanity?

What about the Trident program? It's purely Japanese-owned technology. NNHIS owns  
the machines and the JSSDF holds the lease. Doesn't that violate the Valentine's Day  
treaty that prohibits the UN from engaging in acts of belligerence against nations? It  
was all about the balance of power... perhaps the Army should have one as well.

What's the price tag, again? What? For something that doesn't really have the ability  
to reliably KILL the Angels?

Perhaps it was time to take a look again at the Marduk Report? Make one massive  
nationwide testing for compatibility with the Eva. There has to be more pilots, in case  
Shinji Ikari goes into a month-long coma again.

Are there actual laws against fraternization between the pilots? A pregnancy will set  
a pilot away from combat for MONTHS. Should NERV simply issue condoms or make  
steps to prohibit that entirely?

Why are they attacking only Tokyo 3?

On and on and on... Shinji said nothing. He simply let the questions roll over him. The  
Subcommander of NERV, the Generals, the Ministers and their learned colleague, the  
reporters... all shouting, all decorum put aside. The world was watching.

Than suddenly, Mana stood up, and wordlessly walked over to the podium. She gently  
pushed in front of Shinji, to face the committee. She zipped open the front of her  
longcoat, stuck her hand in and fiddled at something. Mana then took her right hand  
out to pull at her left.

SLAM!

Everyone stopped shouting.

"I've heard all I can take. If you don't intend intend to help, then LEAVE!" She slammed  
her prosthetic arm down again, snarling out her words. "IF YOU DON'T VALUE HOW HE  
SAVED YOUR LIVES, THEN JUST -DIE-!"

"Mana..." Shinji whispered behind her.

She stood there, her frame small and lithe. So much like a doll, all dressed-up. Her  
hat remained on her head, the skull there as if laughing at all of them.

"All that he suffered just to get this far. All the suffering we endured!" She slammed  
her arm again and again down at the wooden panels of the podium, cracking it in wild  
parody of their calls to order. "My friends died for this! It didn't matter back then if  
we would win or not. We... children, you call us... but knew what we had to do!"

These thoughts boiled while she listened. She was a soldier, not a poster model. Did  
they really think she was voiceless, meaningless? They stood by as it happened, and  
only when it was all done they were grabbing at the responsibility. She couldn't just  
sit by while that happened.

"The worth of power is in how it can protect! You can't even do that! I will NOT listen  
to your useless words and your worthless promises that only stand in the way of those  
who actually CAN! How dare you try and steal the honor of their sacrifice!"

"Kirishima!" shouted the Defense Minister. "Consider your words well, or you might find  
yourself held under contempt!"

"What more can you do to me? I belong to the United Nations, not to you!" she shot  
back! "I belong to the fight of humanity, not to your politics!" She pointed out with the  
blunt end of her prosthetic arm. "There is the law, and there is justice... I can't see it  
here with all your talking! While people fight and die, what do you really accomplish?"

Mana threw that arm away, into the crowd. Over her shoulder, without looking, the  
artificial arm arced up and came down. People fled from it, like it was a poisonous  
snake. It lay in an open circle in the crowd, with chairs turned over just to get away.  
It was still twitching a bit; the fingers opening and closing slowly.

Her shoulders shook, she put her remaining arm down to steady herself. Her left sleeve  
flopped useless and empty; a pitiful sight? Her apparent vulnerability only seemed to  
make her stronger, though. Those watching her were born to a culture that seemed  
to love seeing their heroes suffer. The greater the trials, the greater the honor.

"I can't... I can't let you do that. You won't waste how we already suffered to get  
this far. We won't give up." She grit her teeth and looked up. Her teary eyes on the  
big screen... it wasn't endearing.

-o-  
-o-

Back at Tokyo-3, they were cheering. "That's our Kirishima...!" shouted the Marines  
stuck back at the house. The silence of those two empty rooms strained everyone,  
but they had not relocated. They elected to remember the sacrifice.

"She seems like such a gothic loli." said Sargeant De Leon, leaning back and grinning.  
"But then you look at her eyes... children should not have eyes like that. I can't say  
I'm proud of what it took to get her this far, but as a soldier... I'm proud to say I've  
lived long enough to serve with these children."

"Those fools are afraid a well-honed fighting force would swoop out of Tokyo Three  
like some form of conquering crusade. Well, I can't say the idea doesn't frighten me  
a little bit, but we're going to stick with the First Prefectural Defense Forces anyway,  
aren't we?" replied Corporal Shinichi Ota, looking troubled.

They watched the generals on the screen looking shell-shocked. Outright defiance,  
they had the choice of supporting that or not. There were only slightly less limitations  
on their movement than NERV. To save the city and the world; it was inevitable they'd  
have to move out without waiting for permission someday. It was a whole new way of  
war.

"Heh. Hakone's First And Only- the Kirishima Korps." added Sgt. De Leon. He chuckled.  
"Morons won't even know what hit them."

-o-  
-o-

She tipped her hat down, trying to hide her decidely unprofessional tears. She was  
sure they were thinking; we have to rely on this weepy little girl? She was a soldier,  
damn it! She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I won't let them steal from your strength anymore..." she whispered, barely coherent.  
"I won't let these faithless scum..."

"It's all right, Mana..."

"I won't... it won't happen again. I won't fail." She looked up sharply and glared at  
them. Some were afraid, some held pity, but not one of them thought they could  
possibly be in the wrong. They had the 'wisdom' of their age and experience. They  
had suffered through some hard times too.

Shiji looked around. They did not know him. Though only several hundred kilometers  
distant from Tokyo 3, they might as well be a world away. Their world was safe and  
prosperous, and for loathed having to fear that all their good works since Second  
Impact could be destroyed so easily. These were not a people he could win through  
mere eloquence. They required concrete reasons to trust.

"By the way, sirs, you never did answer Ms. Horaki's question." he asked quietly. "Just  
what is it that you are all afraid of?"

Their faces were aflame with indignation. However, before they could answer, the  
ground shook in a more severe earthquake. The air itself seemed to ring. Shinji pulled  
Mana to himself as they fell to the ground.

The lights flickered, but stayed on. The podium had fallen. Shinji Ikari slowly got back  
up to his feet and put one foot on the wooden board. The lights flickered again. He  
bared his teeth. The old bureaucrats and feeble learned men were only just then  
pushing off the floor to try and salvage their dignity.

_'Me. You fear me. Your minds have yet to catch up with that knowledge in your soul.'_

It was not as if his presence was eroding their authority but rather that as long as he  
remained in Tokyo-3, people could see coercion by threat or indoctrination. He lit up  
the little ways of how they were expected to behave.

Carrots were coercive as sticks, but he had one really big stick. That was why he was  
so soft-spoken.

"There is something under NERV that the Angel want, something that could cause Third  
Impact if they get it. That's why they are so persistent. That's why we have no choice  
but to fight with everything we have."

He looked at Kozo Fuyutsuki, and their thoughts were the same. 'Does he know?' and '  
It doesn't matter now.'

"There is a reason that Angels hate us being here, and there is the reason why we  
have the right to live. We don't need any more enemies...!" You do NOT want us to  
put you alongside our enemies.

It was hard to really get angry at their antics, considering he could survive his own  
ICBM aimed at his own location. The silence afterwards would be so sweet. He had to  
update those countermeasures against himself... the Uncertainty Principle inherent in  
Farseeing meant his greatest fear, like his father, was in losing control of himself.

"You have many doubts." Shinji said aloud. "But there is one thing you should not need  
to question." He helped Mana up and narrowed his eyes. His glare was without fear or  
pity. "WE. WILL. WIN!"

Mere moments later the doors flung open, and the camo fatigues-clad military poured  
into the room. The Defense Minister got up and shouted. "What is the meaning of this?"

One of the officers went to the front and saluted. "Sir, special orders from the Prime  
Minister. We are mobilizing everything; NERV and the JSSDF should report immidiately  
to their primary duties. No delays, no interruptions." He kept his finger free of the  
trigger, but the threat was clear.

"Why...?" the old man blinked owlishly behind his square-rimmed glasses.

Fuyutsuki butted in with "Are we under attack?"

"No, sir. Further information will be provided when you return Shinji Ikari to NERV, sir."

Everyone looked uncertain. Was it an Angel attack? Was it a coup? The questions from  
the press were ignored. For the sake of national, no... worldwide security; the flow of  
information to Japanese mass media had to be temporarily suspended. Panic kills. That  
was a fact.

Fuyutsuki's phone rang. It was Gendo himself with news.

Shinji had grit his teeth so firmly his gums were bleeding. Mana could feel his anger.  
His eyes were wide, in shock and hatred, and his gaze was distant. He was shaking.  
"Shinji-...?"

"It's taunting me..." he whispered numbly. "I can feel it. I don't know if I can hate back  
with the same intensity that it has for us..."

Back at Tokyo 3, -Principio Eternus- was roaring and flailing in its restraints. The sky  
above the city was a pale red. The two other Evangelions were at the surface, and  
maintaining the strongest AT-field they could muster. Four hexagonal glows marked  
strikes that should have at least flattened several city blocks.

One appeared above Kyoto-2. Tokyo-2 was not so lucky.

While they talked and argued over matters of rights and policy, Sahaquiel had arrived  
without warning. It spun, releasing globs of itself that crossed all the way across the  
world before arching down. These burst into pellets each a meter in size, raining upon  
Berlin-2, Washington-2, various places in the areas of Siberia that were still frozen  
wasteland, and Rome. With most tuned into the live broadcast, and knowing that it  
was Tokyo-3 that was a weirdness magnet, there was practically no chance to even  
react. No time to hide. No time to pray.

The inquiry continued totally ignorant of this. Atmospheric jamming hindered the flow  
of critical information. It began to take out satellites around it, almost playfully, with  
its appendages whipping around while the holes in its body regenerated.

It then personally wiped Beijing-2 and NERV China off the face of the Earth. The crater  
was a hundred kilometers wide, the shockwave 'heard' all the way across the world.

All major cities had to be evacuated. Sahaquiel was systematically bombarding places  
with the highest human population density. Twelve pods, twelve locations (always  
several mass-driven stikes aimed at Tokyo 3), every two hours. It did so while slowly  
moving towards NERV America, in what used to be called Area 51. The opposite side of  
the world from Tokyo-3, well away from Shinji Ikari.

The seige of Heavens over Earth had begun.

-o-

-o-

-end an Inquiry Into Values part 2-

-o-

-o-  
-o-

* * *

I would like to thank the wondeful people at TFF for their great help in editing and beta reading. Sorry for the delay. The next chapter should be faster in arriving, since battle scenes are just that much easier to write. And yes, I couldn't resist the pun out of the title.


	23. Chapter 22: An Inquiry into Values part3

An Inquiry Into Values part3

--0000000--

--o--

Second Impact... despite not being impact per se, but a savage explosion of purest  
power, was such that knocked the Earth off its normal tilt. Japan lost its winters and  
the lower half of eastern Russia began to warm up. Manchurian oil and fresh growing  
plains were a valuable prize for Novyi Soviet; one that they were unwilling to give up  
to anyone; no pleas, no barter, no immigration. Their nations were among those least  
affected by Impact. Although the Volga industrial basin was nearly a write-off, moving  
capitals and shifting industry to the warming East was the sort of mass action that  
they excelled in.

There was one caveat, though. Siberia's gulag conditions shrunk dramatically. For the  
sake of secrecy, many camps moved even farther north towards the Arctic Circle. One  
of these camps was known merely as PKRU; the finest and most secretive of Russian  
psychomotive research facilities.

"Ah, the cold. No, comrade, it is not to keep the psychics from running away. Despite  
the rumors-mogering of Americans, we treat our psychics extremely well. The cold is  
to protect them from painful human contact." The APC rumbled on through the pitiless  
and featureless expanse of whiteness. "The -maskirovka- is to protect them from even  
more painful, non-human contact... like, for example, capitalist missiles."

"I suppose that is why Russia has more psychics than any other nation, even China."  
Kaworu kept his little smile. "I have heard of 'special considerations' you give to their  
families. It seems the quickest way to enter into a comfortable life... while there are  
too many distractions, too many psychological misdiagnosis in the West. Too many  
other ways to make money off their talents."

The elderly Red Army colonel made a sniffing sound. He was trying very hard to be  
polite, being that he was on a special direct from the Politburo. The strange-looking  
asiatic boy with him was an Important Person, because of that.

"Doesn't the idea that some people are simply... special... run counter to the general  
ideals of communism?" And strangely enough, it was that which was their saving grace.  
Order after Impact was quickly recovered and maintained, even by iron means if that  
was required. Smaller nations around it sorely needed the stability and resources that  
was locked within what would eventually be called Novyi Soviet.

It was hard to respect the commercialistic viewpoint when the world market was  
well, dead.

"Yes, well... the common people each have their own talents. Psychics are not to be  
treated more than, say... athletes, who give their personal best for the greater good  
of the nation." Science forced adjustments in ideology, as the Manifesto as espoused  
by Marx and Lenin couldn't have predicted the economic effects of robotic assembly  
line manufacturing (thereby cutting out the ignorant worker class entirely) and the  
advent of Second Impact (and the increase in birth mutations that it caused).

Kaworu chuckled. He could feel the BMP transport slowing down. "We have arrived."  
the driver called back to the guests.

The freezing wind stung at his face as he disembarked, but to him it was an interesting  
sensation. His magnificently massive brethren could only feel joy or pain, and very little  
variance in between. The same nerves that fire pleasure were the same for pain, and  
he found it another of humanity's wonderful oddities that the boundary between them  
could be so blurred.

There was nothing in the scenery that indicated anything other than snow-covered  
desolation. However, the driver and the colonel seemed to be so sure. The officer  
waved at nothing, and made an X with his arms over his head. After a minute or so, a  
grinding sound issued forth and an elevator emerged from the ground. It was only  
large enough to accommodate a few people, and the vehicle had to remain on top. As  
soon as they went in, the personnel carrier moved on; making tracks leading away  
from the site. Snow-blowing machines erased comparatively-shallow footprints.

It was likely such secrecy wasn't necessary, but better safe than sorry. They had  
already after all, developed such paranoid measures into an art form.

After a long descent the elevator doors opened with hiss, cold air steaming out from  
the temperature differential. Kaowru blinked. It wasn't nearly as big as the geofront,  
but an impressive effort nonetheless.

The colonel frowned a bit, at the warm air hitting his face. He began to take off his  
coat. "We will not need this here..." he said aside. There was a coat rack nearby, upon  
which were already hung several deep winter greatcoats.

As Kaworu copied taking off his coat lined with real white wolf fur, a tall and reedy  
man approached. The colonel introduced him as Doctor Bundayev, no relation to that  
-other- Bundayev. The scientist looked harmless enough, though he did have a thin  
beard and thick round-rimmed eyeglasses.

The corridor walls and roofs inside the PKRU complex were painted a cheery robin's egg  
blue. The floors were polished white tile. The colonel wrinkled his nose at all the weird  
bourgeois affectations, but recognized that healthy, happy children were less likely to  
send their trainers' heads exploding. In the end brainwashing and keeping control was  
proven to be just that ridiculously simple. Family values and party loyalty were just  
other forms of mental shapings.

They were given a tour around the complex, with the laboratories, schools, and even  
collective sleeping quarters. PKRU North Psychomotive Research Facility was a box  
about half a kilometer deep and two kilometers in length, sunk into the ground. It was  
deep enough to withstand those detestable (yet nifty) American bunkerbusting missiles  
but not a direct nuclear strike. Hence, the secrecy. The little minds within could be  
accurately considered to be more dangerous than mere nuclear warheads.

"As you can see... the children are not being mistreated and are honestly eager to do  
their duty." the doctor said to them, justifiably proud. His work prevented him from  
earning a Nobel, but he knew he deserved it several times over. "Their abilities are  
being developed towards useful purposes. We are not in the habit of making human  
weapons here..."

"Interesting choice of words, doctor. The Army is in the habit of turning humans into  
weapons. For the good of the nation and the greater masses of course." Kaworu then  
grinned a bit. "How many here even remember what it is to see the real sky?" All the  
children were handed over by their parents to be raised by the Party, willingly or  
unwillingly. "I'm sure they believe all that you say about the outside world being full  
of danger and corruption."

Dr. Bundayev gave a wary look at the Army colonel standing emotionless behind the  
teen and replied. "They will be reinserted into normal society at a later date, when  
they have acquired... true discernment." When it was absolutely certain that their  
loyalty to the Party was unshakable. He coughed into his fist and looked into the one-  
way glass of the observation room. "By the way, if you will forgive my asking, friend  
... have you ever been tested for psychic potential?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Well... I recognize this is prejudicial of me, but you do share certain traits we find  
most common in our subjects." Albinism was a rare trait, but most of their psychics  
had thin builds and hair usually turning into a washed-out shade.

"What is the highest rating you have? " Kaworu replied impishly. He gestured slightly  
with one hand. "You may consider me as a stage above that."

The scientist floated up into the air, his arms flailing to maintain balance. His shock  
quickly faded into excitement. "Astounding!" he said, while still uncontrollably floating.  
"This level of telekinesis, done with such ease...!" His most gifted students could only  
just barely manage to keep a book-sized object aloft for a few seconds.

Kaworu snorted._ 'Pitiful little lillim, to be impressed by such tricks. To paraphrase a  
term; physics is my bitch.'_

The colonel behind him drifted his hand towards the holster, and tensed for action.  
Though to him things suddenly made a lot more sense; of course they would send a  
psychic to investigate a psychic facility. He was chosen for his extremely high leve of  
resistance to meddling, despite not being a psychic himself. One of the things taught  
to him was that psychics were a resource, and despite their unnatural powers were  
not as useful or in any way actually 'powerful' unless acting as part of a group. The  
abilities were simply one part of a chain of critical events.

Kaworu set the scientist down. Doctor Bundayev adjusted his lab coat and coughed  
again. "Well, I can guess why you are here. Follow me, please."

They followed him deeper into the complex, through branching corridors and down  
several levels, until they came into a thick wooden door marked only by a little white  
ceramic duck nailed into the paneling. Dr. Bundayev opened it up to reveal a room  
that was simply... girly.

The wallpaper was black flowers upon a pale violet background and the furniture were  
painted in rose pink. Sitting within was a young girl, barely ten years of age, dressed  
in a dark purple dress with white frills on the skirt, collars and neck. She had a doll,  
made of simple cloth, rope and cotton. "Hello, hello, my little falcon. How are you  
feeling today?" greeted Dr. Bundayev.

_'What are you, some form of lolicon?'_ was the same thought through the colonel and  
Kaworu's mind.

She turned around. Her hair was straight and jet-black, cut around neck-length. Her  
eyes were dead of expression, but it struck everyone how these seemed to shine as  
brilliant amber. "I am not uncomfortable." she replied flatly.

The doctor made a slight bow. "May I introduce you to Anita, the prize and the joy  
of the Psikhokinechiskoye isledovatel'skoye ob'yedineniye rusalka. As far as we know,  
one of three class-eight psychics in the world, and the only one truly precognitive."

"You need not wonder, doctor." Kaworu said, his grin rather friendly. "She is the finest  
precognitive in the world. There are those with more power and greater range of vision,  
but only she can so accurate to the momentary details."

Dr. Bundayev preened as if he was being praised. Anita looked at her visitors; first to  
the colonel, to whom she made a nod in deferential greeting. At Kaworu, her amber  
eyes seemed to dim. "I know you." she said to him. "I remember nothing of before I  
came here, but I know you..." she whispered. "In the past and in the future you stand  
and I can see you. Ask your questions now."

"We each have our little parts to play in this game called life." Kaworu replied, his tone  
soft and even soothing. "Tell me, what do you think of Shinji Ikari?"

The little girl closed her eyes for a few moment. She opened them again. "I want to  
bear his children." she replied tonelessly.

The doctor sighed. "That is her usual reply to questions about -that boy's- character  
or motivations. You have no idea how disturbing it is... but I do not believe that she  
even perceives the same area of time we do."

"You seem to hold some contempt for him." Kaworu said aside.

"The troubles of the outside world are perpetual. Warriors, leaders, masters of men  
and machines... these all pass. We have been getting so many directives about him  
recently. Can he actually be -that- important? And we are being criticized for our lack  
of results."

"He is immune to precognition, he has always been." Anita put in, every word as if  
carrying the weight of ages. "His very presence warps everything around him. You may  
follow. You might resist, You can remain behind..." She looked up, as if staring into the  
sky that mere layers of armor sheaths could never hide from her sight. "... you are all  
thirty thousand years too young to attempt to ride ahead of his crusade."

And Kaworu laughed. "Can you tell me anything I don't already know? I suppose I'm  
not immune to your sight?" He smirked. "So tell me. Will I win?"

She paused. Anita was born knowing how to speak, aware of every shameful secret  
her mother ever did, and certain of only one thing. The moment of her death. There  
were others before here, but all other infants all through time were stillborn. Their  
fresh unshaped minds simply liquefying from the strain. For some reason she survived.

The collective were unanimous in their judgment, the moment they stared into her  
bright animal-like eyes that seemed to see everything. She had to die. She was too  
unnatural, too dangerous by far. It was 2009, and while the restrictions the Orthodox  
faith (or any other faith, for that matter) had long since relaxed they were not quite  
religious. However, her very existence seemed like a blasphemy. They gave her up to  
the mutation squads so quickly. In the PKRU her freakish foreknowledge was something  
to be juiced out.

"Is this really all there is?" she asked no one in particular. "It seems too simple." She  
clutched tightly at her doll. "It is too cruel."

Kaworu waited.

"You have a goal." she said after a while. "I cannot see what will happen when you  
finally clash with him. But I know you will live long enough to see that goal completed."

He simply nodded. Knowing too much of the future may trap one into a self-fulfilling  
prophecy. He preferred that cat would live or die in his hands, instead of by peering  
into the box.

"And now..." she spoke again, slowly and oddly hopeful. "You will kill me."

"What?" The colonel reached for his gun, but before he could get so much as a shot  
off, Kaworu gestured nonchalantly behind him and sent the man crashing into the  
wall. The plaster cracked under the impact. The walls being reinforced concrete, held.  
"...gugh!" His bones broke. He coughed up blood and slowly slid down, leaving a red  
stain behind.

"It's such a pity, but I have to, you know." Kaworu said to the girl, then turning to the  
terrified pychomotive research chief. "A thousand minds together is the critical mass  
that may revive him."

The man ran for the door, but it was sealed shut by some strange pressure. Kaworu  
could use his AT-field all he wanted, since the pattern blue sensors were hardly world-  
wide. These were mostly aimed towards space, and even back at Tokyo-3 a low level  
of AT-field manipulation could still escape notice. In the 'errands' he performed for  
SEELE, it was that easy.

The little girl stood up to her fullest height (not much) and hugged the raggedy doll  
even tighter. The doll had red button eyes and blue rope for hair. It had a simple one-  
piece orange dress, with a strange toothy skull design stitched to the front. Anita  
stared so seriously up at him.

"Strike me down and he will become more powerful than you can ever imagine." she  
said, her voice echoing weirdly.

Kaworu grinned. "I don't need to imagine. I want to see it." He reached forward and  
plunged his fingers into her skull. There was no blood, as if her flesh and bone was  
fluid and his digits just melting into it. She frowned slightly, and blinked. A soft 'ugh'  
escaped her lips. She felt something being stolen.

"So... that's how it's done. Little girl, so will I." he replied, hissing softly. Her eyelids  
drooped. "And besides, you are all just mistakes of evolution anyway. It is too early for  
you. Go back to sleep."

He took his hand away. There was no wound. He licked at his fingertips. Anita sighed.  
She fell back, making a soft sound as she hit the floor. Her doll rolled away from her  
open grasp. Dr. Bundayev was pulling and bashing at the thick wooden door with his  
fists. The alarms weren't sounding. His master code was being ignored by the door. His  
screams for help were unheard.

Kaworu looked up and flared the light of his soul. "Behold, lillim, my mercy. You do not  
need to live this lie any further." He lifted his arms and laughed. "Behold; the fist of an  
angry god!"

Something punched through layers of rock, concrete and steel. As soon as the black  
sphere made contact with his AT-field, it detonated. In cleansing fire, the mutations  
exalted by man were cleansed from the world.

He stood alone, floating in the middle of an immense blast crater. He was clad in light  
clothes, but the cold no longer reached him. He grinned in satisfaction, and flew to  
the west.

Twelve minutes later, the northern monitoring station was destroyed.

Four minutes after that Moscow-2, or what used to be the outskirts of Leningrad, then  
experienced as like steel rain.

Kaworu landed, and pulled warm clothing out of someone who no longer had any need  
of it. The people were panicking; despite that the damage while widespread was just  
so randomly inflicted. Whole buildings stood intact in the middle of blocks of rubble.  
The screams, the despair. So satifying.

_'Can you hear me now?'_ he thought, while staring up into the sky, towards the east.  
'_Can you see me now? This is punishment. This is my justice. You will pay the price of  
your baseless arrogance! Pretentious humanity, pretending to be something you are  
not. Our dream is millions of years old, and our purpose shall remain long after that.'_

Just to add to the confusion, he went around snapping the necks of military officers  
that could have helped curb panic. The Russian peoples' pragmatic mindset and abiding  
over suffering of irked him somehow. Most likely, despite proclaiming themselves as  
working for the Greater Good, it reminded him only so much of an Imperium. Even the  
emblem was similar.

--o--

The Eva carrier rushed back home at breakneck speeds. Sure enough, at the end of  
the second hour, Kyoto 2 suffered another bombardment. Three black pods broke into  
hundreds of smaller kinetically-charged spheres that punched right through even the  
tallest buildings. Then exploding, sending jagged bits of ceramic-like material flying all  
over as shrapnel. There was no AT-field for it bounce off on.

Two hours was enough time to get most of the people out of the city. Apparently  
though, Shinji Ikari's footsteps were cursed. Rika Izuna watched the city burn from a  
vantage point at the temporary evacuating camp in the surrounding hills. His visit...  
the enemy's choice of targets... she just knew, it had to be his fault somehow.

Unfortunately, she was right about that.

Confusion reigned over Tokyo 3. The people had retreated into the shelters at the  
outskirts of town, with tank battalions positioned all over to protect them. The sky  
was burning red when the EVA carrier arrived. Hexagonal shapes flared as the pods  
struck with such force that they simply liquefied on contact with the absolutely  
immovable.

Asuka snorted. The shield she and Rei were putting up could withstand even greater  
punishment than that. She leaned back as she relaxed her field. There were actually  
more aircraft arriving. Tokyo-2, the official seat of government, was helpless before  
the attack. With the Evangelions providing protection from orbital bombardment, the  
city of Third Tokyo was in all the world the only place truly safe. The government was  
hastily relocating.

While Shinji Ikari was suiting up, Fuyutsuki made his way into the command center.  
He found there something he never expected to see; someone openly ordering Gendo  
Ikari around in the middle of his own command center. He smirked. Of course, the fact  
that the other person was the Prime Minister of Japan probably explained his boldness.

"Sir." He bowed to the older man, who could not be called charitably anything other  
than 'plump'. "It is good to see you are safe, Prime Minister Sakata."

"Ah, Kozo-sensei. So, the boy is here, eh?" He turned to look back up at the command  
post. "So what are you planning to do about this situation, Ikari?"

"The sensible thing would be to do nothing until we obtain more information about the  
enemy." he replied through his steepled hands.

"People are dying out there, Ikari! You can't just sit by and do nothing!"

"With all due respect, Prime Minister, I have nearly every nation in the world screaming  
at me to do -something- and I can only give you the same answer I can give them.  
There is nothing. Absolutely nothing, that NERV can do other than to protect Tokyo 3.  
Moving the Evangelions anywhere else would take nonsensical time and effort." His  
glasses glinted. "Here we must consider measures to destroy the enemy quickly. And  
we cannot do that... without more information."

NERV's command center was used during Sachiel's initial attack as the military 'nerve  
center' for JSSDF forces. Once more, it was being used to coordinate attacks, not just  
from around the nation but all over the world. Fiberoptic lines and satellite observation  
gave them the only clear picture of the situation anyone could have hoped to achieve.  
While this was going on, General Asagiri made his way into the shared command desk  
that the JSSDF generals used back during that first assault on Tokyo 3.

"Regardless, we still have several options available." General Minawa said up to the  
central block. The auxiliary controls given over to them were at the left 'wing' of the  
NERVE central multicomplex. He looked at his watch. "Since Tokyo-3 is least in danger  
right now, let us leave this to those who want to defend their own nations..."

Everyone important to the issue were there, even Kaji as UN attache. With his direct  
superiors out of contact, he was technically the highest-ranking person there; though  
his authority was limited only to -when- control of the situation would be surrendered  
to NERV. He had done that long ago, recognizing that there was no army in the world  
was prepared to accept orbital bombardment.

"Where is the Angel now?" he asked.

The holographic main screen showed both a map and it projected path and speed but  
a realtime satellite video of Sahaquiel. The Angel had the appearance of a giant eye,  
with appendages spread out on either side like great six-fingered hands. Dark globules  
near the tips were bombardment pods being created.

Ritsuko responded, after checking the outgoing comm line into the Evangelions was  
still closed. "The Angel is currently inside Kazakh airspace. There is wide-area EM flux  
around it, making radar-based calculations... unreliable." She looked to Misato standing  
beside her. "The path is still a direct line to NERV Germany. Projected arrival time using  
current average speed... in two hours, fourteen minutes."

"Damn. Poor Asuka..." whispered Misato. "Is it possible to evacuate everyone within a  
fifty kilometer-radius in that time?"

"NERV Germany's fiberoptic links is our only reliable eye into Europe..." the scientist  
replied, her voice flat. "The civilians are being driven away, but if you were in that  
situation, what would you?"

"I... I'd remain behind, until it's almost too late..."

"A skeleton crew won't leave. They're hoping NERV Japan can do something inside that  
timeframe." She sighed. "They don't even have the benefit of a functional Evangelion  
to provide a shield, unlike us or NERV America."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" the Prime Minister asked. That level of dedication  
was something he hadn't really expected from NERV's branches. "Wait... there is  
another Evangelion...?!"

"This is not the time for that." Gendo put in. "Doctor Akagi, do you have any solutions  
yet...?"

She scowled and made a 'tsk' sound. "No. It's far enough that the curvature of the  
Earth obscures any firing angle from here. The only one who could save them is  
themselves."

A shrill siren sounded through the command center. The main screen flashed. "NERV  
Germany's relaying that it's going under the second phase of bombardment..." said  
Makoto.

"How many projectiles?"

"Three, Akagi-sensei." The screen showed a satellite image, three burning trails in the  
upper atmosphere, marked out by red triangles in the map.

"They won't be caught off-guard this time..." Misato said aloud. "Now, let's see if the  
air defense missiles can do something about those things." The Angel might be jamming  
radar targeting within its own sphere of influence, but once out of that the bombard  
spheres weren't travelling too fast to track. Messerwerfer active defense went online  
and sent out interceptor missiles.

The main screen expanded the view of the sky. Flaming arrowheads met in midair. The  
screen had to jerk quickly to follow the targets, leaving behind the drifting smoke from  
the explosions.

"Damn...!" Misato struck her fist into her open palm. "It should have knocked the things  
even a little off-course."

"There might be too much mass... but I doubt it should have gone through completely  
unscathed. I'm afraid we can only come to one conclusion... those individual spheres  
are protected by their own AT-field."

"What...? But... how can that be?"

"I have a hypothesis, but not enough data to really support it. Let's leave it for later."  
Ritsuko turned and looked up at Gendo. "NERV Germany has no choice but to deploy a  
positron cannon, using similar tactics we used." Two hours, pushing their power plants  
to the unsafe outputs... gathering that into one beam. Would it be enough?

"Impact." said Shigeru. The screen shook and went crackling for several moments.  
After a while he continued with "NERV Berlin-2 reports only incidental damage. The  
strikes were less accurate this time."

"The last Angel did this too... messing with the electromagnetic spectrum. It's using  
our own high-energy emissions to guide its attacks. Analyzing the maps of the areas  
hit we found the attacks are centered around broadcasting and radar stations. That  
these were often located in densely-populated and strategically-important areas is...  
convenient?"

NERV Germany's initial damage assessment was being transmitted. Maya gasped. "It's...  
sempai! We miscalculated...!"

"What?!" Ritsuko turned back to the screen. A smaller window opened up to show a  
satellite view of Berlin-2 revealed its pock-marked glory. However, most of NERV  
Germany's assets were deep enough underground to escape harm. The view scrolled  
down south, towards another pitted area near a forest. "Isn't that...?"

"The temporary site for organizing refugees... thirty kilometers away!" Maya said, her  
face twisted into a grimace. "It's not just energy emissions. There was nothing there  
that could have shown up as a marker. Nothing but people... and is still far enough  
over the horizon that it shouldn't even see the site."

The scientist slammed her palms down on the burnished steel of the command center's  
tower edge. It was near the same spot her mother jumped off from. "Impossible...! How  
can it guide those projectiles? Is there something about a critical mass of people?"

"Doctor Akagi... if we treat the enemy's attack as some form of artillery... then there  
is another method used when the target is well beyond sight range." General Akira said,  
with his head bowed as well. "A forward observer may 'paint' the target with something  
that the attack may use to home in on."

"... that could be anything!" she shot back. "We detected no signals from the site and  
who would be helping the Angel?!" She took several long breaths. "Something... from  
the initial bombardment. Something that the refugees may be carrying...?" Specific  
radiation? Biological tracers? "It... could be anything..."

The Prime Minister looked ready to panic. "We... we should move everyone to Tokyo-3!"

"Ridiculous." Gendo muttered. Then in a louder voice. "It might be protected from all  
attacks for the moment, but do not doubt that the enemy's main objective is HERE."

"... why is that?!" The politician shouted back.

Gendo did not answer.

"Casualty reports are..." Makoto paused in his report and grit his teeth. "NERV Germany  
says -_We agreed with your theory. There was no other probable cause at the time.  
We do not blame you for this_.-" He paused and breathed out. "And... -_If we fail, find a  
way to kill the Angel quickly_-."

"They really aren't leaving now..." Misato said. "What are they planning to do?"

Gendo frowned slightly. "The enemy seems to trace our communications. How will this  
affect our satellite links?"

"It seems to ignore directed microwave and land-line signals... for now." Ritsuko replied  
numbly. "But if this goes on, NERV will be utterly blind. We have no way of restoring  
sensors that are lost... and we need to see the enemy if we hope to counterattack."

A few tense minutes passed. "We have recieved confirmation from Germany, Baltic, the  
French and Russian strategic forces." Shigeru reported to everyone. Maya had to keep  
her eye on the Evas. He and Makoto were reduced to glorified telephone operators,  
relaying incoming and outgoing communications. "Combined anti-orbital initiative to  
commence in thirty seconds...!"

The screen shifted to a more distant view of the Angel. It seemed to be hanging still  
in space, but that was just an illusion brought out by the relative speed and size of  
the Earth. The coordinated strategic forces had to launch at different times, for their  
attacks to arrive near-simultaneously. What Shigeru referred to was the 'moment of  
truth'.

"Chinese forces launched every orbit-capable warhead they had." Kaji commented for  
the benefit of those who had just arrived. "Here we have almost four times the number,  
the largest single release of nuclear and non-nuclear arms the world might ever see."

The rockets were arriving. From the east, from the west, from the north and from  
the south. Boom. Static. The view shifted to an even more distant satellite camera,  
free from the EMP effects. Boom. Boom. Boom. Though of course there was no sound  
in space, their minds supplied what such a scene demanded.

Sahaquiel had sensed their approach long before that. Things faster than any living  
thing should be, instruments of senseless murder. What kind of predator destroys that  
which it could consume instead, adding to its own strength? The little spawns of Lillith  
made absolutely no sense. That-Which-Wears-Their-Shape was right. The universe  
itself they expunged such nonsense.

It knew escape was impossible. It closed its eyes and waited to accept their reprisal.

The initial strike of twenty-four N2-tipped rockets didn't faze Sahaquiel. The next  
barrage arrived barely five seconds after the blast effects began to fade. Then the  
next, fourty missiles all at once, timed so the detonations of the previous strike would  
not destroy them. Then another, and another, and it was as if day itself arrived over  
Eastern Europe. It was as if a sun was growing before their eyes. Over fifteen years  
since Impact, the many nuclear-capable nations of the world phased out 'dirty' bombs  
in favor of the 'cleaner' and more stable N2 devices. Hydrogen bombs, unnecessarily  
powerful, were sent up from secret reserves. Sahaquiel recieved enough bombing to  
equal projected yields from the entirety of Cold War fears.

"Nothing could have survived that." whispered General Akira. "Nothing..." This is what  
mankind can do when truly united; we -shine- with -the light- of a -thousand suns-.

The flash faded. They had to make do with ground-based telescopes to scan the  
area; every sattellite in most of that part of the himisphere might as well be junked.

A loud, anguished groan rose throughout the NERV command center... echoing maybe  
all over the world. The Angel was completely unharmed. The bombardment pods were  
gone, though. It had to restart the growth.

"Impossible!" Misato spat out. "There's no way..."

"All the other Angels we ever encountered, their AT-fields... we could still breach them  
with sufficient N2 mines." General Minawa leaned forward, putting his palms together  
as if praying and put his forehead to lean on them. "How can something be so strong..?"

The Prime Minister looked stricken with terror. "Can... can we even beat it? Ikari!"

"We require more information before we can proceed further. We can count ourselves  
fortunate at least, that its offense still lags well behind its defense."

"No, I mean... your son."

Gendo frowned. Slightly.

--o--

"Evangelion-01-launching!"

The purple Evangelion went up the magnetic rails. There were actually several Eva rail  
pads (eight, to be precise), but the one they used most often was at the southeast  
rim (K-5), near the geofront hills. Up from the launch pads, slanting towards the side  
walls of the geofront, then up again, slanting again towards the geofront roof/city  
foundations, past layers of armor plates, and up again to emerge near the edge of the  
main street.

It reminded Shinji of the needlessly complex boost delivery systems he saw in the old  
super robot shows. Perhaps it was necessary in NERV's case, though. A direct pillar  
up from the geofront and towards the roof would be hideously vulnerable. The enemy  
could just drop down the exit gates directly into NERV. Not to mention that it would  
be a massive eyesore.

Huh. On the other hand, pillars would directly support the geofront roof. It wasn't as  
if Tokyo 3, despite being future capital, was such a large city anyway. It was barely  
five kilometers across, with the geofront floor below merely six kilometers in diameter.  
The actual geofront, Lillith's Egg, though... it boggled his mind to know how massive  
it was. According to soundings, it was nearly thirteen and three-quarter kilometers in  
diameter. The greatest of human achievements was dug into a pitiful percentage of  
that space-going hulk.

Shinji stepped out into the surface, and saw the other Evangelions in relaxed stances,  
their duty done. They didn't need to keep the AT-field raised all the time, after all. If  
it was the enemy's intention to strain the defenders before properly attacking, then  
they were going to unwind and conserve their strength for as long as they were able.

Unit Two sat on a hillside, leaned back. All that was missing was a Eva-scale cigar to  
complete the indolent ease of the picture.

"Hey, Shinji." Asuka greeted, her face flashing into a window in his plug. "About time  
you got back. Damn cheating Angel. Does it want to kill me with boredom?"

Unit Zero stood nearby. The plug window however showed Rei relaxing as far as she  
allowed herself, with her hands crossed over her chest and her eyes closed. "I do not  
believe it is in any way boring to those experiencing death from above."

"Tch. It's unfair. Involving people uselessly..." That ugly feeling again, of being helpless.  
"Damn that thing...!"

"What happened? Misato-san hurried me into the plug, before I could ask anything."

Everything said or done inside the Eva plugs were automatically delivered to the NERV  
command center. There was no such thing as privacy for an Eva pilot, as provided by  
Asuka's tirade after Israfael's defeat was relayed to everyone's hearing even on a  
direct Eva to Eva link using outside-mounted telephones.

However, it was not broadcast over main channel unless necessary. That situation was  
a result of combat open comms. People underground had better things to do than to  
listen into teenage banter.

"Why don't you tell me?" Asuka replied. "We've been out here ever since the Angel  
showed up on the sensors. I don't know how much damage it's been doing. They're  
turning us into mushroom people again."

"... Sohryu?"

Shinji groaned. "Kept in the dark, Rei." He made the Eva look up towards the west. "I  
suppose, it's to keep us from worrying about things we have no control over."

"Neh, Shinji... isn't there anything at all we can do?"

Unit One sat beside Unit Two and adopted a thinking pose. "It can strike at us with  
impunity, and its shield is the curvature of the Earth itself." The Evangelion growled.  
"Even if the Evangelions could fly, it would take us too long to get there, all the while  
it can do even more damage."

"Is this evidence of cunning?" asked Rei.

"I don't know...! These Angels, I know they can rebuild themselves so quickly to suit  
a situation. This, this is unprecedented foresight!" The Evangelion made a quick roar.  
"THIS is why we need a space fleet. We should have tried to launch orbital defenses  
months ago..."

He should have pushed through with those plans, but getting his hands on a loose  
submarine proved more difficult than it first appeared. If it was watertight, then it  
would likely be airtight as well with some modifications. He still had to gather the  
needed support and personnel for the endeavor.

Asuka snorted. "Space fleet? It's been more than fifty years since man first stepped  
on the moon and we still have to return to it. We even gave up on the space station.  
It's hard enough just getting up there, how would you expect anyone to fight?"

Shinji laughed. "Asuka... remember that we can PUSH with the AT-field. Between the  
three of us, we can lift BATTLESHIPS into orbit."

_'Huh. That might work too._' If it could be made air-tight, starting out with the benefit  
of heavy armor and missile/antimissile defenses. More like an orbital fortress than a  
warship, since vacuum maneuvering with their current level of technology would be  
laughable anyway. For propulsion... how about an Orion drive? The massive energy  
cannon at the bow will have as it most pressing concern not a supply of power (which  
could be easily given by multiple fusion reactors) but the build-up of heat. If for some  
reason the Evangelion could... combine... with the space battleship, that would be  
less of a problem. '_Heh._' The AT-field implications alone would make space mecha far  
more useful than missiles or fightercraft.

"The Evangelion is so absurdly powerful that blatant physics violations may be its only  
use other than in worthless wars. We don't really have an overpopulation problem that  
necessitates building space colonies, but right here... right now... we can punch our  
way into the heavens. We still don't know WHERE the Angels come from. If it's from  
the moon, then by all means, we should INVADE the moon...!"

Such deep, drawn-out silence.

"Shinji, get the hell out of that Evangelion." Misato's voice broke into the entry plug.

"Eeh? But why?" he complained in a small voice. "I just got here...!"

"We're in planning on ways to counter-attack the Angel. Get that sexy brain of yours  
down here."

"... oh crap. Was I thinking out loud again?"

Both other pilots nodded. Apparently, at some point the grown-ups decided it was time  
to give the poor ignorant pilots some encouragement to keep them from getting too  
bored. Shinji sighed. His Evangelion walked back to the elevator, its posture slumped in  
depression.

"Is... is that even possible?" Asuka asked Rei, as Unit One started to descend. There  
was one reason to abandon personal powers in favor of synchronization efficiency with  
the Evangelion. She realized that in trying to be the best pilot, number one of the Eva,  
such ideas would never have occured to her. Once the Angels were dead, would she  
become just another tool of war? She frowned; she was a person, a talented beauty,  
she should be more than just that!

"Pilot Sohryu, in him, all things are possible." For Rei, the future might as well not exist.  
The only thing important to her was every day in his service.

--o--

Similar business was afoot at the Trident base.

Mana Kirishima arrived to see -Magnos Tancred- already at pre-launch status. She  
went directly to the base commander's office for orders. Since the JSSDF was once  
more using NERV's facilities for command, she found there instead second-in-command  
Lt. Col. Hiroshi Saburo; a square-faced man new to Tokyo-3. Also in that office were  
Chief Tokita, seated relaxing on his own desk nearby, and near the water dispenser  
stood a man with a particularly careless look about him. He could be called somewhat  
handsome, if his expression didn't droop with such drowsy disinterest.

"Yang-sensei...?" Mana bowed to him briefly. "I'm sorry for your loss..."

He smiled back gently. "I may be Chinese by blood, but I come from Hong Kong, not  
the mainland. I don't have any... surviving family... or friends in the area." He rubbed at  
his untidy locks. "Still... NERV being a civilian endeavor, it was only natural that it put  
itself in economically-advantageous regions. The capital is gone, NERV China, the core  
of the army, most of the fleet... ugh." He sighed. He reminded himself to keep some  
emotional distance. "It's bad... but I think they can recover even from this."

"But we might as well consider the PRC nonexistent for the purposes of asking them  
for any more help, excuse me." The Lt. Colonel leaned back on his chair. "Hm. They  
might need Miracle Yang back."

"Please. I'm just a historian." replied the newest teacher to Tokyo-3. "I work for the  
UN now. If the division commanders of surrounding areas can recover order, the other  
cities can accept the trouble of recreating the government." He sat down and sloshed  
cold water in his plastic cup. "At least... with it happening so suddenly, there won't  
be as much problem with feeding and housing millions of refugees like in the other  
nations..." He was just so tired of it all. There was nothing he could really do help.

Crisis were often said to be the crucible from which heroes are born. Misato Katsuragi  
for example, was given made operations director of NERV, a role that put the safety  
of the entire world upon her judgements. She reached that post not because of her  
father's original influence on Project Eva, but rather in spite of it. Her personality flaws  
were tolerated because of her proven tactical genius.

There were many others who stepped up and dared, pushing back the chaotic designs  
and stitching civilization back together. The fifteen years between Second Impact and  
the return of the Angels saw some of the most intense conflicts; mental, physical and  
emotional; in all of Earth's history. There were thousands, tens of thousands of heroes  
out of that time. Most were dead.

Mana Kirishima was raised to be a soldier... an officer. Even her current rank, as UN  
Commissar, gave her authority equal to that of an Army Captain. Misato was already  
promoted to a Major at the time, though her actual authority at points outweighed  
generals or even ministers (colloquially, by several thousand tons). Most commanders,  
as proved by the initial foray of JSSDF defenders, were at a loss on how to handle  
the unknowable tactics of the Angels. Mana was therefore their hope in this, as the  
field could change so rapidly beyond the bounds of planning. They were getting used  
to how SNAFU likes to settle down around Tokyo 3.

This did not make studied tactics useless, however. She was initially intended to be  
among the next generation of generals. She studied the tactics of other nations, and  
the generals behind them, knowing she might have to face them someday.

One of those was a Chinese admiral named Yang Wen-li, nicknamed Miracle Yang, who  
was almost single-handedly responsible for the survival of the PRC from the many  
fractured elements attacking it both from within and without. His naval support was  
crucial to maintaining legitimate army presence in the temporary headquarters, and  
was eerily adept at peering into the strategies of the enemy elements. The doctrine  
that suppressed initiative from the lower officers both worked against the enemy AND  
for him; despite that he was technically from another branch of the military, the fact  
that his advice allowed junior officers to simply beat overwhelming odds made those  
close by more willing to obey. In the end, he was de facto supreme commander of the  
loyalist forces, and with not a single loss to every major engagement.

It seemed as if he merely chose the least offensive of factions and helped them climb  
back into power. His victories however had made politically unreliable, for if he desired,  
he might be the next breakaway warlord. The incredible mess that was the Second  
Manchurian Conflict brought him out of covalescence/house arrest and it was he that  
convinced the political leaders to swallow their goddamn pride and ask for help from  
the nation that to the southeast with conveniently intact Naval and Air base nearby.  
As it was, China would lose its own northern oilfields. Japan had no other ready source  
of crucial oil, as the Middle East was imploding and the US limiting its own exports.

By the end of three months, they all shared Manchuria and Sakhalin. The three nations  
even had an satisfying economic agreement; forming a triad in the East that relied  
upon their still-intact industries steeply polarized to provide an echo of the collapsed  
global economy.

That man, now thirty-eight yet still unmarried, lounged about in front of her. He had  
retired, just a teacher now. Originally he joined up with the military to finance his  
graduate schooling, planning on teaching history as his life's work.

It was strange how Second Impact forced people into roles that they might not have  
been suited for but in the end just excelled in. Shinji Ikari was a withdrawn boy that  
eventually would have been content as a librarian or some other paper-pushing work.  
Mana Kirishima didn't even dream about someday piloting a giant robot. Kensuke was  
a geek, with all the physical aptitude of a wet noodle, and someone that sensibility  
dictated to keep absolutely away from military equipment. Admiral Yang wanted even  
at the height of battle to just retreat to a corner with an old book. Wars were just so  
messy and noisy and troublesome... who really needed that?

"In the end, the military is just a tool for killing." he was fond of saying. "So it is best  
to be as inoffensive a tool as possible." Offense, in this context refers to destruction.  
Peace and politics, for all their flaws, were worth protecting in that at least they can  
create. Minds such as him, he complained, could only destroy.

"We don't have the order to mobilize, Kirishima." said Lt. Col. Saburo. "Adm-... Yang-  
sensei. As the UN observer for this base, do you have any insights to the situation?"

Yang yawned. He reached into his pocket and took out a packet of instant coffee.  
He broke it open with his teeth and emptied it into the cup. Then he poured hot water  
from the dispenser. That way the plastic wouldn't melt and the powder could still  
dissolve. He stirred it with a pencil.

He took a careful sip. He looked up and smiled weakly. "We never really took the idea  
of orbital bombardment seriously. As long as the nations obeyed the no-weapons-in-  
space policy, that seemed to be enough. Rebuilding after impact took greater priority  
than space exploration or defense." He took another sip. "In the end... I think... we  
will need to rely on Shinji Ikari again. If he needs our help, we should be ready to  
comply."

He chuckled. That was why he was there, after all. He had to bow to a stupendous  
bribe - to see history as it was happening. He might have been called one of those  
that shape history, but he knew well enough that the boy was one of those that could  
truly MAKE it. There was nothing in his studies that could be used as parallel, he had  
no predictions to make on his strategy. The UN offered him observer status only after  
he had already finalized plans to move to Tokyo 3.

People called him the sort of genius that comes along once in every thousand years,  
a modern Khan, Napoleon or even Alexander if the conditions had been a little different.  
He never wanted that distinction. Sometimes he felt as if he was born in the wrong  
time, but the world needed him right then; it could all have gone for the worse if he  
wasn't there to suffer for its sake. He also had a feeling it was much like that for the  
younger Ikari.

He could read behind the lines. The boy wanted him there, so he decided to go. It  
wasn't as if he had anything better to do, than to sit inside an empty old house. He  
had yet to actually speak to the boy personally, but the mere thought of Yang Wen-Li  
teaching Shinji Ikari was enough to frighten the heck out of a whole lot of people.

--o--

NERV's main conference room contained Gendo Ikari, Misato Katsuragi, Shinji Ikari,  
seated near the far end away from the screen. Generals Minawa, Akira and Asagiri  
were on the left side. Kaji Ryouji, Prime Minister Sakata and Defense Minister Inabe  
who had just recently arrived, sat at the left. The latter was squinting suspiciously at  
the boy's presence on the table. What could be contribute? All the pilots needed was  
to be told what to do; the actual planning should be left to the adults that knew the  
real implications of what was happening. Ritsuko Akagi stood near the screen, with  
Maya beside her with the projector controls.

"The Angel may have withstood recent attacks, but it seems to have slowed down its  
movement and attack rate. Etimates now point to above five hours before it reaches  
NERV Germany. The timed attacks on Tokyo 3 continues with one every fifteen minutes  
due to its alternating re-growth of bombardment pods. We don't know when the next  
attack on other regions will be, but there is nothing we can do about that right now..."

"There's nothing we can do about something on the other side of the world." said the  
Prime Minister. "They should understand that..."

"The most important thing is to kill the Angel, of course..." Kaji put in.

"No. The most critical task at this point is to save NERV Germany." Gendo countered.  
"The best way to do this is to destroy the Angel, but conserving NERV's resources as  
far as we are able should be a priority. If there is some way to drive the enemy off,  
then we should take it."

"And where would it go, Ikari? Is it perfectly all right to let some other poor bastard  
get hit?"

"In a word? Yes. Unlike NERV China, Nerv Germany is capable of constructing its own  
Evangelions, as proved by Unit Two. If Europe wants to have a chance of defending  
itself from further attacks, then this makes Berlin more important than say... Paris."  
For a variety of reasons, he would actually enjoy seeing Paris wiped off the face of  
the Earth.

"People aren't safe even if they leave the cities." The Prime Minister groaned out.

"The Angel tracking the locations of the refugees by tracers left from the initial attack  
seems the most likely at the this point." Ritsuko responded. "It must signal at some  
level our sensors are unable to detect."

"Kaji-san!" Shinji said suddenly. "This... has this information already been released?"

The UN attache rubbed at his face. "Yes, that is our duty after all. There isn't really  
any point to closing their borders, since that many people can't move across the  
country that fast, but... there we go. Planes from affected nations are being ordered  
to turn back by surrounding air forces. Those that already landed are being forced to  
take off... where to, no one really cares."

"That's insane." Misato grumbled. "This hysteria is getting completely out of control. If  
someone out there gets panicky enough to start shooting..."

"Europe still has a lot of military power left." Kaji groaned. "So, lovely miss Ritsuko..."

"Well... we have five hours to think of a solution." She adjusted her glasses and made  
a brief sniff. "Before we begin, let us review what we know of the Angel... Maya, push  
the button."

"Yes, sempai!"

The large screen showed a still image of the Angel. "The Angel is approximately three  
kilometers in width and eight hundred meters in length. This makes it the largest Angel  
we have encountered thus far, but size is easier without having to deal with gravity.

Its main body holds an immense eye, presumably for seeing its targets better... but  
with its ability to hit things over the horizon anyway..." She frowned a bit. "Its main  
means of attack is flinging itself down with its AT-field spread wide to inflict damage  
close to that of an asteroid of similar size hitting the Earth."

"How bad is that?" asked the Prime Minister. Then he winced. Beijing-2. The Chinese  
were actually the first to create a duplicate capital, setting off the naming scheme all  
over the world as if in taunting calamity itself.

There was no actual video of Sahaquiel's attack, but there was one of it slowly rising  
back into orbit.

"Actually, we can expect the damage to be less over Berlin, since the Angel shed most  
of its initial velocity against Beijing. Now that we managed to slow it down, the impact  
crater will most likely be a magnitude less. It will still take out all of Berlin and much  
of the surrounding countryside." She sighed. "Because of the distance between Europe  
and Nevada, assuming we don't destroy or slow down the Angel, the Angel will have  
recovered greater velocity. Oddly appropriate, since NERV America is better-fortified  
in that sense than NERV Germany."

Misato spoke up, frowning. "Heading west instead of east... damn that thing. It's the  
only tactically sensible thing to do." She leaned back and sneered at the screen. "Even  
if we destroy it, having taken out our support from the other branches will leave us  
weaker for the next enemy. We're going to be stuck with these three Evangelions to  
defend the whole Warth...!" She slammed her fist down. "When did these things get so  
smart...?!"

--o--

Elsewhere, Yang was saying "If the enemy was just merely stupidly powerful animals,  
then they shouldn't be any problem at all. The power of the Evangelion would not be  
necessary. The fact that we can think makes us the ultimate predators on this planet."

--o--

"I don't know if these things are smart, but if they can even think this far or someone  
behind them can... maybe it's possible to get them to leave us alone."

Both Gendo and Kaji looked startled. Misato, being the only survivor the Antarctic  
Expedition, could be counted on to hate the Angels beyond all things.

"This is happening and you're considering some way of maybe negotiating?" criticized  
the Defense Minister. "People are dying out there! Do something useful, now!"

"Have you forgotten NERV's purpose, Major Katsuragi? The Angels' purpose is the total  
annihilation of humanity. They half-accomplished that during Second Impact, and now  
they have returned to finish the job."

--o--

"The question is... why? If they are intelligent entities, why do they want to destroy  
all of humanity? If they are merely beasts acting out in destructive instincts, then the  
question becomes even more pressing. No natural creature on this Earth and probably  
not even out there, comes with genocide coded into its being. Wiping out another  
species out of competition for resources is something that happens without deliberate  
intent."

"Aren't there animals that are natural enemies, Yang-sensei? Some insects seem to  
go into wars to destroy other types of insects in the area." Mana asked.

"That is true. However, note that these creatures form parts of collective, relying on  
instincts deeply. In many ways they are like machines; replicate, consume, and make  
more. There is little variance, every ant is much the same as every other ant before  
it. The Angels... they seem far too specialized, too quick in adapting to be trapped  
like that.

When you get to higher predatory levels, a wolf may hunt rabbits into extinction in  
its area not because of any innate antipathy, but simply because it was hungry. Only  
humans, with perception and thinking, can indulge in genocide with deliberate intent."

"What this situation brings us is the question of whether the Angels are intelligent and  
deliberately malevolent or not." Misato said in a very ominous tone, looking at Ritsuko.

--o--

"We believed so many things that NERV said, after all they are supposed to be the  
expert on Angels. They still are. But a lot of the knowledge we have are simply...  
conjectures. They want to destroy humanity, no need to ask why, they just do. They  
will attack Tokyo-3, again evidence seemed to support that but we lacked the real  
reason why...

We took it in, accepted it, and put other possibilities out of our mind. This... actually  
disturbs me, but then I never really believed it myself until the Angels really did show  
up fifteen years later."

--o--

"Every Angel we faced is just that bit stronger than the last. Each one is different,  
each one wants to -win-. We know they're alive, so they don't want to -die-." Misato  
continued. "If we hit them hard enough, fast enough, I wonder... would they decide it  
would be too much to keep attacking?"

"This is all just baseless conjecture, Major. The Angels are our enemy. This proves it  
more than all other encounters."

"Exactly!" Misato grinned, matching his dismal glare with cheery glimmer. "We fight and  
fight and more people get hurt as it goes on. We keep getting stronger and they keep  
getting stronger. It's a vicious cycle, isn't it, Shinji-kun?"

She looked at him, winked, and he seemed amazed as well. It seems Kaji was having a  
stabilizing effect on her after all. He probably spouted off about the ends not justifying  
the means, that their duty is to protect the Earth and its people... not to kill and kill  
and lift themselves up to the heavens using the bones of their defeated enemies as a  
ladder and the sinews of those sacrificed in the name of victory to tie it all together.

"Then what do you propose we do?! Ask them nicely to stop...?!" the Defense Minister  
shouted.

"Of course not. We kill them, of course. More than that, we must make them decide  
that attacking us in any way other than head-on would be a waste to time and their  
own lives! As long as we survive here, they have zero chance of victory!"

--o--

"Using Tokyo 3 as like flypaper makes extremely good sense. I don't know exactly what  
the Angels intend here, but as long as we control the combat area we hold a powerful  
advantage. The Angel, by attacking areas outside of this, turns this fortress city into  
a prison. Outside, they have all the advantage. Therefore..."

"Therefore what, Yang-sensei?" Mana asked eagerly. "What is the proper thing to do?"

--o--

"We ATTACK the Angel from here!" Misato shouted. "We destroy it from here, and have  
the Angels know that there is no place on Earth that's beyond our reach!"

"Oh? Sounds like you have a plan already, Misato." Kaji grinned lopsidely.

"Can it be..." Ritsuko looked with wide-eyed amazement at her best friend. "Heh. You  
are your father's daughter, after all..." She made a slight chuckle. "Very well, if you're  
thinking what I'm thinking..."

Misato seemed far too smug. It was likely.

"Do you have a solution, Katsuragi?" Gendo asked. "Do enlighten us."

"With what?" the Defense Minister put in, prompting the Prime Minister to give him a  
look that said 'don't embarrass me further'. His bluster was to force down his own fear  
that made his vision swim. NERV's complacence... no, all the world's blind acceptance  
of NERV's policies was bearing fruit. "Last I checked, we don't -have- intercontinental  
striking capability." The N2 mines might bend it beyond recognition, but the 'no-nukes'  
policy still remained in Japan's lack of N2-tipped ICBMS. Or any ICBMs for that matter,  
although their rocketry technology was excellent for that.

--o--

"I don't know much about this AT-field business. I'm a historian, not a physicist." The  
Lt. Col. snorted at that, but was willing to allow Yang the illusion that no one expected  
him to take up any other role. "But it occurs to me that nukes are less dangerous in  
space than in the air. No shockwave, for instance. The AT-field only has to deal with  
hard radiation."

Tokita put his feet up on his desk. He wasn't a physicist either, but that seemed to  
be obvious enough. "Nukes are dangerous -anywhere-. I can't explain how it survived  
that, but if it can survive even ONE nuke, then normal weapons won't be useful." The  
AT-field was after all, a -field-.

Yang nodded. "We need to throw away our preconceptions. This war belongs not to  
the generals, but to those with the creativity and the will to risk it all."

--o--

"Hey, why don't you take a guess, Shinji-kun?" Misato asked the boy.

Shinji's gaze was unfocused, staring past the dark metal walls. Up above, Sahaquiel's  
scheduled attacks slammed into the AT-field protecting the city. All over the world,  
cities were being emptied, populations quickly dispersing. There was surprisingly little  
looting, as everyone rushed to get as far away as possible. Even the armies kept a  
distance... to good effect, as the pods would then come raining down, quick and  
unforgiving upon anyone foolish enough to stay behind.

Chaotic caravans blanketed the roads, some people dressed in even in their pajamas  
carrying on their backs their most prized possessions. Cars had to be abandoned to  
make the highways clear for the trucks, both military and cargo, that carried hordes  
well away from the impact sites. Towns along the route were closed up, peering with  
suspicion upon the descending dispossesed masses.

Stopping to camp was a grave risk; such resting places were targets too. However,  
they couldn't keep running forever. It was not just machines that run out of fuel, but  
human will and temper.

He blinked. Misato's father was Dr. Katsuragi, one of the key scientists that broke  
ground in Angel research, in charge of the Antarctic Expedition and the experiments  
upon Adam.

"Homing laser." Shinji breathed out, though it came out more like 'houmin' layzah.'

She gave him a thumbs-up sign. "Good job." also in accented English.

--o--

--o--

Four hours, thirty-nine minutes before Sahaquiel reaches Berlin-2. NERV Germany was  
siphoning power from all over, to feed an experimental positron cannon. They had no  
platform for aiming it, and in five hours they not only needed to gather the necessary  
gigawatts but to store it, build a stable frame for the cannon, then try to fire it off  
with some degree of accuracy. Impossible, was the judgement of even those working,  
but they had no choice. Tokyo-3 routinely broke probability; they should be able to  
live up to the name of NERV, too!

All over the world, preparations were under way. There was the logistics nightmare of  
not only securing millions of people, but to feed and shelter them should the crisis drag  
on. It was deep in the night, at some parts of the world still under attack, while in  
others it was just around daybreak.

The chaos was compounded by severely crippled communications. The military had  
priority, and took up most of landline fiberoptic and satellite links. Vital civilian news  
services were left in the dark. Even the actual military, tasked to keep order and aid in  
the rapid evacuations were only given spare orders, as blind as the people they were  
told to give assurances to. Most communication towers were either shut down or  
already blasted into oblivion by Sahaquiel. Ever passing moment brought the world  
closer into panic; it was not an end of the world scenario, not yet, but close as to  
hell on Earth as they could see. At least during Impact, they knew that the worst was  
already over...

Every government was screaming for NERV to hurry up with whatever they could do  
to stop that thing. Gendo had categorically told them all to shut the hell up and let  
the do their jobs. They couldn't do any better even if they tried.

Even in Nevada, NERV had to mobilize, though they were the least in danger. Their  
facilities were deep enough underground that the strikes weren't having much effect,  
but it wouldn't last for long. It was time to get pro-active in their defense.

"So NERV US already has a functional Evangelion and a pilot...?!" Asuka said with some  
disbelief. A screen showed live feed from the site. A black Eva, only floodlights making  
it visible out of almost midnight. "So... that's Unit Three..."

"I don't know much about it, but it's based on your unit Two, but with components  
more suited for mass production. Its armor is lighter, but compared to standard Evas  
its internal battery pack goes up to twelve minutes instead of the emergency five."

"Huh. Well, it doesn't matter." Asuka replied to Misato, who was expecting her to make  
some comment as to the superiority of her Eva. "It's good if we have more. Who's the  
pilot?"

The purple-haired woman looked aside. "Hm. Mayumi Hamagishi. She's a US citizen by  
birth. Still, Unit 3 was supposed to be shipped to Japan anyway. That's convenient."

"Maybe too convinient. What's this? All four pilots have some Japanese ancestry? The  
odds of that... I'm not buying that the Japanese blood in some way makes us special.  
It's just hemoglobin, and besides I'm half that. If they can actually pick pilots that will  
make it more convenient for us fighting here, then the candidate list is longer than  
what they're showing to us."

Misato chuckled. "Yeah, that's what I figured. Most likely they have some other pilots  
in mind, but decided to show us one that's better suited for our situation before we  
decide to gank their reserves too." It wasn't as if NERV Tokyo-3 wouldn't be doing  
the same thing.

"What's her synch ratio?" It was inevitable that she'd ask that, really.

"Low sixties. She's not trained for it since childhood like you or Rei, but at least she's  
not some fresh... prodigy like Shinji." That, actually reminded her of something that  
he'd requested earlier. "This is really the first time she's using the Eva in anything even  
resembling combat, and... Asuka, would it be too much to ask if you could help her  
out?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"A little encouragement would be nice, I think. Give her pointers on how to use the  
AT-field. This is Unit Three first full-power test, and I'm sure you can imagine the  
pressure there. America's farther away from the Angel so there's some delay between  
attacks... but then the strikes end up hitting harder than those meant for closer."

Asuka leaned back and shrugged. "Well, I don't mind, really. Why me?" She made a  
thoughtful face for a moment. "Okay, I can imagine Rei not knowing what a 'pep talk'  
even means, but why not just have Shinji do it? He's better at the speeches." Yeah.  
Like, what's up with that? It's like he eats Russian novels for breakfast.

Misato laughed at that. If he really could help, then he would have volunteered to do  
it himself instead of asking her to have Asuka make the call. "I have a feeling it would  
only make her even more nervous. Besides, we still need him here while we tune up  
Unit One for the operation."

Asuka twitched. Yeah. That too. On second thought, the other pilot was a teenage  
girl too. Shinji might mean well, but like any teenage boy he could be so irritatingly  
obtuse sometimes. "Fine, fine..."

"Don't tell her about the plan." Misato put in, before switching off video. "Let's not get  
anyone's hopes up before we even finish setting up the field test."

"Sure, sure." Asuka sighed. She leaned back and waited.

The video window to her left showed a suprisingly fluid picture of the goings-on at  
NERV Nevada. NERV pretty much ganked the throughput of the International Network  
for themselves. Most of the people that might complain were busy running for their  
lives away from major population centers. Even the sounds were coming in clear. It  
was a noisier place than Tokyo 3's NERV operation; with sounds of yelling , machinery,  
alarms and copters rising in the dry desert air. The lift was a slow heavy-duty elevator,  
instead of the geofront's elegant and hideously expensive electromagnetic rail system.

The Evangelion stepped out into the tarmac. Its steps were slow, but steady. Then it  
paused, and Asuka assumed waiting for orders. She heard the distinctive bleep-bleep  
sound of opening communications and a smaller video window popped up.

"Um. Hello? Mayumi Hamagishi here, and - oh my gosh! You're...!" The girl abruptly  
bowed. "Sohyu-san... Mayumi Hamagishi des, and... um, um... I mean, ano..."

Her shoulders shook, and she kept her face down and away from view. Asuka sighed.  
"You know I can understand English just fine..."

"I'm sorry..." Her voice was soft. "I didn't mean to insult..." She was just pretending to  
be a pilot, compared to the growing legend in front of her. Oh, what could be a worse  
way to make a first impression?!

"Oh, hell no!" Asuka shouted suddenly, startling the other pilot. "I'm not getting a Shinji  
mark two." She grinned. "Don't apologize... it's all right. Just relax."

None of the pilots were exactly 'normal' and it was possible to discern their personality  
out of their looks. Her own red hair, her confident smirk... Rei's paleness and unmoved  
expression... Shinji's melacholic gaze and unhurried movements... sometimes things are  
just as they appeared.

The girl nodded, and looked up. She had long, straight hair and large round-rimmed  
eyeglasses. Her face was rounded, and held a faint blush of embarrassment. There  
was nothing in Mayumi's appearance that hinted at anything other than bookishness  
and terminal shyness.

Asuka knew that those glasses were unnecessary while inside the Eva; the pilot was  
using the Evangelion's retina instead of their own. Even the little comm windows were  
illusions in the brain, instead of floating on LCL. There was no actual projector inside  
the entry plug. It was a pretty sophisticated, and pilot-intensive system.

Wearing glasses, while unnecessary was a harmless enough affectation... but Asuka  
also knew the some people used their lenses to wall them off from the world. If there  
was a barrier between what they could see and reality, they felt somewhat remote  
and safer emotionally.

"Okay. No need to get formal on me. Did you know my nationality's American too? A  
lot of people assume it's German, but that's where I was born." She grinned again. "So  
just call me Asuka. What should I call you...?"

"B-but... I'm being sent to Japan anyway. I... don't... want to... be impolite. Asuka-  
sempai." Mayumi added, mumbling.

"Fine, fine... Mayu-chan." The girl on the screen was shaking visibly in fear of her  
disapproval. "Or would you prefer Yumi-chan?"

"... yumi, please."

"Hmf. So..." As the world was engulfed in turmoil, the misgivings of two teenaged girls  
seemed insignificant, but they had chanced to be those whose every action might be  
of critical importance. An uncomfortable silence dragged on. "... want some tips on  
using the Eva?" Asuka asked after a while. It was pretty much the only thing they had  
in common.

Immeasurably relieved, the other girl bowed. "I'd really appreciate any help you could  
give me..."

Asuka was the official team leader of NERV's Evangelions. Since Tokyo-3 held all the  
'veteran' Evas, by extension she was the primary of all Eva pilots all over the world.  
Shinji may have his talents, but she had been trained to the Evangelion's tactics and  
capabilities. She knew the technology. Even Shinji acknowledged her experience in it,  
and their battlefield relationship was more like an officer and her NCO.

However, she dealt with her friends as equals both in and out of the Eva. Now a fourth  
pilot... it reminded her of her responsibilities. Things can't be expected to remain the  
same forever, and she had her own part to play for the Greater Good. In that, one did  
not need to bring another down just to feel superior.

"So this is your first real test of the AT-field? What did they tell you to do?"

"...Evangelion Unit Three is to use its AT-field as a shield defense against incoming  
bombardment. The AT-field must be spread out as wide and held as solid as possible."

Asuka snorted. "As expected from those who don't have any idea how that actually  
works." She looped a strand of her hair around her finger as she thought. She did not  
see Mayumi imitating that thinking motion. "Controlling the Eva... it's a subjective  
experience. The AT-field is invisible, after all. There's no truly efficient way of making  
it function."

She looked back to the screen, enough to see Mayumi wincing in pain for some reason,  
her head jerked to one side. She sighed. "So... how does the AT-field feel? How do  
you know it's really out there?"

The new pilot squirmed in her seat. "... it's hard to explain. It's like... a warm blanket,  
I suppose."

Asuka nodded. Comfort, security, the feeling of power. It made her feel... safe. "We  
synchronize with the Eva, the Eva generates the field, AT-field and THEN we have to  
consciously maintain the field. It all happens here." She tapped at her head. "There  
should be no difference between your will and the AT-field. It's there because you  
want it to be. When that Angel comes, send the field out like saying... this far, and no  
farther! Synchro ratios, power flows... they're just incidentals. Your shield is as strong  
as your will to resist! Remember that...!"

"What if... but... my AT-field isn't that strong..."

Asuka groaned. She had better things to do than to feed a collapsed ego. Well, she  
had been told before that her ego was what actually made her so quick with the Eva.  
"You don't believe in yourself, do you? But it's not all right if you let those that depend  
upon you die." Oh, great. She looks like she wants to cry. "Hey! Hamagishi! Listen...! If  
you can't believe in yourself, then believe in me who... fuck it, I'm not finishing that."

"Sohyu...?"

Asuka heard a bleep-bleep noise, and Misato's face showed up in a side window. "The  
preparations are complete. Shinji's coming up, let him handle the defense for a while.  
You and Rei had better get to your positions."

"All right." She turned to the other window. "There's nothing to be afraid of. We'll kill  
this Angel. And you...! Protect them, I know you're strong enough for that." She then  
grinned and made a V-sign into the screen. "Hang in there, Yumi-chan...!"

She looked forward and her grin turned feral. "All right, Unit Two...! Here we go!" The  
screen shrank and disappeared. Putting the incident out of her mind, Asuka surged the  
Eva down the hillsides toward the lake. Four hours twenty-six minutes before zero hour,  
Misato's Operation Skythread was put into action.

All the way across the world, a bespectacled girl fell back onto her cockpit, letting off  
a relieved breath (or gurgle). She stared into the dark distant sky. "So that's... Asuka  
Langley-Sohryu..." Mayumi said to herself, a tiny little smile on her face. "She's... a  
kind person."

Her comms bleeped and the base commander's face showed onscreen. "What, star-  
struck, Hamagishi? Wipe that look off your face, we've got incoming!"

"Ah, yes! Yes, sir!" The black Eva extended its arms and let loose its AT-field. "Ready!"

Moments later two high-velocity strikes slammed into the invisible barrier, the pods  
bursting and expanding. A massive explosion lit up the desert.

She screamed in pain.

--o--

Sgt. De Leon saluted. "Atten-shun!"

Mana saluted back quickly. "So, you brought them?" She stared up at the two young  
men by the sargeant's side. Their faces were stony and their gazes straight ahead,  
hiding their nervousness well.

"Corporal Jiro Takeda, reporting for duty, m'am!"

"Corporal Vince Nagato, reporting for duty, m'am!"

They were supposed to be the new elite, not out of command school like she was but  
meant for fighting. They were eighteen, old enough that the JSSDF wouldn't take flak  
for sending children out to battle. She wondered if it bothered them that they were  
chosen because they were disposable that way... probably not.

These were the replacements for her dearest friends. Mana Kirishima was not amused.

"Kirishima!" someone shouted from behind. "Hey, wait up, would you?"

A faint crease crossed their faces; who dared to be so disrespectful? It was of course,  
Kensuke. It was getting rather windy, but fortunately his new workman's coat was  
weighed down with tools and devices. It was to protect against heat and acids. He  
looked ridiculous, like a midget fireman.

"Hey, how's the arm, Kirishima?" he asked, rather abruptly. Rudely, even.

A sliver of warmth returned to Mana's expression. She lifted her left arm out, and  
opened her fingers. The limb spasmed slightly. "It's not like I really need this, to fight  
with -Magnos Tancred-. Okay, I'm sorry, I'll try not to abuse the mechanisms in the  
future."

Kensuke sniffed. "That is made in imitation of human flesh, and flesh is -weak-."

Mana nodded. A few moments passed, with the late afternoon winds blowing. Her  
black skirt fluttered a bit, while Kensuke had his hands on his pockets to keep his  
coat from flapping open. The silence ached, for some reason.

"Um... anyway, tell Shinji I said hi. Thanks for protecting him, Kirishima. He needs us  
more than he thinks."

Mana smiled slightly. "All right."

"You... stay safe, Kirishima." Kensuke then grinned, while pushing up his glasses. "When  
you come back, I think I have something to make that arm better."

They turned away from each other, nothing more needed to be said.

Minutes later -Magnos Tancred- set out towards the staging site, fixed up in Hellfire  
configuration. Its right arm was replaced by dual-linked Positron Large Armament Solid-  
state Cannons (P-LASCannons) similar to that used by Unit Zero. This was better than  
its own the hard-mounted positron cannon in that it may be aimed up and down with  
little difficulty and greater accuracy. The left torso which should have artillery missile  
dispensers replacing the Megabolter instead held expanded battery and heatsink packs.

On its back was a massive frame, like a flag banner. The Trident logo shone out in a  
contained holographic matrix. Vertical tubes on its side were targeting radar pods.

The Dreadnought rolled into action. Another thing that could be blamed on Kensuke.  
To save wear and tear on the tarmac, NNHIS made for it treaded 'shoes' that could  
be taken off easily. On-road speed was a rather leisurely 40kph, but then Tokyo-3  
was just two and a half kilometers away.

--o--

"The Homing Laser is actually a Tannhauser thought experiment similar to Einstein's  
Relativistic Trains." Ritsuko explained while the Evangelions set up the equipment.  
"This is why Tannhauser postulates that subspace is bright and gravity is like ugly  
black stains on the cosmos."

Makoto raised his hand. "Yes, Hyuga-kun? You have a question?"

"Pardon me, Akagi-sensei, but I don't understand that at all. How does that help us  
right now?"

She sighed. "It doesn't. The homing laser idea is actually just that. We plan to make  
a laser that can home into the Angel using the Eva's AT-fields. The AT-fields in this  
case will serve the perfect medium to contain the energy." Ritsuko was too busy to  
actually write papers, which was a pity. She'd rather have a Nobel for creating  
the perfect cup of coffee.

"But isn't there a limit to how far an Eva can spread its AT-field?" Kaji asked.

"Spread? Yes. But when the intention is to pack it as tight as possible, then the field  
may propagate itself the same way an EM field exists around wires with current. All  
it really needs is a power source, which the Eva provides."

They were all watching from the safety of NERV's command center. The new shelters  
were drilled deeper into the hills. Trident Base was far enough from the action, but  
they too retreated to their bunkers. No one wanted to be around when NERV sets off  
a series of ground-level nukes. Or nuke-equivalents, in the form of N2 mines.

Three hours, nine minutes before the Angels reaches Berlin-2.

"No offense meant, Misato..." Kaji commented, while looking up at the screen. Too bad  
NERV had a strict no-smoking policy inside the command center, as the situation dearly  
called for a light. The place was big enough that it shouldn't really matter, but Gendo  
probably wanted to make sure no one gets any enjoyment whatsoever when doing  
their duty. "This plan doesn't sound like you. That actually makes it all the more  
amazing."

The woman stuck her tongue out a bit. "Well, I can't claim take credit for all of it. You  
know how it is. I get a crazy idea, Rits-chan tries to make it fit to reality." Her voice  
then turned serious. "We've done this before, actually. It's not totally new, so this  
should work?"

Kaji thought back. "The Jet Alone incident, you mean?"

"Yeah. There we knew that an Eva can contain a nuclear explosion. Then, against that  
Angel that burrows underground, we accidentally found out that we can use the AT-  
field to home into something."

"Hm. But will it really reach all the way across the world?"

"The typical Misato solution to that is... more power! More enthusiasm! Kick reason to  
the curb and charge straight ahead!" Ritsuko put in, approaching with a smile on her  
face. "Just because it worked once doesn't meant it's not supposed to be impossible."

"Oh, hi, Ritsuko." Misato giggled a bit. "But so what? A TRUE tactican doesn't know or  
care what the hell she's doing until she's actually halfway done with it!"

Ritsuko groaned. "Don't brag. Please. Just... don't." She then nodded briefly to Kaji.  
"Better get back to your observation post. Misato, the pilots are on site. Let's get this  
done."

"The layered AT-field may be used not just as a shield, but to direct particles. Two  
Evangelion working together can create a perfect particle accelerator." Note to self:  
see about particle acceleration experiments, make up a sufficiently exhorbitant amount  
for lease of the Eva's time for scientific activities; as a glorious 'Ha! In your face!' to  
those who continued to refuse giving her a Nobel. "With this, we can create an attack  
superior to a charged positron beam, but it is time-consuming and prevents the Evas  
from doing anything else, even defending themselves."

The main screen showed the video clip against Sandalphon. The video stopped then  
replayed the positron beam doing almost a 90-degree turn in mid-air to follow the  
Angel underground.

"Instead of positrons, raw plasma with an AT-field wrapped around it. If the enemy  
had simply appeared over our airspace, this would have beeen our next step if the  
heavy positron cannon failed to penetrate the AT-field."

"Ah...! This is good!" the Prime Minister said, from his observation desk off to the right  
side of the command center. "I see NERV still have several tricks up its sleeves. Is this  
the plan?"

Ritsuko shook her head. "Unfortunately, it has several shortcomings. First of all, the  
time required to get it to work. Hot plasma has a tendency to diffuse, and while the  
AT-field might prevent that, it loses effective energy as distance increases. It will  
considerably 'thin out' over several thousand kilometers. The moment it is released, we  
have to wait several minutes up to an hour to charge up for the next attack."

"Rate of fire is always important." General Akira put in. "If you miss you can always try  
again, and if you didn't; it allows you to inflict more damage on the enemy."

"Precisely. Now, what we need to do here is to be able to either pump energy into the  
attack at determined intervals, or to give it enough energy in one shot to create a  
sufficiently-powerful beam." Ritsuko nodded briefly down to the JSSDF desk. "Hence,  
the nukes. Since we don't have any dirty bombs, we have to make do with the N2  
mines. We will just have to set off more of them to get the same effect."

The military had already been briefed, the civilians and government officials had to  
wait for the pre-action briefing. Misato then took over at that point.

"We will use Rei and Asuka's layered AT-field to contain the energy of an N2 explosion.  
We modified one of NERV's external Eva catapults to shoot N2 mines into the air. Unit  
One will then contain the bomb, we will detonate it from here, and she will direct and  
compress the explosion. Asuka will then HOLD the released energy. If the AT-field can  
deflect explosions, then it can act as a shell around it... and Ritsuko... the Angel?"

"Yes. We theorize this is the reason the Angel can survive so many nuclear explosions.  
Much as an electromagnetic field contains plasma inside our fusion reactors, so could  
the Angel screen and divert energy from the explosions. There is the pressure wave  
when this happens inside an atmosphere, hitting the AT-field all at once, which is why  
it's more damaging and more difficult to resist. Presumably, the Angel has a powerful  
AT-field specially adapted to this purpose."

Misato thanked her, and continued her plan. "Asuka has an immensely strong AT-field  
but even if we don't need to provide energy for the beam, the Eva will still suck power  
like mad to maintain the field. For this reason, we have to again borrow power from all  
Japan to reinforce our power grid. It should take no more than five minutes between  
shots, provided everything goes well."

"The resulting beam won't be plasma or positrons, but a bomb-pumped X-ray laser."  
Ritsuko added. "The Angel might be able to disperse massive nuclear detonations, but  
not a concentrated attack in one spot. If needed, we can continue to pump more and  
more energy until we break through."

"Really, there isn't anything here that we haven't done before, only this time we're  
trying it on a more massive scale. There's no particular reason it shouldn't work..."

Gendo looked at his watch. Two hours, four minutes before the enemy reaches NERV  
Germany. "Are we fully prepared begin this operation?" he asked.

"All preparations complete, sir."

"Then you may proceed."

--o--

The initial run consisted of a single medium N2 mine, by itself not enough to even really  
damage the Eva, and a prepared target over a mountain. Three pilots knew its location,  
and were ordered to consciously aim their thoughts at it. It went off without a hitch.  
A large canister tumbled into the air, Rei caught it and let it explode between her  
hands. The explosion arched, as if being drawn into Unit Two, and spun around Asuka.  
There were two overlapping fields, with hers the larger and more solid.

After some time, Unit One then dug its fingers into the glowing ring, and from the  
opposite side a glowing thread shot out, unerringly curved over the mountains and  
towards the target.

The ten by ten-meter target of white canvas over a metal frame then ceased to be.

Cheering rose in the command center. However, Ritsuko was frowning. "It's not enough."  
she said. "We need more than that, if we plan to break through. We can't count on  
neutralizing the enemy's AT-field with just the containment field. Can we adjust the  
diameter of the beam?"

The pilots made sounds equivalent to "Hell no, I don't know".

"We still have slightly less than a thousand N2 mines here..." Misato replied, grinning.  
"The JSSDF was so nice to lend them to us." Strangely, NERV had to pay for assets  
they acquired from the UN. Every N2 mine they directly used, they had to treat as  
bought. That Gendo could order 999 N2 mines to be used against Leliel, in a different  
place and time, spoke to the depths of their resources. "I don't think we'll use up any  
more than a hundred here... the problem is just how much can the Eva handle?"

"If the AT-field fails, we might as well have just nuked ourselves. It's a great risk."

"We don't have time to test by the numbers!" Asuka put into the command channel.  
"Firing it off releases most of the strain anyway..."

"All right, Asuka. Remember, we have to almost double the amount every time. We're  
counting on you."

Asuka nodded. Tokyo-3 might feel more like home to her, but Germany held many  
memories, both precious and painful. She wanted to keep them, and she would punish  
the Angel that dared attack it. A part of her still belonged there. She bared her teeth  
in a wide, shark-like grin. There was nothing like the feeling of holding the fury of a  
sun, forcing it into compliance, with her force of will alone.

"Katsuragi-san, the Angel has just launched four more bombardment pods towards us.  
Impact in seventeen minutes."

"This is a good test for our ranged accuracy! Rei, prepared to recieve and direct three  
N2 mines. Asuka, raise and maintain the field for around five minutes, we have to set  
them off one by one. And Shinji...? Don't think of anything else. Watch the screen and  
VISUALIZE. The beam should hit intercept one before it even passes Mongolia. We  
can try again three more times, before we just have to let it just hit us."

"Understood, Misato-san."

"I'm worried..." Maya said aside, to Makoto. "His synch ratio is still so low..." It was  
right there in front of her, Zero - 79, One - 61, Two - 84. "I hope he doesn't  
push himself too hard..." While she believed he could still do it, she also knew that he  
was entirely too willing to damage himself in reaching for the impossible. It was only  
three days since he woke up, he shouldn't have to suffer again so soon.

"He'll get through this, don't worry." he replied. "Our job is to sit here, and if we can't  
fight then we can just believe."

Shigeru sighed, and casually put his hands behind his head. He leaned back to relax,  
then remembered Gendo was watching. He straightened up. "It must be nice to taunt  
probability." he said with a grin. "True enough, I suppose... but it's not like anything  
we imagine here will do anything over there. The pilots and the technology, with these  
we should be all right."

"Target status!"

Shigeru switched on his headset. "Angel is maintaining present speed and heading.  
Bombardment pods arriving in fourteen minutes, fifteen seconds! Currently entering  
Mongolian airspace."

"All right, Asuka?" The teen didn't answer, concentrating fully. "Shinji! Commence  
counter-attack!"

A pillar of light rose up to and beyond the sky. Contrary to expectations, it didn't home  
in immidiately towards the Angel. Awareness was what let the AT-field function, it was  
not something could be generated mechanically and separate from the Eva. It went  
straight up, then bent sharply towards the horizon.

It was fast, yet at the same time unbearably slow. The x-ray laser should be invisible,  
as the AT-field wrapping should prevent it from ionizing the air around it. Hell, it was in  
-space-. Not only was it still glowing white-hot, but its progress could be tracked by  
the naked eye, hardly a lightspeed weapon. More than that, it was not even moving in  
a straight line. It seemed to follow the contours of the surface beneath, as if it could  
track via surrounding data... which made absolutely no sense to Ritsuko.

_'It's a goddamn BEAM. The AT-field's wrapped AROUND it. How can it be aware of its  
own location...?!' _She looked around, and saw Misato looking so satisfied, like a fat  
cat under the warm sun. _'... maybe I should consider being an alcoholic instead? Note  
to self, make a list of people to taunt with the idea of a mega particle. Let's share the  
suffering.'_

Ritsuko softly cackling madly had sadly become a common enough occurence that  
everyone there simply no longer even noticed it.

The Angel's bombardment pods were matte black spheres of ceramic, metallic, and  
various other compounds that didn't even exist in nature. They were visible only via  
helpful red circle marks on the main screen. "Which one, Shinji...?" Misato whispered.

The beam struck the leftmost pod, and for a second its energy shield actually held.  
The circle seemed to stop in comparison to the others, then exploded spectacularly,  
the been boring right through and then fading away.

"Yeah!" Misato shouted. "Ready number two!"

"Hey, I felt that..." Asuka said softly, her eyes still closed. "We hit it."

_'What the hell is an AT-field?'_ Ritsuko thought as the event repeated itself. '_It's like the  
giant robot's Swiss Army knife.'_ She touched her lips and licked at her finger, aching  
for a cigarette as well. '_If I can just isolate the specific organ... damn it. There's too  
much at stake here. We need to figure this out and quickly.'_

She looked aside towards Gendo._ 'Cutting open the clones won't tell you how this is  
even possible. We learned that long ago.'_

The second bombardment pod was destroyed in the same manner as the first. "The  
third... strange, it's drifting off course."

Ritsuko nodded at Shigeru's comment. "As expected, they do have some form of  
terminal guidance." Because they have their own damn AT-field. "How are the Evas?"

"No sweat." said Asuka, her face frowning anyway. The LCL was blocking her pores,  
making that a literal impossibility.

Misato looked at the time displayed on the corner of the main screen. It takes about  
two minutes for the beam to cross the distance. Two to three to set things up below.  
"This is goood." she said. "It's working, it's really working!" Maybe a little too well. Her  
plans always end up getting derailed somehow, after all she knew that snafu was a  
fact of life. "Begin the third attack."

The beam hit the pod. The pod shone, then continued on.

"Motherfaaa-... gagh! It strengthened the field!" Kaji noted with disbelief. "How can  
the Angel do that? It's not even connected anymore?"

Ritsuko smirked.

"You have an explanation for this, doctor?" Gendo said from above.

"Give me Angel again." The view shifted to show Sahaquiel in full form. "Notice that its  
center mass is occupied by a great eye. Its two main appendages each have a eye,  
with five nubs radiating out. Here along the main body are two more unused nubs,  
which appear like lashes. It may seem as the secondary masses are like splayed hands,  
but we may consider these connections as the sixth nub."

"Interesting, but what does that have to do with the bombardment attack?" Fuyutsuki  
asked.

"The attacks are made from spheres grown at the end of these tertiary nubs. The main  
body and the appendages share similar features. So far, we have no proof that the  
Angels are even in any way male or female." Her glasses glinted. Though Lillith seemed  
to have breasts for no particular reason, since they lack nipples anyway. "Therefore...  
parthenogenesis. Or to coin a pun, parthenonemesis."

"Oh? Asexual reproduction?" the subcommander continued. "But does that even really  
apply here? This Angel is the LARGEST living organism we have EVER seen."

"There's so much we don't understand about the AT-field. But one thing is clear. It  
cannot be duplicated mechanically. It requires conscious will to function." I shall name  
this principle, and the impossibility of figuring it out, the ORZ effect.

"Ever get the feeling Akagi-sensei is actually smart enough to say one thing while  
thinking something else entirely?" Shigeru whispered to Makoto.

"How mean!" Maya had to defend her sempai. "She's not deliberately incrutable..."

"She's not that hard to figure out. You just need to read the subtitle of her thoughts.  
It's got this distinctive yellow italic font. Yours is green, Maya gets light blue. Unless  
this is the dub, in which case you might miss it against the background noise."

His friends stared intently at him.

"I said nothing. This conversation never happened." he added quickly. And so, it was.  
It was too silly to exist. What you just read must have been a trick of the light, or  
something.

"If we simply leave the Angel alone, I wonder if it will ever really complete division or  
create a lattice of sorts? In any case, the Angel sends out attacks which have the  
characteristic of first hitting with kinetic force, then exploding or alternately bursting  
into multiple explosive pods."

"It's a goddamn Bolter." General Akira muttered. "The bastards duplicated the effects  
of our Bolters!"

"Not exactly... but I agree there is a resemblance." She shrugged. "In any case, the  
solution is simple. Misato?"

"Go ahead, without fear, and slam into the fourth wall at mach speed! Rei, load up  
and detonate THREE mines! Asuka will contain and focus the energy, and Shinji, see  
if adding more makes it harder to control!"

_'This... this feeling... of being pissed off, I cannot contain.' _Ritsuko twitched, reached  
into her pockets and brought out several pencils. She snapped each one by one, then  
began breaking the pieces until she couldn't get a good grip anymore. She took a deep  
breath, and calmed down. "Misato, for your sake I will assume you are referring to the  
idealization of a time barrier, or in this instance the need for haste over hesitation."

The third bombardment pod was destroyed. Adding more power didn't seem to give  
any control problems.

"The Angel is accelerating!" Shigeru shouted.

"Hmf. Of course. It's the smart thing to do, now that we can actually try to take it  
out. Is it still headed for Berlin-2?"

"Yes, mam. At present speed, calculations put it at only one hour five minutes."

"Oh, that's much faster. But we can still catch up." Misato then turned to Ritsuko, who  
seemed to be humming something about 'survival of the fittest' in a lullaby. "Could you  
give me a safe estimate on how many bombs we need to set off?"

"There are two ways we can do this. Either we set off thirty bombs one by one, which  
takes around one minute to put into containment; or two or more at once, reducing  
our refire delay to fifteen minutes but puts far greater strain on the pilots and their  
AT-field."

"Second option." The pilots, Misato, and Gendo said all together. They blanched at the  
realization.

"Asuka, remember that if this attack fails, we WILL have to increase the yield of the  
next one. While we are on a time constraint here, there is some leeway. Too sudden  
a jump in what you need to keep compressed, might be too much." Ritsuko said that  
out of concern.

"Don't underestimate me!" the girl shot back. "I can do this! You know I can...!" The  
last statement conveyed a certain pleading indignation. Of all the people in NERV, she  
expected Ritsuko to actually hold some rational belief in her abilities.

The scientist smiled thinly. "Very well, then. Let's kick reason aside and reach for the  
impossible." She began to chuckle. "After all, what's the most important thing here?"

"Killing the enemy!" Asuka shouted. "No, wait...! Saving NERV Germany! We need to  
conserve our resources so we can effectively kill even MORE of the enemy!"

"...hooo." Rei added in an attempt at a group cheer. Shinji just looked sheepish.

"Oh, so she did learn her lesson well." Fuyutsuki said to Gendo. "I still believe you  
shouldn't think so much of replacements for the people you don't happen to like."

"Useless things should be removed." he responded. "Nostalgia. Hmf. Another useless  
concept."

"... don't be surprised if you get a dagger to the back." One made of iron, presumably.

--o--

Foom. The energy lanced out, sending the air crackling in its wake.

Everyone watched breathless as the beam approached the Angel. The screen flared as  
the homing laser met its AT-field. It was a titanic struggle in the total silence of space.  
"Come on... come on..." Misato chanted.

It was pointless to try and calculate the energy contained within the beam, Ritsuko  
had said. The sheer violence of that impact, AT-field against AT-field, is creating and  
destroying exotic particles the longer it goes on. Since the glowing ring persists at the  
moment of release, presumably Asuka and Shinji pack it in at megatons/second.

Then, the stalemate broke.

Sahaquiel, with eerie elegance, flapped its appendages and tilted. Its field dropped,  
and the beam continued, missing its body just barely.

"You missed?! Damn it, Shinji!" Asuka shook her fist at him, through the comm window.  
He was betraying the mental image of supercompetence she had of him. "Can't you  
turn it back... oh. Too late now." She felt the beam fade away. Goddamn!

"Do you think you can do better, pilot Sohryu?" Rei asked.

"Maybe. But my consistently higher sync ratio is more useful here." She slapped her  
right hand at her controls and waved up, like an impatient overseer. "Hurry up with the  
mines!"

She had never really stopped competing. However, at least she knew that the others  
wouldn't hold her back. They were freaks of nature, she was the badass normal in this  
setting. Like hell would she let herself slip even a little. They get those powers, those  
skills, as if a matter of course... pah! Those who fought for every bit of power and  
prowess would have greatness unquestioned.

"Charge me up!" she shouted. Her voice was rasping. "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry...!"

"Asuka! Take it easy! Thirty N2 mines in under thirty minutes, we still have two more  
chances after this." Misato turned aside, towards Makoto. "What? Hold on..."

After several minutes, she returned. "NERV Germany finished setting up their positron  
cannon. After watching our encounter feed, they want to see if we can possibly make  
something of a combined operation."

"An... intriguing proposition, Katsuragi." Gendo commented. "Can it be done?"

Ritsuko shrugged. "It's all about timing. However, if we can strike at the Angel from  
two sides at the same time, there is a greater possibility of weakening its field enough  
for either shot to break through." She read the data about the cannon's capabilities.  
They had eight hours to gather the power to use against Ramiel. Out of just under  
four, what NERV Berlin-2 managed to gather was impressive. They must have bled the  
country dry, ruining entire power networks. Even more so considering that they had to  
coordinate mass evacuations and relocate their essential government elsewhere all at  
the same time. "It would be better if our attack strikes first. They have only one shot  
at this."

Asuka closed her eyes and leaned back into her seat. Germany. If that Angel lands,  
then everything about her past would be wiped off the face of the Earth. Even if the  
memories were bad, without them she'd feel rootless.

Oh, and millions of people would be dead or homeless.

"... look at them, trying to act calm, like they know what they're doing..." she said in  
a whisper, heard only by those who were meshed to her AT-field. "It sickens me. We  
are the ones who actually have to do all the work, just stop holding us back...!"

"More than anyone, it is we who need to remain calm and think things though, Asuka."

"How can -you- stay calm in this situation, Shinji?! They're depending on me. It's too  
much pressure, we need to get it done, get it through! Dammit, don't you care that  
the Angel's killing more and more people while we wait?"

Shinji opened his eyes a fraction. LCL was temperature-controlled to keep the pilots  
comfortable. Nevertheless, for a moment it seemed to drop. Then, he sighed again.  
"That's why we need to make sure, that when the time comes, the enemy will have  
nothing to do but -die-. Nothing will save it, nothing can bring it back." He looked to  
the distance. "They're relying on us, but wars... really... are such a waste of the Evas'  
power."

"That's a nice thought, but it's too long-ranged. This is what we are now, and this is  
what we need to be." She sniffed. "I'm doing everything that I can. Don't mess this up  
for me!"

_'Ah, how she layers her fears in bravado...' _a voice broke through Shinji thoughts. _'A  
beautiful paradox, is it not, my young king? This world is full of such contradictions. In  
lies, truth. In death, life. Perhaps in failure... victory?'_

Misato gave the orders. "Asuka! All right, already. We're boosting power to your Eva's  
umbilical. Shinji, we'll have you run off your T-modules for a while. Rei, get ready...!"

--o--

Phase Two commenced at 48 minutes before Sahaquiel reaches Berlin 2. Asuka grit her  
teeth as she contained the boiling fury of fifty N2 mines. Rei helped, but her AT-field  
only formed the inner shell of the torus. The two Evangelions stood back to back.  
Unit One's distinctive Titan frame was nearby, hunched over, its fingers twitching.

"Begin!" shouted Misato.

-Principio Eternus- roared, and plunged an arm into the pulsating ring. Out the other  
side, the homing beam shot out. Shinji and Asuka screamed at the same time; both  
in pain.

Sahaquiel moved quickly, and the beam struck at the edge of its field. The beam went  
on, but then impossibly began to curve back. The Angel's great eye blinked. The fields  
clashed once again, with the beam whipping about like a fisherman's line.

Then, from the West, another beam of light. Sahaquiel had to shift its field structure  
from omnidirectional to planar, 'thickening' under the assault. As such, the positron  
lance caught it completely by surprise. The shot tore at its white flesh, and separated  
one of its appendages. That dispatched body part tumbled away.

"NO!" Ritsuko yelled. She rushed towards the monitors. "Contact NERV Germany! Tell  
them to seek shelter, now!"

"What's wrong?" asked the Prime Minister. "We damaged it, didn't we?"

Sahaquiel began spinning. The appedage shortly began to, as well. Its eye opened and  
began to blacken, with veins bulging and advancing upon the cornea. Still spinning, it  
released the bombardment pods it still had, one by one towards the source of the  
attack.

Then, it stopped spinning. It had turned into one black bead, with tail-like outgrowths.

It began to fall.

"Budding." Ritsuko said softly. "Now we have two Angels for the price of one. The new  
impact estimate might be reduced, but it would still be catastrophic in scope..."

"It's moving much faster!" Makoto reported. "Seven minutes!"

"Shinji! Leave the Angel alone! Stop that thing! If we don't get it with the homing laser  
now, we won't make it in time for the next attack!"

"But... " -Principio Eternus- snarled and pushed down, taking its arm clear off the ring.  
The armor was hot enough to leave the air steaming as it passed. The illogical laser,  
thousands of kilometers away, made another sharp turn and streaked towards the  
target. Sahaquiel took that chance to lower its field and spin frantically. It released  
its own remaining bombardment pods, though with its unbalanced mass its vector then  
drifted away from Berlin 2. "Gah! That Angel...!"

"Track them!" Misato shouted. The main screen showed two headed towards Berlin-2,  
one towards Russian territory and two more across Europe. "Looks like we'll have to  
hope those aren't aimed at anything too important. The most immidiate threat is the  
Angel!" "I just have to destroy this one..." Shinji said aloud. "Misato-san! Rei! Pump up this  
laser! Asuka...?!"

"I can handle it! We're losing power by the second, anyway!"

"Major, I request detonation override over the mines." Rei asked.

"Granted." Gendo put in. Time pressure aside, if any of the other pilots had requested,  
he wouldn't have given permission. Rei was rigidly reliable, and disposable that way.

Unit Zero picked up an N2 mine. It exploded in its hand. A burning white globe seethed  
between its fingers. It shoved that ball into the ring. Another mine. From bending down  
to detonation to containment, the act took around fourty seconds.

The Angel was dodging the beam. The smaller copy held its own AT-field, but the skies  
over Germany was witness to perhaps the craziest dogfight since the Red Baron flew  
overhead. Sahaquiel (main) placed itself between the homing laser and its escaping bud,  
deflecting the beam. The Angel could alternate easily between using its AT-field for  
propulsion or defense, why it didn't do this before possibly might have to do with  
having no attention left to spare from regenerating and targeting.

Unit Zero was feeding bombs into the source like a locomotive engineer of days past.  
The analogy did apply in many ways. Asuka was a like a druggie, getting higher and  
higher, the adrenalin pumping through her veins. She was laughing. Such power! There  
was no extreme sport quite like fusion ball.

_'Tch. Any other weapon will have to deal with waste heat. The AT-field laser doesn't even  
to touch anything in macrospace.' _Ritsuko watched Asuka struggling on, Shinji's eyes  
were closed as he continually guided something he shouldn't even be able to percieve.

"FASTER!" Asuka shouted. "We need to be faster! Goddamit, isn't this supposed to be  
a C-speed weapon?!"

"It's not a weapon. It's an event." Ritsuko gave into her expositionary impulses. "The  
speed of light varies from water, air or vacuum. The AT-field does bend space enough  
that the distortion is even visible sometimes."

"Then why isn't the AT-field FASTER?!" The red Eva stumbled for a moment. "Aah!"

"Keep your focus, Asuka!" Misato interrupted, fortunately saving them all from a long  
explanation that would ultimately lead nowhere. "Shinji, what are you doing?"

The sky was like some dadaist mural, with bright lines zig-zagging and curving all over  
the place. "Agh... it's hard enough trying to follow the enemy. Controlling this beam  
is like throwing around a line with a weighted end... the slightest change can make it  
overcorrect. And the enemy... has extraordinary mobility!" Shinji hissed through grit  
teeth. "If this hits the ground...!"

The homing laser was fast, but the enemy's own AT-field relied upon the attack's own  
'breaking front' to push itself aside. 'Of course... if fields can be solid enough against  
each other, and we can push using them... sensing and predicting where I would go  
is child's play.'

-Principio Eternus- roared and jabbed both hands into the glowing ring. In the distance,  
the beam split. Confused on which way to dodge, the nub remained still. It didn't seem  
to have any real intelligence, merely instinct.

"NOW, DIE!" Shinji shouted, as the homing laser drilled through the Angel's defenses.  
The spherical nub exploded violently, causing the view to dissolve into static. Perhaps  
too violently.

"We've lost satellites over Germany. Switching to secondary monitors." Shigeru said.  
"Angel is... alone."

"It seems to be trying to regrow bombardment pods." Makoto added. "It's not changing  
course. It seems to have given up on Berlin 2."

"That was... a nuclear detonation!" Misato shouted in consternation. "... what about  
the pods sent ahead?"

There was another explosion, and this time close by. The view in the main screen  
shook, and after a while cleared to show that Units One and Two had been blasted  
clear of a crater where they once stood. Unit Zero, crouched nearby, was uncathed.  
It uncrossed its arms and let down its AT-field. "There was containment failure." Rei  
reported. "The blast has been sucessfully directed upwards."

"Shinji and Asuka are unconscious...!" Maya reported. "All signs stable. No damage to  
the Evas, but..."

"Activate the stimulant packs in their suits." Ritsuko advised.

"Activating... no response, sempai. Their brainwaves are at a coma-like state."

"What? Damn it, the last time it took three weeks for Shinji to wake up." Misato pulled  
at her hair. "How much time do we have? Is there anything those in NERV Germany  
can do?"

"...sixty-five seconds..." said Makoto.

The main screen showed red triangles converging upon a single point. The minute  
stretched by in terrible slowness. Then, the triangles disappeared. The satellite view  
showed a rising fireball.

It would be pointless to try and contact them immidiately aftewards. They had to let  
a few more agonizing minutes pass.

"NERV Berlin-2, please respond. This is Tokyo-3, can you hear us? Please respond."  
After a while, Shigeru leaned back on head and exhaled. He took the headset off and  
said dully "We have lost contact with NERV Germany."

Maya was crying openly. There was much gnashing of teeth. Only Gendo seemed  
unaffected, but that in itself was a sign of severe displeasure.

"DAMN!" Kaji slammed both fists down on the desk. "Damn! Damn! Damn! And after  
everything...! How could we let this happen?"

"In retrospect..." Ritsuko sighed wearily. "Those missiles were rather old technology,  
weren't they? Given the devastation they were supposed to do, fitting them with  
precision sight or IR-based guidance systems would be pointless. Most of them were  
constructred before those technologies were even available."

General Minawa, from below, winced and spoke up. "True, most ICBMs are designed to  
strike at fixed targets. And as such... rely on..." He palmed his face. "Radar guidance."

"And the Angels just love to foul up radar." General Akira added. "So, set the warheads  
to detonate at a set distance... or since radar IS RAdio Detection And Range-ing, at  
impact. Most likely: both."

"But... even if the Angel does swallow the warheads, how can it detonate?"

Ritsuko waved dismissively at the Prime Minister. "A nuclear bomb at its heart is just a  
block of uranium. A strong enough blast will set off a chain reaction. The Angels have  
no problem with causing massive explosions."

"If the Angel could do this, Doctor Akagi, why do you think they did not use these  
bombs in bombardment before this?"

"I cannot make judgements on the enemy's intentions, merely the science behind their  
capabilities..." Ritsuko shrugged. Off the top of her head, it might be that the Angel  
was unwilling to entertain the thought that crude tools made by humans to kill humans  
could be better at the task than its own supremely efficient bio-weapons. Or that for  
some reason such a pod could not take advantage of an AT-field. Nukes were also  
considerably 'dirtier' than kinetic strikes.

"The other pods released, are they nukes too?"

"We won't know until they land, in about... eight more minutes. Even if we warn them,  
there's not much they can do in that time."

"We should-"

"No." Gendo interrupted Misato. "Informing the governments may be possible, but even  
they will withold this information from those affected. It serves no point. If civilians are  
far enough from the blast, they will not be harmed excessively. If the pods are aimed  
at civilian gathering zones, then there will only be a few moments of disbelief, then  
nothing else. I will deal with this myself. " He put his hands down and let his glasses  
glint. "Better to know, what about the pilots?"

"They're still unconscious, sir." Maya responded. "Their wave patterns like in light sleep  
now. Um. Should we remove them, sempai?"

She shook her head slowly. "We should exhaust all methods we have of waking them  
from inside the plug."

--o--

Fourteen minutes after Sahaquiel passed Berlin-2 and seven hours before it reaches  
NERV Nevada, Asuka woke up.

"Ungh." She blinked, and pushed herself up. "... Shinji? What..." Asuka reached for the  
controls. "Misato... the Angel...?"

"I'm sorry, Asuka."

The red-haired pilot's face... such raw anguish there. "no..." She hugged herself. "It  
can't be... please, it can't be..."

"Berlin-2 remains. In five, or at most ten years, it will be habitable again. Given the  
anti-radiation methods we have now, recovery of intact assets may begin within at  
least two weeks." The Evangelion parts might still be around.

Asuka's eyes bulged. She shut off contact to the command center.

"Harsh, Ikari." Fuyutsuki whispered aside. "Haaarsh. Did you enjoy that?"

"...what do you think?"

Shinji woke up, a short while later. His question immidiately upon regaining reason, was  
much the same. "... so. At least it wasn't wiped off the face of the Earth. As long as  
the people live, the city survives." He rubbed at his face. "They might still return..." He  
thought in much the same way as his father, to no one's surprise. "The Angel... where  
is it?"

"It's over the Atlantic Ocean right now."

"I see." Unit One turned towards Unit Two, which was tearing into the mountain with  
its own fists and hands, pounding and clawing at the rocks. "So, this isn't about  
defending lives anymore. It's about revenge."

The red Evangelion screamed its fury to the heavens.

--o--

"Eighty." said Asuka.

"Don't be ridiculous." Misato responded. "Fifty N2 mines at one time was the most you  
could contain, and that blew up in your face. It's more than enough..."

"No. When Shinji managed to split the beam, I felt the drain double. If I don't keep the  
flow constant, it's going to weaken... and so I need a larger pool of energy. The Angel  
is farther away now." Asuka clenched her fist. "This is the best thing I can do right  
now... I won't fail here!"

"So be it. Sohryu. Make sure you're up to it."

"Thank you. Sir." she replied towards Gendo. 'My mother's grave, is it even still there?'  
The people, maybe they were far enough. They were homeless, yet they were alive.

She had never felt so -German-, really, until that moment. So sure in her worth. She  
should live long enough to see the Angels dead, all of them. Better still if she could die  
dragging them into hell with her and there to endlessly battle to ensure they would  
never bother the living again.

"Asuka..."

"Don't say anything, Shinji." she whispered. "Don't offer me useless consolations. Kill  
the damn thing, and I'll be satisfied."

Shigeru spoke up with "A communique from NERV America - the last attack knocked  
out their pilot. They don't think they can withstand any more of that..." The rest of  
the world chimed in with their status soon after. "More cities and refugee sites were  
hit... the military are now ordered to keep the people from actually moving around."

The video feed showed Mayumi Hamagishi being put into a stretcher. Asuka cursed  
something incomprehensible. Another window showed UN forces blocking a road. The  
escorts aimed their APC light cannons back, uncertain without orders but driven by  
their need to protect civilians.

The main screen then flashed, and turned into static.

"What just happened?" Misato asked.

"The... the satellite is gone, ma'm. Switching to backup observation line..." Flash.  
That too, broke up. "Replaying last frames..."

"Okay. Freeze there. Damn!" Misato began to pace around. "It's got some sort of beam  
attack now."

"That's not surprising. The Angels have proven capable of generating functions on the  
fly. The first Angel we fought proved that... growing a second head for ranged attacks  
after we hit it with an N2 bomb."

Fuyutsuki frowned. "The Angel, is it now tracing our microwave communications? May  
we still aim the homing laser, if that happens?"

"If we use a far enough camera, maybe." Ritsuko shrugged. "It's awareness, not actual  
targeting with the AT-field that matters." I will not ask. I will not ask. I will not ask.

"Shouldn't we ask the pilots that?"

"We will kill it! It will die!" Asuka shouted. "You hear me? DEAD!"

"We will manage somehow, Misato-san..." added Shinji.

--o--

Somewhere in Eastern Europe, possibly the Romanian countryside, Kaworu sat on the  
grass with a large map spread out in front of him. He clutched at his head, and spat  
aside; blood staining the grass and an edge of the map.

"I see... there you're going. Haah. This is disappointing. Life without surprises must be  
bleak indeed... what a cursed gift, this precognition is. No wonder we never needed it."  
He fell back and lay down with his arms stretched out. "Consider this mercy, lillim. At  
least you will have been spared the terror of what's to come. At least your souls are  
freed, while still pure and uncorrupted. Ahh, unfortunate lillim, the Great Mother is so  
cruel... there is nothing I can do here that is actually as painful to you as what she  
wants..."

--o--

Two hours, nine minutes after Sahaquiel passed Berlin-2 and under five hours before it  
reaches NERV Nevada:

Foom.

As if sensing this release, though still all the way across the globe, Sahaquiel began  
the rapid adaptation so characteristic of its species.

"The Angel, it's breaking up!" Makoto shouted. "Its separated into two pieces, each at  
a different vector..."

"Not this time..." Shinji whispered. "Not again... this far and no further...!" -Principio  
Eternus- took its hands out of the glowing ring, and raised its arms to the sky like a  
concerto conductor. Another laser thread shot out, passing between its arms, to the  
East over the Pacific.

Seen from orbit, two bright lines stretched out like God doodling upon the face of the  
Earth. Sahaquiel was somewhere over the Atlantic, its two halves spinning.

"The Angel has released bombardment pods!" he added, nearly panicking.

"How many?" Misato asked.

"... a lot! Twelve... eighteen discrete signals! And they're each going off at extremely  
high speed!"

She turned aside, towards Ritsuko. "So. Nukes?"

"Doesn't matter at that speed. Here. This grouping. It's aimed at us. That's most likely  
to be nukes, trying to break through our AT-field defense. If we just go by size, its  
AT-field should be MUCH stronger than our comparatively puny Evangelions." Angels  
had the unlimited power of the S2 engine anyway, while they were forced to rely on  
banks of capacitors.

Sahaquiel had shrunk visibly. Its main body was hardening into a black sphere with  
six long feelers... it reminded them of the Sputnik, actually... or precambrian jellyfish.  
By sacrificing its ability to grow pods, it attained greater defense and mobility.

"Where are those pods aimed...?!" the Prime Minister shouted out, his voice breaking.

"... everywhere." the Minister of Defense said beside him, visibly cowering. "There's no  
nation on this Earth that will be left untouched..." Even if Japan managed to survive...  
only they would remain intact. Much of the industries and businesses reliant upon the  
overseas market would collapse. And the world... the world would blame them for  
failing them...! It's like Impact all over again. It IS Impact all over again, only a lot of  
smaller ones instead of one big event. He... he could not live through that again. Not  
again! He clutched at his heart and gasped for breath.

Kaji took out a cigarette and lit it. "Come on... Shinji... please. You can do something  
about this..." he ground out, stabbing the lit end of the stick into the metal desk,  
before even putting it to his lips. He could only watch, and wait, as the bright line  
crawled across the main screen map.

The homing laser, heading East, passed the line of red triangles aimed at Tokyo 3.  
"You're not going to intercept...? Ah." Misato smirked. "Yes. Killing the Angel is more  
important right now..."

Kensuke, Toji and Hikari were sitting inside one of the deep shelters. Though cooped  
up in there for several hours now, they showed no impatience at the lack of news or  
being locked in. They felt the ground rumble.

"It's gonna be all right." Nozomi said up to Kodama, and to the people around her.  
"He's up there. He's gonna make it right..."

"Power! More power!" Asuka yelled. "He needs more if this is going to work...!"

"You are at your limit, pilot Sohryu." Rei replied, squinting slightly as the containment  
ring pulsed rapidly.

"No more second chances! No more lives being spent to buy us time! We need to end  
this now...! Please! GIVE ME MORE POWER!"

"... Rei, we're releasing N2 mines." Misato said softly over the link. "I'm leaving how  
many to use up to your judgement."

"Thank you, Major Katsuragi." One of the Eva elevators delivered a heaping pile of N2  
mines. "Pilot Sohryu, I am charging your laser."

Two homing lasers struck, the collision of two AT-fields lighting up the sky. Shinji still  
had his eyes closed. He shouted through his soul. '_You had better have a skull, you  
bastard...! For I will have it for MY throne!'_

--o--

The beams broke through. Elsewhere, Kaworu was shoved back hard and into a tree,  
for no readily apparent reason. He coughed up more blood, and grinned. The tree  
behind him fell over, its roots naked to the air. He managed to keep to his feet. He  
began to chuckle. "... I see. Adam within me, thy will be done." He lifted his hand up  
as if reaching for the sun. "We begin again. Thank you, Shinj-kun..."

--o--

-Principio Eternus- roared and opened its hands. The beams split, one to each finger.  
The homing laser streaked to follow the pods released earlier. A few of the closer ones  
were annihilated, but there were those already almost at the cities, and there were  
more than ten...

"... raagh! No!" Shinji screamed. "Control! I need more control...! More! Evangelion!  
We must have more."

The roar was such that the air itself shook from a pressure wave. The Evangelion  
writhed in place, and its back armor, around the entry plug, exploded. Light issued  
forth.

"Is that..." Misato gasped in horror. "No... it can't be." Like she remembered. "Wings..."  
As the ribbon of light unfolded, to her relief (but continued disbelief) it wasn't like the  
terrible visage of Adam.

"Arms." Maya whispered. "He gave himself two more arms..."

The glowing limbs coalesced, and spread its own fingers. In the distance, the beams  
split again.

"The capacitors are exploding!" Shigeru shouted. "They can't handle the strain...!  
Oh shit! Everyone evacuate that area...!" Booms echoed through the corridors.

Misato shouted up to the screen. "Rei! Stop feeding the laser!"

"My will is strong." she said softly. "I will not bend."

"My hate is pure!" Asuka added. "I WILL NOT BREAK!"

Those gathered under the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio watched the glowing  
streak of their doom approach form the East. From further west, another bright light  
was coming, but it was a second too late. The pod burst above them, darkening the  
sky with pellets, and they closed their eyes to accept their fate.

Then, moments later, one child opened hers. She cooed as she saw a jagged black  
fragment the size of human fist hovering in the air inches from her face. It was held  
back by a thread of glowing golden glow... bright, but not enough to hurt the eyes.  
One by one, the people realized they were still alive, and why. They looked up, and  
it was like the hand of God itself stretched down from the heavens... a still shower of  
golden threads... and the pieces that would have killed them crumbled into powder.  
The threads remained. Touching them... these were warm, leaving a ticklish feeling...

All over the world, this scene was repeated. London-2, Washington-2, Paris-2, NERV  
Nevada, Memphis, New New Delhi, Lhasa, Moscow-2... temporary refugee stopping  
points (of great panic giving way to stunned awe)... and many more besides.

The detonations of nukes were held back by golden threads acting like cages, slowly  
being dispersed.

Back in Tokyo-3, -Principio Eternus- had grown two more glowing arms, for a total of  
six useable hands. Some fingers were splayed open, some were palms out, and one  
was in an ok-sign to compress the homing laser's AT-field.

The world heard a strange, otherwordly tone, as the homing laser began to vibrate  
the air. "... as long as I remain. You shall not need to fear." It was not so much 'heard'  
as simply... understood. The tongue was unnecessary.

Four pods were arriving quickly.

The Evangelions seemed to be trapped motionless, fighting to maintain the net that  
blanketed the Earth.

Mana Kirishima grinned fiercely. "Aim! Air defense, fire..!" -Magnos Tancred- picked out  
a pod, and shot dual positron beams at it. The pod exploded. "Again...!" The next pod  
likewise was unable to maintain a strong enough AT-field. The great benefit of using  
the Trident as a mobile turret was that it carried its own power supply and tracking  
mechanisms.

The remaining burst into pellets and larger spheres that presumably contained the  
absorbed nukes. "... goddamn...!" she shouted out. "Gunner! Weapons free! Destroy  
the larger ones first...!" The fire-linked P-LAScannons raked at the dark cloud. The  
Dreadnought's chin-mounted 20mm AA cannon fired in bursts. It would not be enough.

-Principio Eternus- lowered one hand, and clenched it. And the sky above Tokyo-3  
blossomed with fire. The sky was an ocean, flowing red like tides of burning blood. It  
roared mightily, amplified and carried by its golden threads to the farthest ends of the  
Earth. From wolves in Alaska to elephants in Africa, every animal howled/roared/made  
noise in response.

The homing laser faded. Units Zero and Two slumped back, their internal batteries  
completely drained. Even Unit One with its Titan modules had barely a few seconds  
left in its cells.

-Principio Eternus- moved its six arms around, in strange and graceful gestures. The  
pitch of disturbed air sounded like a choir tone. It then raised its right hand up, palm  
open. Something slammed into it, from the southeast.

The four glowing arms faded as well. The Eva stared at the object it held. It was an  
Angel's avian skull-mask.

There was not a sound so horribly wrong as that of an Evangelion attempting to laugh.

--o--

"... are you SURE it's wise to keep trying to PISS OFF A GOD, Ikari?" Kozo Fuyutsuki  
whispered, his eyes wide with shock.

That frown on Gendo's face was... the merest tip of displeasure beyond epic measure.

"Still no response, sempai!" Maya was screaming, her voice sobbing.

"Activate the plug suit's cardiac boosters again! Stimulants, loud noises, everything..!"  
Ritsuko shouted over the steady -beeeep-. "Again! One. Two. Again!"

"Shinji-kun...! Hang in there! Shinji...!" Misato was screaming too, directly into the  
entry plug commlink.

-end An Inquiry into Values part three-

--o--

--o--

--o--

* * *

notes:

Whew. This story took a long time to finish, didn't it? My deepest apologies. I got sidetracked by a few other projects. Damn, the chapters are getting longer and longer and longer.

:whimpers:

Again, much thanks to the critics and editors of TFF. Hail the Hivemind!

I did some abrupt introductions here, so I may need to turn to the earlier segments and put in retro-phrasings that actually hint at these characters back there.

edit:

My spacers! Nooo...!

Please forgive if this story gets muddled for a while, while I try to fix/figure out why they refuse to show up after online editing.


	24. Chapter 23: Look Away

Look Away

-o-

-o-

Gendo Ikari was, in many ways, the most powerful man in the world. He had risen to  
the absolute height of NERV's structure through means both cunning and ruthless. For  
so many years, the paramilitary organization seemed like such a white elephant, and  
it required sheer magnificent bastardiness just to get the funding and trained personnel  
it sorely needed. In this matter, it would be fair to say that Gendo Ikari built NERV  
through his own tenacious purpose.

After what just happened, not even the most self-interested numbskull could deny the  
-necessity- of NERV's existence. His power and influnce was unmatched by anyone in  
the world. He knew well enough, however, that good feelings were not a bankable  
asset.

Gratitude fades, but fear persists. Along with the clear and present threat of further  
Angel attacks, NERV had also demonstrated that they could strike, with near-perfect  
accuracy, literally anywhere in the world. Nukes were made laughable in comparison,  
this was an attack against which there could be no defense... save that of another  
Evangelion.

He controlled the Evangelions. Even if other factions could get their hands on other  
Evas, all the world knew that NERV's own were nigh unbeatable. His own position was  
secure, for the moment. There was nothing he had to fear. The UN, amidst the heavy  
aftermath, must not reduce the funding allocated towards NERV. With the loss of NERV  
China and Germany, the two remaining sites required even more support.

He could say to anyone 'bring me this', and it would be given. He could bid someone,  
'find this person and have him report what he knows' and surely would that person  
appear before him; chained up if necessary, whoever it was.

Kozo Fuyutsuki knew that for NERV, he existed merely as a way to approach the issue  
without having to deal with the general... unpleasantness... of speaking to Gendo. It  
was ironic, the old man mused, since it was he who had taught Metaphysics to Yui  
Ikari; without whom the entire Eva project would have been all but impossible. Gendo  
didn't have any actual 'marketable skill' other than sheer ruthless cunning. Given the  
many stonewalls in the way, that was what NERV really needed to get itself moving.

Now that those blocks were removed... Kozo was one of the few who was around  
Gendo long enough to see that the commander was actually disliking the situation.

'It must be a strange feeling to him, to be so appreciated...' the older man thought.  
'If he had fathered such a boy as Shinji Ikari, maybe there was some good in him after  
all. Heh. Or maybe that he had almost nothing to do with the boy was the best thing  
he could ever have done. Either way... it must irk him to know he was peripheral to  
the situation.'

Gendo put down the report, and frowned. "Is this permanent?" he asked Ritsuko. He  
kept his voice under tight control, as anger and dismay bubbled up.

Ritsuko shook her head. "There is no real reason to believe it's permanent. Still, it's  
undeniable that currently... Shinji Ikari is no longer capable of piloting an Evangelion.  
His synchro rating is at the absolute rock bottom..." She smacked her lips, deciding  
that a little informality might not be out of place. "Hell, even I can get a higher reading  
than this. There's nothing wrong with the equipment and I have no medical explanation.  
He just seems to have... 'broken'... his ability to pilot the Eva."

Fuyutsuki winced. Gendo might be the most powerful man in the world... but the boy  
could quite literally be the most potent individual. Or at least, that was how it should  
appear, to maintain their own power.

"You must have -something-, Akagi." Gendo insisted.

For a split-second, her own glasses glinted. "Physically, there is nothing wrong with  
him, other than signs of extreme fatigue. There is some loss of bone density, along  
with torn muscles overstressed after nearly a month of atrophy." She smiled thinly.  
"Other than that, he's fine. He's awake, conversant, and I have no real reason to keep  
him confined."

'The scenario has completely derailed. The Angels are getting too powerful, and we  
had to compensate. How far will this vicious cycle continue?' Gendo mused, while also  
supressing a grimace. The boy was the catalyst, as he was always intended to be.  
Not knowing what will happen did not exactly frighten Gendo Ikari, but it was highly  
inconvenient. This seemed to be the latest insult from a universe determined to scatter  
the plans of upstart mortals. "Who else knows about this?"

"Just me, Maya, the two other pilots. I've already impressed upon them the necessity  
of this keeping this a secret."

"Good. This could potentially be... explosive, if it gets out."

"How are they taking it?" Fuyutsuki asked, honestly curious. The pilots with their  
personalities and their youthful antics were one of the few amusements he could take  
out of the entire plan. In a sense it was also a form of self-castigation, for the memory  
of watching them beinghappy also gave him pain in the knowing they would shortly  
enter into... absolute terror. He was old enough to have accepted the fact of his own  
mortality. At night, and alone, that fresh memory was the only thing that could still  
make him afraid and ashamed he had lived for so long.

"Surprisingly well." Ritsuko looked aside, her expression softening. "All right, Asuka did  
throw a fit, but it was well within expectations."

Being around the girl, the scientist had realized that they had a common problem. They  
were lonely, set apart by their own abilities. Their response was similar; driving that  
separation further and pretending that they didn't need companionship. It gave a  
certain feeling of invulnerability, but she also knew that deep inside it was festering  
and would likely... like her... one day lead the girl into a great mistake.

Fortunately, Asuka had friends. However, what she most valued above all others would  
be a rival; someone who would prove the worth of her existence. Shinji, without that,  
would he even remain as a friend?

Even all those years back when she was barely into college, Ritsuko already knew of  
the triumvirate of Ikari, Akagi and Sohryu... and witnessed firsthand how despite the  
acid competition the three geniuses had displayed, the others were dismayed by death  
among their number. Kyoko Zeppelin-Sohryu's own fatalistic perseverance afterwards  
seemed even like a tribute, in succeeding where her Japanese counterpart had given  
her life.

Ritsuko turned back. "Shinji seems... unconcerned, whether or not his abilities would  
return." For a while, she had wondered if it might be deliberate... but the Evangelion  
was not rejecting the boy. No human could control their synch ratio to such a degree  
as to blank it utterly. "Rei proves one could still be even more apathetic about it. It's  
too soon to search out a... replacement, I think."

'If the boy is useless in the Eva, then he might be more useful as a rallying call... a  
martyr.' However, as much as SEELE might see that as the reasonable option to re-  
assert control, Gendo also had a need for the boy to fulfill his own purposes in Third  
Impact. 'If he ever proves too weak and dies along the way, then he wouldn't have  
been much use in directing it anyway...' Gendo thought nimbly. 'I should increase the  
surveillance around the boy. He knows too much, and without the Eva his only value  
is in what he has seen here in NERV. SEELE taking him at this point might be cause  
to call for my resignation.'

"We need as many functional Evangelions as we can hold on at at this point." he  
continued. "This problem needs to be resolved."

"What -can- you do to repair his damage, doctor Akagi?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"Short of some highly-invasive surgery, nothing except to just let the boy rest. Maybe  
it will come back after a while." She shrugged again. "I'd recommend a psychologist  
too, but I can already tell that the best relief possible is to get him away from the  
source of stress... but that might be bad for everyone else." There was no way to tell  
when the Angels would attack again, and if Shinji Ikari would spontaneously recover  
his abilities in face of certain gruesome death.

"So be it. Will his physical condition degrade further?" At Ritsuko's negative response,  
Gendo lightly gestured palm-up. "Then we will let this situation stand for a while longer.  
You may go, Akagi."

As soon she was gone did Gendo remove his tinted sunglasses and very dliberately put  
it aside on his desk. He rubbed at his eyes and let out a slow groan. That momentary  
surrender to human frailty was as far as he would allow himself. He had no hesitation  
in showing that amount of weakness to Fuyutsuki, as he correctly surmised the older  
man could no longer think any worse of his unconventional student.

"I don't know if it helps... but things could be worse." he said, chuckling lightly.

"Maybe things are like this because you like to say things like that a little too much."  
Gendo growled back. "Though we may at least take comfort that the old men would be  
just as frustrated as I am."

"Probably. Being able to operate openly does reduce the amount of leverage they hold.  
It does come with its own share of disadvantages..."

"The paparazzi." Gendo snorted. It was the first time he actually had to deal with that  
nuisance.

"Not just them, though." Fuyutski chuckled again. "It would not be too far off the mark  
to say that in exchange for their cooperation, everybody wants to know everything  
about the Evangelions."

Tokyo 3 was built to become the new capital of Japan, and after Sahaquiel's attack  
slid into that de facto role. Within a fortnight, the city bloomed to thrice its normal  
size. People poured into the place, looking for work and safety and Shinji Ikari. New  
shelters had to be built, and despite the insistence of the politicians, Gendo absolutely  
refused to allow refuge within the geofront.

"Given the squawking the last time Tokyo 3 was held under siege, it would be just as  
well if the public's attention is focused on the boy while we get things done." said the  
commander. "I will handle the old men. Make sure this doesn't get out."

The world had to rebuild, but the allocation of funds for NERV at least remained at the  
previous level. This proved barely enough, as the flow of funds was rapid around the  
settlement boom.

Houko owned much of the land around Tokyo 3, and they knew that even if they gave  
away 50 of the net to Shinji Ikari they would still turn a great profit. Not to mention  
that for various reasons, they were the preferred construction company. It was wealth  
they could not even have imagined, merely six months ago. When NNHIS approached  
them for further expansion, the company and all its employees all but swore eternal  
fealty to Shinji Ikari.

Unfortunately for the boy, Minase Houko had started to imitate her god friend Ayane  
Mitsugane in wearing an eight-pointed star locket with his face in it.

Around Tokyo-3 proper was developing a secondary boomtown, spreading out from a  
new railway and several heavy shelters sunk into the mountains nearby. The Trident  
base remained a good distance away, but well in sight of the new settlement. Industry  
and manufacturing was setting up shop, the most important was a small steel mill. The  
chemicals plant was being built even farther away.

Gendo was starting to get suspicious. He could not actually control the new arrivals  
and day by day his absolute authority of NERV was diluting. There was so much that  
had to be done, that there was no choice but to delegate authority. The MAGI was a  
great help, but unfortunately people (specially the newcomers) were starting to look  
upon the machine with anthromopic fondness. Melchior, Balthazar and Caspar -jiisan,  
in an instruction booklet shown as bearded old uncle figures grumpy, silly, or prone to  
inappropriate poetry. He had no idea who to blame for that, but he could not recall  
those "This is Tokyo-3" booklets since these proved so popular.

In the end it seemed inconsequential, if it kept the masses docile then it served his  
purpose as well. If only he had looked down further to see the thunder-and-lightning,  
faintly mythic Greek, the new symbol of Ministorm Studio. The blame could be put upon  
Makoto Hyuga and the three sisters Horaki.

NNHIS was more troublesome. The UN would have to meet to decide upon measures of  
furthering their own defense. It was all politics and economics, but these were the  
engines that allowed warfare. Gendo sought out factors that SEELE could use to force  
NERV to do their bidding. It might have been just denial, that he could not see what  
might have been obvious to anyone else with the same field of view. Gendo Ikari well  
and truly owned NERV. Shinji Ikari owned nearly everything else around it.

-o-

In contrast with Gendo Ikari's barely-disguised frustration, Ritsuko Akagi's residual  
mood could only be described as deliriously happy. It was actually start to creep out  
her co-workers. The reason behind that slightly manic smirk was a drastic unburdening  
of her workload. She had released all the data she had gathered of the last battle and  
all but dared the scientific community to make sense out of it. Let them have the  
headaches for a while.

True, someone might present a paper that would massively shake up established rules  
of reality... but she saw little chance of someone stealing her prize. She was certain  
that the next time out, the Evangelions would just rewrite the laws of physics YET  
AGAIN and make all those careful calculations worthless.

She looked at the mailing list and saw that one of the scientists was actually named  
Minovsky. It took her half an hour to stop laughing.

With the loss of NERV Germany and China, there was much greater strain upon the  
remaining MAGI-class computers. Both remaining NERV sites had to monitor their own  
respective hemispheres. The detection screen was still full of holes, and putting up  
new AT-field sensors took time and resources away from the effort of rebuilding. In  
addition to the burgeoning range of its awareness, MAGI also had to contend with  
directing all sorts of electronic traffic as the primary hub of the Far East International  
Network. Then above that, NERV's own necessary internal functions.

It might cost only the barest fraction of its processing power, but the MAGI paid the  
most attention to what Maya Ibuki was coding into it. Ritsuko arrived her office to see  
the younger woman focused upon the screen and with her fingers flying over the  
keyboard. The scientist mused; it did seem too long ago that the shy young lieutenant  
had been so impressed by her own acuity with the console.

She decided to let Maya work on whatever it was she wanted, to try and keep Shinji  
useful. As they say, those who can't do - teach. It might still be possible to retain the  
boy as an instructor if the simulator could just accept another form of input. Ritsuko  
went to her own computer and said something like "Yay! Hate mail!"

-o-

Asuka yawned and stretched out. "This sucks. Are they punishing us for saving the  
world?" The pilots were retreating to the safety of their limo. She watched the crowd  
still milling around the city hall, as at last NERV had consented to a press release. The  
pilots had to be there as showpieces, even as Kozo Fuyutsuki danced around the issue  
of what NERV intended to next. "There only so much gratitude someone can endure  
before that becomes a torment too..." Asuka added.

So many people thanking, crying, obsessing... NERV was milking their popularity to the  
hilt. That was also irritating. She looked aside to her fellow pilots, and grit her teeth.  
As always they went Shinji first, even if he had to use a cane just to walk. What a  
pathetic sight. He was foisting off the responsibility at every opportunity, saying it  
was a 'team effort' and 'it was nothing anyone else wouldn't have done in the same  
situation...' It was confusing. There was nothing she despised more than false humility,  
those who deliberately chose to be weak and parasitic upon others. Once again, just  
second best, but...

The secret was burning inside her. Now Shinji was useless for the Eva. That wasn't  
how she wanted to be number one. It was totally unfair, an insult even! That was her  
internal struggle... she watched him from the edge of her vision. She was losing him.  
'Damn it... why should I care about his welfare after this...? He could be in easy street  
the rest of his life, he would just play his cards right.' But Shinji refused. The pilots  
were not allowed to accept gifts of any kind, and future promises were rebuffed. 'Why  
does it hurt, to think he would leave?' Another part of her seemed to laugh. 'Isn't it  
obvious?'

She had lost early everything. There was no place for her now, other than Tokyo 3. It  
was not just that her other home in Germany was in ashes, that her foster parents  
were confirmed dead, her mother's grave vaporized... but that Asuka no longer saw  
herself capable of living a normal life. She had decided last night; she would die with  
the Eva. There was nothing else left of her mother. When they no longer needed the  
Eva, then she'd just go... walk off a high place somewhere.

She felt empty, completely unemotional. Maybe the shock still hadn't faded. 'It's not  
like I was ever really close to anyone there. They must think I'm a callous bitch for  
disregarding all that loss of life... but it's not like anything I can do would bring them  
back. I'm not going to be coddled. I'm not going to go all weepy and weak. Not from  
this. Not now! I need... I need to be strong. They need me to be strong.' Her cheek  
twitched. 'I can't fail now... I have to be stronger! I'm the only one left, the only one  
they can rely on. Rei's weak. Shinji's useless. I need to be strong!'

The pilots were flanked on each side by a row of black-garbed NERV security with  
Misato up front. The major frowned as she saw a group of dignitaries approach.

"Major Katsuragi...!" the tall, overly cheerful diplomat bowed to her as per custom, then  
extended his hand. "It is such a pleasure that we meet at last. I am Antonin Popov..."

Misato merely squinted blandly at him and his companions. "Ah, you're the Russian  
ambassador, aren't you?" Alongside the decision to hold Tokyo 3 as the new capital,  
many consulates were also relocated close to the area, agai, to the swimming delight  
of those who had invested heavily in land.

"Actually, I am here to represent the New Soviet, of which Russia is but a part." The  
system held to a true federal system, but united under a common purpose. The North  
Asian regions were complicated in having so many different peoples, cultures, religions,  
languages and terrains. It was deemed much more expedients to just send one person  
instead of one ambassador out of every country within. "Please allow us to express our  
most sincere gratitude..."

He tried to crane a look over Misato's shoulder, but the woman was having none of it.  
"Yes, well... this isn't a good time." She looked back at Shinji, who was still so pale  
almost to Rei's own skin tone, and Asuka there with a pout on her face. The girl would  
brook no more delays. Misato could see more beyond that, Asuka's pain resurfacing.  
Earlier the girl had responded to her adopted country's new ambassador's thanks with  
but a curt nod. Asuka couldn't accept that; all their thanks. She still felt as if she had  
failed them somehow. Misato was taking them somewhere away from the city, where  
they could just sit and relax and forget about being saviours for a few hours.

Misato felt a slight pull on her jacket. Shinji was tugging at her sleeves, looking up  
with devasting wide-eyed puppy-dog eyes. She winced and made warding gestures.  
"Don't... urgh. Must resist... where did you learn to do that?" Misato sighed. "All right,  
what do you want, Shinji...?"

"It's okay, Misato-san. I'd like to talk to them..." He looked around. "In private, even,  
please..."

The group turned into a hallway, and the Section 2 guards blocked that off. Shinji  
hobbled further in, followed by the ambassador. Shinji, in his soft but undeniable ways,  
insisted on speaking to him alone... the others made sure to fulfill that.

At the far end, the boy leaned on the blank wall, taking in deep breaths. It was too  
easy to exhaust himself. He felt weak all over.

"Mister Ikari... if this is too much of a discomfort for you, please..."

"I'm fine... don't worry." the boy replied, his voice strained. "Earlier at the conference...  
you asked if there was anything you could do to help us. As it turns out, there is one  
thing I need you to do for me, if it isn't too much trouble."

"Anything, mister Ikari." The ambassador grinned. "Well... anything with the elastic  
bounds of legality, at least..."

Shinji chuckled lightly. "No, nothing illegal." He looked up, and his eyes were no longer  
quite so innocent. "When you make your report to the Premier, please tell him this:  
Wavy lines. Star. Circle. Cross. Star. Queen of Diamonds. Five of Clubs. Eight of Hearts  
Jack of Hearts, and Ace of Diamonds. Your wife took it."

Antonin Popov blinked. The words didn't make sense of the surface. Was it some form  
of code, perhaps? The boy insisted that he remember it. He mumbled out the words  
he had heard, fixing it into his memory. "All right. I remember."

"Thank you, Popov-san. I do appreciate this..."

"I suppose it would be useless to ask if you would explain what these mean?"

Shinji grinned slightly. "And ruin the surprise? I think not." The pilot began to hobble  
back towards the main corridor. "Now, please excuse me... we have places to go.  
Misato-san had to bribe us well just to get us to behave during that mess of a press  
release..."

Misato had filed the expenses for a first-class onsen and spa towards medical reasons.  
First, it might be good for Shinji's health. The other pilots had to be there of course, if  
simply to maintain team cohesion. She had to be there to supervise. That she had for  
months been itching for a hot spring escapade was entirely beside the question. Maya  
was perhaps Ritsuko's representative. Inviting Mana Kirishima stretches the excuse a  
bit. Unfortunately, Hikari and her sisters couldn't take the invite, as they still had so  
many other things to do. That would have completely broken the flimsy camouflage.

Kaji, Toji and Kensuke were also called up to provide moral support for Shinji. Sure, he  
saved the world... but being alone around so much nubile female flesh might prove too  
much for his fragile constitution.

The boy had to admit for feeling some... resentment... for his friends, out of that.

-o-

The UN Emergency Council met five days after the worst of the actual emergency had  
past. It took that long to put their affairs into order, being that it was impossible to  
decide world-events when events inside their own borders were barely under control.  
The first three days were essential work for recovering their system of government  
out from their ruined capital cities. Fortunately, martial law was pulled back quickly  
enough.

The UN Council Hall was in Geneva, in a large T-shaped building with overhanging  
support beams that made it look slightly like a castle. Inside, the agreements on relief  
and trade had quickly passed. It helped that the already had practice on dealing with  
mass disasters, and with everyone all affected paranoia on opportunistic neighbors

The UN also passed that the Evangelion pilots for their outstanding contribution to the  
human race, be treated as Citizens of the World, to be considered full citizens of any  
nation they should find themselves in, with all the protection their laws should provide.  
They could enter any country freely, and would be exempt from the most irritating of  
taxation issues. It was not much more than a globalized 'keys to the city'.

"Information has always been the surest weapon." the UN Secretary General, Cattleya  
Monroe. "NERV has purposely been witholding information vital to the security of the  
whole world. Accountability and transparency is now necessary, only in cooperation  
would be survive."

The delegate from Japan was authorized to speak for NERV, to simplify things, pending  
considerations to make the lands that NERV occupies independent territories. With only  
two remaining sites, it was important that the interests of the parent countries do not  
interfere with NERV's duties to the world at large. The delegate had to make it clear  
that the UN itself may only push so far. "We already released material pertinent to the  
matters under request. For the sake of public order, some knowledge must remain on a  
need-to-know basis."

For fifteen years, the world had managed to keep up the comfortable myth of the  
Antarctic impact. A single word from Gendo Ikari exposed that for a lie, and intensified  
for a short while the fear and panic. It also added emotional leverage. The nations  
were unhappy about that one more blow to their stability, but for the moment, they  
must not appear ungrateful.

Afterwards, there was a reception held at the hotel Beau Rivage along Quai du Mont  
Blanc, for the many dignitaries from all over the world. There were some who thought  
it crass that the politicians would once again be entertained in luxury while their  
constituents were still suffering. However, the arrangements had been already been  
made, and traditionally it was in such apparently relaxed surroundings that nations  
took measure of each other.

While their wives mingled and showed off their finery, a small group of diplomats were  
gathered near the buffet table. The representative from, oddly enough, Greece... was  
the one to open a more volatile discussion. "I propose that we draft a legal definition  
of what is a god." He smirked slightly. "... and check if Shinji Ikari fits those criteria."

The little group suddenly exploded into shouting, drawing attention. Realizing this, they  
seemed to shrink into themselves, embarrassed, and moved off towards the tables.  
What started with just the delegates from Greece, France, Spain and Brazil was soon  
a small conference on its own; though it seemed just inconsequential conversation.

"Now what brought this on?" the Swiss delegate asked, after having graciously and  
deceptively ensured privacy even in the middle of such a gala affair. The music was  
made just a little louder, and the designated hosts were mingling with the guests to  
engage them in distracting conversation. However, the most useful act was to have  
the waiters bring out the wine.

The Greek diplomat shrugged. "All the first heroes were thought of as superhuman.  
As far as we know, the Angels don't use technology. Think of it as a preventative  
measure... in case we ever meet a sufficiently advanced alien, then we at least have  
something in the books to guide us."

"I worry however, that all it would mean is to give humanity a definite reason to defy  
any higher power that appears." the representative from Mexico said.

"I have no problem with calling any person on this Earth as a god. Heroes were once  
demigods, and the dieties were as fallible as anyone. Much of the old myths were as  
much as defying fate, defying the power of beings greater but no less wiser..."

The representative from Italy laughed. "Alexander was hailed as a god. The Roman  
Emperors were deified after death, save one to tried it while he was live... and was  
more of nutbunch insane than divine."

The Chinese delegate shrugged. "I see. The small 'g' makes all the difference, does it?"  
He looked around. "Where is Takahiro...?" he asked, referring to the Japanese delegate.  
"Joking or not... he has enough of a swelled head out of something he had nothing to  
do with. Huh. The boy's glory is not his to claim."

The one from Greece raised his left eyebrow slightly; as it was China that proposed  
the 'citizen of the world' status. Then again, politics might as well be called the art  
of hypocrisy. Yang Wen-li's refusal to return home had the mainland in a nervous fit.

"But, it was done with mechanical means. It was the Evangelion that did all that..."  
grumbled the French representative. As expected, he too wanted someday for his  
country to obtain an Evangelion; if at the very least to balance the status quo with  
Mutually Assured Destruction. "Surely, you do not expect us to classify pilots when  
inside an Eva as demigods. Weapons do not lift man to sublime heights, but only with  
personal effort..."

"The UN is a secular organization..." the representative from the Middle Eastern Treaty  
Territories put in. "Do we even have the right to make judgements in this matter?" It  
was a little too close to blasphemy, but being an international organization the belief  
system of any one nation should not hold sway. That was actually the danger, in that  
the UN would find itself imposing one.

"This is sheer idiocy." the representative from the Continental Kingdoms. "What will this  
foolishness serve? Are we supposed to bow, if we ever meet someone or something  
that fits the criteria we set?" Worse, what if the boy does meet them? Who will be  
responsible?

"I have seen what I have seen, and I have heard what I have heard in my soul..." the  
representative from Brazil was there. "All the way across the world.. this conflict might  
become too big for us. The time may come when the best thing we can give isn't  
money or resources... but just our trust."

"To make our own judgement upon diety is the highest hubris possible! It is not enough  
that faith defies reason, now we must use reason to define just how much of our logic  
must be contradicted? For what? I will not bow to a child!" Never again would the  
French republic elect another Emperor (or equivalent) after the lessons of Napoleon  
and his successors in ambition.

The representative from India began to laugh. "My translators tell me that Shinji can  
be translated into the 'second son'."

Noises and shoutes equivalent to 'what the hell!' and 'If the boy is a Messiah, then  
that would makes Gendo Ikari...? Hell no. Fuck you!'

"... actually, I would rather accept the boy being born of virgin birth than contemplate  
that someone as intelligent and attractive as Yui Ikari would even touch a slimeball like  
Gendo." the US representative muttered aside.

That light departure from their usual wranglings echoed just how complicated and  
borderline ludicrous were the other things they had to decide on. SEELE had to do a  
whole lot of political damage control, but even they were damaged by the attack, and  
their subtle methods could only go so far. The homing laser was undeniably dangerous,  
if someone else could replicate it then the sense of wonder would eventually fade. The  
UN Council was right, in that it could be MAD even beyond nuclear weapons. Actively  
encouraging NERV to seize more power, though... was a bitter option.

-o-

'It is... unreasonably hot' thought Emil Bundayev, premier of the Noviiy Soviet. The  
stereotype of cities always under snow, of somber people wearing greatcoats and  
always calling each other 'comrade' was at least fifty years old. There were those  
who indulged in that, if simply because it was amusing, considering how much the  
world had changed. It was, well, retro, and in the vernacular... 'cool'. Specially for  
those assigned to the frozen reaches of Siberia, that still fit the formula.

Even then, Moscow was not always under snow and it could get rather warm in the  
spring. He was in (Restored Kiev). Russia was just one part of the Soviet. The climate  
was hardly homogenous. Worse yet, because of the change in the Earth's tilt, winter  
would never again come to the region. Instead of snow, hard rains turning the terrain  
into muddy wet mess.

The New Soviet was a far cry from its predecessor, the much-vilified Soviet Union. At  
the very least, he mused, it was because the lack of a clear rival made things less  
interesting for all concerned. NATO and the Warsaw Pact were useless old relics by  
the time of Impact, and what he led was a council of nations in mutual cooperation.  
At the very least, it was their steady control over industry that allowed them to rapidly  
shift assets and defense to the eastern fields. There was no point in garish displays of  
superiority or ideological right... merely that the people suffering could be granted  
safety and allowed to live out decent, comfortable lives. And that, at last, fulfilled the  
self-maintaining requirements of the ideology.

Not that it was bloodless road to that peaceful balance. The collapse of the global  
economy during Impact affected everyone, most unaware of just how interdependent  
their nations were. There were many who sought to take advantage of the helpless  
in all that chaos. To regain social order, they had to take extreme measures. It was  
always underestimated how varied and how competetive were the elements within  
their protective domain.

He sighed, and resisted the urge to turn on the air conditioner. Sahaquiel's attack left  
devastation beyond what mankind had ever done to each other. The death toll was  
in the tens of millions, within just fifteen hours. Conservation of resources was one of  
the lessons learned during Impact, and they had to apply that again. Conservation had  
to begin from the top. He had a personal responsibility... and at least the revival of the  
commissars was to prevent any more secret excesses as was rife in the old regime.

He turned around to face Andrei Konstantin Popov, the envoy sent to Tokyo-3. "I  
suppose it is unfair to expect so much, but... is 'underwhelming' really the proper  
description of Shinji Ikari?"

The diplomat shrugged. "It is strange, I admit. He doesn't pretend to be anything more  
than a boy, but... the UN issue remains. Is not humility supposed to be one of the true  
signs of a saint?"

The premier snorted. "Well, the usefulness of saints makes it immaterial as to whether  
or not God exists. Dogmatic intolerance can take both secular and religious forms, and  
more importantly... do you think NERV is still capable of protecting the world from the  
Angels?"

"It's not like we have any other choice, but... yes, they are competent enough. We  
might only cause harm if we interfere."

The premier grunted in assent. "We can at least make conditions more favorable for  
NERV to seek their resources from within our borders... but not enough that they  
would deem it best to rebuild nearby. Instead of NERV Germany, what...? Russia?  
Poland? Siberia? Lithuania?"

"Somewhere around the center of the Eurasian continent, I would think." Andrei Popov  
replied. He paused a bit. "I spoke to Yang. He has 'suggested' that NERV does not try  
to build another inside China... but the mainland does need protection."

"Had not the Evangelions demonstrated it makes no different where in the world they  
are located?" Emil Bundayev sighed again, and got off his chair. "The UN is determined  
to find some means of protection independent of the Eva... this is going to take up  
a lot of money and manpower we could use towards rebuilding." However, he also knew  
that rebuilding would be pointless if it would be destroyed so easily again.

"I was shown a few plans... among them was that massive positron cannon. Have you  
looked over the data?"

The premier squeezed his eyes shut, and rubbed at his bulbous nose. "The one they  
want to build along the shores of that lake? Where else do you think there is sufficient  
industry and a large enough body of water to cool something even bigger, one to make  
an anti-orbital umbrella?"

Popov looked sick. "Bohze moi... the Volga industrial basin. Maybe even the opening  
out into the Caspian Sea. It's certainly central enough to cover most of Europe and  
East Asia."

"There is another method the UN is deciding on. Like a vault, to preserve humanity  
if our guess on this war continuing to escalate. An Earth's Cradle, even if the surface  
should be scoured clean of life. The Grand Cannon near here, or the Earth's Cradle  
somewhere in Kenya. The world hardly has enough resources to build both, while at the  
same time supporting the whims of NERV." The premier stared down at his old friend.  
"Andrei, which do you think we should support...?"

"Huh. Neither."

"Interesting. Why?"

"These are mere stopgaps. If these Outsiders, these... Angels... are intent upon our  
extinction as a species, then simply waiting for them to go away wouldn't help. Even  
the Grand Cannon is a deterrent measure... this is a Hot War, Premier... and at some  
point we need to go into the offensive."

Emil Bundayev chuckled darkly. "In a situation where maintaining the status quo will  
only make things worse, is it better to do something... anything... even if there is the  
risk it will accelerate the process? Even the Evangelions are stuck on the defensive."

"But at least they reliably KILL the enemy."

A nod. "Yes, there is THAT." He sat back down and leaned over the desk. "All right.  
What did the boy say again?"

The ambassador repeated Shinji's request, word for word. It only made the Premier  
frown even further. "Hm... no, I have no idea what he means to say. We have had no  
prior contact with the boy. Is the elder Ikari using him as a messenger? I know the  
suits from the cards, but... wavy line, circle, star..." He blinked and stood up. "Wait!"

The Premier snatched up his phone and dialed in the area code for Arkhanglesk. "This  
is Bundayev. I would like to speak to Levka. Authorization Green, Twelve Twelve One."  
He did not have to wait long. "Ah. Nikanor, you old goat. Yes, yes... look, tell me if  
these sound familiar. Wavy lines. Star. Circle. Cross. Star."

The other man on the line was Nikanor Levka Petrovskii, the Dean of the Arkhanglesk  
Mental Laboratory. It was the public face of PKRU, and the loss of many of their best  
psychomotives hit the institution hard. The older man laughed hoarsely. "When did  
you get psychic, Emil? Those are Zener cards for the testing of ESP, and... hah! Just  
incidentally the ones I have before me. From right to left, as you say: Wavy lines,  
star, circle, cross, star."

The premier shouted a string of expletives into the phone, confusing the poor reciever.  
He apologized, and promised to explain later. He slammed the phone down, and his  
forehead was starting to glisten with sweat.

Before Popov could say anything, he pulled open his desk drawer and took out a pack  
of cards. The Soviet Premier took a deep breath, and brought out the deck. He cut  
and shuffled it many times, with odd expertise. He kept his eyes closed as he pulled  
out five cards at random, placing these face down.

He opned his eyes and sat back down. He gestured for the ambassador to flip the  
cards face-up.

With a shaky hand, Andrei Popov did so. He gasped, and staggered back when it was  
done. From right to left: Queen of Diamonds, Five of Clubs, Eight of Hearts, Jack of  
Hearts, and the Ace of Diamonds.

"What... what does this mean...?" he mumbled. His immidiate superior had no answer  
to give, rummaging around in his desk drawer.

"Now where are those cigars...? This sort of thing is worth a smoke." He was making a  
lot of noise, uncaring of the mess he was making of his stuff.

"Your wife took them..." the ambassador added numbly. "Shinji Ikari said that too."

The premier paused, and looked up. His expression slowly faded from frustration into  
wide-eyed glee. "HAH! She is always trying to get me to quit..." He slammed his hand  
down onto the desk, sending the cards flying. "Masterful!"

"Sir..?" Andrei Popov asked, unsure of what the Premier had meant. His wife, or the  
boy?

The premier grinned fiercely. "Do you know what this means?" At the negative gesture,  
he continued with a wide sweep of his arms. "You are going back to Tokyo Three!"

"I see. And what will I do there?" He resisted the urge to smack himself. "Of course. I  
must keep an eye on Shinji Ikari."

"More than that, give him your ear. Something is going to happen, I can just feel it.  
The boy... heh, he is his father's son. A threat and a promise in the same instant, da.  
Go back to that city, and listen carefully. We might still yet get through this whole  
debacle intact." A psychic of that caliber... the boy was sending a warning. "We do not  
need him as an enemy."

He felt a chill pass through him. He couldn't decide, whether what he was feeling was  
some form of deep atavistic joy or such keen crippling fear. "Did he... speak to any  
other ambassador? Did he pass other messages?"

"maybe. I... don't know."

'What are you up to?' the Premier thought. 'What can one boy really do?' He was  
troubled with the thought of whosoever was there pulling the boy's strings... or even  
more disturbing... if the puppet in full view was actually dancing on his own.

-o-

The hot springs was high up the the mountains; secluded and secure. They had taken  
one of NERV's company vans for trip, fortunately Misato was not driving. Unfortunately  
Kaji promptly got them lost, leading to the two adults bickering for most of the trip.  
Shinji sat in the middle row of seats, with Asuka and Rei on either side. The back seats  
had Toji and Kensuke; both bored nearly out of their skulls. Maya had gone on ahead  
to prepare the place for their arrival.

"Sheesh, the sexual tension here is so thick, it's suffocating." murmured Kensuke.

"Let's hope we don't die from their personality problems before we reach the onsen."  
Toji replied. "Maan, if only class rep could come along. Things make sense when she's  
around."

'Actually, I think it's more like you can focus on her so exclusively that you may ignore  
whatever weirdness is happening around you.' Kensuke thought. He had gone out with  
several girls, but for some reason he just couldn't find in him the same spark that was  
between Toji and Hikari, or that storm of confusion between Shinji, Asuka, and Rei.  
And Mana and Maya. 'Damn you, Ikari! You set the bar too high for the rest of us.'

Hmm. He adjusted his glasses and went back to his portable game of Eva FB. 'Maybe  
because I don't want stability? War, machines, and conflict... love and all that crap, I  
don't need it right now.' He had learn just how annoying fangirls could be, but at least  
he could retreat into the safety of NNHIS base. He had already abandoned running the  
little bookstore as cover; it was not like he had to hide his consultancy gig anymore.

The GPS satellites were down to 30, and the problem with relying on the maps was  
that the Evangelions had already reshaped the terrain so many times. Soon enough  
however, they reached the inn.

It was made of wood, and being so high up was all but untouched by the effects of  
Impact. The owners were a childless old couple who maintained the remote inn as had  
their parents before them. It was not a particularly old inn, dating back to only prior  
to the Second World War, but it certainly looked the part. Their place was chosen  
because of that apparent unconcern with the ails of the outside world. They did not  
even own so much as a radio. The most they saw or cared about the arrivals (who  
paid well, admittedly, but not that they wanted either much money or fame) was the  
thin, weak-looking young teen helped out of the car by his... sisters? Fiancees? Well  
whoever these people were, it was never wise to question the stupidly rich.

It would have properly horrified Shinji to learn how much like a royal court they were  
viewed the entourage. Maya would have been properly pleased she slotted neatly into  
the role of 'concubine'. She twirled around, showing off her black yukata. "Welcome!"  
she said cheerily. "Get changed! Get changed! Shuck off the twenty-first century!"

"I never really understood the fascination you people have with hypothermia..." Asuka  
muttered. She lifted her arms to the side and let the sleeves hng loose. She looked at  
Shinji, who smiled. She looked damn good in a red yukata. Perhaps, she thought, that  
was reason enough for many old traditions.

Rei had the expected blue robe which matched her hair. Misato looked like she was just  
poured into her own clothes, showing lots of cleavage. The males were much less of  
an inspiring sight, with Kaji in gray, Toji in green, and Kensuke with yellow (much to his  
displeasure).

"Dammit, we look like a sentai team!" he complained. "Why does she get to be red?  
Why do I have to get the gender-neutral color?" Everyone looked at him; oddly. Fine.  
I retract the question."

He squinted, with just friendly aggravation, at Shinji with his full-on white clothes.  
Pure silk shining white, that even looking at it started to hurt the eyes. Then, Shinji's  
stomach growled, ruining whatever fragile dignity he might have had at the moment. A  
second stretched by, then everyone laughed, struck by the absurdity of it all. They  
felt like normal people, for a change. It felt good.

The dinner was delicious, despite being simple and healthy fare. The old couple had  
prepared it themselves, eighty years and still going strong; presumably through the  
very food that they eat and the medicinal effects of their hot spring. Afterwards, while  
they gave the food time to digest, the guests were left free to indulge in their own  
distractions. Asuka wouldn't let anyone play Evangelion Fantasy Battle in front of her  
until she got her own card. Kensuke retorted that if she was going to use German  
words in Scrabble then he'd damn well better be allowed to use Urdu. Rei. Poker. No.  
Monopoly. Maya. Oh hell no. It all was a mess after that, but a particularly nonchalant  
sort of disorder.

Shinji managed to tear himself away and almost imperceptibly make his way out onto  
the veranda. His cane was made of titanium, adjustable height, soft rubber grip. Kaji  
winced as he watched him go; it just wasn't right. It didn't look quite as much as the  
boy was sick, but that there was something... missing... in him, somehow.

The spy followed. Kaji took out a cigarette then after a while put it away, as Misato  
had forbid with all the force of an enraged mother bear any smoking near Shinji. 'Oh,  
no...' he thought with some fismay. He had always thought himself as something of a  
lone wolf. He had done most of everything for Misato... but he never believed she  
could actually domisticate him when she was barely able to contain the (messy,  
alcoholic) wildcat in herself.

"Feeling all right?" he asked after a while watching the boy standing there out in the  
cold. The moon was that odd shape before full, close enough that one would like to  
pretend it was already round... but the eye wasn't quite so easily tricked, and staring  
at it too long would without fail produce a migraine. It was the sort of moon that bad  
poets used, right before they got well and drunk. "Bottling it in does no good, you  
know. There's no shame to admitting to some pain now and then. And sometimes...  
things just happen. Sometimes the only thing we can do is what we think is right at  
the time."

Odd, Kaji expected at least some whining. The boy seemed to have the face for that.  
What he found instead was a certain sort of bleak pleading in those eyes. It was like...  
'yes, I know it's permissible, that would make you feel better about things, wouldn't it,  
and I'm sorry but no matter how hard I try I just can't do that. It's not in me. Sorry.'

What the boy said instead was "I understand, Kaji-san. It can't do anything about  
what's already happened." His bony fists clenched. "It's not like I can bring people back  
from the dead or turn back time... why should I be feeling guilty? It wasn't as if I had  
killed them all myself."

Shinji, peevishly, kicked at a rock. It bounced pathetically; one, twice, then against  
the wooden high fence. Kaji felt like getting a heart attack. He was even annoyed,  
that his heart still kept on beating. The boy was right, it was the Angels that killed  
so many people... but what about those who allowed that to happen? His own great  
sin still weighed heavily, and he could offer no comfort along that line.

"Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?" he asked. "It's also egotistical to carry all the  
responsibility. No matter what people expect, you should really be concerned about  
the reality of what you can do."

Shinji turned and smiled sadly. "You already figured it out, didn't you, Kaji-san?"

Kaji nodded. Misato's forced cheerfulness, so peppy without booze, she was trying too  
hard. Asuka's own brooding silence. The Evangelion Simulation was getting an overhaul  
for more structured coaching. He would not have been much of a spy if he could not  
read through that. Whatever it was that the boy did, close to (or even outright)  
miraculous as it may have been... Shinji would not be able to repeat it. Humanity could  
run out of both Evangelions and pilots.

"What are you going to do now?"

Shinji shrugged. "You say that like what I want actually matters." He turned around  
began to walk back, tapping his cane lightly on the gravel path. "Well, Kaji-san...  
sometimes the right thing to do is nothing at all..."

That little smile made the spy shiver. For some reason, he thought about Rule One,  
amended for Tokyo 3:

Do not act incatiously when confronting pale thin smiling boy with a stick.

-o-

They were, simultaneously, in heaven and hell. The high wooden partition made it so.  
Beyond that were the sounds of female playfulness, expected in a communal hot bath.  
Splashing sounds, feminine squeals... Misato was perhaps trying too hard to create a  
cheerful atmosphere. The world was not supposed to exist; until morning they were  
supposed to be completely, blissfully, mundane.

"It's tradition." said Kensuke, while pinching his nose. "They're trying to see if we're  
going to try and peek... and the answer should be obvious. Of course, we should."

"It would shame us and our ancestors as men, if we didn't try." Toji added, nodding.

There was a shriek from behind the wall. "Mi-misato-sempai! Please, stop." Maya let  
out a slight moan. "Okay, don't stop."

"The way you hide these under a uniform is just disgraceful! Ooh, smooth indoors skin."

"What do you bet Asuka's waiting under the wall with a baseball bat?" Kaji sighed.  
"It's tradition too, for women to torture us... this way... and physically... if we give  
into the temptation." He knew he was supposed to discourage such juvenile antics as  
the responsible adult, but... hell. He had no interest in seeing Asuka's pubescent form  
(no matter how much she had offered), or even Ayanami's; he was no lolicon. Misato  
was slowly entering into a stable relationship with him; which meant she was refusing  
to 'put out', as the saying goes. Kaji was frustrated about a great many things.

"Whenever there's a furo scene in a high school setting, this has to happen. Only a  
total wuss would let this chance pass by."

"You've been playing too many dating sims games..." Kaji said to Kensuke. "Though  
you are in junior high... hmm." He was not threatened by the boys getting a look at  
Misato. He felt like rubbing their little faces in the fact that real women wanted real  
men. He rubbed at his chin and looked thoughtful. "It's a learning experience of a sort,  
I suppose... but how do you even expect to get away with this?"

"Miniature camera." said Kensuke. He held up a worm-cam; a small lens fitted on the  
end of a thin flexible tube. The video went into his multifunction game unit, a Vaultec  
Pip Boy, which had a 2-gigabyte drive. By the standards of 2015, in sight of the  
collapsed computing market, it was bleeding-edge.

Kaji looked up, and grinned. "I'm not going to ask where you get your toys. But good  
work."

Shinji leaned back, until his nose was just above water level. He burbled out bubbles,  
as if to say; I wash my hands of you idiots.

Crack!

"My camera!" Kensuke wailed. The whole thing was yanked right out of his hands,  
before he could get anything good. That sound was the PipBoy breaking apart upon  
a boulder. His eyes widened. "Oh, shit, my savefiles!" The virtual tournament Burning  
Evangelion was played over the International Network, in turns. He was a finalist.

A red-haired head poked over the wall. The boys quickly dived for the cover of the  
onsen pool, Asuka's biting laughter behind them. "Ha! I knew you morons would try  
something stupid. Now why are you hiding? It's not as much fun when it's happening  
to you, is it?"

Toji stood up, outraged. "What the hell, you hypocrite?" he objected, pointing up with  
his index finger. "Don't you deserve something for peeping too?"

"Shut up, tiny." she huffed. Toji gaped like a fish, his indignation beyond words. Asuka  
looked down and bid those below to keep their shoulders steady. She was standing on  
Rei and Maya, and the older, taller woman was under greater strain of keeping it level.  
"Kaaji-sempai, you know you don't have to go through all this if you want to see my  
body."

Kaji Ryouji had remained relaxing at the baths, with a marginally more believable alibi  
than Shinji. He winced, nonetheless. More than her age, it was her personality that  
simply made him distant. If Asuka ever got a hook in, she'd never let go; persistence  
was her more charming, and most frightening, virtue. He sank down, refusing to expose  
any more of himself than he had to.

"Asuka... they're sorry. Could you leave off punishing them, for a while, please?" Shinji  
asked. 'Or just leave.'

"Hmf. Letting them do as they wanted makes you accomplices. If I forgive them, that  
makes me culpable too." Asuka slapped her hands upon the partition's edge. "This is  
the sort of thing that hinders the pursuit of gender equali-! Ack!" Her tirade was cut  
off as her supports toppled.

Pained grunts and feminine alarm went from behind the wall. Asuka's distinctive shriek  
sounded. "G-get your hand out of there! Dammit!" she shouted. "Help! She's molesting  
me...!" Then, in a smaller voice "...again."

"It was an accident, Sohryu." replied Rei.

"Like hell I'm going to trust what you're saying. I don't trust that look in your eye."

Misato gulped down her can of beer and squinted at the pile of tangled naked limbs.  
In the month that Shinji had spent under a coma, Misato had grown to know more  
about Rei. The girl hung around the apartment more often, in small but baffling ways  
blunting the edge of Asuka's boredom. "I think that's just her normal expression."

"That's what makes it so damn suspicious!"

-o-

The chastised boys seemed to sink back into their hot spring bath, like futile devils  
dissolving into the much. As soon as the other side quieted down, both boys grinned  
with satisfaction.

Kaji blinked. "You little bastards...!" he exclaimed, grinning as well. "You meant to get  
caught."

"Well, they'd have felt insulted if we didn't at least try. Shinji's too much of a bore to  
be believable at it." Kensuke replied, haughtily. "I -know- them. This is really more of  
a show of respect, to reassure them that they're still desirable." He shrugged again.  
"It's tradition."

"Of course, if Hikari had been there, I'd have drowned myself first." Toji added.

Shinji just smiled slightly. There were still things he could help with, perhaps even the  
most important... the happiness of the people that he cared for. That filled him more  
than any amount of grateful oratory.

He could feel Ryouji Kaji's measuring gaze. The spy would not believe that this was  
something that his friends decided on their own; all he did was to ensure they were  
not maimed for it. Someday, Shinji supposed, Ikari blood should be synonymous with  
bastardiness. His father took his mother's name, after all!

After a while, he opened his eyes. Silently, he got up and grabbed a towel. He winced  
at the sudden movement, but had the expression normally reserved for storming dark  
castles by the lonesome.

-o-

Mana was content to merely remain an observer. Civilian life was just so -strange-. She  
was sitting at the furo's edge, her legs dipped to just under the knees, with a towel  
covering her shoulders. The steam rising from the pool disguised the discoloration of  
her false arm. This was camaraderie, she supposed; but they were of NERV, and she  
was obligated to maintain a necessary emotional distance.

Sohryu was so daring, unconcerned with the proper chain of command. Mana Kirishima  
had been taught, shown so many examples, how that sort of fiercely independent  
thinking could get your team killed. NERV seemed to tolerate that, encourage it even.  
No sane military could have done as these people have. Half the time, it seemed like  
NERV had no idea what they are doing or how they are doing it...

The world was still there. As long as it worked...?

She looked at the others. Ayanami was still puzzling, but her reliability was from the  
lack of command initiative. Ibuki was a staff officer, to be respected. Much of what  
NNHIS and the JSSDF knew of Evangelion battle tactics had to get through her filter.  
Katsuragi had a reputation... sadly, it looked like there was some fact behind that, but  
also there was the truth about her impressive combat record.

Misato noticed the girl's stare, and twitched her lips. "Like what you see?" she said,  
thrusting her chest out a bit.

Mana blushed in embarrassment. 'n- wait.. yes? What's the polite response to that  
question?' "Sorry, m'am. It's just... that scar."

"Oh. This?" The woman ran her finger across the mark, the sole flaw in what the girl  
considered a perfect body. Misato was a soldier, but granted much freedom due to her  
skills. "It's just a little souvenir from Impact." She was perhaps not the best role model,  
but to the girl it was what she ached to be when she matured.

Mana suddenly felt so inadequate, but supressed that. "Why did you even invite me  
here...?" she mumbled. It was like her presence was to allow others to show off their  
perfection in contrast to her obvious flaws. That was one of the complaints of the  
JSSDF as well, often used as an example .

"Why not?" Misato replied. "Girl's got to look good." Asuka gasped. Misato also winced,  
realizing what she had just said.

Mana slapped at her shoulder, there was a hollow sound. For a moment there, they  
had forgotten about it. She laughed. "I'm starting to deal with it."

"Oh not the 'I'm so meek, don't mind me please while I kick your asses' voice again.  
Kirishima, are you fishing for reassurances?" Asuka slid back into the water, and  
playfully splashed at her avowed rival. "Do the other one."

The girl commisar snorted. "I don't need your pity, Sohryu." Her look softened. She put  
a finger under the towel on her shoulders, and wiggled the connections to her arm.  
"When the Angel attacked, all I could do was to stand there and watch. I don't have a  
problem with walking after you in the battlefield. They're right to call you a hero. But...  
someone has to be there to catch you when you fall."

"WHEN I fall? Dammit, I may not be Shinji, but does anyone actually believe I can do  
something useful with the Eva?" She huffed again. "If it comes down to it, why should  
I even really bother?"

"Help us, Asuka Langley-Sohryu. You are our only hope."

Asuka's cheek twitched uncontrollably. "How do you even manage to say things like  
that with a straight face?" It was highly doubtful that Ayanami had ever been allowed  
to see a movie, least of all that one. Wonder Girl's power was the ability to speak with  
such apathetic calm to make butlers envious.

Maya giggled appropriately. Gendo's confidence in having shaped the girl since birth  
was hampered by the fact that he was a grumpy old man. The teenage years were  
the most important in the development, and nothing short of keeping Rei from going  
into puberty would have prevented her from learning and changing. The moment she  
left complete isolation was the start of the experiment's catastrophic failure. Much of  
it relied more upon other people's apathy than her own.

Everyone there had changed so greatly within a few short months.

Shinji had been awake for a grand total of five days, and his subconscious was still  
insisting that having the girls getting along with each other was nothing short of  
miraculous on its own. He went in just in time to see Asuka and Mana wrestling with  
their personality differences, both literally and figuratively, and fought the survival  
instinct to just turn around and walk away.

Asuka looked on in disbelief, for a moment. Then, she began screaming? "What the?  
Shinji, you perverted moron! Get out! Get out!"

He ignored the shampoo bottle that bounced off his skull. He kept his gaze straight  
ahead, away from tempting sights. Misato seemed amused, while both Maya and Rei  
actually tried to give him a better view. He refused to look. He walked over to behind  
Mana, who seemed paralyzed.

"Mana... you're not useless." he said to her. "You are not hideous."

She scowled and turned back. "Of all people, what I don't need is YOUR pity!" she  
spat out. "As a soldier and as a woman, there's only one other thing I'm good for...  
and now I'm not even that!"

Ah. Even base-raised as she was, there was still a cultural hang-up about wholeness  
of body. Even worse, perhaps, as without the tempering effect of female guidance,  
Mana Kirishima had a distinct complex about her feminine appeal. She was 'damaged  
goods'; in her own literal way of looking at things.

She removed her towel off her shoulders, showing the clear contrast where her flesh  
ended and the false arm began. She wasn't as... gifted... as the other girls, and one  
of her breasts would always be slightly lower than the other. She detached her left  
arm. Everyon held back their wince, as she revealed the veined, pinkish flesh beneath;  
with that bit of metal poking right out.

Shinji steeled his resolve, and put his hand on her shoulders, right over the collapsed  
joint. "You will always be beautiful to me." he said, and meaning it.

She gasped. She looked up at him...

Then fainted, into his arms, her nose bleeding slightly. Her face was set into a silly  
little grin.

His mind went blank. He had sensed he had to hurry, and had not actually planned  
any further. Belatedly he realized what he had just done. It must have shown on his  
face. 'Oh, dear. I know what happens here. Pain. Much pain.'

Misato laughed. "Brave, Shinji-kun. Very brave." She took up her beer can and leaned  
back. "Foolish, though... but you're still so young." Then, she realized he was staring  
rather intently. She laughed again. "Mmm... and here I thought I knew your tastes  
from what you just did."

"... you're missing a rib, aren't you, Misato-san?" he asked distractedly.

She shrugged. "Well, yes."

His eyes widened. Something just went click in his mind.

Mana moaned a bit, and gave an evil little chuckle in her sleep.

He blushed and froze up. 'Help!'

"Let go of her!, baka Shinji! You pervert!" Asuka looked for something else to throw.  
Getting up to inflict righteous female rage would involve getting up out of the water  
and exposing herself. She excused her blush as indignation. 'No... not jealousy!' She  
fought down the feeling that she was the better choice. 'How the hell does he know  
when we need him?'

"Actually, he would be even more of a pervert if he showed no reflex reactions." Rei  
commented. She did not understand the fascination with yaoi, even when her trusted  
battle sister tried to explain (with graphical examples). Yuri, on the other hand, did not  
seem to strain biological credulity to her.

She had visited his room many times, during his convalescence. All four of his figurines  
were there. Now, he was near naked in the same place with five totally naked females.  
She found herself steepling her fingers under her chin. "Excellent..." she whispered.

It should be noted that, even under his protests, Rei Ayanami felt it was only right and  
proper to build him a harem. He was refusing to 'put out', as the saying goes. Rei was  
frustrated about a great many things.

Shinji saw the look in her eyes, gave a yelp of utter fear, and fled.

-o-

The guys were bowing, when he walked back into the male section of the baths.

"You are the mighty one...!" intoned Kensuke.

"We're not worthy." Toji was saying in between kowtows. "We're not worthy."

Kaji grinned lopsidedly, and made a few token gestures. "I can't say much about your  
sanity, but damn, kid. You just walked in there, and they let you leave without even  
being slightly maimed. You must have balls of steel."

"Hail Lord Iron Balls!" Kensuke crowed.

"Hail Lord Iron Balls!" Toji echoed.

Shinji palmed his face. "... who is this Strike Fiss and why do I feel the need to  
apologize to him?"

-o-

-o-

Meanwhile, back in Tokto-3, Gendo Ikari was meeting with SEELE. Even the featureless  
disguise of Sound Only could not hide how vexed the old conspirators were. Only Keel  
Lorenz showed a visible form, as his injuries had long prevented any leak of emotion  
into his face. To him, Gendo was indeed but a child in the ways of intrigue; talented,  
true, but still bound by the fallibility of his born flesh.

"Of our reduced assets, what we cannot afford to waste... is time." he intoned. "You  
must ensure that the scenarios are carried out."

"But to gain time, it is necessary to sacrifice other things... material things." was the  
NERV commander's reply.

"You will have to make do with what you have." SEELE 06 said. "Any additional assets  
that you require you must find yourself.

"Speaking of reduced assets, it has come to our notice that Shinji Ikari is no longer  
capable of piloting the Evangelion."

Gendo held back his surprise. He confirmed that just earlier that day. How did the old  
men know of that so quickly? Who told them? Perhaps Kaji Ryouji, too, had outlived his  
usefulness. Worse than that though, is the loose lips of Katsuragi and pilots; for who  
else would have given that to such an obvious spy?

That was the problem. It was too obvious. Therefore, it could only be intentional.

"He still has some use, at least on the public relations side." he replied. "He is not  
irreplaceable..." he had to emphasize.

Silence stretched out. After a while, SEELE 05 said "Perhaps some congratulations is  
in order..."

"NERV has performed well, even against the unexpected." added SEELE 04. "You are  
to be commended in your handling of the boy. Just keep him under control, and we  
should have no problems."

Gendo blinked. What? "... the circumstances dictate my decisions." He supposed that  
was neutral enough. "The boy will be tolerated only as far as he is useful."

"Seclusion is convinient for an artificial messiah." continued SEELE 04. "Institutions last  
longer, more important than mere miracles."

SEELE 05 agreed. "Evangelion tactics are still fresh. However, the co-opting of NNHIS,  
and the global media... with these, NERV has its own support structure. This is why  
we can leave you be for a while, to fend for yourself. We expect heightened readiness  
the next time we meet, Ikari. We must make up for lost time."

"The boy is the fulcrum upon which other institutions may be levered into place." Keel  
said at last. "But remember that without our initial support, none of these could have  
been possible. Take care not to rely too much on one trick, for it may yet backfire."

Gendo said nothing.

"So be it. We will have further orders when we finish reloca-..."

Gendo coughed slightly. All attention turned to him, he let that drag on for several  
tense seconds. "... you had nothing to do with the boy's rise into influence."

Utter silence. Unspoken there, but clear enough, was the admission that their praise  
was misplaced.

And then there was a moment numb with horror, as they realized that -none of them-  
there had actually -any- real control over Shinji Ikari. Who, then, was the puppet-  
master?

-o-

The very first thing upon their return, the black suits came for him. They had direct  
orders from Gend Ikari. Shinji followed without protest, though over Misato's own loud  
objections. The agents escorting him were stern-faced and silent, even as they led  
him deep into NERV and past the cell blocks. He recognized the one they put him in  
after disobeying orders while fighting Shamsel.

The Evangelion simulator proved critical in training Asuka out of her habit of disobeying  
orders. The consequences helped refine the acceptable limits of initiative, but also  
unfortunately producing that sometimes it was better to just let the pilots loose and  
pray the collateral damage is not too great. He hoped Asuka would not over-react, as  
Gendo would have little compunction in throwing her into the brig to stew for a while.

He was led into a bare interrogation room, and made to wait; after all that hurry in just  
getting there. He sat at the chair facing the door. The place was brightly-lit, with walls  
of sheet metal. He supposed it was calculated to make him feel impatient rather than  
afraid. Strained, but not in pain. Certainly his eyes were starting to hurt.

Fifteen minutes crawled by. He lacked the iron self-control that his father had, in the  
mastery of the body's unconscious movements. He knew that the principle would be to  
be defiantly unmoved, as if such discomfort was beyond notice.

Gendo arrived, twenty minutes later, to find the young teen asleep. He frowned.

"Wake him up." he told a Section 2 agent. At least the man tried to be gentle as far  
as he could while shaking someone back into consciousness. Gendo frowned more  
visibly, as Shinji brought his head off the table leaving a puddle of drool.

The boy blinked and rubbed at his eyes. He made weak apologies.

"Leave us." Gendo commanded. The Section 2 agents locked the door after they left.  
He sat facing his own sun, whose attempt at looking defiant ended up just even more  
pathetic. He could not see what it was that others could find impressive about the  
boy. How could anyone respect that which they do not fear even slightly?

Gendo sat and stared, in his usual pose with his hands under his chin.

Shinji supposed his father was good at that. Normally that should be enough to break  
most people's nerve. There was a certain protocol to things; the first one to show any  
weakness loses.

Tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap.

Shinji drummed his fingers on the table. Impatience. Loss of emotional control. And to  
Gendo, that would also sound like disrespect. It was as if the boy considered his own  
time more important than his father's.

Wham!

Gendo's fist slammed down on the metal table just a centimeter off from the fragile  
fingers. Shinji took his hand off the table.

Silence.

Shinji's eyes began to droop. If Gendo wanted to play at the patience game, then he  
would just go back to sleep. Time meant nothing there.

Gendo had expected his son to at least ask questions. There was fear, but not enough  
of it. "I know of your little hideaways." he said at last. "Your armories. The accounts."  
Irritatingly, these were not even hidden all that well. It was just that no one had ever  
bothered to look,before.

Shinji nodded. It was pointless to hide it any longer, after that whole bolter cache  
debacle against Matariel.

"You will answer my questions."

"Yes, father."

"Who are you working for?"

Shinji blinked, looking confused. "NERV? ... you?"

Gendo's glasses glinted. "NNHIS. The Houko properties. You have been seen talking to  
the ambassadors of New Soviet, North Africa, and Germany." He got up, and walked  
over to the boy, his gloved left hand skimming across the surface of the table. "You  
will not hide behind that obfuscating stupidity. Or innocence." Which was pretty much  
the same thing, to Gendo.

Shinji raised his hand, as if asking for attention from a teacher.

Gendo only barely suppressed a sigh. "What?"

"Um... there really isn't anything I have to monologue about."

The commander of NERV was born in 1967. He was in his thirties during Second Impact  
and had pursued a particularly intelligent woman. He was not technologically-inclined,  
but could get by. He had read the List.

Unfortunately, he had to compromise several times over in his rise into power, which  
hampered most attempts to turn the geofront into a proper lair. Fortifying NERV from  
conventional attack was something that SEELE would never allow.

Gendo grabbed his son by the lapels of his shirt and pulled him up. "As the commander  
of NERV, witholding information from me imperils the duty of NERV in protecting the  
human race." Throwing the boy's own propaganda in his face felt apt. "Ryouji is such  
an obvious spy. But someone else was too obvious, that he was not suspected until  
now. If you are not the tool of the old men, whose are you?"

"... you're talking about SEELE, aren't you?"

Gendo blinked. It was an odd feeling, to be proven right and yet... was that somehow  
pride, that this young snake had managed to slither under his feet for so long without  
being noticed?

"Who are you working for?"

"... can't I just work for myself?" the boy replied in a pleading tone. "I just don't want  
people to suffer, father..."

Gendo scoffed. "People are nothing. Easily replaceable, easily led." He let go, allowing  
the boy to stand up. "NNHIS, the JSSDF, and the UN... I will not let them pressure  
NERV, or whoever is manipulating them to stand in the way of what must be done."

There was a meaty smack. Shinji Ikari fell over, coughing and clutching at his stomach.

"Do you think is a game?" Gendo snarled out. "Do you think being my son gives you  
some protection? You are not irreplaceable. You -will- obey me, or you will -suffer-."

Shinji looked up and managed a slight grin. "T-there is nothing you c-can do to me  
that I haven't gone through before."

Gendo had to recognize the truth of that; the kidnapping had the boy beaten almost  
to death. Outright torture was possible, but proven to be unreliable. "Perhaps. But if  
you will not cooperate, the others are also not irreplaceable. Not even Katsuragi. Ibuki,  
is not that essential to NERV."

"Father, removing Maya might be all that it takes to drive Akagi-sensei firmly against  
you." Shinji slowly stood up and took a deep breath. "Misato-san... well, Kaji-san does  
love her. So far he has no reason to directly act against you, but you and SEELE are  
not exactly trusting allies."

Gendo had to fight a smile from showing on his face. How so amateurish. It was too  
simplistic, as if he had not prepared for that long ago.

Their faces were both impassive. The resemblance was clear. It was true that the  
elder Ikari had a oppressive presence, and Shinji held on to the backrest of a chair to  
keep himself steady. There were so many ways that Gendo Ikari could make the lives  
of those he had sworn to protect thoroughly miserable. Worse than death, even.

Gendo would not show mercy, never in his whole life expecting to recieve it.

'I can see his nose hairs...' thought Shinji. Then, fixating upon that single point of  
absurdity, he felt his fears drain away.

Shinji balled up his right hand into a fist, and drove it into his own face at full force.  
Again and again, he struck; his lips splitting and bleeding, until he heard bones crack.  
Gendo could only watch as his son injured himself in purposeful savagery.

'Why is he...?' The commander's thought was interrupted by the door being kicked  
open. He had delayed too long.

Katsuragi Misato had finally let her protective instincts override her reason.

No good conversation comes out of the cell blocks; why was the boy brought there?  
The Section 2 agents normally assigned to watch over the boy were only helpful up to  
a point. They might have phrased it to incite the woman's temper even more.

"You bastard...!" she snarled. "You utter bastard...!" She all but leapt the distance to  
give him a punch in the face.

"Misato-san! No!"

Gendo might have been taller and stronger physically, but as a career soldier Misato  
could probably twist his bones around several times over. The fist stopped scant  
inches from his nose. She wanted so desperately to keep going, but that voice froze  
her.

"Misato-san, please!" Shinji added, his tone precisely calculated, trembling and begging.  
"Don't... don't add to the problems we already have."

Shinji wiped at his cheek with the back of his hand, spreading the bloodstains and  
giving a reason for blood to be on his knuckles.

"Katsuragi, it is not..." Gendo shut his mouth. She would not believe him. He thought  
back, all those months ago... he had struck the boy once before. It was not the sort  
of thing she would forget. There were only two people in the room... never, no one  
would ever believe the boy would have done it to himself.

Misato made a wordless scream and shoved Gendo back. Gently, she helped Shinji  
back to his feet and hugged him. Her black shirt and red jacket were not easily stained,  
but she would likely have done so even if she was wearing white silk. She hugged him  
as if she never wanted to let go.

'Why does the world want to hurt you so much, Shinji-kun?' she thought. She felt her  
tears flow, hot with rage. She looked up, and stared at Gendo while wishing her gaze  
could tear him apart.

"Let's just go, Misato-san..." Shinji said softly.

"I can't... no. Damn him. He's not going to get away with this." Mercy? Or fear? Trying  
to avoid trouble, wanting harm to no one... Shinji was just too much of a shy little  
innocent. She felt like she could, and would, kill to protect that. She had never really  
felt she would be a good mother, but this was something she could understand.

Shinji pulled himself loose from her suffocating embrace. Those bosoms were deadly.  
He turned to his father and gave him a sickly grin; his teeth stained red. His voice was  
garbled by the blood in his mouth, but there was deep satisfaction there:

"Father, I quit."

Gendo had many scenarios involving the boy leaving NERV, both voluntarily and not  
under his own power. None of them contained what he was seeing.

"Touch him again and I will -kill you-." Misato added. Taking care of Shinji was more  
important, for the moment, than putting the hurt on Gendo. She needed to get him  
up to the surface... and spread the word. Everyone knew Gendo Ikari was an asshole,  
but this...?

The Section 2 agents stood aside and bowed as they passed.

Gendo was left, alone, blinking, wondering... 'What the hell just happened?'

-o-

_Rise like a cruel angel,  
young boy, become the legend!_

Gendo Ikari went out to stare at the Evangelions, and specifically Unit One. He stood  
there at the observation gantries, silent and unmoving. Yui had rejected her son, for  
some unknown reason. And now... the boy was gone.

His mind called back how the boy looked, when he first arrived. Then, how differently  
he acted once the battle was underway.

How did it get so awry so quickly? Gendo reviewed his scenario. He had done all that  
he needed to do, carefully and without emotional entanglements. Even his show of  
violence against the boy was precisely calculated, he had not intended to leave any  
marks.

He ignored the hostile looks the technicians were giving him. In one fell swoop, the boy  
had destroyed whatever loyalty the employees had; transferring it from him and into  
the institution. And now, if the boy even so much as slipped on a banana peel, they  
would all blame him.

Kozo Fuyutsuki joined him there, some time later. "A lot wanted to quit as well, when  
they heard that the boy had resigned his duty to NERV. Interestingly, I think it was  
out of his plea that NERV was not only necessary... but that they were necessary for  
NERV."

Everything that NERV was, Gendo had forged out of necessity. It was instrumental to  
his goals. How long, before he himself ceased to be necessary to the functions of that  
which he had nursed into being? A bird must leave its nest, if it hopes to fly.

He clenched his fists. He could fix this. He had given up too much; not to just stand  
aside. He was still king over his city. He would sacrifice even more, to steady his grip  
upon power.

"Do you believe what I supposedly did, sensei?"

The older man shrugged. "While your reputation is clear, no one could ever accuse you  
of being stupid, Ikari. No, personally, I don't think you actually went that far. But that  
is immaterial. It's just... too easy to believe the worst of you."

Gendo felt as if the Evangelion was darkly amused. "The boy is dangerous."

Fuyutsuki scoffed. "Well, I could have told you the first day when he showed up on  
this base."

-o-

_A blue wind is now  
knocking at the door to your heart, and yet  
you are there, merely gazing at me  
and smiling_

Ritsuko Akagi was suprised to see her there, so early in the morning.

"Why are you still here?" the scientist asked. "Aren't you going to, at least, see him  
off? Even if there's nothing more there than friendship, it would be the polite thing to  
do. No one will think it scandalous."

Maya Ibuki laughed, her mirth free and unashamed. "So stubborn, these Ikari men.  
They just have to do things their way, or not at all. But we love them anyway. The  
best thing we can do is to accept them when they return, bruised and dirty from their  
escapades."

Ritsuko nearly dropped her cup. Slowly, dreading, she turned her chair towards her  
faithful assistant. She was shaking, yet she sought confirmation.

Maya smiled. "It's all right, sempai."

"How long did you know?"

"Months now. Since February, I think." Maya shrugged and turned back to her code.  
"Your business is your business, sempai... it's not for me to judge." She glanced back  
and her lips twitched again, into an impish grin. "As long as you need me, I'll be here."

She could have left, at any time during all those battles. The Angels... from Sachiel  
to Sahaquiel... it had always been Maya's duty to be the link between the Eva and  
the command center (with one obvious exception). She would be the first to know if  
the pilots were dead, and that fear every time they went into battle... instead of  
being hardened to it, stepping back from caring for the Children, it only increased over  
time.

She thought about the close calls they had, specifically Asuka's descent into the  
volcano, and the later battle against Sandalphon, when Shinji seemed to have flat-  
lined. Then, the darkness of Matariel's attack. So many had suffered, and the least  
she could do was to stand as witness to their struggles, if she could not lighten their  
burdens.

Ritsuko put her cup down and leaned back into her chair. She exhaled heavily. Needing  
and being needed... it was a strange new addiction. It was natural that people, in the  
contact with other people, would end up being hurt. Sometimes, it was enough to  
know they would be hurting together.

That, or the chance to fling their quills at someone they both hated sometime in the  
near future.

-o-

Geneva, Switzerland. Current mood: OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT!

One could almost hear the salivating, once the news reached that far.

-o-

_A gentle touch-o-  
you're so intent on seeking it out,  
that you can't even see your fate yet,  
with such innocent eyes._

Shinji Ikari looked around. He was all packed. The room seemed even smaller than  
when he was living in it. He patted his backpack, which had everything he brought  
into Tokyo-3.

'We had som fun timez, yah?' he heard inside his mind.

'Let things become even more amusing, then.' the Eldar replied.

He turned his back on the place that felt more like home than his uncle's place ever  
did. Asuka's scowling face waited on the other side.

"You're really going?" she asked archly. "I can't believe you're just running away..."  
She then winced at the state of his face. His lips were busted, his nose had almost  
collapsed, and he wore medical strips over his forehead like a bandana.

"Look, his father's an asshole. He shouldn't have to get along with the bastard." Misato  
said from the sala.

"That's the problem. Fuck him! He shouldn't get away with this...! We should protest!  
We should -kick his ass-!"

"You can't go on strike, Asuka..." Shinji replied gently, even if it stung to move his  
cheeks to smile. "You're needed here."

"But... do you really need to go?"

"I'm no longer a NERV employee. This is a NERV building. You're important NERV people.  
I'm... a security risk."

Misato approached, all grim and sober. It was not a happy combination. "I'm still your  
legal guardian."

"Emancipation, sorry. I don't think anyone can actually remove my father from NERV,  
so this is the next best thing." He bowed. "I'm really sorry. I have to go."

Asuka refused to let their eyes meet. Looking back, the herself that came to Tokyo-3,  
she seemed laughable now. All those expectations were actually fulfilled beyond her  
own wildest expectations. Then, in just one month, she became a party to some  
dangerous secrets. She felt what it was to have the attention of millions. She lost  
Berlin. Now, he was leaving her too...

After he had promised...

She felt what it was to have everything, then nothing.

She punched at a wall. It hurt inside, no matter how hard she had tried to armor her  
heart. Tokyo-3 ate up its heroes. Bitterly, despite it all, it became her home too. The  
weird family-like grouping she discovered, her even stranger friends... and there were  
still Angels to fight. Shinji was right; she was needed more than ever. Not even for the  
Greater Good, but to protect those that she wanted to save.

She remembered the music. She remembered the fear. She remembered the glory.

"Where are you going now?" Misato asked at the door. She looked guardedly up at  
the two Section 2 agents sent to escort him out of the city. "Back to Sendai?"

"Eventually, maybe. I'm sorry, Misato-san... but I can't really tell you right now."

"Will you be back?" Asuka asked next. Her stance and tone was challenging.

He grinned, even though it made his lips bleed again. He took out a handkerchief to  
dab at the wound. "I promise."

There was not much more that needed to be said. He bowed, thanked them for putting  
up with him for so long, and then left their lives.

-o-

_But someday I think you'll find out that  
what's on your back are wings  
that are for heading for  
the far-off future._

Mana Kirishima had an entire Marines platoon watching over her, big and nervous men,  
waiting to see if she would actually snap and take the Trident Land Dreadnought out  
for a stomping. The base commander had taken the activation key and locked it up,  
but she was a very very angry teenaged girl in full crusading fury... and ways just  
might be found. The thing was, that none of them were really sure they wanted to  
stop her if that should happen.

She paced around her room, in full dress uniform. Mana stared up at the wall poster  
of -Magnos Tancred-, one of the early promotional materials. It had her and her two  
friends on the foreground.

"After everything he's done... after everything we've gone through? After what he  
has given me?" She let out a primal scream.

Console lights flickered inside -Magnos Tancred-. The technicians looked up, at the  
ominous humm.

-o-

_The cruel angel's thesis  
will fly through the window,  
with surging, hot pathos,  
if you betray your memories_

Kaworu Nagisa had his arm in a sling. He seemed rather cheerful, more than the usual,  
as he addressed the gathering of SEELE.

"This was not part of the prophecy." he was told. "Things are starting to spiral out of  
control."

He blanched, not liking that turn of phrase. "As you can see, even I am no longer so  
safe from my brethren. I can speak to them, but there is no guarantee they will listen."

"We must consolidate our assets." Keel Lorenz said. "We are no longer safe here. We  
must relocate to the primary site."

There were gasps and shouts of disbelief. "You can't be serious." said SEELE 02. "If we  
go there, there is no guarantee we can ever return."

"The environment is self-sufficient. The Moon's Cradle will serve our purposes well. It  
is I, that have decided this. There is no other choice. We must consolidate, or we will  
be destroyed piece by piece."

Murmurs, but eventually acquiescence.

"Prepare the gatekeeper." Keel, founder and master of SEELE, commanded Kaworu.  
"Blood is the truth, blood is the way."

Kaworu bowed, with a genteel sweep of his usable arm. "I live to serve, of course."  
He even managed to remove the mockery from it.

It was night. A black Ford sedan stopped at an old, dilapidated temple up in the hills  
somewhere on the outskirts of Tokyo 3. Shinji Ikari got out, and slowly walked into  
the abandoned shrine, his cane tapping at the black stones. It was a cold night out,  
and he had on a long overcoat just draped over his shoulders.

Agents Jiro and Kentaro followed, keeping to his slow pace. Finally, he arrived. Inside  
was waiting Kensuke Aida, and a middle-aged woman he did not know. She was garbed  
in a traditional kimono, though a deep and stealthy blue, and upon sight of him she  
bowed and pressed her forehead to the floor. Shinji felt as if he was being watched  
by hundreds of eyes.

"Say it." Kensuke demanded.

"No."

"Say it!"

"No!"

"Come on..." the bespectacled boy grinned widely. "You know you want to..."

"Fine." Shinji sighed. He steepled his fingers together and said, in a hoarse yet high-  
pitched voice "It is proceeding as I have foreseen."

Kensuke and Ageny Jiro immidiately fell over laughing, and began rolling side to side  
while clutching at their stomachs. Their laughter was loud, impertinent and echoed  
from the rafters. Agent Kentaro merely lifted one eyebrow as if to say 'Isn't this still  
better than being openly worshipped?'

"Yes." Shinji sighed, while nursing a rising migraine. Unfortunately. "Yes, it is."

-o-

_Shine and embrace the sky,  
young boy, become the legend!_

Unit 01's eyes flashed briefly.

-o-

end Look Away

* * *

And this, if you would be so kind as to imagine it in anime format, would be the end of the first season. Much apologies for the delay. Things just kept cropping up, that had to be dealt with asap. Then I decided to burn through a dozen Terry Pratchett novels. Struck senseless with sheer envy, I was.

(deleted pointless whining)


	25. Chapter 24: Timeskip Troubles part1

Author's note:

I had a very hard time with deciding this next chapter. I wanted to do a timeskip, to  
get the story moving. This story should be finished before it has a chance to get all  
bloated and unmoving, for as time passes the reserves of enthusiasm and creativity  
as shown in the first chapters would slowly dry up. It's really hard to pick up a story  
that's been left hanging too long... Agh. In other places, I'm rather known for all the  
dead stories I leave in my wake.

Not any more, I swore. This one, I'll finish. Dammit. I will!

However, the title of the story is Shinji and Warhammer40k, and though simple to the  
point of being retarded... (heh) it does sum up the story. To digress a bit, at first it  
was just a temporary title until I could think up something more apt, but for the life of  
me, now I can't think of anything else it could be.

Okay, so perhaps I should bring back a little of the grimly humorous theme. It's not  
Shinji and Tokyo 3. Rather, the story one boy and his weird viewpoint of how the world  
should be. While it is a retelling of the Evangelion story, perhaps I have been focusing  
too much on the 'epic sweep' of things than the examination of the true roots of such  
things... emotions, flaws, and through all that the little triumphs building something  
greater than the mortals that feed it.

To make 'filler' stories would dilute the story and mean more work for me.

But what the hell.

The outline for the 'next season' is here. It works out. But it still feels as if something  
is missing. Perhaps I've made the change too abrupt, and the explanations behind the  
events in question lie in... timeskip territory. Obliquely referring to them, does it evoke  
mystery... or the irritation of omission? Huh. If even I, the writer, am frustrated with  
what I'm reading, then it's likely I'm really slashing away too much of essential back-  
story.

... doing this is going to delay the completion of this thing. The farther away that  
date seems, the more likely this would die off from unforeseen causes. Looks like I'll just  
have to pray my inspiration endures that far.

But enough talk. Have at you!

-Bpen

* * *

-o-

-o-

-o-

Timeskip Troubles part one

-o-  
-o-

Tokyo-3 was not a particularly big city, ringed with mountains, barely capable of  
supporting its population. The localized economic boom following Sahaquiel's attack  
meant that commerce relied upon food and raw goods shipped from all around the  
countryside, with the labor force to match. The de facto capital of the nation was  
hard-pressed to deal with the political and social complexities this brought along.

However, for the most part, people considered it a good thing.

Old man Yamada at the corner store was ambivalent about it. For one thing, business  
was picking up; so much so that the 24-hour grocery had enough customers even  
past midnight to make it worth staying open that late. On the downside... the city  
was a lot noisier, much more faster-paced; the nights were not as peaceful as he  
preferred.

Case in point; being held up in his own store. He blinked at the obviously panicking  
young tough. The gun looked real. It was also getting much easier to get ahold of real  
firepower, what with the military interests surrounding the city and all. The old man kept  
his hands up, and away from his own revolver under the cashier's desk. "You're new  
here, aren't you?" he asked, in a pitying tone.

"Keep those hands up! Don't play with me, old man..."

"You're making a big mistake, you know..."

"Shut up!"

The old man just sighed. He looked aside, and the robber unwisely followed his gaze.  
Approaching the counter was a middle-aged man in a well-cut black suit, inexplicably  
wearing sunglasses even at night and indoors. He dropped several bottles of chilled  
green tea onto the counter.

"So, new to Tokyo-3?" he asked conversationally.

The thug, even more unwisely, decided to point the Beretta knockoff at him. "Who the  
fuck are you?"

Both older men just sighed. Ah, youth.

"No one of any importance." Agent Kentaro replied, in an uncharacteristically friendly  
tone. "Now why don't you just put that gun down before you hurt yourself?"

Which, unfortunately, could only be taken as an insult. The two old men noticed the  
somewhat unfocused gaze of their assailant. Was he drunk, or under other influence?  
Ah; the city was getting too big, too profitable, to too many many interests.

"Hey, look, this is all I could find. There's no more of the cheap stuff we normally buy.  
What's up with these prices...? It's just crab, man! Crab! It's not like it's some sort of  
rare delicacy or something!" Agent Jiro went out from behind the shelves, showing a  
tin of imitation crab meat as like a bludgeon. Then, he recognized the impasse. "Oh."

"Don't mind him, he's new." said the storekeeper.

"Okay." The younger Section 2 agent kept his hands up, but looking at his partner.  
"Can we get this over quick? The wife's been talking about the irregular hours I keep  
for only so much pay."

"HEY!" the robber shouted. "I'm doing something here! EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" He warily  
swung his gun around. "Do as I say and nobody gets hurt."

Agent Kentaro sighed. He touched at the frame of his sunglasses and for some strange  
reason, it conveyed an all-enduring weariness and irritability, despite the eyes never  
being visible. "You probably don't know any better, so I'm giving you this chance. I'm  
in a bad mood, boy, and I need a reason not to tear you apart limb from limb."

"No dismemberment!" Old man Yamada shouted helpfully. "It's a bitch cleaning off the  
blood from the tiles!"

"Listen to the man, friend..." Agent Jiro added, nodding. "He has a real reason to be  
pissed, yeah. You don't want to get on his bad side."

The petty crook's hands were starting to shake. True, while he was already getting on  
with the years, with his face starting to wrinkle, Agent Kentaro's suit could not hide  
his compact but powerful frame. Nevertheless, the robber summoned his courage, as  
he had the overwhelming might of a gun. "So what? Think I won't shoot? Don't mess  
with me, you bastards! Can you move faster than a bullet? Hah?"

"I feel obliged to warn you..." Agent Jiro added. "That we're wearing body armor."

That brought the robber short. He shivered slightly under the force of the old agent's  
impassive scrutiny. "Uh.. so... so what? I can just shoot him in the head!"

"Please don't kill him. The gene pool might benefit, but... don't." Agent Jiro begged his  
partner. "You know, that's not... his... style. He won't approve. Even if he's not here  
anymore..."

The older agent unclenched his fist. "... and we have to respect that. Fine. But he  
has five seconds to get out of my sight."

"What are you talking about? Hey!"

"Four."

"Screw you! I'm not falling for your tricks!"

"Three."

"Don't move! Stay away from me!"

"Two."

"Ora! You, y-"

Bzzt.

The crook slumped, his gun tumbling from his hand. Agent Jiro took his left hand off  
the man's shoulder and let him fall. His gloves sparked a bit.

"Ah, taser gloves. The next best thing to a Nerve Pinch this side of the Pacific."

"You need to lay off the stale pop culture." Agent Kentaro mused, while kicking slightly  
at the fallen criminal to check if he was truly unconscious.

"Hey, the fact that you actually know what I'm talking about makes you a little bit of  
a hypocrite..."

"Yes, but as you point out now and then, I'm getting OLD. I know the classics." he  
added with a slight grin. "That makes you lame instead of just uncool."

Agent Jiro muttered some more as he gathered up the purchases; something about old  
age turning nerds into just afficionados. '_Unfair. Don't get no damn respect._' The shop-  
keeper rang up the merchandise, but refused to accept the money. Agent Kentaro  
insisted, otherwise it would set a bad precedent. They could just divert some morons  
into the store if they ever wanted to get out of paying for anything.

... yeah, so it was unlikely; he admitted. But ultimately, possible, so it was principle of  
the thing. The sleeping hooligan was left for Tokyo-3's police force, one that was still  
only barely equipped for the previous size of their metropolis.

Once outside, and holding the bag, a thought popped into Agent Jiro's head. "It occurs  
to me... if you were really vindictive, you could just give his name to Sister."

"... she could use some more interrogation practice." He took a deep breath of the  
mountain air and looked up at the silhouette of buildings. Tokyo-3 was ever their city,  
and now... no harm will come to it, it would be there when should its chosen son feel  
it was time to return.

-o-  
-o-

Misato Katsuragi had a stature (or, as Ritsuko had said, the bust) that made people  
continually underestimate her intelligence. She was once, for few months, Asuka's  
guardian in Germany. As such, she could understand every single one of the curses  
the girl was shouting. She was being irritated too, but more of how Asuka might be  
using up some universal reserve of aimless anger. She wanted to blow up and just  
stomp around too, but she had to maintain her calm. It sucked being the adult in the  
situation.

"That's enough!" she shouted, slamming down her can of beer on the dinner table. "I  
don't know where he is. As far as the UN is concerned, NERV and its people have a  
flat edict to just stay away."

"But the bastard's just going to get away with it, if baka Shinji doesn't press charges!  
Aargh! What's wrong with him?"

"The bastard is NOT going to get away with it. You have no idea how many people  
he'd already pissed off before this. The only reason he's not a smear on the ground  
right now is that beating on the helpless makes us as bad as he is."

"Hmf. Well, this you should know. Where is he?"

"He's in a cell block all by himself. And I had it welded shut just to make sure." Misato  
took another sip, and thought about it. Gendo might possibly have hidden a key  
somewhere, or arranged for an escape. A truly unopenable cell door however, helps  
more against the temptation of those who had those keys. One of whom, was she.  
"Right now, he's suspended from any and all authority from NERV, until a UN panel  
decides otherwise."

"What going to happen then?"

"We don't know exactly. It's still iffy if what he did constitutes an abuse of power,  
just straightforward child abuse... or if we really need to put a moral requirement to  
the leadership of NERV."

Asuka nodded. "Okay, I can understand that. It's not our place to decide, we're too  
emotionally involved. What I don't get, however..." and she pointed accusingly. "Is  
WHY is she here?"

Seated formally nearby, Rei nodded.

"I mean, seriously, he's barely an hour gone and she's all set to move in! What's up  
with that?"

"Ah. Well... for security reasons it was decided to combine the residences of the two  
remaining pilots." Misato said with grim satisfaction. She knew she was an unsuitable  
person as a wife or mother... but as a soldier, a protector, someone who would lay  
down her own life in defense of another? To kill in the name of her charge? That, she  
understood extremely well.

"I do not wish to be a burden, Sohryu. Nor do I intend to be a replacement for Pilot  
Ikari. Surely you do not think I am capable of it?"

Asuka winced.

"What's your problem with this, Asuka?" Misato asked. "We've done this before."

"Well, yeah, but she was always gone by morning. Not... you know... there. Being all  
silent and creepy and thoroughly... Ayanami. It's... it's not that I have a problem with  
it, per se!" She crossed her arms and sat down, huffing again. "Just stay out of my  
room, okay?"

"I promise." Rei nodded. "As long as you do the same, to remain outside of what has  
been pilot Ikari's room..."

"That goes without saying!"

"... no matter what strange sounds you may hear from there."

"Of course I... what?" Asuka blinked. "WHAT? Misato, did you hear what she just said?"

"Hm?" Misato looked back, seemingly distracted. She sighed at the look of total outrage  
on the red-haired girl's face. "Asuka, do you know what a 'tsukkomi' means?"

"...no. But knowing you people it's likely to be something weird and perverted!"

Misato sighed again, and shook her beer can. "Then it's probably better if you never  
find out."

-o-  
-o-

Meanwhile, back at Riga and the council seat of the Noviiy Soviet, it was just after  
dinnertime. The current Prime Minister stared off at the sleeping city, and once again  
reflected on how hot and unfamiliar the world had become. He turned back to his  
desk, nodding wisely to himself that he had let the business sit until he had eaten.

"So, the boy has well and truly decided to abandon NERV, then?"

"It is as far as I'm told." replied Antonin Popov. "It is useless for me to go back there  
now... or should I see if I can pick up the trail?"

"If the boy wants to be found, he will be. No doubt many will be trying to attract him  
to their cause, but... it might only backfire if we attempt."

The ambassador patted the thick folder on the desk. "Because we might already be  
getting into a stable working relationship?"

Emil Bundayev grinned. "Perhaps. The Ruso-Sino-Niho alliance might be only economic,  
it might be full of suspicion, and it might remain a marvel that it actually works at all  
considering how deep the antagonism between our nations run... but it does work. And  
we need each other's support if we want to continue living in this world. So, this new  
package from Tokyo-3. It comes rather quickly... rather fortuitously, don't you think?"

"It has been prepared by NNHIS, though, not Shinji Ikari." He pushed the folder forward  
and opened it up. "It is a complete working blueprint on a new tank design. According  
to the formal request, since they lack the resources and the expertise to attempt it,  
they would be grateful... in both will and cash... if we could prototype and produce it."

"That cannot be taken any way but suspiciously, from the same people that managed  
to produce -Magnos Tancred-. Sending the full plans, no... more to the point... to  
give it to ME, here in Latvia, instead of directly to the Russian military command is a  
glaring political statement that simply has too much of the Ikari touch."

".. may I ask what that statement is?"

"That there is no choice. It will be built, no matter by who or how. It is necessary."

"If it was really that important, they would be building it themselves. Engineers given  
preliminary samples had an instinctive reaction of disgust with this design." Popov  
shrugged. "The communique did specify that we had the best tank makers in the world,  
and no one else was truly suitable for the attempt. Any modifications in regards to  
practicality was welcomed."

"They are aware they are asking us to mount a cruiser's thirteen-inch gun into a land  
frame, correct?" That would be a 330mm tank gun, more than double the gun artillery  
in use.

"The design is insistent on that."

"Fine. Assuming we do decide to shoulder this project, it would not just magically  
appear. It requires manpower, redesign, resources...! Profit is a tricky word, but how  
are we expected to benefit from this?"

"The design, once finalized and put into production, would be ours. The costs would  
be compensated for adequately... which is actually rather too generous... and there  
is an initial order of fully twenty-four units intended for Tokyo-3."

"That isn't much, considering. They could still pull out and waste our time."

Popov pulled out a sheet from the folder and handed it over. The Premier's eyes bulged  
at the statement.

"Am I reading this right? They already paid half in advance? Plus expected prototyping  
costs? This is too good to be true."

"Would you like my opinion on this?"

The older man waved. "Feel free."

"It is a bribe, a big one, not personally to those involved but an appeal to the pride of  
our nation." He coughed. "Our entire confederation, rather. It is a direct challenge that  
we must meet. If it can be done at all, within three months, then we must manage it."

"Hmm. I wonder if any other offers have been made to other nations?"

It was a wonder that while the problem of logistics concerned them, the thought of  
where that money may have come from, magically as it were, did not interest them.  
NNHIS was a big company, getting too unweildy, and its connections to government  
interests all too obvious.

"I'm not sure, but... the loss of NERV China has that nation scrambling to recover its  
normal functions. I do believe there's a new factory somewhere producing bolter shells  
in the caliber we require. However, they seem to be focusing mainly on mass-producing  
bolt rifles and bolt pistols on request."

"Trying to ape the popularity of the Kalashnikov, eh?"

Popov shrugged. "It's hard to produce, but apparently with the rising paranoia of being  
attacked again, the weapons known to reliably blow Angels into chunks are being made  
in numbers sufficient even for export." The Aida-75 just did not roll of the tongue. KSK-  
75, however, was just trying too hard it was sad.

"A handheld burst-firing RPG might actually prove troublesome to us."

"It's not much of a threat against medium armor. And certainly, almost ignorable to  
this monster."

"Please, Antonya, its own guns are nothing to this beast." He began to reconsider.  
"Not the least with what they want to have us fire from it... then we could more than  
double that trouble back in turn."

"So, you give this your own personal approval, then?"

The Premier nodded. "My own personal power may be limited, but this post more than  
makes up for in influence what it lacks in direct force. The moment it was sent, we  
had no choice."

"Ah... this was sent with the package..." Hesitantly, the ambassador took out a black  
ball from his pocket and gave it over.

Emil Bundayev, aged and experienced statesman, frowned. "Now he's just being sarcastic."  
He shook the Magic 8-ball.

All signs  
point to  
yes.

-o-  
-o-

It was well past midnight when he left, and in the same innocuous manner he entered  
the city. He would be leaving what had become familiar and safe, and once again be  
just one more small mortal sample in the sea of humanity.

And, just as before, he felt them approach to chase the fear away.

_'All things must end.' _he heard the Farseer say._ 'And that same end in itself is the start  
of something new. However, if we must leave the city... then perhaps we must... leave  
the city? This is still technically within Tokyo-3 boundary.'_

NNHIS Trident Base had turned into a sprawling industrial attachment to Tokyo-3. It  
also held the sundry secondary businesses seen as undesirable (or rather too much fun)  
by the general populace. Still, crime of all sorts in Tokyo 3 was practically nil for some  
dark and undefined reason. Criminals were a cowardly and superstitious lot.

He went in through one of the side gates, inside one of the nondescript black cars of  
NERV Section Two. The driver and his partner were unfamiliar, but showed professional  
disinterest. _'I'm still being watched by... well, pretty much near everybody. I'll shake  
them off in an international airport somewhere. In the meantime, I need to give myself  
an excuse for my disappearance.'_

_'That girl, Kirishima. She is not here.'_

_'No, she's still confined to her room.'_

_'It would be easy to spirit her away, and in this city there are many dark and private  
places. Give yourself one certainty before hurling yourself into the unknown.'_

_'No.'_

_'So instead you decide to visit an unmarried middle-aged man? It would be too easy to  
misunderstand this situation.'_ A pause. _'Although, I am not averse to a little expe-'_

_'Stop. There are places I don't want my subconscious to go.' _She was a facet of his  
imagination, after all. He no longer even tried to figure out how it all worked, but she  
was female. Any of her preferences disturbed him greatly. Fortunately she seemed to  
have grasped the... mechanical aspects... and for the most part shifted her desires  
to suit. It was really hard to affirm that he did not want a harem when there was one  
small part of his shouting loudly for it to be so.

On the other hand, all the practice in denying that also made it easier to block out the  
other voices clamoring for, respectively: righteous smiting, worshippers, or loads of  
dakka. All of which, while emotionally satisfying, he actually had little practical use for.

As far as he was concerned, only six days had passed; not the month or so that the  
rest of the world knew. He had nothing; no plan, no reliable source of intel. Yet, with  
no direct strategem on his end, the whole thing had just blown wide open. He was  
caught by surprise, much as everyone else.

_'No, Chaos may NOT take credit for this.'_ he said silently. _'I'd rather blame Heisenberg.'_

He sighed. Showing a digested version of the truth, upgrading the Angel threat, taking  
control of assets, handling Gendo... that was just politics. There was nothing he could  
do about that. There was only one thing he was really good at. His weird intellect, his  
weak abilities. Not for ruling. He clenched his fist and summoned his resolve.

He was only useful in killing.

His cane tapped at the pavement as he exited. He winced. Had it really been barely  
sevent months? He had lived fifteen years before, but as he stood there at midnight  
he struggled with trying to define if he still really... existed... without the Evangelion.

-o-

Yang Wen-li was the UN observer to the JSSDF, roughly equivalent to Kaji Ryouji. The  
actual Chinese ambassador was feeling one hell of an inferiority complex; never once  
succeeding at striking up a conversation with Shinji Ikari.

He was a slob. He was lazy. And yet, what frightened many was that already they  
could see they already were so similar, he and Shinji Ikari.

"What can I do for you, Mister Ikari?"

"... nothing, really. I felt like I needed to apologize, somehow."

"I see." Yang soaked the tea bags into two cups of hot water. He would normally make  
some attempt at not being quite so cheap and lazy (hence, the expensive cappuccino  
machine in the office) whenever distinguished guests arrived. It was a peculiar honor,  
since he knew that finally, he was talking to someone who understood the difference  
between being a good host and being kind. "But free will does exist, you know. We  
made our own choices."

Shinji beamed. "It's useless to play chess against you, isn't it, admiral?"

"It's a game. I lose a lot at it." He had always been hideously bad at all games that  
involved strategy. Except, for some strange reason, Monopoly. Which was hard enough  
to find in the Post-Impact PRC, much less willing players. "And I'm not an admiral anymore."

"I've seen your service record, sir. Half the time you're actually playing at being a  
general, and the other half fervently denying you're a politician."

And normally that would have been an insult. The tone the boy used however, implied  
'... you poor sod. I hope to hell I don't become you.'

Yang laughed. "Do you think yourself more clever than most people?"

Shinji groaned. "Sir, I am about to do something so tremendously stupid, it just might  
raise the collective IQ of our species if I fail. No, I don't think I'm clever." He shuddered.

"That's why there's a difference between Intelligence and Wisdom." Yang replied. The  
boy was frightened. That was completely understandable. The boy was looking at him  
strangely. What? It was a perfectly valid intellectual pastime. Much easier, at least,  
to get his generals gathered into an adventuring party than as fantasy moguls.

Sometimes, he had to explain, such a party was necessary rather than organizing the  
locals into action against the oppressor. Because the oppressor happened to be a  
dragon in human form, with all the fire-breathing and big-teeth and resistance to iron,  
arrows, magic, and all other forms of damage, that all that implied. Sometimes, he  
explained, one needed to escape into a place where it was all just simply about the  
recognizably good against inescapably evil.

He pitied the boy, who was going to be thrust into the world where absolutely nothing  
was that simple.

Yang leaned back. The boy's face was a horrid mess. It would be too easy to pity and  
underestimate Shinji Ikari... which, he thought, may have well been the whole point.  
"You're really leaving?"

"Yes, sir."

"So..." he asked casually. "When are you going to put on the mantle of Emperor?"

The injured teenager choked on his tea. He coughed and spat aside, then looked up  
with an expression of sheer horror. "W-what?" he asked hoarsely.

"It's not just Rome or Japan that has an Imperial legacy, after all." Yang took a careful  
sip. "Back during the war, they actually offered me that. If there was anyone alive who  
deserved to receive the Mandate of Heaven, it should be me." He blanched, as if the  
tea he'd carefully prepared had soured suddenly. "I refused, of course."

"Very sensible of you, sir." The populace may have meant it, but for the others in the  
government it was such a poorly-disguised scheme for them to sow the seeds of a new  
revolution to sweep them into power.

"Funny, the whole citizen of the world status makes you legally a Chinese citizen too."  
And also with all that implied. All of the privileges, with hardly the obligations.

Shinji made some sound equivalent to 'guh!'. "I would have thought that history had  
adequately proven the failure of relying on an ultimate singular authority. Whether it  
be an Emperor, or..." Shinji trailed off diplomatically. "... someone else."

Yang sniffed. "Perhaps it doesn't really matter by what name we call a society. People  
need symbols. Again and again, it comes out, that a human symbol sets the moral tone  
for a nation. I have no direct distaste for a constitutional monarchy, as such."

"... that's a dangerous thought for a communist to have." It boggled the boy. But for  
a man who practically defined what post-Impact China was, could anything he said be  
considered treason?

Yang might have had the chance to become a new conqueror, and let it pass by. The  
nations of the world still feared he might decide to take a stab at it. The boy saw in  
from of him the potential that others feared he might be.

And yet, already, the boy could see that the finest lesson there was that power, all  
power, had its price. There were those who might enjoy that existence; both were not  
of that temperament.

"I did what I did not for my government, but for my people." He stared off into the  
distance. "Did you ever have the feeling, sometimes, that you were born in the wrong  
time?" That sensation of unreality had plagued him all his life. "I distrust the 'Great Man'  
theory of history. Alexander may have been known under a different name."

It took Shinji a long time to answer. "... sometimes." he admitted. "But regardless, it  
is now, perhaps, that you were needed most." He chuckled lightly. "Maybe someday,  
another Yang Wen-li will be fighting for democracy." He look sharpened as he clawed  
for a random date. "Maybe... in three thousand years."

Yang stared back. "Maybe. And likely find it as convoluted and far from ideal. Mankind  
flowers into golden ages, then sinks back into despair. All things, and even people,  
change." As a historian, he saw the fascination that the world had for Alexanders. Yet  
perhaps the most horrible thing would be for more than one actual Alexander to live in  
the same era.

He had to journey to Tokyo-3. He had to wait. He had to see. He was not too old to  
train a protege. Perhaps, someday, a true Alexander worthy of that name.

"Yang-sensei... a question."

"Yes, student Ikari?"

"Is this really it? Mankind doomed to cyclic ambitions, the essential badness? Must so  
many suffer for the ambitions of the few?"

"Simply speaking, there are three basic forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy  
and democracy... with their debased forms: tyranny, oligarchy, and mobocracy." He  
sighed heavily. "It might still work, you know. The problem is that every system ever  
devised by man always ends up with a few ruling over the many. Even mobs can be  
driven by demagogues." He groaned. "Yes, mister Ikari. Always, even in revolutions,  
the power tends to concentrate upon the few... or the one. That is the sad reality,  
that people tend to just in the end want to be left well enough alone to live their lives,  
and so have ranges of tolerance. The ideal so far is have every person accountable for  
their actions. Power MUST have its price, mister Ikari."

"The Mandate of Heaven... can be withdrawn from a monarch if it shows that he fails  
to rule his people well. I've read it's the first in tradition." However, past the lens of  
nostalgia, Shinji Ikari had seen that the life of the ruled, all over the world, lingered  
between horrible to tolerable. At the same time, that few overall much really cared in  
the end about the doings of princes, chairmen, pharaohs, generals and priests. It was  
all the folly of Ozymandias. It was the fate of history to be dead.

"It's strange being here, Japan. Even Second Impact couldn't really erase the hundreds  
of years of mutual antagonism, even when our people are so dependent upon each  
other." He sighed. "Mister Ikari... you must understand, what the Japanese call ancient  
would be at best only half of what China had already seen. We've been ruled, from  
within and without, good emperors and bad, advances and declines in science, religion  
and free thought... wars, oh so many wars... and in the end... I think my China needs  
a new symbol. We can't be trapped by the past, but we need not destroy it to free  
ourselves from it. We are part of the world, and part of its glory."

Shinji blinked. "... what are you saying?"

Yang put his hands together, under his chin, and grinned. "What about it, Mister Ikari?  
The largest, most vigorous army in the world at your disposal."

"ARE! YOU! HIGH?"

The man's unmitigated cheer proved his absolute sincerity.

Shinji groaned and palmed his face. "It's not my fault! They keep throwing this stuff at  
me." he said to no one in particular. "They keep thinking I'm some sort of mastermind  
so they end up making complicated plots that trip each other up and leave me holding  
the bag...! And then it gets even worse!"

It was Yang's turn to laugh. "Now you're starting to get the point." The boy's face was  
a mask of utter frustration. Ah, it was well worth the wait.

"Why is this happening? Does fate hate me or something?"

"Huh. Ordinarily, such good luck would be a sign to the contrary."

"You and I know better, Yang-sensei." Shinji huffed. "Those who give silver expect to  
get gold in return." He gave a measured gaze to the still amused older man. "Why do  
they do this? You know as much as I do that there's really no great and mysterious  
all-powerful organization behind me."

"Apart from what they are building for you, out of fear of that. It's amazing, really,  
that sometimes.."

"... sometimes the best plan is to have no plan? Sometimes the smartest thing to do is  
to allow others be stupid, be greedy, be fearful, be conniving, be as self-promoting to  
their furthest desires?" He let his forehead drop to the table. There were then repeated  
thumps, and white-hot flashes of pain from his injuries.

'Or, to be human as they are, with all the good or ill as far as that could be, my lord.'  
He made some sound similar to 'mnghrghfuckit'. "Yang-sensei, I need a favor."

"Take the army, first."

"No!"

"But I want a vacation too!"

He looked up, squinting. "Shove off, you're not taking my blessed return to obscurity!"

Yang looked distinctly displeased, then sighed. "All right. All right. Remember you owe  
me, if I ever have any paperwork that needs to be done."

"Two inches thick, bond paper, and no natural disasters."

"Who's been training you?" Yang shouted, aggrieved.

_'I trained myself would be accurate, but at the same time horribly, horribly wrong.'_ Not  
to mention egotistical. He still did not quite understand how things managed to work  
out somehow. Luck should really be only useful so far. He had not really done anything  
more impressive than just applied psychology. "Someone very old and very wise and  
very nasty when she needs to be."

"Huh." said Yang. "Sounds like my aunt."

It was well that the office had thick walls and a stout door, for they looked like two  
snarling animals about to tear into each other rather than the demons of strategy they  
were supposed to be. Their breaking laughter afterwards was likewise held in.

-o-

-o-

Two days later he was at the Tibetan border, speaking very fast to convince the local  
commander he needed no escort in, thank you very much. He thanked them for all  
their help so far, but no matter how polite his men were... being around so many males  
for so long had made the lady with him very uncomfortable to the point she was  
starting to break out into hiccups. He would report very favorably of their dedication  
to Yang. Shinji in the end had no choice but to at least accept part of the army; just  
for a taste, he was told.

_'Dammit, Yang! If you turn Tokyo-3 into like this for me, all the damn time, I'll never  
forgive you!'_

And thus began Shinji Ikari's real journey.

-o-

-o-  
-o-

End Timeskip Troubles part one

* * *

-o-  
-o-

OMAKE:

'What? Hurhhur smell the stink of dis-cri-mi-na-tion. Hah! Huhhur able to speak in  
mul-ti-ple syl-la-bles if speak slowly enough.' the half-orc Fighter said with a belch  
of his mighty, air-fogging breath. 'Hurhhur not stupid. Hurhhur bash for dia-lec-tic.'

'Can I burn the haughty bourgeoisie now?' asked Teirung the Red Mage.

'No, dammit. Not until they give us quest XP and the filthy, yet immensely useful  
reward money.' Yang the Wise and Immensely Flammable Wizard groaned out. "In fact,  
hold off on the burning. For some reason, I always end up part of it.'

'I, having no ability to break the Fourth Wall, am equally as mystified, able to offer no  
reason other than that, if I could be capable of Breaking the Fourth Wall (a spell far  
beyond my Level), I might possibly be annoyed at you sleeping with my former wife-  
to-be.'

Yang the Wise and Immensely Flammable just sighed. 'I should have stuck to SimCity'.

-o-


	26. Chapter 25: Timeskip Troubles part2

Timeskip Troubles part 2

-o-  
-o-

"Timeskip! All is well! Move along!"

Shinji stared oddly at the passing steamed peanuts selller, who had yelled out for no  
particular reason. The journey through China proved enlightening, exciting, and in  
many ways just damn confusing. It was the very first time he had ever been out of  
the country and there was so much he found himself at a loss to understand. He took  
in a deep breath, indeed everything felt different... older, sadder, more solid in the  
mainland. Those jagged mountains, the Roof of the World, seemed to anchor reality  
itself.

A true learning experience, just to get to them. He had to exhaust his pitiful bag  
of artful persuasive tricks and had to learn new ones. His traveling companion, native  
to the region, had proved amazingly useless on that end.

Not that it was out of malice or incompetence. She was perhaps in her middle thirties,  
but had a rather plain face that resisted the influence of years. The Buddhist nun who  
introduced herself as Hasya had a nervous reaction to practically everything in the  
sinful and barbaric outside world, and most specifically the men who barely had any  
control over their natures. It did not help that she was also a powerful psychic, and  
having lived for so long in a serene mountain retreat every spike of negative emotion  
was magnified by her unfamiliarity with it.

It was a true miracle that she had ever managed to get from Tibet all the way down  
to Japan and Tokyo-3. There were a lot of people with muddled memories along the  
way.

But finally, the mountains! The journey to Javaal was almost at an end. The locals of  
the sleepy mountain town gave the two new travelers no notice. They recognized the  
woman as one of those people from that monastery somewhere over there, that no one  
really had any particular interest in finding out where exactly. She had the frightened,  
twitchy mouse demeanor already familiar to them. Her companion, a boy, had a severe  
facial twitch; probably mentally-damaged, the poor soul. That was what the mercy of  
Buddha was for.

"W-we are close, satavva." said Hasya. "I-it should be no more than a a few day's ride  
by donkey from here. I started off with one of the monastery's faithful animals, but...  
poor little Stormcloud... the world is so harsh and uncaring! Such is the way that all  
things, innocent or not, be subject to suffering."

Shinji slapped at his face to get it back under control. "I thought you sold the donkey  
before heading into the lowlands?" That wise beastie was likely the sole reason its  
owner even managed to survive getting through the mountains. There were very few  
people to brainshock between the valleys.

"For his loyalty, satavva, I s-sold him away for mere pieces of paper and metal! I am  
unclean! I have repaid good works with evil, thus proving again the innate sinful state  
of all existence..." her words were mournful and meant truly. It was one more in the  
pile of personal failures that added up to her continued distress. And to maintain her  
strict vegan diet, she had even less qualm in brainshocking people that tried to cheat  
the ignorant religious mountain bumpkin.

"Hey, you two! If you're not going to buy anything, don't stand in the way of my te-"

"Eek!"

There was no flash of of light, no crackling sound. Shinji sighed. In many ways it was  
really very impressive, since there was barely a tingle even on his own senses. After  
having been hooked up to an Evangelion, overestimulation made his perception of such  
things incredibly keen. It was something that completely failed to impress Asuka, as  
another thing utterly useless in normal life and as a 'superpower'.

How many minutes of his life did the hapless sweet potato merchant lose? He tried to  
repair those disturbed memories, while his guide looked contrite.

"Once again, I have s-strayed from the path. I beg your forgiveness, satavva."

"... I'm beginning to understand why that eight-spoked karmic wheel you have on your  
robe looks too much like the symbol of Chaos." Shinji muttered below hearing. "No harm  
done. At least... not much." a little louder. "Just, please... relax. We're almost there."

"I will pray when we have time. For now, we must find you other transport... it is not  
good for you in your condition to have to climb these edges." She nodded and went  
off briskly, and rather bravely all considering. She also had the deep wisdom of one  
who had devoted her entire life to the pursuit of inner peace. She was hardly any  
wispy teenage girl to be squeamish about the facts of life, and the order of her life  
was dedicated to times of work and prayer, both to be considered holy. She knew  
much about the practicalities of travel; from the food to eat, what to wear, the roads  
to take... it was just that her information was at least eighty years out of date.

Shinji followed, still slightly limping. He used a walking staff, a naturally gnarled length  
of wood, instead of the well-made titanium cane in his pack. The first protection  
against robbers on the road was to look as if they had nothing worth robbing. With the  
longer reach of his support, he could do an almost half-run. He reached and tugged at  
a flap of her yellow robe.

"Eek!"

The psychic thrust splashed harmlessly against the surety of his identity. She had a  
heart full of peace, and a mind at a hair-trigger. There were bound to have been more  
powerful and more persuasive minds in that city-monastery, even if they would have  
been more noticeable. Perhaps even thirty years could erode their patience.

"We have time, Hasya-san." The ancient truck that had brought them thus far was still  
in town. The driver and his son were still waiting for the whole haggling process to be  
complete for the next load, and had extended an open invite for their well-paying  
passengers to join them at the local inn.

"But sattava, the Great Enemy of our kind approaches with every day... "

"Yes, but as you said, finding Javaal is all but impossible. To guilt me with the mere  
_-possibility_- that my slight delay would cause others to die is to give me too much  
responsibility for... chaos?... unknowable random events." His grip was weak and  
shaking. "Remember, just recently, why I'm the one who needs to do the negotiating?"

She gasped. "In my haste to ensure your comfort, I have only added to it. Oh, I am  
ashamed." She bowed her head.

"Guh." He had to keep her from kow-towing right there on the street.

Shinji Ikari thought himself a rather self-sufficient sort. However, he had never really  
considered making a cross-country trip on his own, much less three countries. Even  
granting the hundreds, if not thousands, of befuddled people left behind. It was bad  
enough with those who knew him personally, that someone who could cling to the  
razor's edge of necessity and get through it despite sheer everyday terror, would be  
so servile in his presence... was just too much.

_'Karmic wheel...'_ he had to remind himself. _'That's all. The fact that I'm going off into  
a cult of psykers aside... Gaming Workshop just ganked whatever they found cool at  
the moment. It's just a coincidence, that's all... it has to be.'_

-o-  
-o-

There was a place, hidden and mystical, similar to yet unlike the fabled Shang-ri La. It  
was a place of warmth amidst peaks of snow, learning and tranquility among dark  
crevasses of fear and superstition. It was one of the few remaining secrets in the  
world, invisible even to the electronic eyes passing overhead. Rumors of its existence  
were few and given little importance. It was real, and unreal.

It was a monastery, in a secluded valley. It was more or less self-sufficient, with its  
own tiny village with separate retreats for monks and nuns. The adherents of its sect  
were said to have strange, miraculous powers, but did not attach any significance to  
these abilities. In other words, it was much like any other of the places forgotten by  
time. No one could find it, probably because it was already abandoned so long ago.  
Why even bother to look?

In Javaal, those old stories were real. There behind its walls were minds that made  
those gathered by the PKRU seem like babies. Javaal hid from the world, needed  
nothing from the world, and yet knew almost always what was important about the  
world.

There was nothing to see in the valleys, but those within could look up and behold  
the glowing lines criss-crossing the sky. The disciples of Javaal had a natural dislike for  
prophecies, and but Mahayana Buddhism did posit the possibility of there being multiple  
buddhas.

They knew that the world would readily abuse those who had abilities they did not  
understand. It was for that reason, nearly nine hundred years before, many mystics  
gathered from all over Asia to form a place where they could be truly safe. The war  
against the Angels however, brought home that no one and no place was safe. The  
peace and passiveness they had clung to for so many years would no longer protect  
them. Only might, only violence, and only a protector could save the few remaining  
fragments of humanity's ancient and heroic past.

Wise were the chief priests of Javaal. They knew that the most likely response of any  
hero so chosen would be "No fucking way."

So, as traditional - plead, bribe, and when all else fails; threaten.

-o-  
-o-

"I really need to meet those old men." Shinji mused. "So I can decide if I should bow in  
respect or give them a boot to the head." One consistent fear he had was of being  
outmanipulated, since he was too mindful of his mere fifteen years and that until just  
then, had never left home farther than a few hundred kilometers away. It was just that  
a reliable precognitive and a supercomputer were a frighteningly efficient partnership  
that had managed to escape the PKRU's practical initiatives. At the same time however,  
he longed for the event, as how else was he supposed to really learn?

"Once more, I apologize for my people. If we were not truly desperate, we would not  
have even THOUGHT of resorting to this."

"No, it's all right, Hasya-san. I don't know why I can't synchronize with the Evangelion  
anymore, but if somehow it's me that's at fault... well, the chance that they could fix  
it is worth the trouble." He grinned slightly. "I suppose wealth really isn't important to  
their values, as given the exaggeratedly casual way they proposed to disturb the flow  
of wealth for the globe."

Just a second off would be catastrophic. There were many different ways of acquiring  
wealth with a minimum of fuss, such stock markets and leeching a mere one percent  
of every cent out of every transaction a hacker could trace, but to him such didn't  
represent real money. It was dependent upon a global economy that could collapse  
at any moment, and the International Network remaining uncompromised.

Hence, under his fingernail on a map, drillers would always find oil; which was still a  
precious resource even with just the billion or so people left on the world. He had his  
initial capital, appropriately enough, from futures. Now he more or less owned the  
banks that let the stock markets function, fleets of merchant ships, heavy industries...  
things that could with only slight pressure be diverted into other essential pursuits.

He frowned. Wealth, personally, did not concern him either. It was a Ministered Fund,  
not his precisely... just serving the overall humanistic goals. He was going to hold off  
on calling it a War Fund or an Imperial Reserve unless there was absolutely no choice.  
NNHIS was on firm ground, with the controlling interest actually the MAGI. It was really  
all the machine's capitalistic magic; nothing like an unemotional ambitionless trader  
which had no need of sleep to really work the system. It had insulated his assets well.

Which, when everything goes to hell suddenly for no reason, would make it so glaring  
that it would still be there and functioning well. People would notice, people would  
start to dig. He might need to use a thermonuclear device or two.

He shook his head sadly. '_How do I convince these people that going all Imperatus is the  
really worst-case scenario possible?'_

"E-Haah!"

His thoughts were shaken loose he himself was shaken loose from his saddle. He had  
a brief moment of frustration at his own cityfied ways, before he hit the pebbly ground  
flat on his back. Fortunately, his thick coat absorbed most of the impact, but it was  
enough to knock the wind of his lungs.

"Sattava!" Hasya shouted, concerned. "Are you hurt? Are you dead?"

"... if I was, how am I supposed to answer?" He stared up at the sky, so infinitely high  
and crystal clear. He heard stomping from above his head and gravel flying across his  
vision. He sighed again. "Well, I have a feeling that if someone asks me; '_Were there  
lots of ass-kicking in your jouney?_' - I have no choice but to answer '_Yes. Yes, there  
was_."

"I apologize for this poor donkey, oh sattava... please..."

_'Did I really used to apologize like that, all the time? Ungh. How annoying. Damn Karma.'_  
Slowly he got back up to his feet. The donkey looked entirely too smug. 'See that  
pattern on the cloth over there? See the eight spokes on that wheel? Don't kill the  
dumb animal.' He forced himself to remain calm.

_'The adeptess' mount seems a much more sedate beast... this animal would not be a  
great loss.'_ remarked the Farseer._ 'It is a true horse, not this insult given only to fit  
your height and youth.'_

In all the natural sounds of the farthest lands, it was the voices in his own skull that  
were the loudest. He could understand how the cliffs and shadows brought out in the  
people such terrying pragmatism against a multitude of imaginary... and not quite so  
imaginary horrors.

_'You just want to press up against her body.' _he accused.

_'You have been around classical beauties, and manufactured allure, and those girls  
who you still refuse to consider beyond the status quo. However, despite her sheltered  
upbringing, she has admitted to having been married before. She is no blushing maiden  
and understands well how cold these winds are... she has her own unique charm, and  
you must admit, her body is lithe and shaped well under those folds.'_

Shinji's hand found a rock, and it took likewise great self-control to keep him from  
bashing his own skull. _'She's old enough to be my mother!'_

_'So? That just means a fruit fully ripe and sweet.'_

The cliffs echoed with his primal scream. "We need to get to Javaal quickly." Shinji  
ground out as he got up. "I really need to learn of your people's mental techniques."

Hasya nodded. "It is not too far away anymore, sattava."

_'Every place we go to. Every time of the day! Anyone likely to cross our path! Why  
aren't you guys helping to keep her under control? '_

_'No justice to mete out, commander.'_

_'Nuddin' ta smash.'_

_'There are no plots to unravel, bright lord.' _Shinji felt a shark-toothed smile._ 'Simply,  
we are bored, and you are the best entertainment we have found so far.'_

Shinji picked up his walking stick and tapped at a rock. "Donkey! Come here!" The  
beast, recognizing perhaps merciless intent, approached warily and let the boy mount  
it again.

"You know... I've read about the Buddha's early life." he said without looking back, as  
soon as he had secured himself and got the donkey moving again. "From the moment  
of his birth, he seemed to have been hailed as destined to be either an enlightened  
one or a world conqueror." Shinji let an uncomfortable silence drag on. "The way I see  
it, though what he did later on was great, he was never really given a choice but to  
BE great. That seems unfair." It was like... what the people needed at the time was  
granted to them. Strangely enough, Buddhism was its own form of strict atheism in  
that it denied the gods.

"It was the w-way of those times, sattava, and we have no right to impose our own  
limited understanding to what had already happened.'

"But he did conquer the world, I'm thinking. He conquered more land and got the  
allegiance of more people than Alexander was ever able to." Shinji was frowning. "Like  
Yang, I distrust the 'Great Man' theory of history, but... wars and warriors come and  
go. To really cause untold suffering, a system of defined ethics is unmatched. Or to cure  
it, of course. Much more good is done in the simple lives of man, by such words."

"I see you are starting to gather kernels of enlightenment, sattava."

"No, I'm merely at my limit! Please, stop calling me that! I'm not cut out to be any real  
leader! I just want to get my synchronization working again." Shinji shot back. "I know  
that a bodhisattva is someone who is to become a budda, but I'm hardly in any way  
shaping up to be one! I'm going to remain pretty much wordly, I think."

"Thus, sattava, I refer to you as m-merely one who '-will be'." She paused. "Actually  
that is not the meaning at all... I just like to pretend it is. It is easy to say."

"Could you just call me by my name, please?"

She winced. She turned, and her eyes were unfocused. Her voice echoed. "No! She  
must maintain the implied pun!"

She clutched at her head. "Ungh...it has h-happened again?"

"It's a really bad pun anyway, Hasya-san. It's bad enough that I fight Angels... do I  
really need that connotation?"

"W-what" The psychic nun blinked, and looked vaugely affronted. "You know I do not  
r-remember these flashes from beyond. I have no control over them." She sighed and  
looked away."It is as the abbot had said of me, a pool of talents, but l-lacking depth."

_'Except for your automatic tendency to zap people...'_ Shinji did not say. At least the  
damage was not permanent. It was already weighing heavily on the woman's soul, and  
she had a deep enough guilt complex already. As an example of the control they could  
teach, Hasya was really no inspiring much confidence in Shinji Ikari about the monks of  
Javaal. That a secondary personality was devoted primarily to a single talent, paratime  
contextual revelation, was a promising start... fractured as it may be. How long before  
that damn monastery?

Someone who had set out from Tibet intending to walk to Japan if necessary, had a  
very unreliable definition of far. There was much kicking of ass.

-o-

-o-

Meanwhile, back at Tokyo-3, the discussion of what to do was underway. There had  
to be visible justice, but at the same time an open trial would drag NERV's many illicit  
practices out in the open and damage the credibility of the world's only effective  
defense against the Angels.

The UN was already presented with the expansion of the facility known as the Earth's  
Cradle, originally a cryogenic storage facility to protect the genetic diversity of the  
human race... and egoes of those people who considered themselves essential to the  
task of rebuilding the world from total catastrophe.

The Grand Cannon as active defense, out of NERV's performance against Ramiel, was  
stymied by continued vaugeness as to the power output necessary to breach an AT-  
field. In the end, the proposal was relocated to the central United States, which at  
least had an Evangelion to test with. This left Europe with literally no defense.

"We can NOT afford any loss in NERV's credibility, not if we want to continue to have  
free reign in rebuilding NERV Germany." was the gist of the communique from the UN  
Security Council. "The general population of Europe, looking at what happened to  
China, is undecided as to whether being helpless is as much of a gamble as being a  
target in the first place."

"Motherfucker!" Misato had shouted. "So he IS going to get away with it."

"It's hard to find administrative punishment for Gendo Ikari..." Kozo Fuyutsuki admitted,  
and not because he held any personal bias for or against the NERV Commander. "He  
lives like an ascetic. We can't punish him by taking away privileges, since he enjoys  
so little in the first place. That only leaves..."

"Physical punishment." Misato growled. "Take away his freedom, his expectations not  
to be subject to random PAIN."

"We can't put him in prison, Misato." Kaji advised. "Shinji Ikari is the Evangelion, but  
Gendo Ikari is the authority of NERV. It's the whole demeanor... inflexibility, ruthless  
but persevering against all things. That defines the face of NERV too."

"Politics." she spat.

"Oh, he WILL be punished. He's going to regret everything he's done, you can be sure  
of that..." Kaji grinned. He was relaying the UN's official word on the subject. "As long  
as no direct physical damage is done."

-o-  
-o-

Gendo Ikari was torturing himself just fine. He was not the type to moan or pace his  
cell. He just lay on his bunk and stared at a ceiling. Were it not that he got up when  
they brought his meals, the guards would have thought he was dead. It was not  
helping against any stupid rumors he was a vampire.

He would be freed of his cell, eventually. He would have to make a report to SEELE. It  
was perhaps cold comfort that only they, lying and devious bastards all, would be the  
only ones who would really believe him.

It was brutal simplicity of it, that floored Gendo Ikari. The fulcrum was his first loss of  
control all those months ago, at the Eva cages and in full view of the command staff.  
Then, the structured media blitz to popularize the boy. The machinery of it... it was  
timed so precisely, that if it was not a faction within SEELE then an even finer secret  
still, to escape their notice.

Simplicity, again, in that for a long time whatever signs had come up, he and SEELE  
simply attributed to each other. That implied some idea of their relationship, which was  
in itself a great breach of security.

Who knew? Who could have provided that information?

Fuyutsuki. Akagi. He frowned. Ryouji, certaintly. He could consider that man already  
thoroughly compromised, by... well, everyone. The spy was, as far as the intelligence  
community was concerned, a man-slut. So the question becomes - what benefit would  
any of these factors gain from working for the boy and his backers? For the boy did  
have backers, it was only a matter of placing him on the structure. So...

The obvious system of threats and rewards were already in place.

That left only one other obvious answer, as to why they should prefer another master.  
The destruction of the one they were currently under. Him and/or SEELE.

He frowned. No. He would not die. Not until he could be sure he would be with Yui.  
"Since medieval times, the soul had searched for its truest expression, damning itself  
and others in its way." he said to himself. "Have humanity at last found a way to kill  
the soul?" And thus, remove the constant object of God and the Devil's wrangling.

-o-

-o-

"This is Javaal." Hasya said, smiling.

Shinji nodded. He looked left. He looked right. Then he looked up at the sky. He sent  
out his senses to the fullest. He took a deep breath. "There's nothing here!"

The woman's cheer increased. "E-exactly so! That proves it is still here!"

The boy relented. The enclave was thoroughly orphic in that respect. There had to be  
a pithy rationale there somewhere, about how everything was an illusion anyway. He  
had gone so far without any real proof, as Hasya's affirmations were in themselves  
not sufficient... even casting some of it into doubt, but nonetheless continued on the  
road anyway. It was faith by any other name.

So. He came knowing there was ever a chance there was nothing at the end of his  
journey. And now... he hoped that his companion was simply not deranged or that it  
was all some overcomplicated kidnapping plot. "How do I get in?"

Hasya put a finger to her lips and considered the three cliff faces of the dead-end  
box canyon they had found themselves in. She pointed to the far left. "That one!"

Shinji started doubtfully at the solid rock face. However, any society of mentalists  
capable of hiding itself from other mentalists for nearly a thousand years had to be  
good at maintaining such illusions. "So we just walk in to get to Javaal?"

The woman from Javaal nodded. "Technically, why, we are already i-in Javaal. It is a  
region of our influence, not the specific settlement." She stared at the rock wall and  
set her horse at a slight canter. "Better a slight run, actually. It helps if we closer our  
eyes, too. The old m-masters were very thorough. It believe it actually warps space  
to that it s-seems solid to most perceptions."

Shinji nodded again, slowly. He pulled on the reins to get his donkey moving. "Here we  
goes, then!" he shouted with a slight chuckle. "To Javaal!"

The donkey, a stubborn and prideful beast, hearing the exuberance of its rider sped up  
its trot. It made a snort as it passed the more demure pace of the horse. Shinji closed  
his eyes, and closed off his senses. Illusions that had the veneer of reality could be  
very dangerous.

Whap!

Donkey and rider all but flattened themselves against the cliff face. Fortunately, their  
velocity could only really be considered as middling slow. Shinji fell off the saddle, face-  
up, again. His ride bellowed in indreculous indignation. _'What the hell?'_ its snorts all but  
said._ 'What compelled me to do that? Humans are morons!'_

After a short while, Shinji heard slow 'clop-clop's and saw Hasya's head peering down  
at him from the top of his vision.

"... sattava?"

Shinji said nothing.

"Javaal really IS here. My senses are drawn to it as a compass is attuned to the poles.  
It is just that... now I am w-within its area of influence."

Still the boy said nothing. His eyes were not even accusing.

"I-it's been the first time I've been out in thirty years! Then there was all the strange  
things I had to go through, it was all so confusing! D-don't blame me! All these damn  
rocks look the same to me!"

He began to laugh. That only discomfited the woman even more, thinking he was  
doubting her even more. "I am not a charlatan!" she attested further, her voice tinged  
with hurt.

Slowly, Shinji got up and felt his face. He had opened a few of the scabs, but other  
than that he felt fine. "Okay, okay... I'm not going to give up that easily." He was not  
immune to embarrassment, but it was much easier when there were only two people  
to know within ten square kilometers. "There are only three cliff faces here. I already...  
eliminated one... as the entrance. So, Hasya-san... where do we try again?"

Hesitantly, she pointed to the one opposite, the right and slightly concave cliffs. The  
donkey snorted and edged away from Shinji, refusing to let him back up.

"Bucephalus you're not." the boy muttered. He led it by the reins to the far wall. Hasya  
and her horse decided to test the entrance and it was not so much as she just  
disappeared as that he had extreme difficulty, suddenly, remembering where she went.

Half of her and the horse poked out from the rock wall, and clarity returned. He walked  
in behind her.

It was a natural tunnel, with cliffs forming a high arch. It was dark, lit only by a single  
thread of sunlight trailing down from the thin gap above and the brightness of the far  
end. It took them perhaps fifteen minutes to get to it, and beyond was an open and  
sun-drenched valley.

He smelt the earthy scent of green growth, he felt the brush of warm air. He watched  
wide-eyed at the scene, so pastoral and clean. The people there stopped their tasks  
and just watched; not with any fear or suspicion but honest curiousity. He felt peace,  
utter peace... and from the far end of the valley, a high monastery cut into the very  
mountain, he felt the thrumming of many minds in harmony.

"Javaal." Hasya breathed.

He understood now why she was so quick to persecute herself. Every time she made a  
compromise with the world, she destroyed the deep serenity that her home seemed to  
impart... even the loss of the smallest piece was tragic. He felt so small and unclean.

He had come, not to partake of that peace, but with clear intention of destroying that  
utterly. He was still unshaken from that intent.

He saw old men, in yellow robes, approach with faces set into grim masks. They knew  
that too, and of how there was no hope in convincing him otherwise.

-o-  
-o-

It took some more time to really be allowed in, and he was treated with an indifferent  
sort of welcome. He followed deeper into the valley, past villages and rice terraces, to  
the monastery. It was much larger on the inside than without; nine hundred years of  
make-work tunneling made it so.

There was a central meeting hall, where most of the laity could gather to perform the  
necesary rituals that sustained their society. Despite the strongly ascetic virtues of  
the valley, Shinji supposed a little sense of grandeur was not undesirable. The place  
was not a backwards, superstition-laden community, even with its religious core. He  
knew a little bit about the existence of piezoelectricity, and as such was not struck  
numb by the apparent magic of crystals apparently lit by the force of faith and an  
enlightened mind. Criss-crossing the chamber, set carefully from the roof to the walls  
in lines and patterns, made sure was always bright with a cool clean light within. It  
was a look, he actually had to admit, that was very 'high-techy' as advanced future  
artists preferred.

There were other items and measures he could discern that fulfilled purposes that in  
the outside world were done by complicated electronics. In Javaal, it was done by  
a crystal or polished piece of rock, some wire, maybe feathers for decoration, and  
force of will.

He nodded to himself. It was hardly any backwater. In the brief tour, he saw that they  
had radio, several computers perhaps years out of date but more than sufficient for  
the tasks at hand, and complete sets of many encyclopaedias. These were not a  
people that eschewed ignorance.

Javaal's greatest feat was not that it had remained so secret for so long, but that it  
had managed to remain so while consciously working not to remain isolated. It was the  
last refuge of the extremely rare results of the genetic lottery, who remained lucid  
enough to see that there was little choice than to bury their gifts (not always so easy),  
to try and live out a normal life or to embrace that. There was actually a worldwide  
but highly-unlikely community that was able to regulate this... looking for the abused  
and those that abused their gifts. For those who feared being a freak, Javaal was the  
mythical place of safety.

Shinji looked at the council of abbots. Though predominantly Tibetan, there were also  
several... he wondered if the term 'foreigners' still applied. Once within Javaal, they  
had to abandon all discriminations on race and creed. There remained still gender and  
the unique aptitude differences, but then again it was supposed to be a monastic  
retreat, and those seemed to be slight, more of tradition than anything else.

There was one of them, a rather strongly-built black man, who stared grimly down at  
him. Shinji puzzled over why the German word for 'shank' cropped up in his mind.

"The boy is too old to begin training." he said, his voice a gravely baritone, badassery  
well established. His name, Shinji found out later, translated to the oddly appropriate  
'Warrior'.

"That is only because most of the early practices require an open an unformed mind.  
We build their ethics alongside self-control." replied another old monk, a long white  
beard, distinctly kung-fu master-like. The Peace Lama tugged at his finely-maintained  
whiskers. "Tradition dictates that, as it would take too long for a mind already aged  
and shaped with prejudice to catch up."

"Tradition is tradition. While to be respected, it is not law. Hm." This was said by the  
chief abbot, a man so old he had shrunk and there was not a part of him not covered  
by wrinkles. "I have a feeling this would not be a problem with this one."

"There are reasons for our misgivings." the warrior-Lama from earlier continued. "As the  
boy must return to the outside world eventually, we have no guarantee that he will not  
abuse the teachings we give."

"Ah, but I believe we actually do have one." mentioned the reason-Lama, a tall and  
reedy man with a monocle. "Don't we, child?"

Shinji was starting to feel really uncomfortable, but could not really pinpoint a reaon.  
"Yes, I will not misuse what you teach me. But please do not doubt, that if it can be  
used offensively, I WILL do it when necessary."

The chief abbot laughed. "Enlightened one or world conqueror! Who among us here had  
not faced that choice?" Only he seemed to be amused by that prospect.

-o-  
-o-

In the end however, it was just a formality. "He who seeks must learn, he who learned  
has sought."

Prior to joining the school, he had to take the equivalent of an entrance exam. He was  
a little upset about that, since there was the slight chance that Hasya's journey to  
Japan and back would be made a waste of time and effort. A very small chance, since  
they would not have gone through all that if he had not a modicum of talent.

There were the various disciplines, Outward (telekinesis, etc) and Inward (telepathy,  
precognition, etc) and physical tests. His scores ranged from acceptable to abysmal.

"For some reason, I expected... more." Lama Shining-Pagnor-Warrior-Of-Truth pointed  
out as he walked beside the chief abbot. All names were in the end descriptive and  
those in Javaal no longer pretended otherwise; usually having public, private and  
mystic names.

"Hm. You expected something more impressive, yes? Almost a god in human form?" The  
wizened old monk chuckled, himself Kurly-Krishna-The-Sunshine-Kid, while tapping  
his walking stick upon the tiles. "It is unwise for us to expect that, considering ours is  
a humanistic trust. Prophecies we distrust, the silly things."

"But, the boy is just too... will he really be strong enough, in the end?"

"Heheh. Judge him by his youth, do you? Like him, I am frail. Like him, I use... a stick!"  
The chief abbot began to whack away at his student's right ankle. "Think then that I  
am weak?"

"No, honored elder, but... you are... you." That stick used to be the handle of a broom.  
For all his girth and power and skill in the martial arts, never had the warrior-monk had  
faced such a thorough trashing. Not again would he go there.

"Where is the maybe-bodhisattva-maybe-hegemon-most likely-bored-out-of-his-wits  
now, hm?"

"I believe he is with Peaceman-Facing-Past."

"Ah. Damn, good am I at naming things."

Really not going there.

-o-  
-o-

"There are other ancient writings, child. SEELE had taken it upon themselves to rule,  
in the cities and in the plains they had exercised their tyrant urges and sought goals  
of distinction, and grown sick of the pain of living. We are the heirs of Enkidu, here in  
the mountains where the laughter and the little ones who grap our thumbs form our  
greatest glory."

Shinji raised his hand. "Question."

"Yes, child?"

"Philological and theological conflict?"

"None. A system of morality requires only the consent of man, not the will of the Gods,  
and we more concerned with the application than publishing of papers for study."

"Wow. You people really ARE atheistic." the boy breathed out. "Other than the saint-  
analogies of the Larger Wheel?"

"Distilled, it is this: People have always needed symbols. Must we then mock humanity  
because of this? It is a vessel we pilot, to bring a greater number of people to their  
true destination."

Shinji nodded. "I am a stranger to this place, and soon enough I must leave. Am I  
expected to convert?"

"Hah!" the old monk laughed. "This is Javaal! Forcing someone to accept another moral  
code has never worked well. That is also why it is called an anti-intellectual system.  
Enlightenment comes from within, and it is your decision, child. Besides... I have a  
feeling the celibacy of the true path will not to your liking."

_'Surely not, pitifully limited mon-keigh! NEVAAR! I will burn anyone that tries to get my  
young king to accept such a singular path!'_

_'Why are you so hung up about this?'_

_'It is almost wired into us, that every Eldar must strengthen the race. There are no  
Eldar in this world, the closest I have is YOU, and therefore it is YOUR lineage that  
must prosper!'_

There was absolutely no sign that the Javaali monk had heard it. Shinji coughed. "So  
you know of SEELE, sens- Master?"

"Teacher, of any language, is sufficient. I am sure you have noticed that I can speak  
and understand any language spoken... this is because I listen with my heart and not  
my ears. You will learn this, too." He stroked at his beard again. "And, yes, we know  
of SEELE. They place their roots in medieval times, in slightly similar fashion to to ours.  
They wanted to preserve useful 'witches'... but their roots go further than that."

"What do you mean, teacher?"

"I am speaking a literal truth, in that we are _**heirs of Enkidu**_. They are a pessimistic  
group, who find their end truth and the fulfillment of their godhood inside dead scrolls.  
They follow the path of defiance and domination, in the shadow of raging _**Gilgamesh**_.  
Hence the woman through whom Adam eats of the tree of knowledge and becomes  
conscious of being naked is looked upon as an evil tempter, entailing the loss of the  
primeval life of bliss in a gorgeous Paradise. So does SEELE seek to end man's pain.

We hold a living point of view that is optimistic. The change to civilized life - involving  
the wearing of clothes and the eating of food that is cultivated (bread and wine) is  
looked upon as an advance. Hence the woman, who brought naked Enkidu out of the  
wilderness, is viewed as the medium of raising man to a higher level. The world IS  
enough, even sinful and full of suffering as it is."

"That's... surprising. How does that affect the status of _bhikkuu_ and _bhikkuni_?"

"Javaal was based upon the notion of social equality, from its very first moment, We  
still hold to certain traditions, intended by the Buddha to protect the less numerous  
female orders, but these rules have never been unalterable. At the very least you will  
find that we have a co-educational system." The old monk nodded. "I do not think you  
will find it too dissimilar to your outside learnings."

He would find was indeed not, much again to the boy's discomfort.

From there they moved on to the physical education course. There was a specific  
open-air area for such things. Temple martial arts was originally made to keep the  
monks from their tendency to become fat and lazy from sitting and meditating all day.  
Being able to punch someone's kidney out the other side was just a side-effect, which  
to their surprise led to more initiates. It also helped discipline in the knowing that old  
age and guile could always defeat youth and enthusiasm. It remained much the same  
way in Javaal.

"Yes, I know the logic of training serenity, tolerance, and harmony through the use of  
crushing, slashing, stabbing objects seems... counterintuitive. But it does work. For  
the life of me, it's strange, but it does work." He rubbed at his kung-fu chin again,  
amid the boy's bland stare. The old man's eyes twinkled with humor.

There was a clatter at his feet. Shinji picked up what looked like half of a jumping  
rope set. There was a wooden stick, chiseled with grip notches, and a long string of  
some form of threaded crystral. Interestingly, he could loop it several times without  
breaking. There was some creative craftsmanship there.

"I see you found one of the training rods given to the advanced class."

Everything crystallized then, all the oddness at the edge of his senses. The tests  
never end. Nothing corrupts like power can, and in Javaal they were at a constant  
watch over each other. Buddhas or conquerors. He flicked his wrist just -so-.

Snap. Hiss.

The string straightened out, a little more than a meter long. To keep it absolutely  
straight and rigid, air was compressed around it in a self-propagating yet sharply  
defined containment tube. That was what made the humming sound as he whipped  
it around. It weighed practically nothing at all. If he was careless, he might be able to  
put someone's eye out with it. He supposed with enough focus and practice he could  
get it to glow.

He let the intent drift away. There was a 'fsssshk' sound as it deactivated.

Shinji turned to the monk. "The chief abbot has a videodisc player, doesn't he?" he  
asked, but not really needing the confirmation.

Lama Peaceman coughed and looked away. "In our defense, we looked this way long  
before that silly movie came about." He stopped stroking his beard and sighed. "This  
collective consciousness thing is sometimes really such a hassle. I would rather not  
lose my omnilinguality." Although embarrasing enough, they could not do away with it,  
since the chief abbot tended to get even more... creative.

Shinji wondered if there was something in the collective consciousness that said _'On  
second thought, let's not go to Javaal. 'Tis a silly place.'_ A good laugh had always  
been the best way to beat back the darkness.

-o-  
-o-

_'Everything's a test...'_ Shinji thought, as he sat in class, days later. _'I can't stay here  
for years and years, so of course I have to learn everything at an accelerated pace.'_

Which put him, with the equivalent of a mere two levels of learning, seating with the  
advanced class. He was the class dunce, an unfamiliar and unpleasant feeling. At the  
same time, he was bored nearly out of his wits. '_Tricks and pretty lights!' _he wanted  
to shout. '_Why try to move mountains when you can move -people-?'_

Of course a little part of him understood and said back _'Are you insane? Do you really  
want these people to learn... and worse yet... ATTEMPT the practicals?'_

For it was a silly place.

Javaal was hardly a utopia. The valley could only support so many people, after all,  
and in a closed system the only thing that could increase was entropy. New people  
and new ideas added to it while tradition tried to keep things steady without choking  
the life out of the community. Shinji hardly expected to be welcomed, even as he  
was put into the class by order of the council. As he saw those eyes filled with wary  
indifference, he re-affirmed it did not matter. He was there to learn and bargain for  
another unfoldng agreement, not to make new friends.

One thing was clear though, is that there were rude and self-important people (or not  
necessarily people) EVERYWHERE. Somewhere, there was a biggest shrimp that liked  
to push around other shrimps, until it was caught and served in soup.

And how the hell a mountain boy born and raised like Puso Winter-Glory knew enough  
of shrimps and their proper colloquial usage to keep calling him 'shrimp boy', Shinji did  
not precisely know.

"Leave off him, Snowhead!" his defender shouted, and tried to give the much larger  
boy a shove. She did not have much success, but the tormentor did decide perhaps he  
had enough. Jamyang Mercy-Without-Restraint was one of those neat, responsible  
busy-bodies that every class inevitably had. "Go on and be borderline unhelpful  
elsewhere!"

As expected in any isolated group, there was an innate distrust to outsiders, specially  
those that appeared in the middle of the year. They had been told the outside world  
was sinful, decadent and corrupt. He was from the outside. It would actually been  
better if he had been as coarse and bombastic. Instead, what they got was a frail,  
shy young man who practically sweated politeness.

"Don't mind him..." said Jamyang, fighting hard the urge to pat the younger teen on the  
head. It was strange. A part of her wanted to say 'just stand up for yourself' while  
another just wanted to make sure the newcomer was never troubled by anything...  
huggle him up to death, even. "He's not a bad person. He's smart, too... smart enough  
to know that while most of us are here to learn lessons, he IS the lesson."

Shinji nodded. And so he tests the flexible limits of what he may or may not do. There  
were people like that.

"I don't understand why he has to pick on you, though." the teenage acolyte added.  
"You seem harmless enough, for an outsider."

_'Because smart as he is, keen at the fighting arts, there is a part of him that is still  
dumb enough to realize that you remain more Alpha than he can ever be.'_ At least the  
Farseer seemed to thinking more decently more often. Probably because she was  
feeling content; not pleased, just content. There was nothing like a village full of  
telepaths to make any illicit doings impossible. '_More likely however, is that once again  
you seem to have gained the attention of most of the female population."_

Despite the best of intentions, Javaal was dull, dull, dull. The outsider in their class was  
so uninteresting that it was, in itself, interesting.

His name directly translated to 'Second Son of a Sailor', which was inspid enough that  
it might have been given by the chief abbot himself. Even if apparently boring and  
retiring, he was still their best direct source of outside world information.

"Is it really true? Women outside expose their bodies, of their own free will, to the  
gaze of lecherous men?" he was asked. "Miniskirts? Bathing suits? Lingerie?"

"Yes. The opposite is also true, after a fashion..."

"Do people outside really worship money?"

"There are some that do. But mostly, I think, they worship their own pride."

"All those wars... all that death... it can't be real, can it? Why should anyone kill just  
for invisible lines in the dirt? For religions that say there should be peace? All these  
stories we've been told. Is it really that bad?"

Shinji sighed. "Not really. Before Impact, there was close to six billion people on the  
world that managed to live day after day. But... every cruelty you've ever heard of,  
at some point, man had done it to another man and perhaps worse yet. Humanity, it  
seems, made the term inhumanity only to describe its fear of itself."

The problem was that Shinji Ikari spoke like that All The Time. His abilities may have  
been just passable, but there was something in his voice that made the words in the  
encylopedias seem so brutally real, and even subjects barely more gossip seemed like  
words out of a Master. Which made the actual teaching Masters rather irate. There  
was something profoundly irritating about seeing a young teen sitting under a tree,  
surrounded by a circle of young females hanging onto his every word.

For some strange reason, telepathy just did not work on him. Most forms of pre- and  
remote-cognition also failed. Why was is then that the boy always gave the impression,  
not of learned tranquility, but a disguised deep gibbering terror?

-o-

"What are you hiding?" Jamyang demanded one day. "You should be better than this!  
Little children are better than this...! I've seen you weave through the mandala sets  
that befuddle even the ranking seekers. You have the aptitude, I know it." She paused,  
as the implications disturbed her and her belief system.

"I just lack the power, is that it?"

Jamyang nodded. The psychic instruction of Javaal said that there was no such thing  
as the soul. There was nothing eternal and immaterial within man. This was consistent  
with Buddha's earlier teachings. Everything was relative, there was no fixed reference  
point of morality that could be used, semantically, as an oppressive point. The dharma  
that could be manipulated drew upon a mixture of the human principle and the source  
of all things; which knows nothing and teaches nothing. The problem therein was that  
weak psychics could only go so far, but past a certain point those the could be trained  
had no real physical limit to what they could accomplish. Only in the mind did it matter.

He had the mind, well enough. Why couldn't he do more than barely keep up with the  
class? His body was frail, but not that frail. Power was a tricky word, instinctively  
detestable to most Javaalese.

_'Other people don't have to worry about cracking the planet in half.'_ he wanted to say.  
He forced a slight chuckle. "Well, as they say... play to your strengths... or your lack  
of it. What I need most of all is fine control."

"Cheeeh..." She squinted and put her face close to his.

"Wha-what is it?" he said, backing away from that intense scrunity.

"You need glasses."

"... eh?"

"For some reason, I think you must have lenses when you say that. Being dishonest  
without actually directly telling a lie."

Shinji scampered away. He knew that something was truly cliche when it reached the  
collective consciousness of those who never even watched anime.

-o-  
-o-

Days, then weeks, had passed. He had to admit it to himself. He was an amateur; a  
talented one, to be sure, but self-training could only go so far. "For a moment, you  
touched a source of deep primeval power..." he was asked. "Did it frighten you?"

"I was barely able to remember who I was, and come back. But that seems rather too  
pat, doesn't it? The reason I can't synchronize with the Eva anymore is because of a  
mental block? What, is it like a guitar or something?"

"Perhaps. The best musicians here are those who can best produce a sound without  
using any instruments at all. We should test that out." said Feckeldraft Circular-Sage,  
another of the odd members of the council. He looked like the recipient of three too  
many lightning strikes.

Javaal was in a constant state of evolution, as people from the outside just 'chanced'  
to find their way in, as expeditions were sent out to find the minds in greatest distress  
(or greatest minds in distress), or just what they could yank out from the airwaves. As  
such, it has a sort of mish-mash of methodologies and traditions sufficient to be called  
... heretical... to practically every other religion in existence.

At the same time, the monks called Psychotherapy the service they and old ladies had  
been providing for thousands of years, only now With Labels In. Lama Feckledraft was  
old like most of the monks whose words actually carried any weight, and contributed  
daily to the strangeness of the hidden society. In his youth he had been a field agent.  
For the moment he attempted to be a Reductor; someone who reduced complicated  
problems into simpler, smaller pieces.

"Hmm. Hmmm. Wheter or not we have solved that issue is hard to say, since we so  
inconveniently lack this 'Evangelion'. Now here is a question: Do you think you are  
deliberately avoiding turning into your father?"

"Just because I may have to ACT like him sometimes, doesn't meant I have to BE like  
him." Shinji put his fingers together into an arch and leaned forward in his seat. "And  
besides, my eyesight's still perfectly fine."

For a moments, all the candles around them flickered, as if they might go out. "Should  
we talk about your mother?"

"I can barely even remember her." Shinji replied. "All I can confirm is from recovered  
reports."

Lama Feckledraft tugged at his goatee. "For some reason, I feel that will be important  
somehow." He clapped his hands twice. "Very well, let us Reduce."

Valor -o- Violence

Joy -o- Apathy

Love -o- Lust

Hope -o- Obsession

With a piece of colored chalk, he linked the values together. "Negative and positive.  
Do what is right, Deny what is wrong. And yet, these things are linked. Anger, no  
matter how jutified, can turn into hatred. Happiness, no matter how great, to have  
it constantly would be to rob it of its meaning. To love is to have, and sometimes no  
matter what. Change offers the possibility of things getting better or far worse."

"It's Chaos." the boy said, twitching.

"Such is life. Thus is why Buddha spoke of moderation." The eight spokes were then  
connected into a wheel. "This is not the Eight-fold Path, but see- in like manner do  
the ails of humanity show to be shades upon each other. The opposite of love is  
apathy. The parallel of obsession is lust. The act of violence is a release of anger,  
that can even be intepreted as a form of joy. And so on, with the figurative nonsense.  
And yet here... at the center where they meet... should we put a point? What element  
connects these emotions?"

"Is it a fundamental feeling, like anger?"

"Perhaps."

The meditation room was a round seclusion with no windows that forced those inside  
to remain awake, lest they sleep forever from carbon monoxide poisoning. Shinji had  
to admit it did evoke the right sort of gloomy, portentous atmosphere... granted, a  
potentially fatal atmosphere, but... he realized that he was trying to delay answering  
the question.

He thought about it. He thought about it some more. The lama made some sort of  
snort, and bobbed his head. The boy's mind reeled with puns.

Until, finally... "Fear." he said.

Feckledraft awoke, blinking his eyes quickly. The heavy air lifted immidiately. "Explain."

"If I may reduce further, teacher?" He wrote a little distance away over the points:  
RAGE, DESPAIR, CRAVING, CHANGE, then hesitated over the last point on the far right.

Five to fill the top half, but that would destroy the balance. The hexagon was a  
beautifully symmetrical figure in itself... provided the center lines were thought of as  
dividing lines. Four still balanced out, numerically, but there was something about it  
that tended to disturb any mind that was aware of aesthetics. There was always that  
seeming threat to tip the scales, that empty spot at the end... illogical, but still there.  
Three was a fine balance, probably why many ancient numeric systems had base three,  
six, nine; when not using biologically obvious base two and five. Four was reserved for  
collections of grim yet vaugely distant intent; like Riders of the Apocalypse. Five was a  
comparatively harmless, if mystic number, six items were often unwieldy to remember,  
and se- why am I thinking over this?

_'Breathe. Don't be so smart you forget you need to be stupid. Breath.'_

His hand hovered over the fifth spot. It tingled. He shuddered and stepped back.

"Fear. Fear leads to anger, leads to hate. Fear breeds terror, brings despair. Fear tries  
to multiply and fade away, it craves the presence of others, lusts for sensations that  
let it be forgotten for a time. Fear drives change, anything to be other than itself. It is  
simple, unreasoning, and the constant companion of humanity."

So everpresent, in fact, felt by nearly every creature with a mind fine enough to know  
emotions... that he wondered if a Chaos God was even necessary. "Taken colloquially,  
almost everything can be traced to fear. Greatness is the fear of impermanence.  
Attachment is the fear of loss. Bravery is the denial of fear... or the greater fear of  
giving into fear. Ugh." He was not liking that line of reasoning. One could wonder why  
and how anything ever gets accomplished at all. "Here, the negative process can be  
thought of as flowing upon the river of fear."

"What is the opposite of fear?"

"Um... courage? No, that's in spite of, not the absence of fear. Perhaps... peace?"  
Or, a niggling voice added _'What is the ultimate peace? Death.'_

Shinji saw the monk had an non-judgemental expression. For some reason, he felt like  
defending himself anyway. "It's own opposite is itself. It's a binary concept. While it  
has its shades, there's a critical point... either in fear or not." He paused. "I've read  
other writings... and of Enkidu, it might be said that while in savagery and ignorance  
he feared very little. It was with the knowledge of civilization, and other things of  
value, that he realized that he could fear. And only then he could become a protector."

The man who would wrestle lions for his flock, and the one prayed-for, who would be  
the friend to show a tyrant the error of his ways. The first Hero, at least in writing,  
since the legend of Gilgamesh seemed spliced onto an earlier myth.

"To truly live is to know of fear." Lama Feckeldraft nodded. "To be free of fear is to  
find serenity. However, there are those who feel this implies that nothing therefore, is  
truly of any value. What about you? Are you afraid?"

"Well... I can't say I'm fearless." Shinji replied reluctantly.

The monk was old enough to need a walking stick, which he took up and with it lightly  
whacked the boy on the head. He snorted derisively. "There are those who might find  
your continued resistance to the idea of becoming Someone Who Dictates Over a  
Large Enough Area; like say Continents: sound too much like pointless whining. There are  
those who have it as their life's dream, and for it to be dropped so casually on your lap..."  
A louder thwack, but upon the stone floor. "Why? What are you afraid of?"

The boy hesitated for a long while. Not Death, certainly. He had a backup plan, which  
alleviated that somewhat; but overall he saw his own death mortal death as merely a  
...cessation. He had no particular belief in an afterlife, for despite all the obvious  
symbolism, he was raised in the rurals and as such had a Default to Shinto. Failure was  
a more concrete prospect. It was not basic enough, though. "I'm afraid of... myself?"

"I see at least you have no fear of sounding egotistical."

Shinji shook his head. "Sorry." There were hundreds of candles around the room. He  
focused on just one. "Mankind had always feared the dark. But I think the one we  
feared most was the one we could never run away from, or beat back with fire. The  
darkness behind the eyes."

"Taken in that context, faith lights up the world. There are those who put their faith  
in reason, doctrine, or in family. Why do you deny then, those who might have faith  
in you?"

"I deny that I'm in any innate way better than anyone. People should obey me when I  
have legitimate authority that answers to their needs, not just because I can... **_make  
them obey_**."

He had never really considered himself analogous to the God-Emperor; which was why  
how others held him in the high esteem severely creeped him out. The taller the  
pedestal, the greater the fall. At least with, and he used the term with great wariness  
and in only the most general sort of way... his girls... it was understandable. He found  
it hard to likewise see them in anything but the best possible light.

The mere thought was ridiculous! He was in his first year of junior high. He had never  
really considered himself particularly wise, powerful or charismatic. He was prepared  
to grant that, yes, when it comes to tearing things apart with an Evangelion he was  
somewhat of an expert. When it comes to either enlightenment or world conquest, he  
was ready with _'Hell no, it's not my show_'. He lacked all the qualifications; knowledge,  
experience... immortality! He refused to accept the possibility. Man's fate was man's  
alone to decide. People needed symbols, so in as much as Yang helped bring China  
together, if there was no other choice Shinji had resigned himself to helping in that  
way to stabilize a crisis.

"Hesitation and denial won't make it any less real. The stakes are highest ever, do you  
really have the time to entertain that sort of idealism?" he was asked in a noncommital  
tone. "Why should you care why people think?"

"Because they REAL to me!" Shinji snarled. "This isn't a game! This isn't about winning.  
Their pain, their fear, they are not meant to be pawns in the game of greater beings!  
But the only thing I can do is destroy... I've seen it... and it is STUPID for man to try  
and achieve godhood through destruction!" A chill wind blew through the room. He  
gasped for breath. "... I won't allow it."

Because it would be too easy to use the methods of the enemy. Too easy to believe  
in one's own might, and the delusion of inevitable victory. Fear, again. Just enough to  
keep his insight at edge.

"Even if it works? How much will you sacrifice just for these principles? You know you  
may not keep -everyone- from hurting or dying. What are you, a masochist?" Javaal  
did not encourage a Jesus Complex, for reasons all their own.

"I don't intend to take responsibility for all humanity, teacher. If it turns out that we  
humans end up destroying ourselves... that's free will. If there's no choice, I'll act." His  
voice dropped to a mumble. "But I don't need slaves, I don't need worshippers, I don't  
need to be the absolute right."

"Hmm. Then, what do you want?"

Shinji looked at his open right hand, his fingers were twitching uncontrollably. "To stop  
being afraid... " He clenched that hand into a fist. "As long as I'm alive, those that I  
can protect... they shall know no fear."

"And the rest?"

"The enemies of humanity will die. By my hands, they..." The candles all went out.

Shinji Ikari slumped back, unconscious.

Lama Feckeldraft waved and the candles all re-lit. He sighed. So close, that time.  
What a stubborn boy. He had a real mad-on for humanity. It was obvious to the monks,  
at first sight of him. The boy was obsessed about the welfare of mankind, because he  
feared that he was losing his own humanity.

-o-  
-o-

The boy was coughing as he walked through the outer hall. Lama Feckledraft slapped  
his back, which unfortunately did not nothing to help. "I don't -cough- have anything  
stuck in my -haak- throat. Seriously!" He leaned against a balustrade and gave a  
'blaaargh' at the courtyard. "I've heard of people intentionally strangling themselves to  
help with the mystical mental state... and now... I have to ask; WHAT IS WRONG  
WITH YOU PEOPLE?"

The elder monk laughed. "You do know that you are still, by any definition, insane,  
right? Perhaps you should not be so quick to criticize."

"Well, the voices in my head have a reached a consensus that with you, it doesn't  
matter!" He winced as that seemed to amuse the monk even more. What was it about  
seeing him in obvious discomfort that made otherwise smart and sensible people so  
happy? "Bunch of bloody fecking squigheads."

"Hmm... yes, we need to talk about that, one of these days..."

"The voices in my head?" Shinji looked doubtful "Well... I don't precisely want them to  
go away..."

"Specially since their presence, for some reason, keeps telepaths from butting in. I  
would consider it a favor if you could tell me one day, what they really say."

"Things." Shinji replied, in a hollow tone. "Disturbing things."

"Mmmm? Really? How disturbing?"

They walked away. So intent were they in their conversation, that they did not notice  
a face peering from a corner. It was later afternoon, date uncertain, and there was no  
particular prohibition against walking... very slowly... down the outer hallways.

-o-

Puso and Jamyang had no dislike for each other, per se. Javaal was a closed society  
of psychics, and even then the ratio of those with trainable talents was a handful out  
of every generation. The students had known each other almost all their lives. Psychic  
outsiders were rarer still, even though Javaal sent out seekers. It was for that reason  
that the two agreed to just keep a lookout together, when they met each other in  
their snooping around.

"I don't trust him..." said Puso, a sensible enough decision. "You should not either. He  
comes out of nowhere, speaking nothing of where he came from, bringing no gifts.  
Who does he think he is?"

Jamyang watched intently, as Shinji and Lama Feckledraft continued their discussion.  
"Someone that even the most honored elders treat as like almost their equal." she  
whispered. "Maybe he is a noble, or something, Outside?"

"No, no...! That doesn't matter here. This is Javaal! Only one thing matters!" Puso grit  
his teeth. The newcomer showed no particular (honor) in the psychic disciplines, nothing  
that would explain the respect being shown to him. It was undeserved; and while Puso  
may have been thought of as a junior asshole, his arrogance was born of the clear  
knowledge that he was the best of his generation. "This is all wrong..."

They ducked back as they glimpsed someone arriving around the far corridor. After  
checking that the passive signs of their presence were still suppressed, they dared to  
look again. Lama Pagnor, though of apparent African descent, was several generations  
down of dedicated warrior-monks. Feckledraft was an outsider sixty ago, but had since  
then proven both might and wisdom. Shinji Ikari had been there for a little less than  
five weeks. They bowed to each other, but only slightly, in the manner of friendly  
equals.

To Jamyang, it was a mystery. To Puso, it was an insult.

The council monks and the boy talked for a while; it was too far for their observers to  
hear. Jamyang gasped as she saw Shinji snort and wave aside, dismissing something  
Lama Pagnor said. The severe-looking monk merely laughed.

"He can't do that..." Puso hissed. He was born into a deeply stratified society, and  
what would be the point of living and learning for so long just to become an honored  
master and getting a seat on the council, if any brat of an outsider would be allowed  
to act so... flippantly... around him. It had always seemed like an immutable law to  
him. Literally everyone should treat the masters with the greatest deference.

Both acolytes-in-training felt a sudden chill; then realized all three of the people at  
the far end of the hallway were staring in their direction. Shame, fear and panic hit  
all at once, and the teens fled.

-o-

The warrior-lama sniffed. "Children."

"Well, such is the way of the young and reckless." replied Lama Feckledraft. "No harm  
done, let them be." He turned back to Shinji. "Now what was it you were saying...?"

"Those crystals, that you people grow with psychic influence...it's amazing, you had  
lasers back in the 1500s. I'm not actually all that mechanically inclined, but I think I  
can figure out a brightlance..." He coughed. That was not really important. "I wonder  
why you don't use it for communication, though?"

"Why should we? We already have telepath relays, much more reliable."

The trio began walking down the corridor, with the boy at the center. "Um... I've been  
thinking, and really... it isn't. It's true that it's impossible to get caught, but at least  
with radio it's possible to dial onto a different frequency. With telepaths acting as  
senders and recievers, they need to keep their focus on one person, or send out a  
'wave' that anybody with any ability can pick up."

The two old masters nodded. There were... competitors out in the field. While mental  
communication could not be jammed, it was certainly possible to intercept. Given the  
rarity of telepaths of that caliber, it seemed a waste just to have them function as  
a parrot-box.

Shinji looked thoughtful. "And most of all... because it's the human mind doing it, the  
people involved are directly exposed to any disrupting effects. A psychic wave with  
the backing of an Evangelion could drive anyone insane. The Angels might even be  
able to detect such intensity of human thoughts..."

That was one of the disturbing implications he had recently learned. Humans were not  
designed to deal with an AT-field. Evangelions, built to mimic humans, could however  
do almost anything that humans were capable of. Those brains were huge and filled  
with primordial power.

"Lasers for communication would only be that much more complicated." Lama Pagnor  
put in. He too had served as field agent and while comfortable with technology, had  
a deep appeciation for simple things that were hard to break. He had been in more  
than enough situations rife with collateral damage. "We minimize electronics here in  
Javaal. How would that work?"

"I made a proposal for Evangelions to lift battleships to orbit. Why can't ten people  
lift something, say... twenty pounds... into space? It's not like mass really matters."  
Shinji shrugged. "Then it's just a matter of focusing crystals and mirrors. I've seen you  
people program -molecules-. Besides, even if you don't want to make electronics here,  
I know some people who could produce it for you." He could not think of any designs.  
However, someone somewhere should be able to make it possible. Necessity was the  
mother of invention after all. What was the point of all that wealth, gathered illegally  
or otherwise, if it was not used?

"What would this serve, though?" asked Lama Feckeldaft. "It might be simpler to just  
buy a satellite dish from the Chinese black market."

Shinji shook his head. It had also been demonstrated to him that Javaal psychics could  
pick out mechanical devices. They could store energy inside crystals. Crystals break.  
Mental networks most of all needed buffers, breakers, markers and firewalls.

"Yours are a dangerous people, teacher!" Shinji said. "Your crystals are Von Neumann  
machines! One becomes two. Two becomes four. And so on. It might be slower in  
space since the crystals need to soak up ambient hydrogen, but telepathy doesn't  
really require a medium. It takes even light hours to cross the solar system. But if  
there are enough relays to serve as focus for telepaths, we have superluminal, if still  
in-system communications." He missed the MAGI. He did not even pretend to even  
understand the Tannhauser field equations... but something itching at a the edge of  
his consciousness told him it was possible.

_'There is no Warp here!'_ he had to repeat to himself. _'Stop dreaming!'_

Lama Feckeldraft chuckled. "You really believe it's inevitable that humanity MUST leave  
this Earth?"

Shinji frowned slightly. "This world... must heal." He could almost feel its anguish. As  
he had said before, sometimes the best thing to do was nothing at all. He knew his  
limits. _'Denying power?' _Shinji snorted out. _'What power? How can I refuse what isn't  
there?'_

It was strange. He was ready to accept his own insanity, yet not delusion.

-o-  
-o-

There were practical exercises. Telekinetics were valued, since the community in the  
valley tried to minimize the use of fuel-consuming machinery. How long had it been,  
really, since he said something about lifting ships into orbit? Now he struggled to keep  
an egg from breaking.

Splortch.

_'Darn, there it goes again.' _Shinji took a damp cloth and wiped the table. Very carefully  
he balanced another egg at the tip of his index finger... and let go.

"Hey shrimpboy!"

Splortch. Ungh.

It was around noon, the day after, and the students could spend their free hour as  
they wished. No one paid any more attention to him, what with his demonstration of  
his pathetic lack of any real power or control. He turned to see Puso Winter-Glory  
standing there, sneering. "What is it?" Shinji responded, as always precisely polite.

The other boy sat on the opposite bench of the table. "Haven't you mastered that  
yet?" he said, more in disbelief than in discourtesy.

Shinji sighed. Briefly, he convinced himself he had six arms and picked up six eggs. He  
held the eggs aloft for a moment, then put them down. He looked up, and with his  
right hand picked up an egg. He balanced it on his open palm, and showed it Puso. The  
egg rose a few millimeters up the palm, then...

Splortch.

Burst egg yolk splattered all around. Shinji cleaned off his hand, and turned away. The  
silent message was clear enough. Six was no problem, but holding back the force of his  
mind to handle just one was difficult. '_I'm not as inept as you think I am.'_ he chose not  
to say.

It was already proven that innate power was inversely proportional to synchronization  
ability with the Evangelion. No matter how powerful he might be, alone, the Evangelion  
could magnify that magnitudes greater. He needed to figure out what was keeping him  
from synchronizing; little else mattered.

Puso Winter-Glory grinned. "You know, maybe we started off on the wrong foot. It  
doesn't matter what you were Outside... you're in Javaal now. Here were are all  
brothers." He floated an egg and set it spinning. "So, what do you say? We could be  
friends, eh?"

Shinji could have laughed. Puso had such a naturally abrasive personality that when  
he was trying to be personable it was eerie. Such overdone friendliness could quickly  
get through the guard of those often bullied, as it did not need to be a threat. It was  
easier up front to just believe in the sudden and uncharacteristic overt kindness.

It was also so blatantly transparent. _'Is he really trying to manipulate me?'_ Shinji's face  
showed no trace of his amusement within. For all pride in his mental abilities, Puso did  
not really know people all that well. _'It's... sad. The psychics of PKRU may have been  
weak in comparison, but at least they knew the reality of suffering. He's not so much  
a bully as a spoiled brat; born with power, showered respect, raised here in this place  
of absolute safety.'_

Shinji shook his head. He had no time to socialize. He was not there to teach anyone  
how to be a better person. "I would most appreciate it if you would just leave me  
alone."

That could only be taken poorly. Puso grimaced and flicked his finger. The floating egg  
splattered upon Shinji's face. "You're hiding something." the Javaali growled. "You're  
pathetic. There's no reason you should be here, you're barely even one of us. You're  
a spy...!" He grabbed Shinji by the folds of the common novices's robe and pulled him  
up. "I don't know who you are, and I don't care...! If you mess with me, I'll make you  
regret it! Javaal will be mine someday, and no outsider filth is going to stand in my way."

Shinji couldn't take it anymore. He had to laugh, even with goo dribbling down his nose.  
"By the Throne, you really do think the world revolves around you, don't you?"

Puso bared his teeth and lifted a fist... then reconsidered. He was out in the open  
courtyard after all, and he could feel the stares of the others in the class. "You're not  
worth my time." he spat, and shoved at Shinji. He stomped away.

Shinji got up and took up the towel to wipe his face. He was still grinning even after  
he got himself mostly clean. Jamyang approached, her face wary.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine." Shinji responded cheerily, which only made the psychic girl think he was still  
trying to repress. She had a much more fine-tuned emotional sense, and even then  
could not feel anything off Shinji.

"Are you sure? Uh, not all of us think like him, you know. If you ever need help, or just  
to talk..."

"No, it's no bother at all. How can one really rule others without first ruling one's own  
heart?" he replied, still chuckling. Only from self-control did other exploits follow. He  
could not get angry over a little thing like that.

However, from then on even those who had gotten somewhat comfortable around him  
drew back to give true isolation. He was never invited into any groups of discussion or  
activites outside the lessons. Teenager students, even in a monastery... specially in a  
monastery... could not afford to have their casual words somehow find their way into  
the ears of their teachers. The only one who still bothered to interact otherwise was  
Jamyang, but even she realized that his trust would not be easily given and his secrets  
unraveled so quickly.

This suited him just fine, as it gave him time to experiment upon the methods he was  
being taught. The special instruction he got from the masters also passed beneath  
notice. Being a persona non grata was a rather relaxing feeling, even; he just wished  
that he could write letters back to Tokyo-3.

-o-  
-o-

Yet more time passed. Javaal's seekers reported that psychics all over the world were  
going 'to ground', as mysterious deaths continued to plauge their secret worldwide  
community. The valley itself had to accept refugees, but none of them were allowed  
past the outer settlement. There were other enclaves; in Brazil, Canada and Poland...  
but they were much more vulnerable in comparison. Shinji's studies had to intensify;  
the quicker to get to and fulfill the bargain he and council had agreed upon back during  
their first meeting.

Students in the Advanced class were each under the instruction of a Ranking acolyte,  
as a Master to an Apprentice. He had Hasya Cheerful-Garden-Song, which was yet  
another point of ridicule. Of course, he would be a disappointment in class. What could  
he possibly learn from that weird woman?

Her foray into existentialism could only go as far as "What is reality? It is w-whatever's  
popular at the moment."

She was strange, and sometimes irritating, but people tended to forget that her own  
personal teacher during her younger years was the chief abbot himself. Which might  
explain a lot of weirdness.

"I've never really gone for this whole serenity thing, actually." she said. "Sit down and  
what, you just get a c-cramp. If someone wants to go to sleep, then she might as well  
get comfortable, right, sattava?"

The chief abbot was old enough and respected enough that he could just plop down  
and pretend meditation sleeping. That way, he could say without lying that the  
source of his wisdom was constant meditation.

"So... how do you get in touch with your inner self, then?" Fortunately Shinji's peanut  
gallery was silent.

Hasya had never apparently realized that her teacher was the chief abbot herself, or  
that she was the most dangerous psychic in all Javaal. Grand Lamas were supossed to  
be built of gravitas, or something... not little old men that behaved as if the world was  
their own private little joke.

"We d-did it this way!" she said jovially, much more comfortable now that she did not  
have to deal with the immense pressure of Being Outside. She made a hopping half-  
dance that the teen reluctantly followed. "Now, Oota Mata Vroosh! Oota Mata Vroosh!"  
Hasya waved her hands up in the air, and kicked out lightly. Shinji did the same, with  
much less enthusiasm. "Oota MATA VROOSH! Get that toadfish outta there!"

"Toa- What?"

Hasya just kept on dancing and chanting. Watching the delight in that face, lost in  
the memories, Shinji wondered just why was it that she was so frightened of being  
Outside? She seemed younger and much happier Inside, and he decided he did not  
really need to know.

He chuckled. He felt at peace. Crossing past embarrassment that he would not care  
anymore how it looked. Perhaps it did work after all.

-o-  
-o-

-o-

It was April 14, 2016, and there were plenty of reasons to rejoice. The people may not  
know it, but they had already beat back prophesied armaggedon by a full year. There  
was a Tech Festival in Tokyo-3. People from all over the country had arrived to go  
'ooh' over the city attractions; to wit:

a. the 'blackstone' walls of the Fortress City Tokyo-3, made of pure AT-field pressed  
granite, five meters thick and twenty meters tall. Thick plates of metal and ceramic  
were then inserted into prepared spaces. Most older residents considered it an eyesore,  
obscuring what had been a lovely vista of rollings hills and lush forests. However, it  
secured the north-eastern section of the city from attack, and the propaganda posters  
went so far as to present it as an Eva-scale barricade.

b. the tunnel carved out by Eva 01 and 02 through a mountain, the largest man-made  
straight (if rather short) hollow in the world. It also had a reinforced concrete highway  
that directly linked Trident Base to Tokyo-3 Downtown.

c. Then NERV Visitor's Area; as all nonauthorized access was still kept well out of the  
geofront. There were scale models of the Evangelions, pilot profiles, books, toys, and  
assorted merchandise. The Whack-A-Gendo game was (un)surprisingly popular.

d. Trident Base was a lot more receptive to oglers of their great machine. It was easier  
to make a publicly-available Trident Land Dreadnought game simulator. A columnist  
somewhere had commented "... if we must all foolishly hope, then the -Tancred- is  
Sancho Panza to Ikari's -Eternus-, and we are all better of that IS that way."

e. The in-construction Lake Asahino Positron Lance Cannon. Environmentalists were  
worried about the effect of using the lake for as a heat dump, but not as much as the  
environmental effects of Angels rampaging all over the place.

The highlight of the festival however, was the local go-cart derby. It was just a race  
of safety-first light cars intended for children. The main street was cleared for that  
event, and the course would go down the straightaway, loop around second avenue,  
then back to the start; 4 kilometers in total, with 4 laps.

It was impossible to separate partisan interests from that many people. Toji Suzuhara  
found himself feebly trying to keep under control possibly the cutest, most cheerful  
bunch of future anarchists he had ever seen. Not that he had seen a lot of such, for  
comparison, but... there were a lot of boyz and gretch all gathered together. Their  
parents were at the verge of coming to blows.

"Aagh! Settle down, you runts!" he shouted into the megaphone. "Little drivers, get to  
your vehicles. Little mechanics, step AWAY from your competitor's vehicles. SHUT THE  
HELL UP, YOU LITTLE LUNATICS!"

"Is he allowed to talk to my children that way?" an irate parent complained to a neaby  
police officer.

"Dat does it!" A yell sounded from behind them. "GETT 'IM!"

"Aaagh!" Toji yelled as he was dogpiled. Little kids and anklebiters; once on the ground  
he was all but done for. He flailed about, but was pinned down by the sheer weight of  
numbers.

"Are your children allowed to swarm him like that?" the officer asked.

The parent turned to see the children only dispersing at the command of their own  
leader figures. "Um... I don't know."

"You know, why don't you grown-ups move aside, like, and do your 'discussions' over  
there. Let the kids have the street." It was a not a request.

As quickly as the children formed into one screaming mob, so did they again fracture  
into bickering groups centered around their respective vehicles. Post-Impact Japan  
had rules about corporations trying to comandeer public events; that is to say, very  
little. Sponsors skirted the regulations that karts had to be mostly home-built, and  
must be built with safety-first in mind. What with the restriction on weight, speed and  
construction, most karts looked like miniature drag racers or wingless plane fuselages.

Da Boyz' Karts were instantly recognizable from the others out-of-town. Other karts  
had clean, aerodynamic lines. Dey had proudly built their own, needing no sponsorship.  
Their parents' bountiful enthusiasm could only be hopefully matched by their wallets or  
engineering experience.

The race officials had certified the karts; yes, they were safe, even if they looked like  
they might fall apart at any moment. Streamlining? What's that? Da Boyz's karts were  
60-80 percent engine; stubby, angular, eye hurtingly-painted pieces of bolted-on  
machinery.

Da Boyz Clubs worked best when they were ingratiated to the community; hiding their  
secrets in plain sight. Whatever misgivings parents had, it was true that grades were  
improving and that bullying was starting to fade as a problem. Its was great to see  
young kids practicing democracy, even if it was mostly mob rule. Now if only they  
could be convinced to stop talking in a gutter-sink dialect.

"Red wunz go fasta! Everybody knows dat!" shouted the driver of the Wobble Sunz  
Klub. There was no particular reason their Kart had to look like a Model T.

"Blue wunz is lucky!" retorted the one from the Good Boy Moonz Klub. "If diz was just  
a straight line race, mebbe; but we got da skillz! We practiced!" She was sitting on the  
fender of her vehicle; angled into a sharp triangular ram.

"Bah! Wez done got da best bits, ya blindz, don't ya see dis yellow paint?" Such words  
from the Goldy Toothy Klub were punctuated by the sound of its crew walking into  
each other and various things that would go clang, bonk, or any variation thereof.  
Everyone was wearing thick goggles to show their kin-spirits with the driver; since  
apparently a windshield was not part of the 'best bits' they collected... and likewise  
not important was peripheral vision.

The Boyz' crowded around an impassive Rei and an increasingly frazzled Asuka; asking  
for their favor for the race, in much the same way a knight of old might have asked for  
a lady's blessing. A slightly bruised Toji went over to the sidewalk and sat there. He  
grinned a bit, watching them. His sister was driving. At first he'd been nervous, for  
her safety and how her leukemia might affect things. Eventually, all three Suzuhara  
males had to allow it; she needed a reason to live, to enjoy life, more than days of  
endless observation at the hospital.

Hikari arrived with a bottle of chilled water and a wash towel. She gave both to him  
and asked "Feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Aah, it's hot, though." He splashed water onto the towel and pressed it to his  
face. He exulted in the comforting coolness. "How about you? Where are your sisters?"

Hikari shrugged. "Kodama has to be around here somewhere. Nozomi's over there, with  
the rest of Da Boyz." It was hard to pick out the little girl from the throng, but she was  
keeping the other children just barely under control as they 'pleaded their case' before  
the pilots. Hikari chuckled as Asuka let out loud "What the hell?" from some remark  
that Rei must have said. Followed by a "WHAT THE HELL?" again.

Toji laughed too. "She still hasn't figured it out, has she? She's the perfect tsukkomi,  
even if her personality doesn't really seem to fit at first glance."

"It's my fault..." Hikari replied, shaking her head slowly. "I may have looked so reluctant  
to answer, that she was reminded of how I acted when she asked me before about...  
what 'yaoi' means. So now she's convinced it's something really deviant and refuses to  
even be told what it really is."

"Yao...? On second thought, I don't really need to know where she picked that up."

A few moments later, the loudspeakers announced the event would begin in just five  
more minutes. In the end, with Rei favoring the Moon Klub and Asuka the Sun Klub, the  
tiebreaker went to the Teeth Klub; they needed it most.

-o-

It was a celebration of childhood and innocence and joy and peace and hope and  
crass commercialism. The racers were set, the road was clear, the and they were all \  
just counting down the seconds.

Then the speakers sounded again; but this time in alarm.

"Hostile alert! Hostile alert! Please proceed to the nearest shelter calmly, quickly and in  
order. There is no need to panic. Please proceed to the nearest shelter. Please give  
priority to NERV personnel during this time. Repeat: Hostile alert. Please proceed to  
the nearest..."

The visitors had gone to Tokyo-3 looking for that visceral thrill of being near a danger  
zone. However now that it was all too real, they were starting to panic. The Tokyo-3  
residents however, took it all in stride, and helped to calm down the nearest out-of-  
towner. Shops were closed up quickly, policemen began herding people. The Eva pilots  
were already being shuffled away by NERV Section Two. The announcer for the race  
added in his apologies, that the race must stop.

"All right, women and children first." Toji shouted into his megaphone. He had the sash  
of an volunteer organiser and an expression that would tolerate no crowd stupidity.  
"Take only your most important items, leave the rest. Move it people! This race isn't  
going anywhere...!"

"Wot?" Mari Suzuhara shouted. "Sod that!"

She gunned the engine and sent her Kart roaring down the avenue. The rest of the  
Boyz' Karts followed quickly and without hesitation.

"SHIT!" Toji's was Toji's amplified shout. "AAGH! DAMN BRATS!" He began running down  
the street to follow, and as he passed the announcer's booth said to them "GIVE HER  
A THREE-SECOND PENALTY!"

"Suzuhara!" Hikari shouted. She rubbed at her temples. "Aagh! Suzuharas!" She cast  
her gaze around, then caught sight of an ice cream vendor and his minivan. "YOU!"  
she shouted into her megaphone. "SIR, I WILL HAVE TO ASK FOR YOUR COOPERATION  
IN RETRIEVING SOME -IDIOTS-!"

The man was a seasoned Tokyo-3 citizen. He merely grinned, and bowed to say she  
was welcome to comandeer his vehicle. What's an Angel attack or two? Visitors were  
convinced that all in Tokyo-3 were each their own way insane.

Iruel dropped straight down, right out of high orbit.

-o-  
-o-

Back at the Himalayas, Shinji Ikari danced on, unknowing. "Oota mata -o- YARGH!"

And now he knew.

-o-

-o-

-o-

End Timeskip Troubles part two

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

* * *

There. Sorry for the wait. It's still decidedly filler-ish. There's a few passages that could still use a little more tightening, but eh. Got to keep in the habit of more-or-less regular updates.

It's the sloppy research and language-mangling that I'm going to have to admit to. ;)


	27. Chapter 26: Timeskip Troubles part3

Timeskip Troubles part three

-o-

-o-

Tokyo-3 had grown large enough, fast enough, that there was a tertiary command  
crew that allowed the primary and secondary bridge bunnies to go out to the city and  
have fun at the festival. This of course raised the complaint of being 'damned unfair'  
from those stuck at watch, but seniority did have its privileges.

Makoto Hyuga accompanied Kaede Agano to one of the new coffee shops popping all  
over town, weighed down with purchases and wondering... _'Is this a date?'_ Possibly,  
since they were in civilian clothes. The problem was that neither of them had, except  
in rare instances, a take-charge sort of personality.

It was all so sickeningly cute and that their friends were disgusted with them.

They sat and watched the people on the street go by. "It's strange don't you think,  
Hyuga-sempai? This fortress-city's never looked... alive! It's more like a theme park  
than anything."

"Umh. It's all gone rather political, I'm afraid..." he nodded. In some small way, he still  
carried a torch for Misato, but this was also tremendously... encouraging? A man with  
a crush on his sempai has a woman with a crush on her sempai... how so friggin'  
-balanced-. It was good time to be Makoto Hyuga. "It's not NERV's just NERV's show.  
There's Trident, there's the national government... and they all have make it look like  
it's all nice and friendly. "

Kaede snorted. "Right."

'Friendly' was not how the three powers wrangling for control of Tokyo 3 behaved  
behind closed doors. The power vaccuum from the loss of both Ikaris led powers all  
scrambling for control over the city. NERV had direct control, but not economic; which  
was held mostly by the support community around Trident Base. The political power of  
the Diet, and its innate authority over the citizenry, was stymied slightly by the media  
popularity of the Tokyo-3 'celebrities'.

Kaede looked thoughtful. "The commitee's gone all-out this time. They're trying so hard  
it feels like something is missing. Like a court, without its king."

They made small talk while waiting to be served. It was a fairly busy place. After a  
while she pushed off the table to stand. "Excuse me a moment, sempai. I..." She  
looked towards the bathrooms. Makoto made some neutral noise, and she left.

He looked outside, at the stream of people going by. The sun was high in the sky, and  
everything seemed so bright. It was a good day. And who should he see walking past,  
but Kodama Horaki? Their eyes met, and she grinned in recognition.

Very quickly, she crossed the street and plopped down on the empy seat. She kicked  
at the plastic bags. "So you've been shopping? Nice. More fuel for your brain, so we  
can pump it for ideas later."

"Um... Horaki-san..." Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the arrival of  
a waitress, withcoffee and chiffon cake.

"Oh, thanks. Nice service..." Kodama had no hesitation about immediately going for the  
cake. As she explained, she was left walking all day with the guided tour... how she  
envied that NERV had so much time to spare. She needed the carbohydrates for her  
own fuel. "Evangelion Fantasy RPG's almost done. Have you ever thought about voice  
acting...?"

Kodama looked up to see only bewildered terror on his face. Surely the thought of  
being around her a little more could not be that horrible. Hell, they were even getting  
comfortable... she had a feeling they both found intelligence sexy; some of those  
brainstorming sessions got really steamy.

"Excuse me, you're in my seat." she heard a voice say from behind her. "You're eating  
my cake." _AND GET YOUR CLAWS OFF MY BOYFRIEND!_ was left unsaid, but heard all  
the same.

"Oh." Kodama glanced again at Makoto, as if accusing him. "I see." She made no move  
to get up. "My name is Kodama Horaki. I was just asking him about some projects we  
have going on together."

"Isn't that interesting?" Kaede hissed. "My name is Kaede Agano. We work together at  
NERV."

Then both women smiled. _'Little bitch/Old hag!'_ ran through their minds. One could feel  
the air starting to grow charged and heavy.

Makoto felt like running and screaming, but at the same time seemed bolted onto place.  
He had never really crossed the line of being 'just friends' with either woman. He had  
read enough fiction to realize, just suddenly, the minefield he had stumbled into.

He who seeks to model his life after Shinji Ikari had better be prepared to accept his  
problems. So intent were the three in their tableau, that the warning horn was left  
completely unheard.

_'Oh, crap, now they're looking at me! What do I do? What do I say? OH SOMEONE  
HELP MEE...!'_ he screamed out silently.

The high-intensity laser carving up the street proved sufficient distraction.

-o-  
-o-

One of the changes from having a military officer in direct command over NERV's active  
assets was the addition of high-speed elevators sprinkled all over the city. This made  
for more weak points in NERV's security, which was why each conspicuous location  
was a small tower of reinforced concrete with a heavy bolter auto-turret on top,  
land mines to the sides, and a collapsible tunnel beneath. Each station had its own  
computer system separate from the MAGI, and access without proper authorization  
was would be met with immidiate and lethal punishment.

The pilots entered the nearest, and belted themselves into safety chairs. The elevator  
cabin literally plunged, three hundred meters down, and there was a short sensation of  
weightlessness followed by the staggered thumps of braking systems.

The girls exited then began to take off their clothes. There were already plug suits  
prepared in lockets at end of each elevator. The tunnels all led directly to the Eva  
cages. Less than ten minutes later, the entry plugs were being inserted.

"See? Why didn't we have this system in the first place?" Misato shouted up at the  
command center.

"Because it's hideously expensive?" Ritsuko responded dryly. "You do remember that if  
you keep in approving every allocation form that crosses your desk, we're going to run  
out of money to keep even the vending machines stocked?"

Misato coughed, and waved aside dismissively. "It's not like I'm the lask link in the  
budget chain." Kozo Fuyutsuki still had to give him approval, then Kaji had to persuade  
the UN to fork over. "Those figures scare me. But at least it's useful, right?"

"Aren't you going to send us out?" Asuka asked over comms. "We're here. Let's kick  
Angel ass already!"

"Don't be in too much of a hurry. We need to know more about this enemy before we  
attack." Misato replied. "Ritsuko, what do you have?"

The scientist sighed. "How like the military; Hurry Up and Wait." She frowned while  
looking up at the main screen. "I would have preferred being able to detect this Angel  
sooner. Maya, why did our sensor web fail to notice its approach?"

"Um, actually, it did, sempai. It just crossed them too quickly for anything to be done  
other than raise alarms."

Ritsuko and Maya had elected to stay behind instead of going off to join the crowded  
festival. Misato had gone back to drag them out of their offices. Thus, the essential  
command staff could fortunately be mustered quickly. Shigeru and Makoto's stations  
had fresh trainees nearly scared out of their wits from their first combat encounter,  
but fortunately again with the Angel right at Tokyo-3 their tactical information was  
less significant.

Ritsuko blinked, as the calculations between the depth of that sensor web and the  
Angel's arrival finished blazing through her brain. "That's... fast." she had to admit. "If  
it didn't slow down as it passed the troposphere, it could have been the equivalent of  
a mass driver." Shit. Tokyo-3 would have been hollowed out; no defense. "Misato..!  
We need to train the pilots to get underground even faster, after this. We need to be  
able to raise an AT-field barrier at a moment's notice."

"Now you're starting to understand why air power rests at the apex of the triad of  
victory." Misato replied, grinning. "All right. Since it's already over Tokyo-3 limits, we  
get the automatic jurisdiction. Get the PDF forces online. I want those secondary  
defense cannons ready to fire at my order."

Positron cannon roosts opened up from hill around the city. Each positron cannon was  
pre-charged with its own capacitors enough for only three shots. Fixed megabolter and  
missile emplacements likewise turned to aim.

"How's the evacuation?" Misato asked next. "There were a lot of civilians up there."

"Mostly done, m'am!" someone reported from the tactical stations below. Windows on  
the secondary screens showed people crowding into evacuation trenches. Tokyo-3  
had no real foundation to speak of, as the 'ground' was merely the 'roof' of the geo-  
front. Straight pits and tunnels were dug, to funnel civilians toward the underground  
shelters while at the same time keeping the streets clear for rush military traffic.

There were still a few vehicles rolling around the streets, but it was heartening to see  
how quickly the evacuation plans were carried out. The dense packing of people at the  
festival was the best test scenario.

"Good. Scan that thing with everything we've got." Misato commanded.

Iruel hung fourteen kilometers above Tokyo-3, and at that distance was little more  
than a bell-shaped black blob. A closer view revealed a certain resemblance to spiny  
sea anemone. Even through a screen there was something faintly disgusting about it,  
but none that they could identify.

Then, the screen flared. Redundant systems tried to keep an image through the static  
haze. "Angel has raised its AT-field. Laser imaging distorted by 3 percent." was the  
report. "Increasing scanning frequency..."

The screen flared again, and blanked out. "Heavy electromagnetic pulse...!"

"Is the source nuclear?" Ritsuko gasped. "No... but with enough hard radiation..." Her  
eyes widened with other methods the Angels could have tried to break through human  
resistance. "Aaagh! Why are human beings so fragile?" she spat.

"All weapons fire! Launch Evangelions!" Misato shouted. Inwardly, she was starting to  
rail against her lingering habit to 'wait and see' before acting, as if there was still  
someone watching over her shoulder. She had direct command over military affairs  
now, and thus no one else to blame for any screw-ups.

The cannon roosts above the city had independent tracking systems. Six bright lances  
shot up to the sky. Two missed utterly, four beams crackled against the Angel's AT-  
field.

Then, there was a deep rumbling bass tone that broke windows all over the city.

"I can't believe you were really going to run all the way to catch up." Hikari sniffed in  
disdain even as she rubbed Toji's back. "Think before you act, sometimes! Do you need  
someone else to do that for you...?"

The only response he could give were gasps of breath. The ice cream man merely  
chuckled at the signs of young romance. He saw the go-karts ahead go around the  
bend and shifted gears to accelerate.

There was a flash, and sizzling noise. They would have died, if they remained near  
the starting line. All the other go-karts parked there were instantly turned into molten  
slag, as a reflected positron beam slashed down for a second or so. Toji groaned. With  
no other contestants, the Boyz were default winners for the day. It was going to get  
'political', no helping it now...

Then the sound hit. The van's metal skin screamed, and it swerved out of control. The  
driver wrestled with the steering wheel for any measure of control, and just barely  
kept his vehicle from slamming face-first into a storefront. The van skidded to a stop,  
and nearly pitched over.

Then the second tone hit. And the one after that.

Their hearts felt like exploding. It was a wall of sound that pressed down upon the  
city. The winds blowing through building facades filled the air with torturous wails.

"Wha... what is tha-t... Toji!" Hikari felt her own tears fall hotly down her cheeks. She  
bent over and took in lungfuls of air. She still felt as if suffocating. Her insides felt cold,  
shrinking and starting to crack. She did not feel afraid, for fear was such a small term  
for the numbing, all-absorbing shock she was feeling.

_'No!'_ she screamed inside. '_Why am I acting like this...?' _She had always been the most  
responsible of the Horaki siblings. She could barely even remember their mother, who  
had died shortly after giving birth to Nozomi. Their father had tried, but he moved the  
family to Tokyo-3 for the work opportunities all the while hiding the cancer Second  
Impact implanted into him. Kodama was old enough when he died, that the family did  
not need to split up. The eldest had to work to keep the family alive, but Hikari... to  
her fell the task of being strong enough to keep them all sane. _'I'm a girl... but I'm  
stronger than this... please... I need to...'_ She felt so weak and small and helpless and  
so alone before the world, exactly like that moment right at her father's funeral...

The doubts she thought she had set aside, returned grown large over the years.

"TOJI!" she screamed. Her eyes were all blurry with tears. Could she... pathetic, that  
the only thing she could rely on was the fool that she loved. Crude, perhaps, but with  
stubborn and dedicated in his own way.

She felt then arms embracing her, so tight it was starting to hurt. "... hikari." Toji  
whispered in a choked voice. Hikari had to live with the aftermath of death, but he had  
to face every day with the knowledge his sister's immune system would surely and  
finally fail. He hated feeling so useless, knowing there was nothing he could do but to  
watch...

One of the most fundamental fears was in being alone.

That crushing terror was still there, but it was as if a thin wall muted it enough that  
they could remember who they were and what was doing it to them.

"... goddamn Angel!" Toji muttered.

He held Hikari tight. He had his eyes shut, and his spine still tingled like it might shake  
apart... but the freezing pit of fear was slowly starting to be pushed aside by that  
warm, familiar sensation of aimless teenage rage. Hikari felt so small in his arms, weird,  
for she had always seemed larger than life to him. Without her armor of common sense,  
her whip-like judgement of propriety, she was just a normal girl. No more questions. No  
more edicts. She was just...

Someone he wanted to protect!

"... who the hell does it think we are!" he snarled, burying his face into the nape of  
her neck. Sure, he was known for doing some careless, dumb things... but no one  
could ever accuse him of lacking reckless courage. The feeling of warmth in his arms;  
she was still there... and the only thing he feared was losing those he loved.

They both heard a gutteral scream. The teens looked up to see the driver clutch at  
his head, his adam's apple twitching grotesquely. He slammed his own head into the  
steering wheel, cracking the plastic and sounding the horn.

Wham! BEEP!

Wham! BEEP!

Wham! BEEP!

"Stop him!" Hikari shouted, snapping out of her haze. Outside the Angel's tone still  
beat, bumm-hurumm, but adrenalin and concern overcame that. The two wrestled him  
to a halt until he grew quiet. There was blood at the steering wheel.

"Damn it, mister. That's not going to help...!" Toji said as he kept the ice cream man  
pinned to the driver's seat.

The man merely grinned, blood dripping down from the cut on his forehead. "... yes, it  
does. Pain is real, you see?" he mumbled, lolling his head from side to side. "Everything  
just stops... got to move... got to feel... anything else... pain... it lights up the dark..."

He drifted into incoherence, then to unconsciousness. At first, the teens were afraid  
he had injured himself too much, but even their meager knowledge of first aid could tell  
it was just the sleep of the exhausted. Their eyes met, and widened in simultaneous  
realization. They still felt some of that irrational terror, and if it could affect a grown  
man that badly.

"Oh, shit, the kids!" Toji shouted. He waited for Hikari to nod, then pushed open the  
side doors.

It felt like drowning, as his flesh hummed in response to the seething air. It rushed in,  
squeezing at their hearts.

Toji grit his teeth, and forced himself outside. Hikari's hand clutching his, that gave  
him the strength he needed to stand up even as the sky threatened to fall. His sister  
was out there; his sickly, timid, precious little sister! Oh, and those other brats too,  
the boyz had to be scared out of their wits.

He looked down the avenue. There, several blocks off, the Da Boyz' Karts had crashed  
together in a three-way tie. The children were nowhere to be seen.

Not too far away, Makoto Hyuga pushed himself off the floor. Unsuccessfully, as two  
women atop him had sufficient combined weight to sap his leverage. Any attempt to  
push them off needed his hands to be put to... dubious... positions. Wisely, he decided  
not to call any of that to attention.

They regained their senses soon enough anyway. "Ungh. What was that?" Kodama  
groaned. The alert siren was still ringing. "An Angel attac - ah!" She gasped as the  
feeling hit.

Kaede sat up, and put her hands over her heart. "S-sempai, what's happening?" Her  
face was hidden under her pageboy haircut as she bent over.

"It can't be that simple... can it?" Makoto asked aloud. "You know how low-frequency  
sound waves can make some people uncomfortable?" He tried to get up, but fell back,  
his nerves unwilling to respond. "Are... are you all right?" he asked the two.

They grimaced but responded yes; more or less. So far the Angel had not done any  
physical harm, but that could not be expected to last.

_'What would HE do?' _Makoto thought. _'Decisiveness. Caution is good, but fear eats at  
the chance of success. How's that go? Audacity! Ever audacity!' _He pushed his eye-  
glasses up and smiled slightly. "We can't just sit around here. It's our job to protect  
this city."

Kaede stopped shaking as he put a hand to her shoulder. Kodama merely gave him a  
hollow look. The Angel's presence intensified the moment. Her expression was full of  
tragic acceptance, a _'You're not going to abandon me, are you?'_ She sighed. The pain  
of being rejected, in accepting that, blunted the edge of induced fear.

"You don't think that protecting our people's will to endure is as important as their  
physical safety?" he asked her.

"Sempai?" Now it was Kaede's turn to look up in confusion. _'You're going to take her  
with us?'_ she wanted to ask, but as a NERV employee she too could not just abandon  
a civilian.

Makoto stood up, and was briefly silhouetted against the light. Those who could fight  
back were already doing it, upon the rim of panic were manually firing the strongpoint  
defenses at the Angel. Iruel was steadily lowering itself and flattening out its shape.  
The booms and cracks of megabolter and positron-cannon melted into the oppressive  
humming. The taller buildings suffered from deflected or returning shots.

His knees still felt weak. That paralyzing feeling... god help anyone caught outside,  
they would be helpless as shells and beams and debris fell all around them. While off-  
duty his first responsibility was to the city, to make sure its people were safe; at their  
shelters or otherwise. He looked down at his clothes. Jeans and a t-shirt did not make  
for a figure of authority. It had to be known at first glance that he worked for NERV,  
and that they had to listen to him for their own safety. To break through crippling  
personal terror he needed an undeniable symbol of authority.

It was Kodama who recognized that frantic look in his eyes. Shinji Ikari was not around,  
so someone... anyone... had to say it was not okay to just roll over and die.

There were metaphors used to imply that cities were somehow -alive-. As if the press  
of millions of people, in their little concerns and emotions and ambitions somehow all  
taken together imparted a sense of -being- into their place of purpose.

Metaphorically, Tokyo-3 was hurting.

Far away, inside a closed chamber deep inside a monastery, Shinji Ikari lay limp in the  
arms of a screaming woman. He was bleeding from the nostrils, his skin was pale and  
clammy. Hasya could recognize signs of potential mental damage.

"Sattava! Please wake up! HELP! HEALERS! ANYONE! WE NEED HELP!"

_'So far away...' _he whispered inside. '_I'm sorry... I've been selfish. I shouldn't have left.'_  
It felt like his strength was being sapped away, torn into countless little shreds. _'What  
can I do?'_

_'Pilot Ikari...'_ Rei's voice intruded, then fading off. The sound of his own heartbeat  
pounded heavily upon his consciousness. Behind it was a second beat, humming with  
malicious resonance.

_'Goddamit, I -can- do this!' _he next heard Asuka's voice. Then her scream of pain.

A third voice, also female, but unfamiliar to him. _'Help me.'_

"I'm here..." he gasped. "So far... what can I do? M'just a boy. I don't have the power."  
He opened his eyes suddenly. Hasya's face was full of concern, fear, and relief that  
he was awake. He could feel her selfless worry, engulfing all other emotions. '... is this  
how it feels to have a mother?'

He smiled sadly. "I'm sorry..." he said. "I need your help again."

She bowed slightly, even as she held him in her arms. Her eyes grew unfocused. Her  
own smile was of profound joy. "I live to serve you, my young king.'

Monks and acolytes, drawn by Hasya's earlier calls for help, arrived just in time to see  
Shinji plunge his hand into her skull.

Half a world away, the sky was filled by the sound of an eagle's screech.

N. Nuclear. B. Biological. C. Chemical.

Into these of forbidden demons of warfare we must add a fourth, equally as terrible  
and morally indefensible. T. Telepathic. It is an attack against which all the armies of  
the world currently have NO defense.

There is only one vessel of war with complete NTBC protection. That alone should  
have it more than just unconventional, but utterly removed from political, strategic  
and tactical control. It must remain our final resort, that one strong mind could shield  
the many. Inept ambition over even one is a great loss to all humanity.

-Yang Wen-li, 2016  
"The Complete Struggle"

The screens at the command center were an absolute mess. The use of an AT-field to  
inflict total sensor jamming was a development that many militaries found disquieting.  
It rested upon NERV to develop tactics and countermeasures that might eventually be  
used against them by their own supposed allies.

Audio, however... that was clear. They could hear the screams.

There were few cameras monitoring the shelters, and of those that could still operate  
under the force the Angel's jamming, showed scenes of blind panic. Most people had  
withdrawn into a self-imposed catanonia at the worst or just clutching at the nearest  
person for emotional relief.

Even deep in the geofront, they could feel it; that desperate longing and the clear  
realization they were small, squishy beings in a vast impersonal universe.

Misato frowned. It was a familiar feeling. "How is the Angel doing this thing? It can't be  
just sound... some of those shelters are total bunkers, completely isolated from the  
outside." She leaned over the edge of the command tower, glaring up at the enemy.  
"How is it even affecting us here?"

"...fucking AT-field magic." Ritsuko muttered under her breath. "The MAGI's done the  
permutations. Recommendation: Subjective analog approach." The scientist smiled  
grimly. "That means let the pilots have their Evangelions sort it out, as we puny little  
mortals don't know what the hell we should be doing."

Misato snorted. "In other words, play bait." She waved aside to signal open comms.  
"Rei, Asuka. What are you getting?"

The AT-field's ability to distort the electromagnetic spectrum gave a peculiar paradox.  
For the first time, a war machine massing several thousand tons could hide far more  
effectively than a mere thirty-ton tank. This was due to the second aspect of the AT-  
field, in that it could also serve as a shield, disguising even the mental presence of its  
pilot. An AT-field could, with very little ease, create a hard vacuum around itself just  
by pushing all the air out of the way. A psychic vaccuum was harder to make, but it  
was with steely discipline that the two Evangelions hid; each behind closed doors of  
building egress points.

"It is unpleasant." Rei reported. "The low-frequency waves appear to be a side-effect  
of the Angel using its field in a scanning mode. It is apparently capable of penetrating  
ground layers while at the same time holding a defensive shield, jamming most forms of  
our counter-scanning, and maintaining its own form of propulsion."

"We've done this is simulation before." Asuka added. "Hell, I can try the same tricks.  
It's doing them all at once that's the problem."

Rei looked distracted, in her comm window. "It should imply a loss in efficiency."

"That's an assumption, and in the battlefield just a shy removed of a mistake." Misato  
said, remembering just how much punishment the previous Angels could take before  
dying. As far as AT-field strength was concerned, Sahaquiel was likely the strongest,  
but it had to alternate between propulsion and regrowth. "By the way, are you girls  
doing anything to buffer whatever it's doing with the AT-field?"

"No, but I don't know how it's even penetrating all the way down there, if you can feel  
it. Damn thing's like scratching into your soul..." Asuka replied. Metaphysics was an  
accepted science, without which most of their technology would have been inoperable.  
The AT-field could be a barrier, but what could really be a barrier to the AT-field?

Everyone pretended not to hear a certain blond's muttering about 'quantum mechanical  
bullcrap'. "Regardless, I believe the effects will intensify as distance between us and  
the Angel decreases." Ritsuko snapped out. "Any more of this for those stuck in the  
shelters and we're going to find out just what it takes to turn people into animals."

Misato winced. Confined conditions could get bloody really quickly. "All right. Asuka, Rei,  
you are clear to engage the enemy. You know the drill. Defense, offense, then switch."

"Roger." "We're on it."

-o-

NERV and NNHIS had their own 'toys', but cooperated fully in the design and assembly  
of Type-T Evangelion equipment. Emplaced defenses, weapons, etcetera... these were  
secondary to the fact that the most dangerous weapon that humanity has ever made,  
was the Evangelion in of itself. Just how dangerous no one had any real idea. Titan  
modules directly reinforced the sheer basic lethality of the Eva.

Titan modules served two purposes:  
1. Extend an Evangelion's range of operations, in time and distance  
2. Provide increased armor protection, for even fiercer fighting

The prototype Titan armor, based upon the Jet Alone fusion core and scrapped Trident  
plans, proved to be too cumbersome to use in other than direct assault with maximum  
force. The second make of Titan modules were bolt-on equipment for the upper torso  
only and used battery packs, no longer having the option of a dedicated reactor. As  
such, it provided protection and power reserves without greatly impinging upon the  
Evangelions' mobility.

Simulations, more simulations, live ammo practice runs. As soon as final word upon  
training was given to Misato, when it came to training, their regimen intensified several  
times over. It helped keep their minds off the absence among their number, but also  
taught them how not to play a game.

Both Evangelions burst out of cover. Asuka held a positron gun: similar in principle to  
the NERV-built (and as it turned out, underpowered) positron rifle, but instead of  
draining from an internal capacitor was hooked up directly to the batteries on her  
back. Instead of shots, the gun sent out a steady stream of packed positrons, the  
better to weaken an enemy's AT-field. The Angel could not deflect this beam; held  
tight by the red Eva's own AT-field.

It also meant she had to keep an constant bead upon the enemy. A pattern of sunken  
lines appeared across Iruel's body. Lines which then grew bright red, and a similar  
constant beam shot forth from behind its AT-field to carve across the building the Eva  
was using for cover.

Asuka raised her own AT-field. '_You are not expected to replace Shinji.'_ she had been  
told. '_We don't even WANT you to act like Shinji. Please don't destroy half the city  
every single time you're sent out'. _The teen grinned at the remembrance. Economics?  
No. Faith was a coin that could be spent. It was important that people continued to  
believe that Tokyo-3 was still the best place to send their money, their goods, and  
their most talented minds. Festung Tokyo Trei needed their sacrifice, to persist in its  
own survival.

It was amazing, the thoughts that could run through your mind as you died. It took a  
few more moment for Asuka to realize the screaming she was hearing was her own.

She heard an eagle cry.

Evangelion Unit 2 slammed to the ground. '_Alive.' _she thought._ 'I am alive.' _Her left arm  
buzzed with icy pain. The overwhelming terror slid away, like water off an oiled cloak.

"Asuka!" she heard a faroff female voice. "Can you hear me? Asuka?" It was not Misato.

"It is not real, Sohryu." Rei's voice was closer, clearer somehow... then the red-haired  
girl realized she was hearing it without electronic static. Another trick; two meshed AT-  
fields could communicate through all known jamming. "It is induced pain. You are well."

"... fucker knows..." Asuka gasped out.

That was enough of a hint for Ritsuko. "The most dangerous weapon of the Eva is the  
AT-field, in of itself." she explained tonelessly as the main screen showed the Angel  
trying to catch Unit Two within its beam again. The Eva dodged, its right arm hanging  
limp. "The Angel knows its scanning method has a certain effect on the human nervous  
system. The things are getting smarter... but how much smarter can they get?"

"What do you mean?" Misato asked archly.

"It knows, yes, but HOW did it know? That sort of attack, because it has no material  
component, goes right through the random pattern AT-field we use."

As if to punctuate her words, a yellowish beam passed through the command center.  
None of the crew left their posts, to their credit, but those unfortunately caught in  
the beam screamed and fell over. They did not get up again.

"Rock doesn't seem to provide much protection, either." the scientist continued. "Every  
Angel we face is just that much deadlier than the last."

"Get some medics in here!" Misato shouted down.

Screaming filled the command center, in volume and hysteria greater than their own  
panic. Monitoring windows showed people stampeding out of their shelters. It was a  
sudden and merciless attack of claustrophobia. Children, the aged, it did not matter.  
Those in the way were trampled, clawed with fingernails, bit, shoved, all the while  
all were screaming themselves hoarse.

Animals. Frightened animals; all reason gone.

"My god..." Misato whispered. It was an absolute disaster. They were totally helpless  
out there. Worse yet, their presence severely limited the Evangelion's maneuvering  
room... unless she was willing to order the pilots to step wherever they needed.

-o-  
-o-

Shinji Ikari stood up, and there was a squelch as his hand was pulled free. Hasya fell  
to the floor, unmoving. There was no blood nor a gaping wound, yet the monks at the  
entrance had clearly seen his fist entered her head right up to the wrist.

The boy looked away, unconcerned, to the west. Taking that moment of distraction,  
the acolytes of Javaal poured in to subdue him.

The resulting explosion left a wide gap in the outer monastery's facade. Fortunately,  
no one was hurt.

-o-  
-o-

The AT-field was in itself, the Evangelion's most dangerous weapon. That was the  
concept central to her new gun. Rei took a deep breath and readied herself. Unit Zero  
had a larger backpack that forced the Evangelion to hunch over. Heatsinks wrapped  
around its arms gave the appearance of grossly oversized musculature. Its weapon,  
nicknamed the Gargant Moonbiter, was no longer just a double-barrel heavy positron  
cannon.

Asuka had fought long enough to take the enemy's attention, away from her own task.  
Rei dropped stealth, flared her AT-field, and compressed it again.

"I do not fear." she whispered. "For I am chosen."

Deep within the massive barrel, almost as long as the Evangelion was tall, gaseous  
deuterium was pumped into a sealed chamber. Rei visualized a spinning globe, and  
brought in her AT-field. Heavy hydrogen atoms spun, were compressed, until there  
was a single sliver of frozen deuterium floating in the absolute center of the breech.  
Still she compressed it further, but not even her AT-field could cause it to fuse. It was  
vastly most efficient than a magnetic bottle, though. Without that, the weapon would  
normally have needed power conduits and heatsinks so massive that nothing short of  
a battleship could hold it.

"I do not waver, for my faith holds me."

Iruel was getting closer. It did not show a visible core, however. Perhaps it was simply  
on the side facing away from the city. The center mass was the safest target.

The orange Eva had braced itself against a building, with its cannon ruining the roof  
of another. Aiming nearly straight up was a tricky stance. Rei pulled the trigger. A 50-  
gigawatt laser shot out, unerringly straight, and incidentally creating a temporary  
vacuum in the air as it passed.

"I do not stumble, for he is my light."

Positron cannons could with sufficient wattage pierce AT-fields because they fired  
positively-charged electrons which had almost no mass to speak of. Photons after  
all, could get through; even if distorted. Simple lasers were simply filtered of their  
thermal component. Cannons and explosions were stopped completely. NERV had  
run many different tests, at hideous cost, as to the applied mechanics of the AT-field.

Rei unsealed the chamber. A great boom broke the air. Ignited by the laser and well  
contained in her AT-field, plasma shot out of the barrel at a considerable fraction of  
lightspeed. The beam splashed against Iruel's defense... pulsing and writhing like a  
dragon out of hell... then crashed through!

She did not smile. "I do not grieve, for I am everything with his love."

The Angel's disc-like shape wobbled, but did not fall.

The main disadvantage of the improved Moonbiter was that it took three seconds to  
cycle back to readiness. It felt like eternity.

A pillar of yellow light passed over her. Pain seemed neverending.

-o-  
-o-

Trident Base kept the Land Dreadnought in 'reserve'. Although it might have armor  
twice thicker than an Eva (thrice in some places), there was no way it could help out  
there. There were other measures, however. SAM sites popped up and unloaded a  
volley of missiles up at the Angel. Instead of being loaded with explosives of dubious  
utility, the warheads burst into an expanding layer of hot black smoke.

It was also doubtful that visual cover would do any good, but it gave the Evas enough  
time to roll behind buildings and draw in their AT-fields for stealth again.

Down below, everyone caught out in the streets felt air pressure pushing them down.  
The chaff cover dispersed, and Iruel began randomly lashing out its psychic beam.

Toji pulled Hikari to a storefront, as the sickly yellow beam passed by. Even at such a  
distance they could feel it radiating -bad things-. They winced as the beam continued  
on, towards people just starting to get their senses back. They ran from it, screaming;  
and those too slow to get away made noises akin to that of slaughtered animals.

"Where are those goddamn kids?" Toji spat aside.

"Maybe they did the sensible thing and tried to find shelter." Hikari replied. The Angel  
did not affect everyone the same way. There were those who had managed to keep  
some sanity, and were already starting to pull the fallen back to the sidewalks. "Should  
we help?"

Toji blinked, surprised that she was letting him take point. He shrugged. "I need to find  
my sister."

Hikari nodded. She was worried for her own sister too. She had seen Nozomi heading  
off to a shelter earlier, and could only hope the little girl was still there. Mari Suzuhara  
was a more immidiate problem.

The two teens ran down the streets, their hands still clasped together.

-o-  
-o-

Elsewhere, Makoto clutched at his head. "That humming...!" he hissed out.

Kaede was already having trouble breathing. "It's getting worse." she said. The NERV  
2nd lieutenant looked up at the Angel. "... it's like I can almost hear the thing gloat;  
'tremble, mortals, and despair!'

Kodama snorted at that. "Stupid thing doesn't really know us all that well, does it?"  
She lifted a large knife she had found (looted) off a hardware store and cut at the  
trailing rope near her. "I'm done at this end."

They were lashing a horizontal pole onto the ladder of a fire truck. Makoto finished  
shortly after. Kaede was cutting holes into a folded heap of thick, red fabric.

Wind gusted through the street again, howling, accompanied by flashes behind the  
next row of buildings casting briefly their hideaway into shadow. They pulled their  
makeshift cloaks tight, nothing more than the white display flags of NERV pulled free  
and put on, weakly warding away the cold.

Even through that infernal humming pulse of the Angel, the shrieks and booms of  
counterfire, they first heard than seen the commotion happening at the end of the  
street.

Makoto made several short hops and slid into the driver's seat. For some reason a part  
of himself felt gratified, about damn time he was able to comandeer a vehicle.

-o-  
-o-

A man screamed and leapt, his face streaked with fresh nail-wounds. Toji cursed his  
own sense of propriety and machismo. Kensuke always, ALWAYS, went out armed with  
no less than two bolt pistols and four extra clips. He however wanted to separate  
himself from that sort of creepy military mania. The stream of panic and hysteria had  
turned into a flood. Here and there were literal island of sanity, as people took to high  
ground away from the madness. It was not good to linger in the streets.

DAKKA!

Hikari, bless her lovely heart, carried a small, 6-round custom bolt pistol. She knew her  
own physical frailty, and that Tokyo-3 even in the midst of jubilation was always a war  
zone. Never again would he ridicule why women had to tote along their purses no  
matter what.

Toji dropped to one knee and punch out, an uppercut stunning another of the mindless  
mob. "MARI!" he shouted frantically. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

Incoherent screams were the only answer. A shrieking woman had managed to pin him  
down, then...

"ROK!"

Clang!

The woman blinked. Slightly frenzied himself, Toji slugged her in the face and rolled  
back to his feet. Hikari kicked aside a man clutching at his gonads and looked around.  
That voice... so surprisingly loud from a small source.

Somewhere, there were the sounds of metal striking metal, ringing and rising above  
the Angel's unnatural tones.

"ROK!"

Bong! Bo-bong! Clank. Bop. Bop. Boing. Clank! PHUNK!

"ROK!"

Bong! Bo-bong! Clank. Bop. Bop. Boing. Clank! PHUNK!

Everyone watched in stunned silence as three children walked fearlessly through the  
manic street. They beat sticks and soup ladles upon open pots, like metal drums,  
though musical and coordinated they were hardly that.

"ROK!"

The steady beat of Iruel's scanning pulse hitched, its echo distorted. There was not  
faith so pure and so utterly certain as that of a child.

Toji could only run there, grab his sister by the shoulders and say "What the FU-..."  
Only barely was he able to restrain himself. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Hi, nii-san." she said, piling on the cuteness as his brotherly worry threatened to spill  
over. "No sweat. Just chasin' dem bad soundz away."

Hikari's brows lifted. It was impressive in its own way, that the little girl realized that  
unadible sounds could have an effect on people... but it was naive to think that just  
banging at things could overcome the immense presence of the creature hanging  
above.

"You can't do that!" Toji said, shaking her. "Stop playing around! Do you KNOW how  
worried I was? Don't do this to me...!"

"Bu-but..." Mari was starting to get teary. The boyz with her were starting to unravel  
emotionally as well. Their clamor had dwindled to a little tap-tap-tap; yet they did not  
want to stop.

Hikari put a hand to his shoulder. "Toji... wait." she whispered. She put the bolt pistol  
back onto her pack and waved at the air. "Can you feel that?"

"What? Of course I..." The teen stopped and stood up. He took a deep breath and  
listened to his heartbeat. "No... I can't."

For some reason the induced fear had gone.

The children resumed their banging to fill up the silence. A few of the people prone on  
the street, several of them from safebolt shots, began to stir again.

The next pulse hit them all like a hammer-blow. The Angel's random lashing out of its  
psychic beam had found their street. The yellow light, much wider now, dragged ever  
so slowly and menacingly closer. The people began to panic and run. The children  
began banging at their pots with all their strength, with their eyes closed and faces  
all scrunched up. They did not move from their position, and thus their guardian teens  
remained there as well.

Toji ruffled his sister's hair and grinned. "I'm here." he said. He watched carefully as  
the panicking stampede brought several large men scrambling over to smash into them.

Fwoosh.

They ducked as the onrushing was knocked down as if by a west fist.

There was the induced fear of the Angel, then there was the all-too-real fear of  
drowning. Kaede had taken his place at the wheel, and Makoto fought to keep the  
water hose under control. "Shut it off!" he yelled as men had dazedly decided to just  
stay down. He moved the dwindling water blast away from the group of minors.

"HIKARI!" Kodama shouted. "Thank goodness you're safe...!"

"Get on!" Makoto added. The kids did not hesitate, though the boyz kept trying to  
drum on even as they piled onto the vehicle. The truck then attempted to turn about,  
but there were too many people. "To the sides!" he then began to shout. "Run to the  
sides...! It's not real, anyway...! You're alive, and the Evangelions will protect you!  
HOLD, DAMN YOU ALL! THIS IS YOUR CITY! DON'T LET THAT THING BEAT YOU!"

Kaede began beeping the horn, to try and get their attention. Pots were banged in  
wild abandon. None else around them were inclined to listen.

"We're people, damn it..." Makoto whispered bitterly. "It shouldn't matter if those  
beasts can destroy our civilization... as long as we keep our minds, we can always  
shine again."

"We should raise this up." Kodama said. "If they won't listen, maybe they can watch..."  
She tried to push the ladder up. "Help me!" she commanded Toji. The boy, conditioned  
to obey the words of a Horaki, immidiately did so.

There was a level near the driver that used mechanical lift. Kaede pulled on it. Toji  
blinked owlishly as he too began to rise, and let go. The large flag lashed onto the  
ladder unfurled, just as Iruel's fearful light was almost upon them.

"It's not real, right?" Kodama whispered. "It's just fear... it's just pain..."

"As long as we remain." Makoto answered. He stepped up to the driver's cabin roof, to  
face it first. His face was twisted in defiance. The pressure wave reached them first,  
sending his white cloak flapping about like the wings of a bird, and the banner seemed  
to writhe.

The Hakone 1st PDF flag was a strange winged symbol; red on black. There were those  
who saw a two-headed bird, to some it seemed like a weird vaugely humanoid figure  
descending headfirst. Others saw the outline of a torii temple entrance.

The yellow light bathed it, and held. The people on the firetruck hunched over on  
receiving the full force of the Angel's attack; a mental thrust intense enough to pass  
through AT-fields and strike an Evangelion senseless.

The heady, pounding air... that frozen disdain... that silent condemnation upon infinity's  
shore...

Broke apart as an eagle shrieked in victory.

"We REFUSE to die!"

The yellow light seemed to refract, turning golden, its chill of fear warming as unto the  
comfort of the sun. Makoto stood up, and looked up, his glasses glinting with that  
glorious glow. "FEAR IS NOTHING!" he shouted up. "FAITH IS ALL!"

The symbol above him also had a distinct resemblance to an anchor, and it was that  
they all needed most at that moment.

-o-  
-o-

Iruel paused, seemingly confused. That was when Rei shot it again with the Hellbore.  
The Angel let out a trill of pain, vibrating the air. Asuka began to carve into it with  
the positron gun.

Its disclike body contracted, turning back into its previous bell-like shape. Gaping holes  
remained in its structure. Its AT-field flared again, one punishing blast of pressure that  
splintered the taller buildings... and it was away.

Fleeing, back up into the night beyond the sky.

-o-  
-o-

It left those in the command center gaping with disbelief. "They ARE getting smarter!"  
Misato snarled out. No Angel before had truly an idea of a tactical withdrawal.

-o-  
-o-

Half a world away, and pinned under several determined acolytes, Shinji Ikari was still  
laughing. He laughed with tears streaming down his cheeks, his gut starting to hurt.

_'So you think you lack power, do you...?'_ he heard a familiar female voice croon.

_'It is simple then. If you do not have...' _Chaos whispered. _'You must TAKE.'_

One of the older monks opened his palms out, bluish sparks building between, and  
pressed his hands onto the boy's head.

And then, there was only silence and darkness.

-o-

-o-

End Timeskip Troubles Part Three


	28. Chapter 27: Timeskip Troubles part4

And now, finally, the conclusion of this extremely long-winded chapter:

Timeskip Troubles part four

o

o

o

Javaal professed to be a peace-loving, enlightened society. Shinji Ikari was hardly  
surprised to find they kept a perfectly functional and highly secure prison too. It also  
confirmed something he had long puzzled over. Was it possible to block human psychic  
abilities, if artificially? So far, the word was: yes.

One of the first things granted to the students was a small bulb of attuned crystal.  
With a little mental effort, it could be encouraged to glow piezoelectrically. It served  
as a meditation aid, and of course as like a flashlight. The monks did not even bother  
to take it off the string on his neck.

He did not know how much time had really passed. He knew some people seemed to  
have some sort of an 'internal clock', but that was not one of his few talents. He only  
had the cycle between light and dark, by those he guessed two days, but he had no  
assurance the intervals were the same.

For the moment, it was dark again. At least the crystal was damn near unbreakable,  
and a little bored practice meant he could play one-handed catch with it, even while  
blind. He caught it with both hands, the clap was barely audible. He pressed his palms  
tight, and very slowly let a small gap form between the thumbs.

Her face drifted across his memory. He understood well the rage and disgust the  
people in the valley had for him. He was even more sickened with himself. She had not  
meant him any harm, perhaps in all her years had never meant anyone any harm. She  
was helping him. What for did he harm her, then? Hasya Winter-Song may have been  
one of last few genuinely good people in the world.

She was also completely insane. She just hid it... not that well, really... and because  
of that seemed harmless enough. He had been in her head. For a few moments, their  
minds were as one, and he had absorbed a fraction of her being. He had seen and felt  
what... or who... it was that made her into the fidgety woman that she was. He had  
to remind himself that humanity was worth saving, all of it; from pinnacle to dregs.

It was supposed to be simple, if you had sufficient psychic talent. The normally easily-  
excited atoms of the crystal remained still.

He took a deep breath, and very very carefully tapped into that other -source-.

Pale white light flicked from between his hands. Never before had hope tasted so sour.

Shinji heard the steady plodding of wood-soled sandals on a stone floor. Two people.  
One had a softer tread the other. The lights switched on, hurting his eyes. Ah. Another  
suspicion confirmed. They did reverse the cycle of light and dark to add another, if  
slight, difficulty to his feeble chances of escape.

Not that he had any intention of fleeing. The guards might as well been there for mere  
decoration. He and the monks had a DEAL, from his very first day, and there was no  
room for renegotiation from either side. Het sat up crosslegged on his cot and tried to  
look harmless.

Shunning, in primitive societies, was tantamount to a death sentence. It remained  
even in more civilized times, for man was a social animal and needed the approval of  
his own kind. Even in Javaal. Thus it was, that when world filtered down of what  
happened, the people did not rise up in anger or mutter about punishment. It merely  
confirmed what they already knew in the hearts about those from Outside; and spoke  
no more of it. The boy was dead to them. It was a certainty.

And it was thus, that Jamyang managed to get easy access to the prison. No one  
else ever went up there, so sure were the people that eventually justice would be  
done. No one else was interested. Therefore, only those with official business would  
bother.

The door to his cell was solid steel, several inches thick, and its hinges tamper-proof.  
It took a very strong man to open it, and one appeared just then. The boy exhaled,  
just as a big foot slammed into his gut. He curled over in pain.

"Outsider bastard!" the guard spat. "Someone's here to ask questions, not that we  
need any more of your filthy words. You will answer them. Do not lie. And if you so  
much as touch her, you will DIE. Slowly, I'll make sure of it myself!"

Shinji got up, his lips twitching. He forced the curve down, taking an unmistakable  
stance of submission. "I understand." He got another boot for his trouble.

For her part, Jamyang winced as if she was the one being struck. Was that barbarity  
really necessary? "Enough, honored warden." she said in what she hoped was an  
authoritative tone. Even as an acolyte-in-training, as one of those with 'talents', she  
outranked him vastly.

"I am not certain if this is wise, young mistress..." the guard rumbled out, his round  
baby-like face held eyes of diamond inner hardness. "You know we must lock you in?"

She looked at the boy she only knew as a 'sailor's-second-son', who so defined the  
meaning of mostly harmless. It was the mostly part that was giving everyone so much  
trouble. "He will not harm me." she said with all confidence.

"In fifteen minutes, I will open this door again. Make a shout, and I will be at your side."  
The big man still looked doubting. "But... I have been told not to listen in."

"That IS wise." she replied. "Knowing the unnecessary can sometimes be a curse." She  
stared down at the prisoner, her gaze cold. "Sometimes all it does is add to how much  
one doesn't know..."

Then the warden left, shutting the door. The iron bar sealing them in gave a harsh and  
final clang. Jamyang had to remind herself to breathe. She had never really felt alone  
or powerless... all her life, through all the rote learning and burdensome rituals... there  
had always been the presence of Javaal at her back. Sometimes demanding, often  
incomprehensible, but its greatness rubbed off on its people. Its nine hundred years,  
itself a part of an even more ancient tradition, from before man even knew how to  
make history.

"Old are you, Javaal, and mighty..." she whispered. "And children sleep in the shadow  
of your shins."

"Heavy is your blade, but even if reluctantly wielded..." Shinji added. "You cleave your  
enemies with every swing."

She looked up, glowering. That it was said without mockery only made it all the more  
pricking. "Who are you?" Jamyang hissed. "... who are you to judge us?"

He spread his palms open, helplessly, as if to presume on her own capacity to judge  
him too. "Just a man... technically, adolescent... but the sentiment is there."

A man. As she was a woman. As much as Hasya Winter-Song. The woman had been  
treated with barely-disguised ridicule, but she was still Javaal's own. And in a woman's  
heart there was that basic fear... of the man. Of force. Of betrayal. Or repaying  
gentleness with brutality... taking...

She frowned. No sense denying it to herself, even if she was alone with might yet be  
a monster. _Rape._

"Why did you do it?" he hissed. "You took her mind. You violated her SOUL."

"Worse than that, I'm afraid..." he replied with a whisper. He tapped at the side of his  
head. "I don't care if you don't believe me... that no disgust you have can equal what  
I feel for myself."

If she could still use her mental powers, he would have roasted. As it was, she just  
slapped him. "You... don't get to say that. NO!" Jamyang knew she had lived a rather  
sheltered life. Never before had she felt such destructive rage. It both terrified and  
enthralled her. "You have no right!"

Shinji bowed slightly. Harmless. Harmless. Excuse that big freakin' crack in the outer  
wall, if you please.

"You are a very brave person, Gentle-Voice of Mercy-Without-Restraint, but not stupid.  
Surely you know that talking to me face to face is dangerous, no matter what pre-  
cautions have been taken." His slight smile held only certain reptilian amusement.  
"Words alone can be deadly."

Jamyang cursed herself for a fool. One should not judge by appearances alone, the  
chief abbot's own face should have taught that at least. And yet... if Javaal had not  
welcomed the boy with friendliness, at least they had done so with decency. Of them  
all it was Hasya who gave him kindness... and how was that repaid?

"Why are you here?"

No, not by appearances alone.. "I need to know the truth..."

His smile was not cruel, but predatory all the same. "Why should I give it to you? You  
don't know me, after all... why trust anything I say?"

"I know enough. You're too smart to lie, not even when no one else can tell."

Shinji just sighed and twined his hands under his nose, in the pose his father favored.  
He needed that sort of bleak self-assurance.

"The council will have its trial, of course, and there perhaps they might even be able  
to pull the answers out of my untrained head. They will have all sorts of questions  
then, what more do you need to know?" He stood up, reminding her of a serpent  
uncoiling from slumber. "Unless... a question... that you know they won't ask."

It surprised Jamyang to realize that he was still several inches shorter than her. His  
eyes were dark and cunning, but his forehead was about level with her lips. For some  
strange reason she felt like licking it. So she did so.

Shinji Ikari sprang back immidiately. "Yuurgh!" He pulled up on his shirt and wiped his  
slobbery forehead, exposing his belly-button. "What the hell, woman?" he asked,  
bewildered.

She laughed. There was indeed a gut-level pleasure in poking at the overly-serious.  
He blinked owlishly, looking so young and innocent there. 'Foolish foolish girl!' her  
subconscious whispered. 'This is why he is so dangerous, do you not see?'

Innocent, perhaps in the same way the lioness bears the gazelle no malice even as  
she leaps.

"You can read minds..." he said to her. "I can't."

And her training whispered_ 'Doubt everything. Always question. There are no gods for  
you, only freedom from the wheel. Even the truth may conceal illusion.'_ "Not much of  
a guess. I'm best in my class, and the practical exercises are easy enough to find out  
in advance. That doesn't comfort me, either." Is he admitting to fallibility, pretending  
to infalllibility or simply disguising his strengths with his weaknesses? Her brain was  
starting to hurt, such twistiness... no wonder Javaal retreated from a corrupt world.

It was easiest thus to speak the truth all the time and expect the truth all the time.  
Such was the simplest and most beautiful dharma. "Tell me." she said. "Do I need to  
beg...?"

"You were raised in the temple, with all the valley your father and mother. And yet,  
you know the dates... and you've always felt a certain familiarity, haven't you? That's  
why, when you learned she was my teacher, you kept on shadowing me even when  
everyone else gave up looking... you've always been fascinated by the outside, but  
not with its glory. It was the evil in it that always caught your eye.

Because you have always feared you are the fruit of that evil."

Jamyang forced her hands to hang slack, despite the sudden hot rush of rage in her  
heart.

"She is here." he tapped at the side of his head. "And I say to you now, I know why  
she acts as she does, why she laughs at the ice and weeps at the wind."

Jamyang leaned forward. Did he realize just how vile it was that he had done?

"She is NOT your mother." he said with finality. "You felt the familiarity, sure, and she  
is related to you... an aunt perhaps, at best a cousin. I am not saying this out of fear.  
I suppose the blood tie is close enough that you may use the poison at your fingernails."

She gasped, and stepped back. Twisted, twisted... what would it be like to live in that  
mind? Just looking at him seemed to drain her will, as if it was never her own choice to  
come there ready to judge him. She saw his eyes, all wide and bloodshot. He needed  
someone to judge him. Someone he could trust; not the council with their own agenda  
or the assorted citizenry in their prejudicial ignorance.

"What did you DO?" she asked.

He grinned slightly. "Ah. Finally, the most useful question."

Shinji leaned forward, just a boy again, and all enthused with his new toy. He held his  
meditation crystal out as if there were not thousands just like it. "Do you know what  
this is?"

Jamyang held off on her indignation. She was raised in a monastery after all, and often  
those who asked such stupid questions were not after the most obvious answer. In  
fact, most were not after answers at all. "Why don't you tell me?"

"This crystal is not born of nature, but man. Nowhere else other than Javaal can it be  
found... you people consider it the final test of your mastery of self and over nature...  
layer by layer forming this psychoreactive crystal..."

His smile grew crooked at her faint frown - he was repeating what every child of Javaal  
already knew. "But more than that. This is a MOST efficient capacitor. Do you realize  
how much it could revolutionize solid-state electronics?"

She blinked. That, she was not expecting. Maybe some sort of incomprehensible koan.  
Something so practical seemed such a letdown somehow. Some inner part of her  
sniffed contemptously - 'Men!'

"Trapping, focusing, compressing... amplifying, even. All without wasting any of it as  
heat to the environment, or losing it bit by bit through weakening molecular bonds.  
Contained, secure, safe... even if broken each single piece will hold that miniscule  
portion of the whole. Perfect storage... not just power but patterns."

He held it up to the air, and let it glow. "And what makes it perfect as a vessel for the  
mind, is that past a certain point it will cease to accept or create any more energy.  
That's it... just... stop. It will hold what it has within to just short of eternity." He  
grinned. "Amazing."

The possibilities stretched out. The most immidiate however, was the staggering worth  
it could have for the Evangelion Titan modules, reducing the capacitor banks by nearly  
80 percent in mass, leaving more space and weight for armor and weapons. Then, the  
highly efficient energy caps necessary for vehicle and infantry beam weapons.

Jamyang looked beyond the delight in his face. The crystal glowed bright and free,  
and of course... supposed to be impossible. No man, no matter how powerful, should  
be able to do that. He would shoulder the mountain, fight the land, and all the history  
of Javaal. The craft that made it so dated back to Mesopotamia, and according to  
legend could... and had... imprisoned a deva.

_'Dangerous.' _the back of her head said again_. 'You read books too. Deva is a positive  
force in the Vedic legacy, but the opposite meaning to Zoroastrian fables.'_ Not that  
she gave much credence to those childhood tales, since the valley was supposed to  
be a shelter for Mahayana Buddhism... if in a form only barely recognizable.

_'So? What can I do? It's not like I can stop him.'_

_'Of course you can, foolish foolish girl.'_ it came to her after a while._ 'Ever has the  
downfall of man been woman.'_ And it was a fearful thrill, to know her weakness was  
her own strength. _'In all the world, right here, I am the only one safe from him. And in  
all the world, right here, only I can end him.'_

That made it even easier to loathe. She had long accepted she would never be so  
powerful in the outward, physical forms of the mental arts. However, it rankled to see  
someone else wield power so easily. She wondered if that same emotion clouded the  
sight of those normals who looked upon her.

He continued on, delighted more at that little light than in all the splendor of all the  
the world's nations. "But this... only works as well as it does because it has never felt  
the touch of machines. To make more like this would require many weeks of effort from  
a willing mind... and to do that, other than the mere joy of creating... the world would  
enslave the very wonder of Javaal. Oh, and its people too."

The question hung unspoken in the air between them_ 'Would it be worth it to me?'_

Jamyang slapped at the crystal, sending it clattering across the room. Shinji just  
looked pained, as if rudeness itself hurt him. After what he had done, it rankled to see  
him as if ask 'Can't we be civilized about this?' "What does this have to do with  
anything?" she asked. "All this meandering along is just convincing me that you're  
twisting the wrongness around until it seems like it's right."

For the first time hence, anger flashed across his face. "This is a vessel, made in poor  
reflection of the mind." The crystal leapt back up to his palm, shining with brilliant  
defiance. "The mind is inexhaustible, it can pour and pour as long as life exists. But  
the opposite, no. Even this crystal is bound by universal reason. The mind tries to hold  
beyond its means, until it breaks... sometimes mends, only to try again..."

_'How exciting, me!'_ Jamyang thought._ 'How interesting to stand alone before a lunatic.  
How refreshing from the endless sameness of living in Javaal.'_ Sarcasm in her mind held  
back the sheer terror. How arrogant it was to think she could be -safest- there, but  
that did not compare to the sheer haughty fury boiling off his presence, now that he  
had no need to hide it. The truth, she wanted, and that was what she was going to  
get. _'Like a serpent shedding its skin...' _she thought again.

"Look at this crystal. See its layers? Power regulates power. Whoever made the first  
crystal knew the human mind well, and how to break it." They crystal reached its  
brightest state. "How then, do you cram even more power into the mind, to control it?  
To keep all those crackling thoughts inside...?"

Jamyang backed away, pressing herself to the wall. Yes... the little things that had  
people burned or impaled or slaughtered as witches. Yet there too, was the slaughter  
inherent in the arrogance of having abilities others did not.

Control was its own form of power and power itself expressed control. "This is how."  
he hissed. "Change the very -nature- of power."

And the crystal wailed. It was not a sound anyone could hear, but unmistakable all  
the same. The light flared, then began to blacken. No... it had a glow all its own, but  
unlike the simple living glow of before, it devoured, sucking in all heat from all around.

The crystal was black as night itself. Shinji closed his fist, and the paltry glow of the  
overhead lights took supremacy again. "Old knowledge, very old... and forbidden." he  
said sadly. "But they did it to her anyway. For all the dislike this valley does have for  
prophecy... so very easily do they use people as tools. I suppose that comes with  
having power base in the form of minds, not industry... but I don't have to like it."

She could hardly hear him over her own screaming for the guards. As they began  
pouring in, and began beating upon him, she could see that served his purpose too.  
What was a little momentary pain, for tactics should not be subordinate to strategy.  
Plans within plans within plans, so densely-packed, that she felt as if trapped between  
two indomitable glaciers. She fled from the place, and all the twisting corridors she  
passed were filled with laughing shadows.

o  
o

Misato Katsuragi, the door proclaimed. No rank, no number. There were six different  
locks on that door, and Misato bolted all of them. She had been bumped up the  
command chain. Her paperwork instantly quadrupled. That was bad. Her new office  
had a sofa large enough to double as a bed. She collapsed onto it. It was goood.

She let out a staggered moan as she tried to let herself sink into a cushions.

"While I can understand you may need some relief, I ask that you don't enjoy yourself  
TOO much."

The NERV commander yelped and sprang up to her seat. "Ritsuko!" She blushed hotly,  
then put a hand over her heart to calm down. It was not as if she was doing anything  
indecent... so it was her friend who should be sorry for implying anything!

Some of that must have carried in her glare, as Ritsuko briefly looked contrite. The  
scientist took a sip of the coffee she held, and that fortified her to give her own angry  
look. "I am very disappointed in you, Misato." said Ritsuko, inhaling in the aroma. "You  
had a whole SACK of Jamaican Blue Mountain and didn't tell me. That boy pampers you  
too damn much, sending you something you can't truly appreciate."

"That's for if I ever, for no particular reason, felt a need to bribe you with it." Misato  
replied, surly. Now that it was out in the open, for old friendship's sake she could no  
longer deny Ritsuko any access to it.

"Speaking of which... have you heard anything new from Shinji?"

Five weeks had passed since Shinji disappeared, and it shamed intelligence services  
all over the world that they had no wind of wherever it was he had gone. Were it not  
for a few letters, they might have thought he was dead. Even then, the last word was  
three weeks ago. Misato had to shake her head.

"A pity. I need not remind you that morale's at a rock-bottom right now."

At that, Misato had to agree. It was barely two days since the utter public relations  
disaster that was Iruel's attack. It might be more convenient for a variety of reasons,  
but no more trade fairs would be held in Tokyo-3's territories. Mere destruction of  
property could be overlooked, but it was far harder for people to forget that fear, and  
their shame at being cowed by it.

"I'm not asking for much, just an hour every day to get away from all that damned  
yapping!" Misato complained while collapsing back lengthwise on her couch. "It's bad  
enough they're trying to overhaul our security -despite- the slightest losses we've  
ever suffered from an Angel attack... but every change has to be under budget. It's  
crippling our logistics if we have to fear other cities sucking up our workforce."

Ritsuko shrugged. "I suppore that goes under the heading of 'not rewarding failure'."

"We'll have failed when we're DEAD!" Misato slapped how own thighs. "It's like that old  
gripe... what's that... something about trying to save a few shilllings on drapes in a  
ship worth tens of thousands of pounds."

"Try earthquake protection."

"Ooh, much more apt, thank you. Better to spend a little extra and not need it, than  
to need it and not have it." Her expression grew sly. "By the way, do you have any  
counter yet to the Angel's attack?"

Ritsuko still had to hold on to her cup with both hands. She sighed and her expression  
implied a facepalm. "You can't whine to me about unreasonable expectations then get  
that out of me. I can't just pull plot devices out of my ass at your say-so." She then  
paused. Her look of exasperation intensified. "Misato, you're thinking of something dirty.  
Stop it."

"Sorry. I was just remembering that one time we..."

"I miss the days when I outranked you..." Ritsuko very carefully put aside her cup. She  
leaned forward and thwapped Misato on the side of her head, as to a recalcitrant child.

"Ow!" The NERV director rubbed at her head. "You've been really demonstrative lately,  
you know that...?" It was a great change from her former aloofness to human contact.

"Enough, Misato. And listen. The UN wants to put Gendo back in charge. It can only  
happen at a unanimous decision from NERV Directors."

Misato snapped back to seriousness."Oh, hell no!" she snarled. "After everything we  
had to do just to get him out off office, why should we bring that snake back in here?"  
She spat aside. "Politics. I've got no damned use for it."

Ritsuko shook her head. "You complained about logistics. We can't provide for the  
Evangelions on our own. Hell, we can't even feed ourselves." She considered it lucky  
that the 'fortress city' had yet to face a true siege. "We're going to need outside  
support to keep going, and for that the others have to be able to -criticize- us."

"They're doing fine with that already." Misato huffed again. Not even Tokyo-3's own  
media supported every one of NERV's policies. In fact. they could be counted on to be  
the most vicious in certain issues. Almost literally, like sharks smelling blood.

"Ungh. You really don't get it, do you? Who the hell do you think you are...?"

"Hey! I don't have a problem with being criticized!" Misato said back. Old friend or not,  
be damned if she was going to let anyone imply she was anything like a pampered  
bureaucrat. "I don't enjoy this promotion, dammit. And I managed to keep myself from  
wringing a few little necks that really needed it!"

The scientist laughed, not unkindly but still ironic. "You really don't know. Fine, I'll tell  
you who you are. You are Katsuragi Misato; Director of Operations for NERV, the first  
and foremost expert in Evangelion strategy, mother-figure for the Children directly  
responsible for this world's continued existence... and for all that can be worse for  
getting things done that Gendo ever was!"

Plainly Misato was inclined to argue, but was more confused than insulted.

"Think about it. You're complaining about all your paperwork... but all that says is how  
hard it is for people to say 'no' to you. Despise politics all you want, but it's your first  
and finest shield. It's not like there's anyone else out there so expertly groomed for  
your position."

"Thanks... I think?" Misato was at a loss to understand the strange bitterness in her  
old friend's tone.

"Don't get me wrong. You have no idea what I... we... had to do to free ourselves from  
Gendo's influence.

Splitting NERV command into a Directorate balanced concerns. You don't have to worry  
about deciding what's a better use for the budget - more weapons for the Eva or  
sinking more shelters for the civilians. I only have to produce practical applications  
from my ivory tower. And who could criticize Kaji when he speaks, without indirectly  
insulting the United Nations behind him?"

"Isn't that good? We set it up that way to keep from gross abuses of power."

"It's too balanced, that's what! And thus, if we fail, we fall together!" Ritsuko took  
back her cup, but the coffee was already cold and flat. She frowned and drank it in  
anyway, her hand shaking slightly. "By hiding here in your office you missed out on  
how brittle our control becomes with every passing day. We need to be able to fail in  
slow and acceptable terms, instead of banking on so much goodwill. That way, we can  
falter and not fall."

"Wait... are you saying we need the bastard back in charge so he can be a scapegoat?"

Ritsuko winced. "Essentially, yes."

"Well, why didn't you just say so?" Misato huffed. "Seriously, you need to learn to  
resist your expositionary urges now and then."

"It's more complicated than- ... fine, fine. Yes, we need someone that people dislike so  
we can do our jobs without having to worry about stepping on people's toes. Do we  
have your vote on that?"

"I don't like it. He needs to have actual authority for that to work. How do we know he  
won't find some way of clawing his way back into real power?"

"We don't. It's what could be called..." Ritsuko waved aside, weary. "A necessary evil."

o  
o

Kozo Fuyutsuki was the one to let him out. Gendo stalked out of his confinement in no  
way diminished, facing the world with the unchanged stance of pure and unashamed  
arrogance. Even alone and in darkness, NERV was ever his.

"... you magnificent bastard." the old man breathed out, amazed.

Gendo only gave back a small, thin smile.

o  
o

He felt like someone outside of time . There was no hurry, nor boredom, nor fear or  
excitement. Shinji had long considered special mental abilities as nothing more than  
party tricks to enthrall people. The powers of the Evangelion had a clear purpose, but  
to the minute, the temporal man such exploits served no useful function. There was  
only to set oneself as superior and separate, as pointless an exercise as could be found.

Javaal sought out the Inward and Outward Paths. Shinji had no need to train in the  
more spectacular applications of study. The Evangelions in their crude feral minds were  
each unmatched masters of the Outward Path. His own abilities in like manner were  
'borrowed' from his bestial god-machine. He wondered if he had changed that massive  
creature in any way similar to how it changed him?

He walked down the dark corridor, his chains clanking. His guards were wary, as if he  
was some rabid animal. In the dark, they could not see his momentary break in self-  
control. A smile, nothing more. As bloodthirsty as they feared.

If only they knew.

It was always there, at the back of his mind; that murderous, infinite hunger. While his  
imaginary council could at times be helpful, amusing, or just irritating... the voice of his  
Evangelion proclaimed its ownership over him. Even meditation could not still that, only  
in absolute silence letting that gutteral whisper rise to the fore.

What was to fear of physical pain, physical death? A monster was waiting to devour  
his soul. His guards must have sensed somehow his natural contempt for their bullying.

Which was why they had been so enthusiastic in 'restraining' him for presentation to  
his trial. The light stung his puffy eyes as he went out into the gathering hall. He felt  
the emotions roll over him; so rare was crime or any sort of social disorder in Javaal  
that each trial of necessity had to be a spectacle. He felt disdain, disbelief, even some  
pleasure at seeing him injured so.

Javaal thought itself enlightened, peaceful, beyond secrets. 'Look well, now...' he  
thought. 'For I have come here not to bow to your traditions, but to destroy them.'

He felt the touch of crawling mental probes, and the cool scorn of his Farseer. As was  
expected, all attempts to peer into his mind only met the flat, unyielding surface of his  
will. It was more for their protection than his.

He barely paid any attention as the proceedings went on. There were a few of the  
council presiding over the trial, beholding all on their raised platform. The final decision  
was not theirs though, but from a jury of thirty-three. Thus it was that any judgement  
represented the feelings of the entire community.

There were no lawyers. Over the nine-hundred or so years of Javaal's brand of justice,  
it proved all but impossible for anyone to hide anything from such intense scrutiny. All  
who did misdeeds were expected to speak of themselves; baring their souls hoping for  
understanding from their peers. He stood at a circular dais at the center of the room,  
surrounded by hostile watchers.

Witnesses and pertinent people were brought in to testify. Even Jamyang, who not  
only repeated word for word their conversation, but in a Javaali mental trick managed  
to carry the very sight and sound of that encounter. Her fear back then had an ashen  
taste.

And yet if he was that dangerous, why would he allow himself to be chained and beat  
up? He rubbed their hypocrisy into their noses, and those receiving the memory could  
not mistake his purposeful scorn. It puzzled them then, as he was angry FOR the very  
woman he had damaged...?

"... and here you stand accused, Ihkaree..." Lama Feckeldraft was saying, his face  
devoid of his customary friendliness. "Of malicious and unprovoked assault upon a  
citizen of Javaal. How do you plead?"

"Hm?" The boy blinked and turned his attention back to the scene. "Oh. Not guilty, of  
course. How do YOU plead?"

It was time to lay the cards down. He relaxed slightly. All or nothing.

Outraged murmurs flowed through the gathered throng. "Curb your tongue, boy." Lama  
Pagnor warned, growling. "Your insolence will yet be your downfall."

Shinji grinned lopsidely back at the dark-skinned warrrior-monk. "Face it, this charge  
is born of the fact that none of you really have any idea of WHAT is it that I did, much  
less so the WHY and the HOW I did it."

The murmurs grew into angry shouts. Such arrogance! Such disrespect of his betters!  
"Beat him again!" someone yelled. "Who the hell does he think he is?"

Shinji Ikari scanned the crowd, until he found Jamyang. She flinched from his gaze.  
Beside her sat Puso, who sneered back.

"MANY ARE YOUR SECRETS, JAVAAL!" Shinji shouted out, lifting his manacled wrists up  
to the air. "AND WELL DO YOU PRETEND NOT TO HAVE THEM!" He glared up at the  
council members. "Malicious? No. Unprovoked? I couldn't have done as I did without her  
permission. You concealed the fact that Hasya Winter-Song was a ranked Master of  
her own merit."

"That's ridi..." Puso began to say, then like all others there paused in shock as the  
council monks made words and gestures of assent.

"After all... even if you sent her out to shame me into following her here, what kind of  
person would I be to spit at her efforts... damn your emotional blackmail, and that it  
worked." Shinji continued. "Panicky, easily distracted she may have been... but she  
managed to get across the whole of China and into Japan. She may have acted silly  
at times, but she was NEVER incompetent!"

"If you had any respect for her person, then why did you violate her essence?" Lama  
Pagnor asked further.

Shinji looked up at the chief abbot, whose face was placid and who eyes glittered with  
emotionless calculation. "There is one common trait that marks a Master of Javaal's  
arts. That culmination of this valley's teachings, and that final bit of self-improvement  
that separates you from the rest of these mentalists."

Lama Peaceman stroked at his long white beard. "For certain reasons, I ask that you  
do not reveal the secrets of the trials for Mastery in this hall."

The boy nodded, but still defiant. "This valley is tainted. With her I began I my purge."

The gathering hall echoed with the roar of an enraged populace. The council masters  
let them vent for a few moments, then the chief abbot began to hit at the low stone  
pillar in front of him. The thwacks filled the round room. "Enough!" he shouted.

"You monster!" Puso made a parting shot. "I don't have to listen to your filth! Outsider  
lunatic, you deserve to die!"

"Enough, I say!" the chief abbot's voice pressed down upon all. "When killed several  
asura with your own hands you have, then you may hold his words in contempt." he  
told Puso. He turned back to the pilot "As for you, nine hundred years have we lived  
this way. What makes you think we did wrong, hmm?"

"All of humanity is in peril, and here you hide." Shinji said back, with deathly calm. "You  
have betrayed the legacy of Enkidu. I hate prophecies as much as you do... but... I  
have no choice. For -I am- the heir of Enkidu."

The old master's laughter cut through his people's outrage. "What, remember a little of  
your past lives, do you?"

"No. I don't even believe in reincarnation. But this IS my responsibility. And of her own  
free will Hasya-san has become one of MY people. I WILL protect her." He closed his  
eyes and sighed. "And for what you have done to cripple her potential, what you let  
happen to her, broken deliberately, a pitiful sight, just to ensure years later I would  
follow her to this place..."

"We all have our each separate duty." Lama Feckeldraft said sadly.

The chief abbot had to pound everyone back to order. "Think you in a few weeks to  
have the right to judge what we endured over nine hundred years, do you?" The old  
man laughed again. "No way we have to prove a crime if we cannot read your mind.  
No way for you to prove our ways are wrong without trying it for yourself.

True, Hasya is a Master, trained her myself. If the skills of a student you have, then  
she should be powerful enough, skilled enough, to deflect it. An accident, even if you  
say it was intentional. But if greater rights you want to claim, then either crime it was  
or teach us you will. But other, ancient ways there are of measuring truth.

Take the tests of Mastery, you must." The old man's face wrinkled up into a grotesque  
grin. "To the Temple of Trials you go. Know you that not many survive. Die permanent,  
you will."

Lama Pagnor leaned forward slightly, in case the boy was stupid enough to think he  
could fight through the valley to escape. Shinji merely bowed, in respectful thanks. He  
wondered briefly it was really just arrogance, that he was being blind to his own means.

Intuitive logic seemed like such an oxymoron, but Javaal had taught him too that such  
'lucky guesses' were flashes of the result as if a mind had all possible information and  
an infinity to process through it. It -felt- like the right thing to do. He had little time to  
waste on niceties.

Even then, intuits were far less dangerous than empaths.

These people were not his enemy. He looked to the east. There was no time...

o  
o

Lama Feckeldraft dared to disturb the peace of the lunch hour. He was one of those  
who specialized in the 'inward path', and one of the passive benefits of that study was  
harmony of the body. He was old enough to have fought in World War I, and indeed  
was 'recruited' right out of the battlefield. He looked up to the chief abbot with the  
utlmost reverence, as far as one could 'look up' to someone half his height.

It was also that much harder to raise any righteous ire, when it was all but impossible  
to meet the other man at eye-level. It felt silly to scold the past-centenarian as if he  
was a child. "Are... are you sure about this, your grace? We did not plan on this. It  
seems far too risky."

The old master did not respond just yet, and rummaged around his robes for a cigar.  
He flicked his thumb, and a little flame flickered at the tip of his fingernail. He used this  
to light up the cigar. He took a few calming puffs.

"So formal, Henri?" he asked after a while. "Hmm... you disapprove?" The Sunshine Kid,  
a nickname that did not age as well as its bearer, blew out a perfect smoke ring.  
"Raised the stakes, he has. So must we. To gain all, risk all."

"He is not ready." the monk added. "This can still backfire horribly."

The Lama whose named translated to 'Man of Peace' was the second-oldest person in  
the valley. As always, he stroked at his white beard, an obvious sign of age and authority.  
It helped to remind himself that it was fine to sit equal in the council with his own father.  
"I am reminded of those old folk stories... about heroes given impossible tasks."

Ever the scholar, Feckeldraft noted "Counting every grain of rice in a field, retrieving  
rings thrown into the ocean, things like that...?"

"Yes, those." He shrugged. "And yet even when they go beyond the impossible, usually  
they falter just short of gaining their promised reward..."

"Sometimes they are helped by the princesses they court, who allow them tricks like  
commanding ants and fishes or body transformations. The most common ending is when  
the princess is ready to accompany the hero back to his home, there is usually some  
facile last requirement-such as never looking back or not to let a single tear escape his  
eye... and of course the hero falters in that simple thing, and making futile all that  
happened to get there.

A very old way of imparting fallibility and the importance of self-control into a story."  
He frowned, realizing he had side-tracked. "What does that have to do with this here?"

"It has always seemed unfair to me. It's as if a hero is being punished simply for being  
more real than the trappings of myth." the bearded old monk added. "Everyone has  
their own measure of justice, which was why each of us who pass the Trials must add  
ways of making it more difficult for the next generation."

"Still... the Temple was created to be a subjective experience. Just because he has  
the memories of someone who made it through hardly ensures he can too. It would be  
even worse, since he would have false expectations..." Lama Feckeldraft winced at  
that. He liked the boy, and it seemed such a waste for the scholarly mind to be put to  
crude violent use.

"Are you asking us to meddle with the Test?"

"No, no! But we NEED him, do we not? Why else spend a decade in winnowing through  
the candidates?"

"Pah. Too long since you took that test yourselves. Just a trifle, it is, did any of you  
really expect that getting through it be the hardest thing you would ever do?" The  
chief abbot coughed and took deep lungfuls. Smoking was bad for his lungs, and the  
source of his odd speaking patterns by having to match syllables to shortened breaths.  
Old habits were very hard to break; he had never expected to live long enough for his  
vices to matter. He grinned, his expression manic. "If boy dies, then no hope after all,  
right from the start."

The others in the council nodded. Mastery was not a prize to be won, but merely the  
proclamation of being able to handle even greater responsibilities afterwards.

"So we must try our hardest to kill him?" was Feckeldraft's last word, and his tone was  
starting to agree.

"A thousand times, yes." the chief abbot gave in this no room for dissent.

o  
o

Puso Mountain-Glory was in a stomping rage. "How dare he?" he shouted into the  
empty classroom. "That arrogant, arrogant ass! Insulting the masters like that...! And  
why, instead of punishing him, are they rewarding his insolence?"

While Javaal took measures not to stagnate in isolation, not necesarily everybody had  
to be informed on current events. Learners such as they had no need to know of what  
was going on in the world outside; indeed it would just be a distraction. Even most of  
the adults were at a loss to explain where the source of Shinji's insane self-assurance.  
Those that knew, could only despise that as being deluded by his own propaganda.

"Is it really a reward...?" Jamyang replied, while staring outside. She sat at the window-  
sill, and her feet dangled a dizzying height above the ground. "Becoming a Master isn't  
supposed to be easy, after all."

"Really? Do you think that's what they want? Hah!" Puso cackled out. "Yes, let him do  
as all his boasting warrants. An execution would be too simple, and casting him out too  
lenient. Let him die as befits his pretensions...!"

She decided that while Puso was handsome enough, his look of glee was all the more  
horrid for it. Unlike her, a true orphan, he was 'given up' to the temple by his family.  
Psychic adepts were supposed to be raised without parental influence, so that their  
judgement later on would not be impaired by familial ties.

In practice, it was easy enough to find out one's bloodline. Even with the apparently  
random factor of psychic ability, he had all his life marked out for success. That must  
be why, she supposed, it was so irritating to see someone else succeed with effortless  
grace. She smirked slightly. 'Maybe... because the outsider behaves with all the pure  
haughtiness he so wants to be able to get away with...'

Jamyang shifted to sit with her back to the stone-hewn window's edge. She put her  
left knee up, and let her right leg back into the room. Her pose was such that the  
wall cavity served as like a frame. The hem of her robe trailed down, exposing a bit of  
thigh. She had always felt that he looked at her with a little bit of contempt, being a  
class ace, but in a field he couldn't challenge. She had never really considered herself  
beautiful. At that moment she had to hold back a laugh, at his boggled expression, as  
if he was seeing her for the first time.

She stared at him blandly, and that cool disinterest in her own expression seemed to  
fix him in place. "What if he survives?" she asked. "What if he gets through the tests  
that fail three out of every five that attempts it, and outright kills one? And it's not as  
if even daring to try is something that happens too often."

"Im... impossible..." Puso replied, his nostrils flaring. "We know a little about it... it's not  
just power, not just skill, not just intelligence... no one should be able to get through  
it on just luck and talent...!"

"Maybe it's just foolish overconfidence. But... where is that coming from?" she asked  
again, and absently trailing her finger down her cheek. 'And where is THIS confidence  
coming from?' She walked... no, stalked over... and smirked even wider. "He might be  
a fool, but are you willing to presume the Masters are stupid enough to let him in here  
without checking if he was worth anything?"

Puso stared back with a hooded gaze. "You testified against him just a few hours ago.  
Why are you on his side all of a sudden?"

She laughed, and it felt so freeing. She never knew her voice could sound like that, so  
clear and unafraid. "Have you thought what it could mean for us, if he does 'win'?"

"Yess...? What would it mean if he manages to live?" Puso replied through clenched  
teeth.

She searched within herself, and found just what it was that was so amusing. Whose  
hubris was greater? Shinji Ikari frightened her, shocked her, yet at the same time was  
his insane plan actually any more deluded than thinking things could always stay the  
same? Javaal had power, but in seclusion tried to escape the responsibilities of that  
power... so much fear, there.

"Because he changes all the rules, don't you see?" Jamyang said with a giggle. "The  
books speak of the tides of history, and we can see if it's better to cling to a rock or  
to float free."

"Freedom is chaotic." a deep baritone voice intruded into the room. Both young adepts  
were startled, as Lama Pagnor strode in. His brows were furrowed in grim thoughts.  
"Would you deem it worth all that uncertainty, all that transient concerns that embroil  
the world beyond this valley?"

"N-no, of course not master." Puso answered with a bow.

The warrior-monk smirked. "Don't lie to me, boy. You're hungry for glory, I can tell." He  
turned his eyes onto Jamyang, and resumed his frown. "What about you? Would you  
throw away stability for the sake of new and exciting prospects?"

"No, master, but..."

"What?" He lifted one eyebrow, conveying supreme impatience. They were in their own  
way the contemporaries of Shinji Ikari, and therefore would inherit the world.

"We can't cut outself off from time. We're still part of the world, and I believe we still  
have something left to accomplish. I mean... why do we hide and cultivate our minds?"  
Puso glanced aside at her, suspicious but liking where her words pointed. "We're just  
students and we don't know... but there's something more to this, isn't there?"

"Of course. We don't educate you like we have to fulfill some government requirement.  
We all have specific duties." Lama Pagnor nodded. "You two come with me. The council  
has a task for the both you."

Both teenagers bowed. "We serve Javaal with our lives."

o  
o

The Temple of Trials was carved right into a mountain. The outer facade was chiseled  
rock in ornate stupa-like patterns, with as centerpiece a large stone head. It was a  
bald male face with fairly unremarkable features. The door was a massive construct of  
solid bronze, studded with reinforcement beams. Shinji Ikari stood alone facing it,  
though there was a small crowd watching from a distance. The first test was simply  
getting in. Mere physical strength would never budge that multi-ton door.

Like most of the Temple, there were multiple ways of resolving the issue. He stared up  
at the eight-spoked symbol. _'This is it...' _he thought._ 'I've relied on so many people to  
get me this far. My friends, my allies... my loved ones... but if I can't rely on myself  
then I can't protect them.'_

He was clad in a simple cloth robe, armed only with a flint-topped spear. These and  
his own wits were all that he had to protect himself from the deliberate dangers within.  
Shinji shifted the spear to his left hand and pulled back his right palm.

"A-tah!" Pang! He slammed his palm into the metal. The bronze sheaths hummed. _'The  
way to power is sacrifice...' _he said to himself. He pulled on his own physical pains and  
poured it into the metal. He remembered the anguish Hasya had felt all through her  
life. Negative emotions could fuel power, true, but Javaal had cause to disfavor such  
an easy road. Discipline sealed away these stresses, using power to lock power.

Locks disengaged, crystals charged up, and the doors slid open of their own volition.  
The first key was pain, simple pain. And a willingness to let it go.

He frowned into the revealed corridor, dimly lit by oil torches. There were other ways  
to get the door open, and ripping it free of its hinges was once attempted. What he  
had done was the most efficient way, saving up on energy and effort for the greater  
challenges within. As he stepped into the Temple, he wondered if the calculated risk  
was worth their cutting off a facet of their own humanity. It was really more sad than  
contemptible.

He heard faint sounds in the darkness, like that of many little feet scraping upon stone  
tiled floors. The door slowly slid shut, and locked into place. The only way out was  
through the gauntlet.

Shinji hefted his spear, and stabbed down. Large mandibles clicked upon wood. From  
ahead rose a keen wail. He grimaced. After everything he had already suffered through,  
he would not let no mere mechanism of murder to stop him now.

He had to get home. He had to live. He was needed elsewhere.

o  
o

Meanwhile, back at Tokyo-3, philosophy was the least of their worries. Most of the  
damage to the city was unsurprisingly Evangelion-caused. The people rebuilt quickly,  
but a strange pall continued to hang over the community. They simply lacked the...  
enthusiasm... that showed through earlier, and far more damaging, Angel attacks.

NERV had to bear the brunt of that dissatisfaction. Gendo was back in charge, even  
if his power was reduced. It was not so much a demotion as a promotion of everyone  
else surrounding him. Even so, very few could muster any defiance to his consolidation  
of assets. There were few bright spots to life under the geofront.

One of those was the Makoto Hyuga situation, which was hardly as amusing to the  
poor sod in question. Shigeru Aoba chuckled as he watched Makoto futilely try to get  
Kaede out from his personal space.

"Sempai, shall we go to Hinano's to see if they have new stock?" she was asking. "Or  
should we walk over the evacuation routes?"

He winced. "I kind of... already promised Horaki-san that I'd go up to the studio."

She frowned, but surprisingly let it go at that. Seated beside him, she diverted the  
conversation to more neutral topics. She was hardly going to give up that easily.  
Everyone else watching pitied the focus of intense female competition.

"I never figured he'd ever get into this mess, you know..." Shigeru commented. "How  
the hell did he manage to hook them? No, continued to keep them hooked?"

"Personally, I don't see it... but I'll support Kaede-chan as far as I can." Satsuki Ooi  
said, while flipping back her long curly tresses. "This... two-timing, this can't go on  
for too long. I'll hate him if he lets it go."

"Yeah, unfortunately, he's still a doormat." Mogami Aoi adjusted her spectacles at the  
sight. "My analysis shows he's not likely to take advantage of either. It's not so much  
that they're competing FOR his attention, they already have it... but AGAINST each  
other."

Shigeru chuckled. "Poor bastard..." He looked around, then as if belatedly realizing that  
he sat at ease with two attractive women. "Say... you two get along, don't you?"

"Don't get any cute ideas." Mogami quipped. "You're not even in your buddy's league."

The long-haired rocker-wannabe drooped his shoulders. "... how I loathe you, ladder  
theory." he muttered.

Misato had Kaji to absorb her drunken haranguing. Rei went for occasional mysterious  
disappearances, even with Gendo back on his chair and asking for explanations. The  
Eva Simulations occupied Maya's time. Asuka went home straight after school, with  
no one there but Pen-pen for company.

She felt relieved, better to read her letter in private. Section 2 had already checked  
it out as far as they could without opening it. Kaworu Nagisa was not on any watch  
list, for some strange reason. Their correspondence was regular, if mostly one-way as  
he moved around. The others living in the apartment were at least considerate enough  
not to ask any questions.

Rei, who was privy to Kaworu's background, wondered why the other hybrid continued  
to write his own posting address on the envelope. Why let anyone else know where he  
had been? It was as if he was bragging, for someone else to recognize the hidden aims  
behind the obvious things he was sent out to do.

He was in Vladisvostok now. Asuka sighed. It had been weeks since she last heard  
anything of Shinji. Kaworu went all over, apparently his business forced him to make  
representative decision despite his health, and his correspondence made these places  
come alive for her; woefully stuck in Tokyo 3 as she was.

"... here to look at some manpower problems. I am saddened to hear about  
your recent troubles, but is it not true that adversity tempers resolve? Skilled  
labor is increasingly hard to find these days, but Tokyo-3 shines with you  
there to protect it..."

She sighed again. All those places, from High Rajput, India to New Washington. _'Why  
couldn't Shinji be so considerate?'_ Wherever he was... she wondered if he was doing  
anything even half as exciting or grand. She doubted it. He was probably out there  
somewhere, happy at doing something mind-bendingly mundane, stuck halfway up a  
mountain or something...

o  
o

Javaal was in an uproar. The exit point of the Temple of Trials opened out into a plaza.  
Around it was already gathered most of the psychic population of the valley. All of the  
council waited there, and the ones who had most contact with Shinji Ikari were the  
most concerned. The chief abbot stood out in full regalia, and his face was set into  
an uncharacteristic mask of seriousness.

Did he expect the impudent youngster to succeed? He stared intently at the exit, a  
thick ornamented bronze door, uncaring for the passing of hours. It drew speculation.

Even so, it was a jarring surprise when the door showed activity.

Spang! The door rang from an inside strike. Spang spang spang spang PHONGG! The  
frantic hitting could not encourage it to open any faster.

Shinji Ikari stepped out, squinting at the sharp sunlight. His robes were ripped, and  
bloody gashes marked his body. The left half of his face was all red, from a wound on  
his forehead. He walked with a slight limp, but that was because he had no walking  
stick to steady himself on. Under the crook of his left arm he carried a wooden box.  
Some orange thing dangled from his right hand.

He looked around, and catching sight of the council, snarled. "What the hell was that?"  
he shouted hoarsely. "I can accept the spike traps. Flame pits and boulder snares, I  
understand. The puzzles, all right. The confusing architecture, fine! But giant ants!  
WHAT THE FU- giant scorpions? YOU PEOPLE -FAIL- BIOLOGY FOREVER!"

That said, he held up the thing on his hand, which on closer inspection turned out to  
be a giant scorpion held by the tail. It was long as his arm, with pincers that could  
crush coconuts. He threw it at them, and though too far away the onlookers recoiled.

The scorpion wiggled and shook itself. "It's still alive!" someone shrieked. The creature  
turned around and chittered angrily, brandishing its stinger at Shinji.

The boy hissed back, and spat aside. "Oh shut up and go back to your mother."

It quickly skittered over back into darkness, and the safety, of the Temple.

A curious silence hung over the plaza. Shinji took a few steps, and nearly stumbled.  
His brain buzzed with pain, and his body screamed with fatigue. He was too tired to  
think, much less consider being polite. He stood there instead, too numb to care.

"Usually it takes more than a few hours to complete the trials." Lama Peaceman said,  
his tone scolding. "Mastery is a process of contemplation, not a prize to be won."

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I supposed to perform a little more existential angst?" he shot back  
insincerely. _'Do I really NEED any more self-examination?' _he asked himself. None of his  
imaginary advisors appreciated his sarcasm.

Meditation was one of the roads to enlightenment, but it was simply useless to him.  
There were certain other minds as his; like Hasya and as far as he knew, Asuka; who  
found more virtue in action than in contemplation. Rei did not count, for her every  
moment at that point was already a meditative exercise. Forcing Lilith to keep silent  
necessarily needed constant concentration.

Lama Feckeldraft approached him warily. The tall, thin-moustached man knew from his  
own studies that the Temple was a deliberately designed construct of malevolence in  
near-infinite permutations. Half of it happened within the seeker's mind. Against  
mechanical contricances there could be predictable solutions, but against the demons  
of one's own weaknesses given free regn, the only cure was time. Epiphanies must be  
proven to be permanent. For him, it took eight days to get through the Temple.

True, the Trials were a subjective experience. No one should ever face the exact same  
tests of character, and the sense of time tended to lose cohesion within altered space.  
No one blows through in a few hours, though! 'Strength of will is meaningless...' he  
thought with dread. 'The Temple is designed to break a person, and only when all  
personal illusions are destroyed should someone find the light of enlightenment, and in  
than percieve the way out.'

Conversely, trying to run right through only intensifies the process. There were clear  
records of those who were reduced to drooling vegetables for trying that.

Shinji Ikari did not show any encouraging signs that his mind had not broken like so  
many others before him. He stood completely still, eyes closed as if asleep. The monk  
coughed to get his attention.

The boy opened his eyes slowly, and past the bland expression there was in his gaze a  
deep, seething irritation.

"The Trials of Mastery are a subjective process, but there are certain elements that  
are constant." Lama Feckledraft said. "Do you have the proof you did indeed ovecome  
the challenges provided?"

_'What, other than that I'm still alive and not insa-... all right, that might be stretching  
credulity a little...'_

Wordlessly, Shinji Ikari held out the box. It was a clock, and loose gear rattled inside  
as he handed it over. It was ticking even so. The monk stared doubtfully down at it,  
and shook the box clock again. Building it from an assortment of different parts that  
had to be collected from separate rooms was supposed to be the test of intuitive logic,  
for those who had never ever built any clockwork before. He shook and listened to its  
inside tumble about.

Yet the damn clock kept on ticking. He remembered well that making it was the most  
frustrating part of the Trials, and appropriately enough had to do with a lot of trial and  
error. "Did you just jam some gears inside hoping that they would spontaneously align?"  
he asked, astonished at such magnificent stupidity. Luck does not work like that!

"It works, doesn't it?"

He winced. "The trials also indicate personal character. A mindset of 'whatever works',  
is painfully close to 'the end justifies the means'.

Shinji held up one finger. "Please, don't talk to me about that, for yea I have come  
from a dark place and it has left me severely PISSED OFF!"

He pointed back to the Temple. "Was this trip really necessary?" he shouted. "All I  
wanted was to research some way of removing the mental block that keeps me from  
piloting my goddamn Evangelion! And indirectly saving your reclusive little necks! I was  
perfectly willing to offer whatever help my resources could give in return.

But noo...! I get ridiculed, accused, beat up, shot, stabbed, burned, poisoned several  
times over, did I mention the burning? All to test for material proof of your theories!

After all the manipulations you people did, after all the sitting around you did while the  
world was in danger... giant scorpions! How can they even support their own weight?  
(The same way that fucking clock can work!) Do not talk to me about the ends. For I  
am at the END of my patience...!" Then he continued on with gibberish such as 'gorble  
gorble took!' while still gesticulating wildly.

Lama Feckeldraft turned to give a beseeching look to the rest of the council.

The chief abbot nodded. A resounding gong filled the circular plaza. Warrior-monks in  
their red robes and weilding sharp moonshape-tipped polearms surrounded Shinji. Lama  
Feckledraft stepped back and out of the formation.

The pilot merely blinked, more beyond being bothered any further. A crier's voice rose  
to proclaim "Hear, Javaal, and hold dear; the judgement of the Council! With this the  
ability of the accused in proven, and with it the INTENT. This is a direct challenge to  
the authority of the council, but as the accused is not a citizen of Javaal this is not  
treason.

Therefore, it has been decided that it should be settled in the time-honored manner of  
unmanageable threats against Javaal's peace! TRIAL BY COMBAT!"

A loud cheer flowed through the onlookers. Only the more experienced monks remained  
unmoved.

_'Oy. Why am I NOT surprised?' _Shinji sighed to himself. He rubbed at his rising migraine.  
The warrior-monks tapped the butt of their spears to the cobblestones, and drew back  
in unison. They maintained a guarding ring, but far wider and intended more to keep the  
spectators at a distance. Shinji looked up to see someone approach, a person dressed  
in ceremonial armor. Oh. Of course. He sighed again.

Puso Mountain-Glory grinned in satisfaction.

It was the highest honor to be called to defend the peace of Javaal. In his hand he  
held a five-foot pole tipped with a flat blade, a glaive, its blue steel crackling with  
energy. He had on a vest of banded mail, and a tabard marked with the eight-spoked  
karmic wheel over it. His helmet was conical and inset with many psychically-active  
crystals. The acolyte-in-training launched into a ritualized kata and a chant of the  
symbolic virtues of what he weilded.

Thus was Klithraul that cut, and Najildos that resists. On his head was Varnag that  
clears the way. These were treasures of the old masters, carried by heroes of Javaal.  
Actually they were replicas, and new crystal infusion techniques allowed for more  
powerful items... but it was the history that mattered.

Shinji stared at the blade. He had a feeling it could effortlessly cut through all armor,  
except the similarly-active sort worn by the other teen. The headgear helped  
perception in both the immidiate and illusory.

He held up his hand and adressed the council. "Is this to the death? I'm kind of  
confused what with me standing here unarmed and his holding a bladed weapon."

The answer was yes. He had expected as much, from the resolute grin in his  
opponent's face.

The fact that Shinji managed to get through the Trials did not intimidate Puso. If  
anything the outsider should be that much weaker. Nor did he feel anything more than  
a passing reluctance to inflict a killing blow.

"Are you afraid, boy?" Lama Pagnor had growled out at him. "Murder is at the root of  
our society. Tyranny is only possible through cowardice, and negligence on the part of  
others. Sometimes we must be willing to die for those we love, and sometimes we must  
kill first a part of ourselves, if we have to betray our Buddhist virtue, to make others  
die for THEIRS!"

"N-no, master. I'm ready to do whatever it takes to serve Javaal."

"Don't be a fool. Javaal has many martyrs, we're all here because we all believe that's  
better than being a conqueror. If you go out there trying to glorify yourself, better that  
I myself pass MY judgement on you right now." The boy quivered in place, terrified. The  
warrior-monk ramped up the threatening vibe. "You go out there to represent justice...  
OUR justice, and your own life may be the price of than justice. I ask again, are you  
afraid?"

"N-... yes."

His teeth and bulging eyes shone bright against the darkness of his skin. It was not a  
reassuring sight. "Puso Mountain-Glory can know fear, but justice never does. It is a  
force all its own. Kill your being, and it will fill you."

That aside, his fear was replaced by giddy triumph. If he could separate the act in his  
mind from stabbing someone he found annoying to acting out justice, it did not seem so  
bad. The martial arts taught to him were just being put to use.

He was filled with righteous will, and it was severely irritating him that Shinji ignored  
that to continue directing his complaints at the council.

"I may not be as wise, but I'm not seeing the logic here. Because I'm not dead or  
maimed, I can't be found innocent? And THEN I get to fight him to prove I'm guilty?  
What happens if I win?" He pointed a soot-covered finger out. "I don't WANT to kill this  
fool, no matter what."

Puso bristled at that.

"Actually, if you kill him, that's a crime we CAN hold you blameful without doubt." Lama  
Feckledraft admitted, somewhat sheepishly. "If you would just withdraw your insult to  
the council and the honor of Javaal...?"

"No." he responded emphatically. If he threw himself at their mercy now, they could  
dictate the terms of their alliance. As it stood, there was no possibility of an alliance in  
any case, so his death would be of little loss. There were three other Evangelion pilots  
out in the world. Javaal would just have to endure in silence, as they always had. The  
tests never end, and he was in his own way testing them right back.

"Then defeat our champion you must." the chief abbot said. "Only then would we grant  
you honor, speak as our equal."

Shinji gnashed his teeth. "This is grossly unfair!" he shot out. He knew why they were  
doing it, but would not let them slide by that hypocrisy. "I call for compensation! The  
prosecution has the advantage of spear and magic helmet!"

"Spear and magic helmet?" Lama Feckledraft called out, his voice pitched oddly.

"Spear and magic helmet!" Lama Peaceman took up the cry, indignant.

The crowd mumbled restlessly over it. "Magic helmet?"

"... magic helmet." Lama Pagnor finished, with clear disgust.

Shinji and the chief abbot facepalmed simultaneously. Why were these people so  
susceptible?

Puso held the glaive horizontally with both hands, at shoulder-height in a stabbing  
pose. The blade glowed brighter, and sparks of lethal force danced around the edge.  
"Enough talk." he growled, his eyes turning a strange shade of amber. "Have at you...!"

He charged forward, his steps resounding off the stone tiles in quick staccato. His  
target made no move to evade. Shinji stood there, his arms hanging limply by his side.  
His posture slumped slightly in weariness. Then he tilted his head up and LOOKED...

There was only indignation there. For a moment, his eyes seemed to flash golden. The  
sight of that gaze seemed to fill all the world that Puso could perceive. He leapt, his  
blade held high...

... and landed, sliding to a stop, behind and slightly off to one side. Shinji turned his  
head slightly and asked, blandly "...what?"

Puso spat aside. "You've killed before, haven't you?" he noted with a sneer.

"Yes." Shinji shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"Not really. It just makes it easier for me. Murderer...! This is nothing less than your  
due!" So blase about it, the outside world bred its sinners true. Puso forced his fear  
down, and shifted his grip on his weapon. He just had to keep himself steady, the  
helmet ensured clear mind through any mental attack. Only his heart had to hold, and  
his hand would follow. This outside had to know his proper place! He pounded down  
with his left foot and smoothly threw himself into a run. "For JAVAAL!" he screamed.

Shinji sighed one more time._ 'Bright lord, we have had it of this shit.'_ he heard.

He crouched down slightly and put his feet apart, into a basic horse stance. He then  
reached out with his left hand, and the baneful blade crumpled like so much paper upon  
it. Next, he pivoted on his foot to step forward with the right. Alongside that motion,  
he slapped out with an open palm. The force came from the rotation of the hip, not his  
right arm.

The armor was unharmed by such a simple attack. Puso felt little pain, above the  
sudden shock of being lifted off his feet. He looked bewildered, as he saw his opponent  
seem to be getting smaller... and the floor absent from under his heels...

He slammed into a house facade beyond the plaza, the adobe cracking around him,  
leaving him imbedded there. Blessedly, unconsciousness came quickly.

The valley wind gusted strongly. Shinji slid from his stance back into a wearied posture.  
"Is that it?" he said bitterly. "That's really what this is all about? POWER? It doesn't  
matter who's really RIGHT? Would you follow only the most powerful, who can ensure  
this village and its... values... won't get wiped off the Earth? IS THAT IT? WHAT IS -  
RIGHT- REMAINS ONLY BY THE PROTECTION OF THE MIGHTY?

What would be the point of a superhuman, only to wipe the noses of billions of other  
beings? Worse yet, how would you stop one, if it decided **_not_** to take the responsibility?"  
Thus it was in the state of supreme separation, that the only choices were to protect  
or destroy... being that to leave alone would simply to be accomplice to a race's own  
self-destruction.

Shinji threw back his head and yelled out in frustration, his shout echoing through the  
valley. "I don't NEED this bullshit! Whose ass do I need to kick to get things settled  
around here?"

"Truth." The slow, steady sound of the chief abbot's walking stick filled the plaza. The  
old man approached, nodding. "Detestable it is, might does make right, somewhat.  
Why Javaal always tried to be strong. Knew someday we would need it, we did."

"One strong mind can shield the many." Shinji replied softly. "A -thousand- strong minds  
can shield a country..."

"My responsibility, Javaal is, not yours. Mmm, old I am, many things, many wars... and  
now follow me they must. No one else in the world so strong. My might protects what  
is right."

The guarding circle of warrior monks receded... more like fled... from the open plaza.  
They began to push the crowd even further back. Kurly Khrishna The Sunshine Kid,  
rubbed at his bald head and rested on his stick, as he stared up at Shinji. "Regret this,  
I do. Too many sacrificed for this, cannot dishonor all who came before me. One last  
test, for you."

"... would you take my place, if I die?" Shinji whispered back, pleading.

"No."

"... then I have no choice, too. I need to go home."

"In your way, I stand. Make me move." And his robes just -exploded- away from him.

Though more than a century old, and low of stature, the chief abbot's bared upper  
torso showed undegraded whipcord-like musculature and an adamantine resilience.  
Veins bulged out, and old scars flared pinkish-red. The old man dropped to a horse  
stance, his feet stomping down made a booming sound and dug into the ancient  
stones. Those were fingers that could mangle battleships. His face lost all his  
customary playfulness, showing only the resolve honed through countless battles of  
flesh, mind and spirit. In taking a deep breath, he seemed to draw in the very winds of  
the valley.

His voice fairly thrummed with power. "One must fall."

_'The wise do not fear.'_ Shinji reminded himself. _'The fearful do not think.'_

The thought that threatened to overwhelm his consciousness was _'OHSHI-!'_

o  
o

Puso was given a task suited to his skills and temperament. That he got his ass handed  
to him was besides the point. Jamyang had her own duty to perform, and with her  
there was a greater expectation of success. For one thing, it was hardly as dangerous.  
The most she had to to was to sit and wait.

Hasya Winter-Song was not dead nor brain-dead. There remained enough residual  
activity in her brain to support basic living functions. As far as all the best healers could  
see though, her awareness was just... gone. Her mental landscape was a wasteland  
barren of all thought.

Jamyang stared down at her. It did not take much scrutiny to see a familial  
resemblance between them. The closest she had to a family... even Javaal's good  
intentions could not overcome that aching need. She sat beside the bed, wondering at  
the secrets held within the oft-ridiculed woman's mind.

They had all severely underestimated her, and the one she brought into the valley. She  
who had always seemed so unobtrusive, if faintly ridiculous, was the instrument that  
would destroy almost a millenia of relative stability. Jamyang's knowlege of politics was  
sketchy, so missed the irony that one woman was usually all it took to topple kingdoms.

The girl was only dimly aware of a commotion happening outside, and of the healers all  
leaving. "Why did you do it?" she asked the unmoving figure. "How can you trust  
anyone at all, after what you already lived through?"

It was unfair. Trust should not be so betrayed. Whether it was for a good cause or  
meant in malice, that she could not forgive.

Jamyang leaned over and steepled her fingers right under her nose. "Were you afraid,  
honored aunt?" she whispered. "Did you really choose this to happen, or was it forced  
on you?" The girl pressed her thumbs hard against her lips, and shook slightly. "Things  
are getting interesting now... but I never realized before how frightening it is to have  
to make choices."

The order she was given was simple enough:  
_Watch over her and wait. If she wakes up, bring her to me. Let nothing stand in your  
way._

She felt it was cruel. They were being used to prove a point. She did not understand  
what grievance Shinji had against Javaal, but it was serious enough to seek the  
destruction of their blood-bought peace. It was left vague, and that the council did not  
simply dismiss it as ridiculous was a worrying hint. They really had done something grim.  
What was it? Why? Worse yet, no one in the valley could possibly feel safe in that they  
were untampered with.

While on some level she itched to know, the prospect of actually knowing frightened  
her. In her too, a reactive pit of anger was growing. Hasya lying there was proof  
enough of the evils of neglect. At some point like a rabbit left with nowhere to run,  
Jamyang wanted to bite back at those who thought power was everything. There was  
not an ounce of justice in the universe; it was a human illusion. Javaal's Mahayana  
Buddhism rejected the idea of 'god' or 'soul', or anything permanent and inviolate that  
would dictate moral imperative. This; she felt all too keenly now.

"The universe is not fair...!" Jamyang hissed bitterly. "Is it arrogance to want it to be?"  
Her book learning and mind studies left her unprepared for the raw ferocity of  
competing creeds. "Is it folly to force it to comply...?

Truth never dies. The ages come and go;  
The mountains wear away; the seas retire;  
Destruction lays earth's mighty cities low;  
And empires, and dynasties expire;  
But caught and handled onward by the wise,  
Truth never dies

Though unreceived and scoffed at through the years  
Though made the butt of ridicule and jest;  
Though held aloft for mockery and jeers,  
Denied by those of transient power possessed,  
Insulted by the insolence of lies,  
Truth never dies.

... but neither is there any particle in this universe labeled 'Truth'." Jamyang added with  
a wince. "Honored aunt please...!" she begged. "He has destroyed me! I don't know  
what is true or who to believe any more...! Everything fills me with fear. Tell me why!"  
She shook at the unconscious woman's shoulder. "Tell me why you let this happen...?"

Deshabille did nothing for Jamyang, only underscoring the broken fate waiting for her  
too. To be a woman in such times, there had to be more to it than to just endure.  
What was the worth of their own power?

The building shook, dust and bits of plaster fell from the roof. Outside there were bright  
flashes of colored light, and loud booms. She was still too young to really fear death,  
but at least did not glorify it like the others. What gripped her however, was the regret  
in never acting upon her suspicions before. She allowed herself to be absorbed with the  
faint contempt showed by her peers, and for propriety's sake let all those chances pass  
by. From such simple procastination she contributed to the disrespect.

Hasya shuddered and gave a gasp. She arched her back, as if stung. Her mouth opened  
into a soundless scream. Golden light seemed to explode from her body. Jamyang had  
to turn away, so bright...

The girl blinked, spots dancing in front on her eyes. Slowly her vision returned, to show  
Hasya Winter-Song sitting up on her bed. There was a small, beatific smile on her  
aunt's face.

"Uh..." Jamyang was at a loss; did Hasya hear anything of what she had said?

The woman merely tugged at her own hair, her expression of fresh surprise. She had  
always worn it in a capped bun, and with it flowing down she looked much younger.  
She seemed to glow with an inner light, a surety and inner strength that she had never  
shown any sign of before. She looked out the window, at the spreading devastation  
outside.

"Oh..." she said, and her voice seemed to have a slight echo. "So it did work. He still  
needs me, though..."

Jamyang felt a brush of insulted anger. Waking up because of his call, not out of her  
own need? She begged, and that was worth nothing.

Hasya turned her head and directed that serene inner light to her niece. "There's no  
need to fear. Everything's going to be better from this, you'll see."

"You will forgive if I can't accept that in trust...?" she replied churlishly.

Hasya laughed lightly. "I suppose it doesn't make as much sense outside of my own  
point of view." She tried to get up, but nearly collapsed back into her bed. Jamyang  
hurried to support her. "Thank you. I need to be somewhere else... if you would help  
me there, I'll try to explain as we walk..."

Jamyang stared at her oddly. At a questioning look back, she said "Sorry, but it's just...  
you seem much more..."

"Lucid?" was the amused reply. "Less bungling?"

"... real." Jamyang responded weakly. "I don't understand. What really happened? What  
did he do to you?"

It felt like flying. Her thoughts flitted about, here and there, but though derided as  
easily distracted for once her thoughts did not have to sluggishly push through a thick  
mist. Hasya searched for a way of putting it, without unfortunate sexual connotations.

She blinked, and realized that she was already walking down the corridor; so consumed  
by the fresh clarity of her mind that she had simply not noticed getting there. "Have you  
ever had such pain, that you would rather bury it deep inside and pretend it never  
happened? That it's better to live a lie than to accept the truth of what you were?"

Jamyang looked uncertain. "Well, I really can't say..."

"But you believe that the truth will set you free."

"... yes."

"So be it, then. I was a whore. Your mother, my sister, was a whore. Our parents sold  
us to slake the lusts of those straddling the border. One day, someone beat your mother  
to death. Two days later, I fled into the snow, carrying you in my arms. I planned to die  
out there... but someone found me... and brought me here. I was about your age. Does  
that satisfy you?"

Jamyang winced. She was not sure she preferred this frank, unrelenting personality to  
the stuttering, self-humbling character the woman used to have. "... somewhat. At  
least... it's your life, not mine. I should be honored that you decide to share it with me."

The older woman sniffed. "What is a life lived in crippling fear?" In the end she decided  
to evade the question. "You fear him, don't you? Why?"

"Why not?" Jamyang responded hotly. "Leaving aside what he did to you... he stinks of  
power and ambition."

"... so would plenty of your classmates, I would think."

"Well, but he succeeded! That's the sort of drive that should be admired from a  
distance! When I'm near him, I feel like he could devour me whole and still be  
unsatisfied... he's too dangerous, the utter opposite of what virtue this valley holds  
most true!"

That only made Hasya laugh, and her mirth flowed freely. She had to withdraw from  
leaning on the teenaged girl's shoulder to rest against a wall. She clutched at her  
stomach. "... of course, of course. I should have known. This is going to annoy him, ha!  
Oh, this just grand! Haa... N-not unusual... but annoying!"

"It's not funny!" Jamyang said shrilly. "It's real! Are you saying I don't have reason to  
fear?"

"Oh, no no no... you are correct, he IS dangerous, oh my foolish young king." Hasya  
grinned. "You're right to be afraid. Your fear him so completely, it's become atavistic..."

Jamyang frowned. "... so?"

"You don't WANT to have to fear him, it's an ugly sensation. You can't trust what he  
says either, even if he says he would never harm you." Hasya stood up and flicked off  
imaginary lint from her shoulders. "There are even less logical reasons for attraction. Of  
course, your conscious mind has to reject this illogical emotional impulse."

"... you are a crazy old woman and I don't know why I ever wanted your presence in  
my life!"

Hasya continued laughing, and gestured that they should keep going. The girl grudgingly  
offered her shoulder back to the task.

o  
o

Shinji Ikari bounced once, twice, and slowly rolled to a stop with his fingers leaving long  
grooves in the ground. He gasped for breath as he stared up at the sky. So far... so  
blue... so peaceful...

A dark speck in the distance nudged his brain out of its general protection fault, with  
just enough time that he could frantically roll aside as that speck resolved itself into a  
boulder. He barely avoided being smashed flat.

The impact splintered the ground all around. Shinji closed his eye from cobblestone  
fragments, and thus was ill-prepared to accept a wind bullet. Brown. Blue. Brown. Blue.  
Wall white. Wham.

It knocked all the wind out of him, and it felt like his eyeballs nearly popped out of their  
sockets. He focused on a point several meters away, and YANKED himself to it. He slid  
to an uncontrolled stop, feeling the radiant heat from the flames scorching black the  
wall where he used to be.

He looked up leery, at an indistinct figure behind an obscuring curtain of hot dust.

"Running, dodging, hiding, blocking, USELESS!" the 'Sunshine Kid' yelled out. "If no fight,  
then DIE! Cannot win if you keep holding back...!"

Shinji grit his teeth, and threw himself aside. He knew enough not to be distracted by  
a scolding; the middle of a battle was no place to hold a conversation. Sure enough,  
another gout of flame licked at his location. Followed by a stone lion that the old man  
had ripped free from its pedestal.

_'He is correct, my lord, let it LOOSE!' _he heard within. _'We cannot win this as we are.'_

_'Afraid, chaos spawn?' _the Farseer put in. '_A berserker would be the worst possible  
thing at this point. Devoid of forethought, devoid of strategy, we would be leading  
ourselves to the butcher; and he knows this.'_

The old man would have been expecting him to dodge again. Therefore, he stood  
firm and held out both hands as if to catch it. Then again, a part of his mind noted,  
it could be that the old man knew that he knew that he knew he would expect him  
to stand still... He gave up in disgust and focused his attention on the descending  
piece of deadly masonry.

The stone lion's approach velocity slowed only by a fraction. Shinji winced. Even so  
many months away, he was still slipping into habits born of having a machine god as  
the force behind his hand. He dug his feet in to brace himself and stood oblique to  
the brick-fit sculpture. The Eva pilot opened his right palm wide and slapped at the  
lion, coughing out an "a- TAH!" as he did so.

With his mouth wide open, he could not bite his tongue off from the pain. The shock  
traveled through his arm, down his spine, past his knees and into the ground. His  
feet sank deeper into the sound. Shinji gurgled out his agony. His bones should have  
been splinters, his flesh so much pulp. Impossibly so, however, with slow grace he  
spun in place and threw the monstrous weight right back!

The chief abbot stepped aside unconcerned, and spat into his open right palm.  
The bit of spit condensed and froze water vapor around it, until there was a block  
of ice filling the old man's hand. He flicked his hand and the ice crystals reshaped  
into a wrist blade, redefining what a 'cold, sharp edge' means. A flame lingered at  
the tip of his left index finger.

He blinked. Where-

The boy was gone. If not in the immediate field of vision, then of course-...

The chief abbot managed to get an elbow up in time to block Shinji's determined axe  
kick. The air seemed to blow open as that hit. The old man's stance also cracked and  
sunk, spreading spider-web cracks along the plaza. _'Ride the lion, he did...'_ the abbot  
thought. '_Borrow its energy. Inventive, when both control and power deficient in his  
own natural might.'_

He swept his arm aside and stabbed up with his right. _'Still weak it only proves him.  
Cheating it is, if to rely on others he continually must...'_

Instead of unbalancing him, Shinji used that shift in his center of gravity to quickly  
bring his other foot into a cross-counter. He had the advantage of reach. His toes  
caught the old man under the chin. The blade merely nicked his shin, as the transfer of  
force sent the old man flying.

He slammed down, hard, into broken stone. He began to roll from side to side, in pain  
greater than what he felt from shards digging into his skin. He let out open yelps similar  
to "Yarg yargh ow fuck raaagh!"

There was something compelling about watching a fight to the death. The other  
masters and ranked acolytes tried to keep the damage contained, while spectators  
peered on from behind corners and rooftops. Into this throng, Hasya and Jamyang  
entered without much notice.

"Excuse me, pardon me, may I pass? Excuse me. Sir? Hello...?" One particularly large  
villager refused to budge. Hasya sighed. She pulled at his ear and shouted "MOVE!"

"Ow! What th-... hey, aren't you...?"

"Now, now... let's not have a commotion. I don't want to have to throw you out on the  
open where you might get hit by a stray boulder or something."

Jamyang made a mental note on how words so sweetly said could actually be even more  
threatening. The big guy nodded, and stepped aside. He even went to far as to helpfully  
prod the guys ahead into giving way. Thus did the two manage to reach the second  
street away from the plaza. The buildings nearest to the open space showed thick walls  
already pitted with abuse.

"Oh, there he is. I'm surprised he managed to get this far on his own." the older woman  
said with gentle mirth. "He's doing quite well, don't you think, all considering?"

Jamyang squinted at the sight. She had only very limited contact with the council  
masters, and viewed the chief abbot only as a figure of stately gravitas. She had never  
expected to see him with flowing with martial aggression, jumping around like a rabbit  
on crack. By comparison, Shinji's gangly form had a distinctly wooden aspect, moving  
only just enough to evade a hit, conservative in his counters; minimizing his expenditure  
of energy.

She frowned. "All considering, yes. Consider that no amount of clever tricks can match  
the raw power and skill displayed by our chief abbot. He is doing well enough... to delay  
his own doom! Why does he not simply give up? Is his pride worth his life?"

Hasya smiled again. "Past some level of magnitude, tricks become tactics." She pointed  
to the column of living flame lashing whip-like at the boy. No time to avoid; he grit his  
teeth and pressed his palms together. The burning glory washed over him, and passed,  
doing no more harm than a light drizzle on a summer's day. An appreciative 'ooh..' went  
from the populace, despite their natural bias. "Some fights cannot be avoided. Men are  
silly that way..."

"Better be a smart man, then." Jamyang said back bitingly. "An alive one."

They stood there and watched for a while longer. On some level, such brutal combat  
too, was art. Even as they destroy and fall headlong into a tragic conclusion, in the  
passing moments their efforts combined into beautiful thread of controlled chaos.

"What's he doing now?" Jamyang asked, as she watched Shinji beat at his own arms.  
The outsider still struck her as somewhat ridiculous. Seeing his prowess on display  
cancelled out the fear, leaving her undecided if she wanted him to fall or prevail.

"Interesting... I've heard of this in old chronicles." answered Hasya. "He has drawn upon  
more power than his body is capable of handling. He is trying to keep his own blood  
plasma from crystallizing..."

"... like our meditation crystals?"

"The human body is rich with compounds. I suppose the elements necessary are already  
present here." She tapped at her own wrist. "He has nowhere else to store all that  
energy he is pulling free." That the boy managed to even touch the old man was  
impressive enough; how useful it was to be transparent to precognition!

"That's insane." She looked at both able fighters on the field, both needing each other  
but also both too stubborn to give up an inch of principles. Along the way, Hasya had  
told her about Shinji's overall plan, and how the monks wanted to craft their own place  
in that. "This is such a waste...!" she grumbled. "They can't win this..."

Neither of the combatants spared any attention for anyone in the peanut gallery. The  
dust settled to show the chief abbot standing a short distance away, while Shinji  
collapsed backwards to stare up at the sky. Both their breaths left white puffs in the  
chill mountain air.

The old man worked at his jaw. "Good shot, sort of pointless though." He could breathe  
easier, but his sentences remained terse and now in his old northern dialect. Were it not  
for the ability to 'listen in tongues' his accent would be totally incomprehensible.  
"If yourself; you harm worse than me in every attack, no way to victory you have."

Shinji just sighed. He took the grace of a temporary lull in combat, feeling his body burn  
from the inside out. "... I guess I never really understood how absurdly efficient the Eva  
is with an AT-field." Energy conversion was instinctive... what is this conservation of  
momentum you speak of? He could dump it into alternative space if he had to. The  
innate problem was of course, that a human body was simply not designed to jerk  
around with the laws of physics like that.

"What you're doing doesn't involve a hint of energy conversion." Shinji added numbly.  
"Bending physical laws instead of breaking him, the perfection of the Outward Path, in  
manipulating the states of matter." _Goddamit_, he shouted inside. _It's too damn effective._  
The old man could do it all day; all week, if he had to. Since it was external manipulation  
of molecular bonds and motion, there was no physical drain. Shinji could not even hope  
to imitate it.. only decades of practice, utter unity in mind and body could make it so.

"Mhm. Control a form of power; power own measure of control. Giving you five minutes  
to figure it out." The chief abbot sat cross-legged. "Then ready or not, I kill."

"Thank you." That was not sarcasm.

Logically, Shinji knew why it was necessary. First; a good show could blow away doubts  
that lingered in Javaal. Second; that the enemy would only attack him using big,  
conspicuous Angel forms was ridiculous. He was useless without an Eva; too many had  
already sacrificed for his sake that he could not waste it all by failing to protect them  
or imperiling himself unnecessarily. The irony was that his current death-match fell under  
a 'necessary' heading.

Third... he had to convince his own body that it did not mass several thousand tons,  
and that it had to stop forcing power through as if that was so. To fight the old man  
with the Outward Path, of telekinetics and other sundry tricks, was pointless - he was  
still a novice there and his body was not equal to that of a god-machine.

Shinji took out his meditation crystal and looked at it with the light of a late afternoon  
sun. It gave off only a feeble glow.

There was time for a little sane uncertainty. He was not holding back, save perhaps that  
he did not really want to murder anyone again anytime soon. Was it indeed, all just his  
arrogance, biting off more than he could chew? His fourteen years and fantasy-fueled  
ruminations could not possibly be a match for more than a century of purposeful life and  
nine hundred years of learning...?

The four figures in his mind, being facets of his personality, could not assuage his doubt.  
There was however, a fifth voice...

_'I braved the distance, sattava, not because I was ordered to. It was cruel to send me  
out, and no slave to any man I had sworn to be, even as diminished I was. I traveled with  
the knowing, you at the end of that road is he who takes my fears away...'_

The troubles of the outside world are perpetual; thus it was written. No man, no matter  
how powerful, can hope to change this.

But..

How about a woman?

The sky began to darken, stormclouds gathered. Shinji Ikari held out the crystal. Its  
pure white light flared, and through the air floated a tone; a perfect 'C' on the most  
perfect harpstring. The crystal's light turned inward, turned blue, then purple, then a  
writhing series of violent shades.

How about a god?

The winds howled, and a faltering rain began to fall. Shinji shivered._ 'My body isn't  
designed for this climate...!'_ he thought. He grabbed a bolt of cloth blown free from an  
awning and wrapped it around himself, a hood covering his head from the icy touch of  
rain. The crystal in his right hand was starting to vibrate and twitch, like a trapped and  
wounded animal.

_'My pain, sattava. My fear. My sadness. My suffering. Speak, and it will be gone. Will it,  
and it shall be done.'_

He smiled, slightly.

o  
o

"What's he doing?" Jamyang asked. "Doesn't he understand that this can only benefit  
the honored master's control over water and ice?"

Hasya clucked chidingly. "There are no elements such as earth, fire, water and air. You  
see the old man attack with these and think these are the ultimate expressions of the  
Outward Path. Hmf. That is why he is the first since the Renaissance to assert such  
control over his world." She opened her palm out, and a spiny sphere of ice formed  
above it. "Enlightenment does not give as its final gift such paltry tricks."

"What is it then?" Jamyang asked further, slowly becoming convinced that her aunt  
really had passed the Master Trials. The Hasya that others knew was a crippled imitation  
of her true self. There was a reason for that injustice, but the girl could not believe it  
was worth it.

"The elements are: Shape, Motion, Form, and Space." The ice on her palm slid into  
different geometric shapes, then exploded into fine mist. "Alter the balance of these  
fundamental elements, and water turns to ice, turns to wind, turns to flame, cuts into  
rock, crumbles into dust. Thus is the perfection of the Outward Path."

Jamyang nodded. "But... you still believe he can win?"

"Of course. My entire life was aimed towards this single moment. Don't fear, my young  
king has a plan." Hasya resumed her serene, oddly knowing grin.

"Why do you call him a young king, anyway?" Jamyang muttered peevishly. Kings tend  
toward conquest, which was the very ideal abhorred by all Javaal.

"Why not? Royalty has to start somewhere, after all. Blood doesn't make anyone better,  
you know this... but someone way back had the will to bless the name of all generations  
after him."

Jamyang remained petulant, crossing her arms and glaring at Shinji standing there. If her  
aunt had faith, the least she could give was the benefit of the doubt. He was still such  
a vexing person, though.

o  
o

The chief abbot was puzzled too. "What for you do this?" he asked. "Only helps me, this  
you know." A sheet of ice began to spread out from under his feet. As it expanded  
across the plaza, monstrous spikes stabbed out from its mirrorlike sheen and receding  
only to appear unexpectedly somewhere else.

Shinji merely pulled his rough cloak closer. "Tell me, Khrishna-sensei... who said 'It is  
the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.'"

The old man narrowed his gaze. "Napoleon. What for you say to me, these words of a  
conqueror, as if wise it is?"

"Because my martyr deserves retribution." Shinji bowed and clapped his palms together.

Crack- BOOM!

The old man just barely saved himself from being skewered on a spear of nature's wrath.  
He slid backwards on the ice sheet, turning this way and that, as if he had ice skates.

Crack- BOOM!

Crack- BOOM!

Crack- BOOM!

The chief abbot grinned. Unlike his bending of forces and energy states on a molecular  
level, or the brute-force spacetime and raw energy manipulation of the Eva... this was  
something that did not impact the laws of physics at all. Therefore, much less efficient  
or controllable. Sheer force of will commanded the probability of events happening.

He diverted the charge to either side, and making it seem like the heavens themselves  
hammered down upon him. Shinji remained still, light bursting out from between his  
clasped fingers.

Elsewhere, Jamyang boggled. "What the f... did he just... is he calling lightning?"

"Ahhaha, yes! Shine, sattava!" Hasya laughed freely. "Shine on, you crazy diamond!"

Crack- BOOM!

Shinji stopped and collapsed to one knee, breathing heavily. The crystal's brightness did  
not dim, not yet. He heard a familiar voice, but for the first time hence, not from within  
his own skull. "Hasya-san...?"

He turned around, and saw her waving there; prodding her niece in making reluctant  
gestures of encouragement. Her cheer seemed to light up the overcast scene. He found  
himself starting to grin back -

... and got a fist to the side of his head.

He bounced and rolled, the last few feet braking through a faceslide.

"Oops." said the woman. She had not meant to distract him.

Quickly he got back up, happy, though rubbing his face. Absently he bent away from  
several more strikes, a ball of flame (flickering weakly from the rain), and rode on a rock  
spike (narrowly avoiding being impaled through his gonads).

He looked up, and grinned. The skies cleared quickly. The golden light of sunset filtered  
through. "... you're okay!" he shouted to her.

"Of course." she huffed. "Why are you so surprised. I knew what I was getting into. Did  
you doubt this would happen?"

"Um... well, yeah." He scratched behind his head and looked sheepish.

The chief abbot, seeing the boy's obvious departure of focus from the battle, made as  
if to attack. Then he put his arms down and sighed. "Seriously, even capable are you of  
fighting without someone there to believe in you? How much more emotionally needy you  
plan to be, hmm?"

Shinji got to his knees and kowtowed towards her. "Hasya-san... please forgive me."

"I already did." she replied softly, but it carried through. "You freed me, and for that I  
thank you."

He looked up. His eyes all but glowed with delight. "No, not that... I know you were  
taught by and revered him. Please forgive me for what I must do."

"Oh, that." She sniffed and waved aside. "Meh. Kick the old monkey's ass!"

The chief abbot successfully resisted an urge to belt out '_Ye young whippersnappers! No  
respect these days, humf!_' The ground was still frozen over. He slid on, faster than even  
the eye could follow. He could hear the wind whistling as he passed.

Crack- BOOM! Lightning lanced out of a clear sky!

The old man skipped back several steps, wary. Shinji remained in a similar guarded  
stance. Both minds worked quickly, figuring out measures and countermeasures. The  
same thought passed through their minds... "_Man fights not for the sake of fighting, but  
for victory; doing all he can to diminish the first and ensure the second."_

On the surface, it was mortal combat between two people... but they knew that it was  
nothing less than one more battle in a war ongoing since humanity could conceivably be  
recognizable as humanity. Two ideologies, clashing on the way to ragnarok.

_"The contant tactical factor, the attempt to overcome one's enemy with the least  
possible injury to self."_

Thus the expressions of his mastery in the forms of earth that persists, fire that  
devours, water that changes, and wind that extends. The chief abbot also had his own  
unmatched martial skills. He could destroy at any range. His expertise was such that his  
risk was very small indeed.

Shinji, by contrast, was clumsy in his attack and defense. But lightning... not changed  
in form, not directed at all... instead of fighting the old man at his strengths, forced him  
instead to consider he was not defending against an upstart youngster. His enemy was  
the Earth itself.

Crack-BOOM!

This time the lightning leapt up out of the ground, and he felt the hot flash of a trailing  
charge across his left forearm. That he concentrated on buffering his skin saved him...  
wherever he put his feet, there was guaranteed to be a static charge.

Shinji had his eyes closed. His senses were weak and slow. His body could not hope to  
move fast enough, endure enough, to match the centenarian. The air buzzed with  
anger. The electromagnetic field served his purpose. The Outward Path changes the  
world to suit the person. The perfection of the Inward Path changes the sense of Self.

Heartbeat. Heartbeat. He felt... otherwordly. Only the sound of his own beating heart  
anchored him to his living body. Aside, he felt Hasya Winter-Song, and her unsullied  
confidence in his triumph. Farther away, like a tinge of color on the horizon, was the  
sign of warmth and love. And on the opposite, a darker taint... he curbed his curiosity  
to explore that malevolent, yet eager, presence. Nearby was his current 'enemy', his  
entire being indicating a readiness to move...

And move he did. Fast! Eyes and muscles and mind, of mortal fallibility, could not have  
hoped to even percieve such speed! The air itself parted in front of the old man, a  
temporary vaccuum to preserve his full momentum. Flame then filled all that he could  
'see'.

He felt no fear. Air occupies space_. 'Like an AT-field, but without altering spacetime.'_  
he thought._ 'I will it. And it is done.'_ He opened his palms and funneled that energy into  
an invisible bottle. Dimly, Shinji felt his body move aside from the cord of crackling fire.

Now!

Shards of lightning, plasma writhing through the air, sought out a target. As soon as a  
loop encountered space indicative of the enemy's position, lightning flashed out towards  
it; depleting the strange charged wing.

Lightning struck the enemy... and vanished. The enemy, that is.

Shinji had to keep himself from opening his eyes, in wonder and confusion. '_Where...?  
He split himself? Impossible...!'_ His uncommon sense reported that the enemy existed  
in many places simultaneously. '_An illusion? How did he manage to duplicate his unique  
presence?'_ The old man was all around, and making gestures...

_'Ohshi-'_

Shinji leapt up and spun around with his limbs stretched out, like a human pinwheel. A  
ring of lightning expanded outwards, cutting into flying rock, breaking apart seams of  
wind, and doing nothing agains columns of fire. There was no time for any ornate  
defense. For that, he could only clench his jaw and pronounce within his mind_ 'I will not  
burn. I will not burn. I WILL not burn!'_

He slammed into the ground and hunched over. Knives of ice rained from the sky and  
broke upon the cloth on his back. The crystal on his neck was no longer shining. Its  
light was turning inwards, turning black.

He heard a crack. The meditation crystal could become a most efficient capacitor. It  
was not a perfect one, however. There was a limit to what it could deal with. As its  
facets began to chip off, it seemed to -bleed- energy.

_'Hasya-san... it is done.'_ he thought. _'And from this there can be no turning back. The  
peace of this valley can no longer be saved.'_ He sensed the enemy; all around. He came  
up snarling, his fingers splayed open.

Lightning erupted from the tips of his fingers, screaming through the air, branching and  
spreading out, like a hungry hydra. The blue-white storm raked across the plaza,  
sending all watching to knees and pressing their faces to the floor. The air seethed hot  
above their heads. It filled all intervening space, it claimed everything as its due. And  
whatever it touched burned from the kiss of star-fire.

A shrill pitch lingered for a few more moments even as the sparks faded away.

Shinji dropped, panting heavily. His necklace was now nothing more than a loop of  
string. He looked up to see the the chief abbot likewise pushing himself off the ground.  
He looked... old... his eyes sad and so weary. His walking stick leapt from the sidelines  
to his hand, and with it the time-worn monk managed to stand.

The boy winced as he got up to his feet, hearing his bones crack in complaint. He  
looked at his own right hand, opened and closed it, and felt only the paltry strength of  
mortal flesh.

Everyone else began to get their heads up, and draw closer. They knew, somehow in  
their hearts, that this was the end. Tricks and tactics were exhausted, might and vigor  
gone. The two were running now on sheer force of will, only that letting them remain  
conscious...

One last try, from the smiling old man and grinning thin boy. This was no longer about  
their ideals... they had formed themselves into archetypes, and they -must- clash. The  
old and new had to settle it once and for all. Expectations filtered through the crowd.  
_'This shit is gonna be awesome.'_

One step. And another. A little faster. And they were running, if slowly and swaying  
slightly from side to side. They pulled their fists back.

And they struck.

The stick mitigated the old man's disadvantage of reach. His short wooden staff plunged  
into the boy's gullet and out the back. The boy coughed up blood. He felt his vision  
starting to fade away. His fist sank into the chief abbot's skull.

The old man fell back, pulling his walking stick free as he dropped. Blood spurted out  
from the boy's torso. He staggered but remained standing, even as red fluid continued  
to drip down his front and back.

"You do not believe in gods." he whispered weakly, but the air carried that tone anyway.  
"Not the immortality of the soul. The final, blessed state is not paradise, but cessation...  
nothing permanent, no divine standard to make it duty to abuse those not of your own  
faith..."

He stared at his hand, at the wriggling thing; worm-like, bulbous, pink and sightless, and  
a gaping maw full of sharp snapping teeth.

"Nothing to know beyond death, nothing remains! AND SO YOU DECIDED TO MAKE THE  
SOUL KNOW IMMORTALITY!" He held the struggling creature up to the truth of reality. "A  
STATE BEYOND FLESH, A MEMORY BEYOND DEATH! And power, yes such power! The  
temptation to leave this valley and forge your own road to conquest can be too much...  
so you dump it here, all your negative emotions, your pride, your fear, your greed... so  
you can remain pure and true and good and uncaring about what may happen outside...!

And every month, your rituals cleanse; your chief abbot shoulders the pain of your  
community. Always, the strongest among you. Always, the vessel of all that is right. A  
symbolic act since its founding. But apparently, not so ceremonial after all..."

Jamyang gasped and stared up at her aunt, who nodded impassively. Intentionally, she  
was prevented from unburdening herself, eventually fracturing her personality from the  
leakage. The teachings of Javaal centered on control, serenity, purification... but if the  
process is interrupted, only self-destruction would follow.

That she managed to keep herself on the knife-edge of sanity spoke well of her own  
desire to live and the natural lack of ambition.

"Nine hundred years of history... all those minds, all those hopes... you knew them all,  
didn't you, you dumb thing?" Shinji spoke gently to it. "Legacy and burden of the master  
of Javaal, for only he could be strong enough to keep you contained.

But I know your **_name_**...

I dub thee **_DAEMON_**."

The thing screeched and snapped at him. It was not sentient, but getting there... a  
thing that had structure out of energy, not matter. Out of dreams and into the sun, a  
act made possible only by the AT-field... his first tangible proof that humans had it too.

Knowing only hate and pain, its existence only in increasing torment... to attain the  
most unbreakable serenity necessary for their exploits, the psychics dumped all their  
negative distractions somewhere else; calling upon it for fuel when necessary. Was it  
any wonder it was monstrous?

Shinji clenched his fist, and the thing burned in pinkish flame. A soul-rending howl filled  
the valley. A shockwave burst out and the energy expanded, like a fire raging out of  
control. Mountains to either side of the valley cracked and split, as the wild power  
flowed out of its containment.

They could drown in it, the people realized; that flood of despair. It rushed at them like  
a wave and some turned to flee, most just struck senseless with horror. It was a deeply  
personal deluge, they could discern their own faces in that writhing, sparking, viscous  
mass... their own guilt and their own malice returning tenfold...

It broke as the waves upon a beach, as Hasya Winter-Song stepped forward. Her body  
seemed to emit a soft golden light, and from it the demonfire recoiled.

The wave surged back, coalescing into a spiky mass that engulfed the boy in a violent  
pink deluge. He breathed it in. _'Interesting... so the scent of sin is somewhat sweet...  
like rotting meat...'_ he thought.

Below him, the eight-spoked Karmic Wheel had its ends sharpening out into points. 'No.'  
he thought. 'This is not the time for you.' The arrowheads shrank back into rounded  
knobs.

Golden light flared, and everyone had to turn away. When their sight returned, they saw  
the daemon-fire spiraling around a bright core of golden power. The tainted energy  
burned itself out, two expanding plumes that burst out of his back. Energy conversion  
was one thing; this accepted and purified an old obligation.

"This fear will END! This folly will CEASE! You will no longer make compromise with the  
darkness!" Shinji shouted. "FOR AS LONG AS I REMAIN IN THIS WORLD, I -AM- THE  
LIGHT OF THE WORLD!"

His light spread out, like wings lapping at the wind. "Like I asked, thank you..." Hasya  
whispered. "Inspire dread and awe." The people of Javaal were too stratified, too set  
and complacent in their ways. This was force-feeding them the worth and the pains of  
their duty. It seemed to be working.

Power unquestionable, majesty unmatched, and will undefeatable... Jamyang was  
starting to understand why her aunt called him indeed a Young King. Her heart clenched  
in face of such glorious presence, like it was the simplest and most logical thing in the  
world to just obey. Atavism... fear and awe were linked emotions, she realized.

Light burst forth, and the golden rivulets floating in the air radiated a calming warmth.  
It was maddening, nothing should be so pure, how could something like that exist and be  
contained within such a corrupt and imperfect world?

Then, he exploded.

Only Hasya heard his parting word; predictably, again, _'Ohshi-'_

o  
o

Somewhere in the mountains of Kenya, Kaworu looked to the east. Even he could not  
track down Shinji, but that psychic flare... he had failed to stop what was written. Well  
did he despise prophecies, too. The hybrid grimaced slightly. '_So somehow, Shinji-kun  
managed to solve his little problem.'_ he thought._ 'SEELE doesn't know everything after  
all. The old men keep confusing political and potential power with the corporeal.'_

He descended deep into the Earth, into yet another vessel of man's hubris. Another  
geofront, but this one carved out by atomic excavation. Impressive enough in its own  
way, he supposed; even if it was a pale imitation of the Moon's Cradle he just left.

At least, it did not require him to bleed just to enter.

_'But it would not be much longer before even SEELE oversteps its influence.'_ he added  
to his musings. _'This is the great game, and we're still far from the deciding move.'_

o  
o

The plaza at the exit of the Temple of Trials opened out to a cliff face. Half the plaza  
had gone tumbling down. The rest held a crater, wide and deep, like someone took a  
bite out of the mountainside.

It was night, and the moon was new. At the curving lip of fused rock near the cliff's  
edge, a small flicker of twisting white light appeared. More and more rivulets of oddly  
viscious brightness joined, and there was a crackling dance of energies around a  
spherical region. There was a slight boom, of displaced air, and Shinji Ikari was dumped  
out of warped space.

"Ow." he said. He rolled over on his back and winced. "Whose 'bright' idea was this,  
anyway?"

Deep in his mind, he felt fingers pointing to an affronted female. _'Technically, it is  
yours!' _she shot back._ 'Besides, it worked, did it not?'_

_'Upon a given definition of -worked- as -not immediately fatal-.' _He closed his eyes and  
rested for a while. Pain filled his body, so he let those feelings freee. Ah, blessed  
unconsciousness.

He did not feel arms picking him up, nor the light warming his skin. He did not hear the  
shouts and the very literal asskicking as people were made to get the hell out of the  
way. What he got, was the peace of a task accomplished. What he received was the  
ease of a burden taken off his shoulders; and the heaviness carried by one was very  
light upon a thousand.

If he were awake, he would have either rejoiced in no longer being necessary... or been  
filled with utter terror at how things were hurtling on beyond even his control.

Javaal was a center of modified Mahayana Buddhism, and thus had a central temple  
dedicated to the Buddha. It had a giant bronze statue of the Buddha, but unlike most  
stylistic depictions showed a 'younger' buddha, one still fit and with an expression more  
alert than serene... as if he was ready at any moment to stand up and resume the  
journeys.

Kurly Khrisna the Sunshine Kid sat meditating in front of it. His chosen name reminded  
of the inherent ridiculousness of life, and as a guard against ego. Even Buddha had a  
quiet sense of humor.

Many miraculous powers were attributed to the Buddha, but he considered these of no  
importance. Once when one of his disciples performed a miracle in public, the Buddha  
reproached him and laid down a rule that his disciples should not perform miracles in  
front of the laity. In his view, the greatest miracle was to explain the truth and make  
man realize it.

Shinji Ikari stirred in his sleep, in a cot near the foot of the massive statue. The portrait  
of the Buddha was of wisdom and compassion. How strange, to see the two together.  
They were almost complete opposites...

The ancient master, advocating peace and moderation. The new lord, calling to war and  
action. The philosophy seeking to free man from the fetters of suffering by a rational  
system of thought and a way of life. The will to overcome; demanding sacrifice and a  
dedication to duty, in the name of fighting back the very extinction of the human race.  
Forgiveness upon the misguided. Vengeance upon the enemy. In death, release. In life,  
victory.

And yet... the truth, they both made apparent. Where is the wisdom of Javaal, if it does  
not save? Where is the compassion of Javaal, if it does not serve? Huddling in fear in  
their valley, they acknowledged only enough of the world to remind themselves why  
they were content to let it pass them by.

The boy sat up, wincing. He squinted, even the candle-lit brightness was too much for  
his eyes. The chief abbot nodded his head; mercy can also be found in a doctor's will;  
to cut off a limb before the gangrene claims the body. "Awake, are you?" he asked.  
"From the void you return, how feel you?"

"Ungh. There's nothing like psychic poisoning to make you appreciate hangovers." Shinji  
muttered. "... sorry, sensei. How about you?"

The chief abbot looked up at the buddha and shrugged as if to say 'Hey; after all that  
happened, I deserve at least this much, right?' He put a fat cigar to his mouth, but at  
least did not light it. "Complaints, I have not. Too old for this shit, I am." He chuckled a  
bit. "Very grateful I am. Ability to do it, we did, but a reason we did not destroy the  
thing so long ago. Not so simple it is, hmm? Worth the drama, was it?"

Shinji growled. In retrospect, there was really no particular reason to destroy the  
daemon right there. "Dammit, you people were your own -avataras-. What a mess... you  
were hoping someone inside could figure out how to untangle it, but an outside power  
would do as well, too..." It was a gambit that paid off well in the end. Goddamn self-  
fulfilling prophecies!

The chief abbot hmm'ed again. "Met my own Master, have you?"

"Big guy, kinda weasely-looking?"

"Him, yes."

"You did good, kid. But you're still a brat no matter how old you get." the boy's voice  
held an odd timbre. Then he winced again, clutching at his head. "Glurgpain."

The doors to the sanctum opened, and the sun walked into the room. Soon enough  
Shinij felt warm hands upon his, and the pain fading away. He looked up to see Hasya  
smiling at him, her face still glowing faintly. "Hasya-san?"

"Welcome back, sattava." Then, uncaring of propriety, hugged him. Her warmth leeched  
away his fatigue, but had trouble breathing with his face mashed between her breasts.  
Looking on, the old monk just sighed.

"Gakh!" Shinji successfully disengaged himself. "And... and how are you?" he asked her.

"Oh, fine, fine." She tapped at the side of her head. "I already settled things here. The  
old men are properly contrite. We shouldn't have any more trouble from them."

The chief abbot laughed. "Seen her, you should have, tearing into them. The people too,  
about the evil of neglect. Purpose there is to Javaal, and its strengths wasted if not  
used to benefit. Selfish it is, to live like this, and doomed. Proud of your golden saint,  
you should."

Hasya merely mhf'ed. "I'm not the first woman to pass the trials, but we've never been  
granted a seat on the council. Bah. Politics." It was not the first time a master of the  
Inward Path managed to beat the flashy tricks of the Outward Path; though the show  
earlier broke conventional distinctions. "... and now I'm starting to see why all my  
precessors were wise enough to avoid pressing the issue."

-o-

The people stood around in confusion, as Shinji disappeared. They did not yet fully  
understand; and while still shocked and awed, Hasya stepped up to pound into their  
heads the woeful truths of their existence, their deleriction of duty, and what the had  
to do to make up for it all. As expected, it did not appeal to the populace to be held in  
condemnation.

"Why should we listen to you?" someone had shouted. "Aren't you Hasya, a bhikkuni of  
the outer temple?" Had they not seen her stumble so many times, ignored her as she  
walked around with a mop, watched her work in the sun at the fields? Where did she get  
the learning and the authority to speak to them as if they were ignorant children? And  
predictably too, it was Puso Mountain-Glory who raised most of these objections. Being  
beaten with effortless indifference hardly improved his disposition any.

"I proclaim the possible in face of the impossible!" she shot back. "I give you pain and  
hardship, in place of your old comforts! I am the light of the conscience you have long  
denied! I am the fear that died, the ambition that faded! The world is safe from you?  
Hah! Who are you to proclaim yourselves master of this world while you shrink from its  
challenges? I am the fire that burns away cowardice!"

Jamyang was the first to move to her side, defiant against everyone else in Javaal, if  
needs be. The world calls, and she would answer.

Hasya was angry, her countenance aglow, and dared anyone to disagree. "I will tell you  
now - this is the service your ancestors pledged your fates to... and to whom! This is  
your world, and this is your due-... !"

Morality is not a matter of convenience-... in a world steadily growing more inconvenient  
for the many!

And so on...

-o-

The mere existence of the master is unnecessary, only the ongoing task of the disciple  
matters in the end. That was also written. "A valley of prophets, found you have." said  
the chief abbot, nodding sagely.

His eyes widened as the implications hit. "Oh, shiii...!" said Shinji, groaning with dismay.  
He palmed his face. "I got suckered well and good, didn't I?"

"Now able to go out of this valley, we are, and not have to fear persecution. Mhmm;  
and protect us you shall, or start performing miracles in your name, we will."

"Words equivalent or adding up to 'fuck you'." Shinji replied flatly.

The two with him laughed, and their mirth were two silvery tones layering upon each  
other. "Anyone on this earth is there, that can be threatened with worship?" the old  
man asked. "Not many, I think; and not one who deserves it more."

"Not a god." Shinji said warningly. "Nor a bodhisattva. Nor avatar of any god. I kind of  
proved that already."

"Conqueror, you are, no doubt there is. Javaal, it surrenders to you, and name you -"

He groaned. "If you call me anything somehow synonymous to 'khan', I will throw an  
apple at you." He had so little of a private life as it was, he did not need to become any  
more of a 'celebrated' figure.

"What, the word that begins with 'Em'...?

"Ah!" Shinji closed his eyes, frowneda, and held up a hand. It was a pose similar to the  
buddha above, but disapproving most emphatically. He tried to ignore the laughter that  
followed.

"Get you elected Pope, I think I may." the chief abbot continued, teasingly.

"Buddhist, remember?" The boy pointed up. "Not to mention separation of church and  
state." Too bad his eyes were still closed, for the secretive smile that crossed Hasya's  
lips would have chilled him to the bone. After a while, he blinked and relaxed. "What are  
you going to do now?" he asked.

"Prove my powers not diminished, I must. No longer having to hold back negative tribute,  
immidiate abilities of mine increased, I think. Cannot pull on that source for power, but  
temptation to even try, gone too." The chief abbot took a deep breath, and felt the  
pure core of his essence. "Feel like a young man of eighty, I do. Need that, I think I  
will. Much work to be done."

"The peace of this valley is destroyed permanently, sattava. The people will no longer  
dump their negative emotions into a separate place inside their souls. They will not deny  
the entirety of what they are; all the good and bad... it's going to be difficult." Hasya  
smiled in anticipation. "It will be a good learning experience for all of us, I think."

"I'm happy for you." Shinji replied, smiling. "Do you need anything more?"

She shrugged. "No, I have my purpose, and no more chains bind me. I choose who I  
want to follow, but I think I will serve your purpose better to remain here."

"Javaal, no longer will hide. Face the light, they must." The old monk grinned. "Or kick  
their asses I will."

Shinji nodded. He turned aside and looked up at the statue. The serene face was the  
same as always. He was no preacher, nor a king; he felt himself at peace, for he was  
ready to return to his life as a murderer.

"Figured out your problem now, have you?"

"Yes. Principio Eternus... its machine spirit and mine, _merged _a little for some reason.  
It's difficult to synchronize because there's nothing there to synchronize _to_. It did mean  
I could use Unit 01's brain as a buffer, and since it's really huge brain it amplified  
whatever little latent psychic potential I had. Instead of manipulating forces with my  
mind, as you do, the Evangelion was doing it for me."

"As all humans have some psychic ability, no matter how little or invisible." Hasya added.

"It's strange. I thought psychic ability and the AT-field are mutually exclusive. What I've  
been doing with probability alterations is like setting up my own region of absolute  
territory, but without an AT-field. How is that possible?"

"Merge Human and Angel, and find you what for so long has been missing."

Shinji pointed to Hasya. "And why the hell does SHE have a connection to me? Not that  
it hasn't been very helpful, but how is it that she can siphon and transform that energy?"

The old man chunkled and poked at the boy's chest with a stick. "Already first lock is open  
to Utnapishtim's garden. Key someday you will make whole again. Remember why color of  
willpower is green. Forget not who the hell you think you are."

_'If you're not going to speak plainly, I'm just going to ignore you, you know.'_ "I've learned all  
I can here." He opened his palm towards the incense brazier, and willed the fire there to  
intensify. After all the reality busting he was forced to push, it should be hella easy.

Nothing. He put his hand down, and grinned.

"It's gone. Now I can go home...! Ha-hah! I can go home!"

This seemed to sadden Hasya; for even as she could hold the golden power the one who  
gave it to her could not. It seemed unjust, to her, but it was what he wanted. The boy  
had his own priorities, and his own unfolding ways. His delight was unmistakable. He  
neither needed nor wanted the ability to fling antimatter around willy-nilly; that Midas  
trap. He wanted to create a better future, not destroy the present. He just felt so...  
incomplete without his Evangelion... like he needed to feel its approval.

"Know that we are ready to serve, if you ever need us."

"Oh, the time will come, soon enough. I will call for you when that happens, don't worry.  
The strength of humanity is in the community." Shinji bowed slightly. "In advance, let me  
thank you. It will be hard and bloody road that we have to travel together."

Hasya bowed, only a little lower, for what he wanted most was a friend; not a slave.

Shinji, who had been influenced by women nearly all his life had no idea what he had  
unleashed. He had no problem with taking orders from Misato, and recognized without  
any rancor Rei's physical and psychical superiority, nor Asuka's greater training. That his  
first 'converts' happened accidentally, and mistaking that as respect merely equal to  
the naturally high regard he showed them, seemed par for the course.

The chief abbot grinned lopsidedly. Oh, for all his intellect; the young, oh so young, the  
innocent blind fool... eh. He would get what he deserved. It would be funny. The old  
monk had lived so long, he would not stand in the way of the few amusements left in a  
tired, beaten world.

"Before you go, accept a symbol of our regard you must." He took the laquered box from  
behind him and presented it to the boy who had proved worthy of it. "Ancient, this we  
know, but not how old. Legend has it that carried by Alexander from deep Babylon, this  
is. Relic most precious to the masters who made Javaal, protecting it with their lives,  
they brought it up here to the roof of the world."

Shinji seemed reluctant, but Hasya motioned it would be severest insult to refuse the  
honor. He took the box and bowed in gratitude, pressing his forehead to the lid. "What is  
it, and what should I do with it?"

"Ask me not, what should I know? Never have I seen it, Unopened since the founding of  
Javaal, that box. If shake a little, it rattles, I know something still inside at least." Hasya  
seemed shocked at that blatant irreverence by the valley's most respectable denizen,  
even if she was already used to his foibles.

Shinji chuckled. That was the sort of attitude he preferred. If emotions as anger, greed,  
despair and lust could be channeled... then what about love, humor, peace and joy? It  
would seem to be the best defense; to live a good and happy life. He opened the box.

His good feelings evaporated. He cursed liberally.

"What's wrong, sattava?"

Shinji showed her the item inside. It was an stylized eye of beaten gold, rubies, threads  
of silver and stark ebony. A tear seemed to drip from the left, and below the lashes was  
a vertical column crossed off by two short bars. "Aw, crap." he groaned piteously. "I'm  
gonna have to go to Egypt, won't I?"

The Eldar Farseer shouted out her demand. _'You must!_' For inside that box was a  
perfectly preserved and genuinely archaic artifact, also instantly recognizable as the  
symbol of her kind...! The need to know cut like razors inside.

And Chaos laughed so, on and on, loud and uncontrollable.

o

o

o

End Timeskip Troubles part four

* * *

My apologies for this unnecessarily long chapter. Gah; at four parts it's the longest chapter in the story! I also regret that I'm leaving you with a cliffhanger and unanswered questions, but this diversion(originally planned as nothing more than a few 'filler' snippets) took up too much time already. These things have consequences that will be revealed later in flashbacks or oblique references. Now we really NEED to get back to the main plot.

Thank you for your patience and support thus far. :)

Onward!


	29. Chapter 28: The Creeping Rot part1

The Creeping Rot part one

-o-

-o-

Return, for a few moments, to the memory of Adam's revival. That glowing giant, with  
bright wings spreading miles high into the sky. A teenage girl watched that, and was  
struck mute, her voice and her mind fading into the unceasing sounds of the sea.

The waves rushed and receded, timeless, and fifteen years later the sound was the  
same. It was restful, and utterly uncaring of all mankind's frantic concerns. Shinji Ikari  
lay upon the beach, his head pointed towards the sea. His eyes were closed, and in  
the deep of night it felt as if tomorrow did not need to come.

There was a cottage nearby and in it someone was likewise eating up the time, in his  
case watching TV. He was a very large bruiser of a man, whose every facet denoted  
'hired thug' or 'dumb guard'. He sat on an wooden crate, and the television was a small  
14-inch portable.

The buzz on the international news networks was about how Russia once more  
opened its interior, offering no explanations as to why they had suddenly shut down all  
contact a month ago and poured several armies into the Eastern Territory. China also  
closed its borders and responded; it seemed for some time there that war was about to  
break out.

As sudden as it started, it was over, leaving most political analysts puzzled and making  
wild guesses.

He snorted and changed the channel. A movie trailer began to play.

-o-

-o-

There is a voice; soft, young, feminine, and dire. It wafts through, as if buoyed by  
the breeze. "Can you be happy like this?" she asks.

There is a young man, who seems not to hear. He stabs a pitchfork into a heap of hay  
and begins to shift it into a larger pile. He looks up at the sun-lit sky and wipes sweat  
off his forehead. A hawk circles overhead. He turns back to his task.

He is not tall or well-muscled, his skin only starting to bronze from open-air work. His  
lanky frame hides a certain mulish persistence, and a frantic denial of anything more  
complicated than farming.

"Some space to farm, some seeds to plant... is this all you really want out of your life?"

His hair is long, bound by a single blue bandana. His eyes show intelligence and intense  
concentration ill-suited to the mundane repetition of his labors.

"Is this contentment?"

Sweat glistens off his exposed arms. Behind him, the fields are empty. The grain has  
been harvested, the fruits taken from the trees.

"Or is this cowardice?"

The hawk screeches. He ignores it.

"You ask for little... but the land demands more of you."

The ground shakes, and he has to jab the pitchfork into the ground to steady himself.  
A scratching sound fills the air, and cracks spread through the field; clumps of earth  
breaking loose and rising. He was being lifted up high; hay, sod, rocks, and all.

His eyes widen, in fear.

"You will hide from me no longer. You will shine, or you will die."

He turns around, very reluctantly. There, looming over him, iss a monstrous face, with  
glowing yellow eyes and a single horn rising from its armored forehead. It opens its  
maw to show great gnashing teeth. Its indrawn breath draws a gust of wind, that  
tugs at the loose flaps of his clothing.

The young man screams.

It roars.

Darkness.

The sound of wardrums, rising in volume.

-o-THIS SUMMER-o-

The shadow passes, and the clanking of war-wheels follows it. Wagons; painted in  
bright and chaotic patterns, festooned with spikes, roll on by. Upon them stand green  
hulking creatures, whose mirth show great sharp teeth. There is the sound of many  
feet marching in step, and as the view widens, what seemed to be a field of grass is  
revealed to be the pulsating mass of a truly massive green-skinned army.

A shout, gutteral and millions-strong:

"WAAAAAAAGGGHH!"

A sudden clang, and darkness again. The deep voice returns, along with white block  
letters receding...

-o-A WORLD-CHANGING EVENT-o-

It is a throne room, and admidst the courtiers and advisors is a very reluctant King. He  
has a grizzled chin, and his crown fits poorly. He looks sleepy, and is prodded back to  
wakefulness by an annoyed Captain of the Imperial Guards. He grins weakly at her, and  
she merely turns away with a sniff.

"Sire, please... we must take action." speaks the Minister, himself still rather young.  
Those who have seen the first movie would recognize him as the Bronze Cleric, but it  
turns out he was happier at being a paper-pusher than as a preacher. "The Orks are  
massing in numbers unheard of, since three years ago..."

There is the jingling of little bells at the end of a staff. "Burning, looting, stripping the  
land." mumbles the Magician, the long-haired Iron Cleric of before. He was having  
very little luck in managing court magician functions, sufficing ceremony and plenty of  
hand-waving for any actual results at seeing the future. "Our army is few, our magic is  
exhausted. But that is not the worst of it."

Fortunately he had retained his amazing Common Sense powers.

"Gargant walks, Gargant drives them forward. The Orks are in a frenzy for a reason..."

The King looks up, his expression hollow. "The same reason as three years ago?"

The Magician grins faintly, and lets his staff jingle again. "The time comes again, when  
Gods walk among Mere Mortals. Who can say, who lives past that day?"

The scene fades away.

-o-

BOOM.

The explosion breaks apart a plaster wall, and splatters Ork insides all on the outsides  
of an old mansion. A girls voice, irate, rushes through the din of battle. "There are  
greenskins here too? Unacceptable! Kill them all!"

A line of musketmen fired a volley, then charged with bayonets. Their uniforms were  
in red decorated with yellow ropes, evoking golden filigree. "You heard the princess!"  
shouted the sargeant of that squad. "Cleanse these filth!"

"WAAAGH!"

Bomblets fell from the sky, sending everyone scrambling for cover. The view changes  
to the inside control center of a large war zepellin. While the front is functional enough,  
the back is made to look like some ornate salon.

"More bombs! More bombs!" says a girl, with flowing red hair, her back to the camera.  
She has on a well-fitting suit of plate armor.

Her Air General approaches from the side. "Forgiveness, princess, but... our men are still  
in skirmish with the greenskins. We would be cutting off their line of retreat." Or kill them  
indiscriminately, he did not add, for that sounded too much like criticism.

"Am I not the Sun Maiden? Do I not possess the might of the Red Tower? Are they not  
supposed to fight in my honor?" She sniffs contemptuously and tosses her hair back.  
"They'll just have to fight harder and break the enemy's line faster, that's all."

"... it will be done as you say, princess."

The explosions intensify.

-o-WILL BREAK OLD MYTHS-o-

Trumpets blare out and drums slam; and the pale light of sunset reveals a scene as if  
out of hell. Dismembered bodies are strewn all over, and blood paint ruined walls. One  
broken facade has a strange, eight-pointed symbol.

A fist slams into its center and breaks apart the brick wall. The view zooms out to  
reveal The Scary Lady lady and a few orks of her entourage. She bends down to pick  
up what seems to be a massive machine-cannon. It is larger than her, but she holds it  
effortlessly. She frowns, and tosses it aside. One of her ork guards takes the gun.

There is a scratching sound, and fingers poke out from hastily-dug graves. She turns  
around, her face grim. The orks surrounded her protectively, weilding their large axes.  
A ghastly moan fills the wind, and the battle begins...

-o-SHATTER NEW CERTAINTIES-o-

A girl puts on a skull-marked cap and steps into an upright casket. The lid slams shut  
and recedes into a shaft lined with rusty, hissing pipes.

Wham!

And a strange mechanical warrior throws itself into battle. Against a horde of giant  
monsters with gleamng black skin, serrated claws, and vile oozing spit. It spins its torso  
round and round, extending its arms like flails, and scattering everything around it.

A female voice proclaims... "Be PURGED in CLEANSING FLAME...!"

Fire shoots out of vents all over its body.

-o- UNLEASH THE HERO WITHIN ALL OF US -o-

The Court Magician yells out, jumping into the fray, a chain-sword singing in his right  
hand. He is followed by prisoners and even the very guards the used to detain them.  
The cramped corridors of a zeppelin is already marked by the devastation left in his  
wake.

Elsewhere, the soldiers of the Third City once again fight on against impossible odds.

-o- AND DESTROY THE POWER OF FEAR -o-

The roar of -Principio Eternus- is unmistakable, and it rears up to show what it held in  
its monstrous hand. The young man stands unflinching, the wind snatching at his long  
hair, tied back by a white bandanna. He crosses his arms together and smirks slightly.

Clang!

Letters, as if made of iron red-hot from the forge, are stamped onto the screen.

-o- EFB2 -o-

Evangelion Fantasy  
Battle!

The Call of Chaos

coming august 2016

-o-

-o-

-o-

Shinji heard the sound of metal-shorn boots upon sand. He tilted his head back to see  
large silhouetted figures approach. They gathered around him, and stark against the  
moon he could see nothing of their faces.

"It's time." a coarse voice said. "They're on the move. You can't put this off anymore."

The boy sighed. "I suppose it was useless to pretend I could hide from it forever." He  
began to get back to his feet.

He looked across the beach, towards the pier, where cargo was still being loaded onto  
a moored ship. Even through the distance, its shape was unmistakable. Nine large  
cannons proclaimed it was a warship.

"Youre going to need this." the voice added. An object dropped onto the beach in  
front of him. It gave off a faint sheen.

Shinji picked it up. For a time he looked at it, pensive, examining the way light glinted  
off its polished surface. Then, with slow deliberation, put it on. The golden laurels fit  
securely on his head. The tall figure blocking the light stepped aside, and the moon  
showed a face with eyes hollow with worry.

He sighed. "... useless after all."

-o-

-o-

July 6, 2016. NERV was at full alert. It was the real thing; another Angel had arrived.

"Do we have authorization to engage yet?" Misato asked aloud.

"... yes, we do. The Far East Alliance have decided to hold off on their initial nuclear  
attack." Shigeru answered. Then perhaps more helpfully, "The Trident Land Dreadnought  
is standing by in case of surface attack."

Misato sniffed. "I suppose they want to save that for where they'd be useful. Each  
other." She sat at her command station, and slapped her hands down on the armrests.  
"All right! Time to get useful, everybody!"

Belatedly it had occured to NERV; why was it that the central tower of the command  
center only had enough seats for the 'bridge' bunnies' and the actual commander? The  
subcommander, the operations director, and the chief scientist when she had some  
exposition to offer... all had to stand around whenever there was an attack. Even UN  
and JSSDF guests got their own places. The very first thing Misato ordered as the  
empowered Operations Director was to get the technicians to haul up some seats.  
It only took around fifteen minutes to weld in new chairs and tables.

It did not help the habit of people calling the magi central tower a 'bridge'. It would  
have been worse if she was still a captain.

Misato swiveled around to face her science offi... Ritsuko. "Is this the same Angel  
that attacked last week?"

The main screen showed the Angel codenamed Iruel. It looked like an upright white  
cylinder, bulging out at the bottom, where there was a single large eye. Spikes ran  
along the rim, slightly longer at the bottom edge. Ritsuko pulled up an image of the  
earlier high-speed attack form, which was an onion-like shape, with the same long  
pointed protrusions. "Most likely. Seeing how it adapted this time to deal with our  
defenses should be... fascinating."

"More like annoying. Status check on the Evas?"

"Titan modules read OK. Switching to umbilical cable power..." Maya's console showed  
4:00.00 operations window. That was at minimal activity; estimated charge time with  
heavy AT-field application was at thirty minutes. Plenty of time, all considering.

Misato clapped her hands. "Evangelions, launch!"

The electromagnetic rails shrieked, and then far above, two gargantuan shapes burst  
out of an open pit. Tokyo-3 was completely dark, lights out ti conserve power and  
not to give the Angel something to aim at. The pale moonlight showed the Evangelions  
only as jagged silhouettes.

The Type T equipment used on Unit Two encased the entire neck and upper torso and

put heavy pods over the shoulders. The Titan modules were further refined from the  
bulky prototype, so as not to hinder the Eva's mobility. Leaving the shoulders free also  
meant that the Evas may rest in their cages ready with the modules, saving precious  
time and effort.

Asuka's high-mobility frame had the battery pack around the neck, and closing over  
the head; looking like a pharaoh's headdress. This was for easy replacement of power  
packs. Rei's beam sniper frame had a much larger, but fixed, reserve. This gave Unit 00  
a slightly hunched-over look, with arms grossly oversized by the heatsinks wrapped  
around them.

These were the optimized systems as learned from the prototypes since first displayed  
against the terror attack on Tokyo-3. Rapid deployment had become the watchword of  
NERV. These were Titan modules "Das Ritter" and "Cannon Boss".

"Where is it?" Asuka asked. Which among all the lights in the sky, was the enemy?

"It's holding geostationary orbit twenty-eight kilometers above. Prepare to receive  
targeting data." Misato swiveled her chair back to the screen. "You know the drill. Take  
position at firing point Gamma. Rei, fire on my mark. Asuka, guide the beam."

"Okay." "Roger."

The Evangelion walked over to a spot behind a nearby hill. There was a power station  
nearby, and Unit Zero connected the umbilical plug into its back socket. Unit Two did  
the same, but the socket was on its front T-type armor plate.

"Now!"

The Moon-Biter Dual Positron Cannon shot out twin beams, which passed between the  
outstretched arms of Unit Two. Its AT-field wrapped around the beams, even going so  
far as to spin the shots into a helix. The attack slammed into Iruel's AT-field... and  
there was a blinding flash.

"Shield up!" Misato shouted. Quickly, a slab of ceramic-infused armor plate rose from  
the hilltop. The returning beam carved through the plate, but the fraction of a second  
in delay was more than enough time for both Evas to raise their AT-fields to maximum.  
The distinctive hexagonal shape lit up the night. The air crackled with exotic particles.  
So great was the energy released that the hillside began to fuse into glass, and the  
main screen showed only static.

A few moments passed by, and the sensors went back online. "Asuka? Rei? Are you all  
right?"

"I'm fine. Should we try again?" "I am uninjured."

"No damage to the Evas. Primary power station reserves down 15. Three hours and  
thirty-nine total operations time remaining." Maya reported. She sent the data over to  
the MAGI. "AT-field efficiency calculations is at twenty-two minutes."

"Damn. These things ARE getting smart. Bring up the Hellbore... even if we can't guide  
it with the AT-field, maybe we can get lucky."

"Which can evolve faster? Our technology or their biology?" Ritsuko put in with a grim  
smile. "We don't have the same output as a bomb-pump laser, but the flow is constant.  
Reflecting the beam back... attack and defense in one... I must say I'm impressed. I  
wonder if we can bounce the beams back and forth?"

"This isn't ping-pong, you know."

"The Angel is retreating...!" Makoto shouted out. "Our radar is starting to degrade."  
Iruel's skin was even starting to darken. It slid back into the remote expanse of outer  
space. Reactionless motion was another thing that had the scientists in stiches.

Misato snarled and slapped her hands down hard at her chair's armrests. "Maybe too  
smart. They've probed our defenses enough for tonight."

"They?" Asuka said through the link. "Why aren't the Angels attacking with more than  
one? Stupid cowards! Come down so I can kill you!" The red Eva shook its fist at the  
sky. "HA! I taunt in your general direction!"

NERV's Operations Director tugged at her own hair slightly. One of the necessities of  
command was always keeping one's composure. So be it, then. "It's not going to be  
back for a while, if it's the same sort of..." and it pained her to say "intelligence-  
gathering attack like those other times. You girls can come back down now." She  
sighed. "I hereby release NERV from level one combat conditions to standard alert  
status."

She got up from her chair and went over the command tower's edge. She looked at  
her watch, and now that she was no longer supreme authority, yawned impressively.  
"What? It's already 2:30 in the morning? I don't think the Angel will attack again. I'm  
bringing the kids home, if it's all right with you, sir?"

Kozo Fuyutsuki was emerging from a small one-man elevator. He nodded and went  
over to the commander's chair. Very reluctantly, he sat on it. "I hereby recieve NERV  
in standard alert. Thank you, Major Katsuragi. You may go."

Misato nodded and went away. She rubbed at her eyes. She had always distrusted  
authority figures, and now she was one... she couldn't even pretend she could put it  
down, like the difference between on-duty and off-duty as a soldier. Oh, god. It was  
politics.

Yees, damn that Gendo. Damn him for getting her promoted. What a cunning and evil  
plan to increase her salary and maker her a truly responsible adult. What a bastard.

It wasn't worth driving her precious, innocent boy away.

-o-

-o-

Time skipped on by.

It had been three months since Shinji Ikari quit NERV and disappeared without a trace.  
There was the largest unofficial manhunt (well, boyhunt) ever attempted, with no  
results. This may have had more to do with the intelligence agencies all competing  
agressively for any trace of his whereabouts, than any special action on his part.

Things had settled into a new equilibrium. Asuka walked towards school, yawning. With  
Shinji gone, she had to prepare her own meals. Misato was capable of cooking edibly,  
but was often just too cheap or too lazy to bother. Her best friend, Hikari, decided to  
just add one more lunchbox to her daily preparations; so the pilot had no worry there.  
It was only at breakfast and dinner... Asuka was getting sick of takeout meals.

The biggest change in her life was that Rei now lived in the Katsuragi apartment. With  
Shinji's resignation from NERV, the UN decided to get a better look at how the other  
pilots were being treated. Rei was picked up from her building and dumped at Misato's  
door well before the overwatch commitee had even cleared the airport.

Asuka was getting sick of tofu, too. The chores were assigned on a rotating basis, as  
playing rock-paper-scissors with Rei gave up only horde of ties.

Fears that instead of being abused, the pilots would only end up spoiled rotten by all  
that publicity only proved false. Tokyo 3 and its citizens respected them but respected  
their personal space. Even at class, they were treated with casual deference.

That day, however, Asuka's reluctance to even move at all was not because it was  
her turn at early morning chores but more on a lack of sleep.

"Is it true...?" she blearily asked Rei. "Are they getting smarter?"

"Doctor Akagi is convinced the Angels practice active evolution."

"Well, are they?"

Rei did not shrug. "As pilot Ikari said, I am human with 'some special features'. I am not  
qualified to judge."

"Well, I agree with Ritsuko. Evolution tends to go from stupid but durable, or smart and  
breakable. I don't care why the Angels are attacking us, but it looks like we're going to  
have to prove our right to exist. The thing is... they are ACTING smarter, but still not  
smart enough." She stomped her feet. "It's just too simple! Why not attack with more  
than one?"

What with Asuka hanging around the laboratory so much, she might as well have been  
the new apprentice. Maya was a 'journeywoman', what with her going off to NNHIS  
base on occasion to fine-tune the simulation data and alternately learning or teaching  
new programming techniques. When the scientist realized that, she grabbed her old  
friend and got roaring drunk. 'It all goes round and round...' she had gibbered out.  
'What's that word? Revolution! Everything keeps repeating. Even the changes are the  
same...'

"I cannot be sure. But I would guess... that the Angels, for some reason, do not really  
get along?"

Asuka smirked. "Good answer." She took a deep breath. "We're like ants. Tiny, squishy.  
We can strip an elephant down to the bone." She abruptly lost her smile. "Refusing a  
direct confrontation... at least it's alive... but it's not accomplishing much."

"It does return stronger after each time."

"Ah... but here's what we've been discussing back at the lab. How do we KNOW it's  
really the same one?"

Rei paused her walking. Only the very faintest trace of puzzlement showed on her face,  
but Asuka had grown adept enough at recognizing that. As much as people found her  
eerie, so did the normal mindset confuse Ayanami. Anything that falls under 'trickery'  
simply did not occur to her. It would take a bit more to develop a Morkian mind. "I see  
your point, pilot Sohryu... and it frightens me."

Asuka sniffed and took a casual stance, her hands behind her head. "Aa. Just because  
it looks the same doesn't mean it is the same." She turned around twice, keeping a  
carefully blank look on her face. "It's the sort of thing we're trying to find proof one  
way or another. There's more than one kind of Angel, we know that at least. Can they  
reproduce?"

"I... do not know." The reproductive rate was often inversely proportional to the  
lifespan of a creature. What then, when a being's lifespan was just something short  
of infinite?

"Reproduction is like mass production of a species, anyway. We've been attacked how  
many times in just three months?"

"Sixteen."

"The three months before that?"

"Two." Sahaquiel's attack was worth all the others before.

"So where DO the Angels go, when they're not making our life uncomfortable?"

Rei shuddered. It was like something in her was whispering 'I could tell you. Ask me.  
My price is trifling, really. All that knowledge, all that power... do not resist...'

She shook her head. "I cannot help there."

'Bitch! I -will- be free! You are -mine-, and no amount of foolish hope can change that!"

They resumed walking. Asuka yawned again. "Damn it. While we're being worked to the  
bone here, without getting anything done... he's probably having the time of his life  
somewhere."

"... I highly doubt that, Sohryu."

The two girls briefly had the image of Shinji Ikari in a party. He was the sort of boy  
who would rather be off to one side reading a book, than the center of conversation.  
It could be a Turkish affair, with belly dancers and everything, and he'd try to read  
about the defeat of Darius at the hands of Alexander. That he would willingly seek out  
excitement in his life... naah.

"What a boring sort of boy." Asuka said after a while. "Knowing that doesn't make me  
feel any better at all!"

"That sort of boy tends to turn into a Patrician someday."

"Again, with the not giving of the good feelings."

Rei tilted her head to the side. "An interesting way to arrange words, pilot Sohryu. You  
intrigue me."

"... getting worse." At that point, Asuka no longer quite disliked Rei; as an unfeeling  
doll, perfectly passive and preferred by all. That was because, in her own way, she was  
being aggressive... which only creeped out Asuka immensely. Someone with such a  
bland lifestyle should not have episodes of unpredictability. She made an exaggerated  
gasp of surprise. "Look! School! Where we wouldn't have to force ourselves into  
awkward conversation!" She rushed in.

Rei pouted very slightly, and followed.

-o-

-o-

"But... not that I'm saying anything against how NERV is doing..." at that Kensuke gave  
a slightly frightened but mostly apologetic look at the pilots "... but isn't it not enough  
to just drive it off? I thought Angels are supposed to be killed." He made a helpless bow  
towards the pilots again. "No offense meant, please..."

"Are you saying we're incapable of killing Angels? That we can't manage without that  
baka Shinji to hold our hand?" Asuka asked archly.

"No, no, please.. that's not what I..."

"Well, you may be right." Asuka sniffed. "The problem is that the Angels, attacking from  
orbital height, has a damn good AT-field. We can't do what we did to kill the last one,  
because a bomb-pump laser needs two Evas to feed and bottle the energy, and one  
more for control."

"The positron beam attack only requires two; one for attack, another for guidance and  
defense from counterattack." Rei added. "Three is indeed the optimal number for such  
extreme Evangelion measures."

"Excuses." Kensuke snorted.

"What, you got something better, pencilneck? We've been trying to kill that thing,  
every time, for sixteen tries now. It just runs away before we can really focus our full  
force at it!"

"The answer seems obvious. One shot. 100 percent deadly, 100 percent accurate.  
Hence, the big-ass cannon being built on the lake."

"Ah, yes... the one, that when complete... will take at least three days to charge up?"  
It was Asuka's turn to snort derisively. "It's not available, so it doesn't count."

"Ah, ah... I said the answer SEEMS obvious, Sohryu." Kensuke grinned and wagged a  
finger. "The less obvious answer... doesn't rely on external tricks. Willpower, creative  
thinking, and a whole lot of guts, maybe."

"What is it?"

"Make the Eva fly."

Asuka laughed. "You know how much those things weigh? What, you think if we try to  
jump high enough, our feet might forget about gravity?"

"Did I say anything about the Eva propelling itself? Someone else can. Preferably, one  
other Eva can throw said Eva into place..."

Asuka blinked. "You're crazy. That's so idiotic..."

"That it just might work. Have you been in contact with pilot Ikari?"

"Ahh, no. I blame the Intrawebs for this little piece of insanity."

The conversation hushed up as the teacher arrived.

He looked barely awake as he trudged into class. Then again, the same could be said  
of Yang Wen-li at all times. "All right, class. Settle down. Sorry I'm late, but we've got  
to start classes now..."

"Stand! Bow!" The class did so.

"Um... yes. Thank you, Miss Horaki." He had always learned in his own sedate pace,  
and the formal practice of teaching still bothered him. He forgot to prepare his lessons  
in advance, arrived late, left early, was distressingly casual about rules... in short, he  
was hardly the model teacher. Hell, he would fire himself if he could. "Now, I know that  
there was some... excitement... again, last night, but that's not important right now.  
Did anyone actually even bother to do their homework this time?"

Hikari raised her hand. Reluctantly, Toji did so too, since she had been there to make  
sure he did something halfway sensible. Mana considered it something of an order from  
a superior officer. The Evangelion pilots managed to do something before being called  
to alert.

Apparently, no one else did. Certainly not Kensuke, who had a 'well, I wasn't home so  
technically I shouldn't have to do homework... right?' expression.

Yang sighed. "Fine, fine... I'll just quiz you later." The questionnaire which he had  
conveniently foisted off on someone else. That abraded the boredom a bit, not even  
knowing what the hell the students were answering. He could take the test at the  
same time. Even more exciting, sometimes the questions themselves would be wrong.

One of the boys raised his hand. "Yes, Yamada?" Yang allowed.

"Sensei, how can you say it's not important? I mean... an Angel attacked! The Angels  
caused Second Impact! All this time we were lied to... we could have all died!"

The boy was new to Tokyo-3, and everyone there gave him a sympathetic look for his  
confused dismay.

"Hm... that is true. However, much of your education before this was to teach you  
about the world before Impact, to give you a reference point for how it feels to have  
all that ripped away." Yang leaned back on his chair, as if the memories weighed him  
down. "Yes, now the truth can be told. There was an Angel, at Antarctica, and there  
was a big explosion... but it's been fifteen years, lad... and our population is still at a  
decline. More people died in the panic and the general lawlessness the few hours after  
the event than in the event itself."

The boy felt acutely embarrassed, and sat down. It wasn't that anyone had laughed  
at him; that might have been better. Much more than the certain bleak acceptance  
the class had; that man's worst enemy has been and will always be man.

Yang yawned again. "Uh... the lesson? Where were we?"

"The repercussions to the Valentine's Day Treaty, sensei." Hikari responded. "And the  
attack on Tokyo after it was signed."

"Oh, that. Well... do I have to?" he groaned out.

"Yes, you do!" Hikari scolded.

"Yeah. Well... I might have had something to do with that." It did not take long for the  
class to get over the fact that, yes, he's THAT guy in the archives. Without Hikari to  
remind him, he would not have any lessons at all. Yang was the sort of person who  
needed a woman's push into whatever brilliance he had to do. It was embarrassing to  
even watch, actually.

"That was the warlord Tsung. He sent off one of the bombs at a permanent lock-on to  
Tokyo. I was too slow..." He sighed. "He wanted to destroy whatever he could, just  
to be remembered if not as a hero then as a monster. Damn fool even idolized Hitler  
and Stalin..." His voice took on an edge. "The only reason he wasn't able to send off  
more was that we hit him with three of our own bombs. It was a stupid, pointless  
death... his soldiers were ready to desert. But there wasn't enough time..."

He stood up and walked over to the window. "Tokyo was mostly empty by that time.  
Sustainable agriculture is the key to a nation's survival... not petty things like prestige.  
Even suburbs wouldn't be useful there... so everyone decided to move further inland."  
He put his hand on the windowsill. "There was nothing there, hardly the capitalistic  
landscape he so wanted to mire in infamy... but there were other bombs, other places,  
where people lived. So I burned him. It was all so stupid. It should never have gone  
that far..."

_'I had the largest army in the world! I controlled practically every strategic site. Why  
wouldn't he just give up?' _he wanted to shout. _'We were like brothers, once. Why  
couldn't he just believe I'd show mercy?'_

The school board dared not fire him. Admiral Yang liked proper education over formal  
education; and he had kicked ass all over China to make sure that the books told of  
what really happened, damn the propaganda! All the inconvenient truths, all the glories  
and all the mistakes; let them feel pride and shame and most of all... hope.

Yang was a historian. Those who do not learn from history were doomed to repeat it.  
He loved history, and wanted to spread that around.

It would have been nice to have Shinji Ikari in his class. The boy had that look, of a  
fellow history nut. However, in their first and only meeting, Yang Wen-li learned that  
the boy would perhaps learn it all the same way he did.

Reality was still ever-so-much stranger than fiction; they both knew that. Not that  
they had anything against fiction, which was quite enjoyable too, mind you; that was  
their next thought. Both did not tempt the existence of narrative causality; authored  
by Finagle, edited by Murphy.

-o-

-o-

_"Absolute governments, (tho' the disgrace of human nature) have this advantage with  
them, they are simple; if the people suffer, they know the head from which their  
suffering springs; know likewise the remedy; and are not bewildered by a variety of  
causes and cures."_

To this saying by Thomas Paine did Gendo Ikari owe his freedom. Strangely enough,  
Gendo was naturally apolitical. He had no specific policy or ideology to advance,  
other than his simple self-interest. The comparison to a snake was apt; he could shuck  
off any factional garb that no longer served his purpose.

The only exceptions were NERV (which bore the stamp of his personality, which was  
determined to its independence, despite what SEELE would like to think) and recovery  
of Yui (inasmuch as the only goal he could be said to have).

Gendo Ikari was at least thorough in covering up evidence. He had been doing that for  
so long it was second nature... which was why the boy's actions really threw him. He  
had no way of denying it or covering it up. If he got rid of the boy or Katsuragi, then  
he wouldd have to think of reasons why they were missing... then manage Ryouji... then  
whoever comes after him. Damn that boy! There was a brutal simplicity to it, that  
ensured he would have to do most of the work in ruining himself.

Even calling in favors or obliquely referring to whatever he held over the politicians  
who put him into power in the first place could only reduce his position.

What irritated him the most was that after that masterstroke, that culmination of  
months of shaping the public, the boy had simply... left. The old king sat uneasy in his  
throne, knowing that the young king could have taken it so easily. It could not have  
been out of respect or mercy. It was a mystery.

At this point however, the most immediate annoyance was that his needlessly large  
office was no longer quite so remote and foreboding. Three more tables were pushed in,  
and the kabbalistic Tree Of Life on the ceiling was openly derided as ridiculous. His  
own private sanctum was invaded by those he had thought of only as ignorant pawns.

He was under no illusions that it was anything other than the most deliberate insult.

Gendo Ikari remained in command of NERV, despite the clamor for him to at least step  
down. He was privy to too many dark secrets for him to let go that easily. However,  
the UN severely undercut his authority. NERV, strangely enough, functioned as a quasi-  
corporation. The Supreme Commander had to be accountable to the board, which was  
supposed to be the UN Security Council.

His authority was not so much reduced as that others were boosted considerably.

There tables were arranged in a pentagon, with the open side devoted to a projection  
screen. It showed a grainy video sent over the military net.

-o-

The grammatically uncertain and strategically dubious Earth's Cradle was somewhere in  
the mountains of Kenya. Its construction was carried out with a surprising level of  
secrecy... the kind helped by layered military cordons and road trains escorted by  
tanks. All it showed to the world was a large dome, thick, matte black in color, made  
of a strong amalgam of materials. A belt system was the only way in or out of the  
Earth's Cradle, and once the elevator is receded, it should be practically impregnable.

The outer shell alone was capable of withstanding a direct hit from a nuclear bomb.  
The single service entrance could also be shut or collapsed to deny entry to Angel-  
sized enemies, an option of limited utility in NERV's geofront. Beyond that was a large  
inner space designed mainly as a killzone for anyone that manages to get through.

It had its own factories, its own hydroponic farms, its own power plants. Shut off from  
the outside world, it could function at full capacity for at least five years. At minimal  
functions, with most of its populace under cryogenic suspension... around five hundred.  
Top scientists and supposedly 'vital' people were to be frozen into dreamless sleep, to  
be revived at a later date to rebuild the broken world.

An ambitious project, humanity's last card to play against extinction.

If they had another fifteen years... even ten, since construction techniques had  
improved from lessons learned with Tokyo-3... it might have lived up to its promises.  
Construction began only five years prior. As it was, only the cryogenic capsules, the  
primary defenses, and the outer shell were in place. They did not have Evangelions,  
but perhaps the next best thing.

The screen showed a jerky, static-smeared image of a clear blue sky. There was a  
strange, dark, bulbous shape at the distance. The view clicked into zoom modes, but  
it only gave up an even grainier image.

"The air's thick with EMP charge even from that far away? Is it trying to jam our radar?"  
a voice thick with a garbled accent was heard.

"Akagi had said something about jamming merely being a side-effect. Maybe this is its  
main method of perception."

"D'ye believe that, doctor?"

"A hypothesis, no matter how pretty, is not proof." The other voice had a clipped,  
arrogant edge. Ritsuko's eyes widened at recognizing that voice. "There can be no  
monopoly on genius... and to insist the Evangelion as the only defender on this Earth  
is the height of hubris! We need to show that we have as much right, and as much  
ability, to fight for our desired future!"

"Veery admirable sentiment, but can we actually do that?"

"We won't know until we try, of course." Amidst the beeping, shouted reports, and  
various sounds of an active command center, his voice rose out; oddly shrill. "Prepare  
all three Warborn units for launch!"

"I find tha' inadvisable."

"I am in charge HERE, General Stockman. I know what these machines are capable of.  
I -know-, most of all, that we NEED to use them. Show their power to the world. This  
is a UN operation, and if you deny my civilian authority, then you might as well be just  
another petty warlord!"

"That's not- fine." Those words were hissed out. "Let's see wha' they can do."

"Launch!"

"Martin Arthur Bettelheim, Jagd-Wulf, launching!"

"S-sarah Campbell, Phoenix-Spasm, launching!"

"Kaworu Nagisa, Barrel-Lios, launching!"

The camera showed a huge shape passing by. If the Eva was an artificial human, then  
it was an artificial animal... though clearly based upon the Evangelion. It walked on  
birdlike hind legs, and its forelimbs were comparatively small (but recognizably man-like)  
arms ending in claws and pincers. Its head was vaugely draconic. Its feet ended in  
talons.

Above it hovered something much like it, held aloft by triple copter blades. Nearby was  
another mechanical beast, seemingly built around one massive gun.

"Take the shot, Nagisa. We'll get into range."

"As you wish, Bettelheim-kun. Firing."

The screen broke out into static. "Whoo, now there's a gun!" a youthful male voice  
said with savage glee. "Eat megatons per second, bitch. And you, other bitch, cover  
me while I see if I have to finish it off."

"Y-yes, sir." a soft girl's voice replied.

And in the distance, the crumpled white shell of the Angel Iruel.

-o-

"NO WAY IN HELL!" Misato shouted.

"Those are Tridents!" Ritsuko gasped, in similar disbelief. She turned to Misato and  
explained "The original Trident designs, T-RAIDEN-T, based on Evangelion technology.  
The Trident Land Dreadnought is the complete antithesis to the Trident Land Cruiser...  
limited in range, limited in sophistication... this is everything we rejected from the  
original design."

"How could they have shot down an Angel?" Misato responded hotly.

"Summarized, the report goes thus: The Angel appeared. We blasted it. It fell down."  
Gendo replied with cool disdain.

Misato Katsuragi was assigned the post of NERV Director of Operations. She no longer  
had to wait for word from up high before releasing the Evangelions. As far as Tokyo-3  
was concerned, she was it. From pilot training to combat operations, only her judgement  
mattered. From the earliest possible sign of an Angel attack, she was there at the  
command center; staying up so that they would not have to wake up the pilots until  
there was no other choice.

She knew well enough that it might be worth trading the Children's lives for the world,  
but that was not a situation that NERV should not accept so easily.

"After everything we tried... we couldn't use the bomb-pump homing laser since that  
needs three layered AT-fields... but the positron beams chased that thing all over the  
sky just last week! Last night we gave it the power we saved up from two full days of  
charging! HOW did they even hit the Angel, much less go through the AT-field?"

"As far as we know, the Angel did not even have time to raise its AT-field." the sub-  
commander put in. "NERV America was also attacked by the Angel, if less frequently,  
and even their single Evangelion was capable of driving it off."

"Then how can Trid... no, as far as I'm concerned, the only thing worthy of being  
called the Trident is over there at the Trident base. Can these... things... generate an  
AT-field?"

Ritsuko smirked as she read through the data. "Technically, you're correct. NNHIS must  
have sold off their designs, but the Trident project designation remains theirs. The  
things are called Warborn heavy machine weapons." She put a cigarette to her  
mouth, but didn't light it. "Even if they ARE based on the Evangelion... no mere knockoff  
can equal the Eva. Much of the strength of the Trident Land Dreadnought comes from  
recognizing its specific advantages and disadvantages."

"Doctor Akagi..." Gendo warned.

"No. They lack the means to build an artificial Core. They can't generate an AT-field."

"Is it even a real Angel?" Kaji asked, in support.

"That much, yes. They recovered an intact core." The video showed the process of  
extracting that. "Strangely enough, the inside of the shell is mostly hollow, and the  
core was suspended at the center of a web-like structure formed of... various  
unspecified materials."

Misato leaned back and sucked in her lips. "So the Angel shows up, holds still, doesn't  
even raise its AT-field... and gets sucker-punched? It's... too convenient for them,  
isn't it?"

"Simply speaking, the Earth's Cradle seems like that much less of a threat, even if it  
does have most of the scientists and assets recovered from NERV Germany." Ritsuko  
replied. "  
Perhaps it was just curious, and paid the price for carelessness..."

"Without the capability to generate an AT-field, these Trident derivatives remain an  
insufficient measure. However, they do now have an intact Angel core... which might  
prove troublesome."

Ritsuko twitched visibly. "In as much we are UN NERV, the Earth's Cradle is UN NADIR.  
As a last-ditch effort designed to ensure the survival of our species... we may be sure  
its scientific director will grab at every advantage he can, even if it must be denied to  
us. He genuinely believes the world is doomed to... even deserving, of failure."

"Really? Who's that nihilistic asshole?" asked Misato. "Wait, does that count if he thinks  
everybody else should die?"

Ritsuko groaned, rubbing her temples. "A small man with a narrow mind overflowing with  
delusions of greatness. "

"Who?"

"Sean Vord Lader."

Even Gendo blinked, as a sudden silence descended into the room. Several moments  
passed.

"Ah." Misato commented carefully. "I can guess how that might mess up a guy." It was  
so bad, she could not even laugh about it. "Did his parents hate him or something?  
Because if he changed his name on his own... he really deserves whatever he gets."

"No, it's his real name. His parents were... let's just say there are shocking liberals...  
and some are simply insane." Ritsuko sighed. "Dr. Lader is brilliant, but his stubborness  
is rather legendary in our circles. I will not excuse it as a reaction against his childhood  
since... he IS an asshole, and out of the scientifict community no one likes him. If he  
wasn't the foremost expert in his own field..."

"What is his field?" Gendo asked.

"Cybernetics."

"Hm. Hence, the production model Tridents." He frowned slightly. "Might they prove a  
threat to the Evangelion project?"

"They did shoot down an Angel." Fuyutsuki noted.

"Under highly suspicious circumstances." Kaji replied. He kept his eye on Gendo, all the  
while silently fuming that it was situations like such that made the bastard necessary.  
NERV could ill afford any competition, but the UN had to make a decision that was as  
divisive as it was decisive. The battle against Sahaquiel broke whatever illusions of  
security other nations had, and drove home the fact that it was a war without any  
hope of negotiation, a war headed towards extinction. Every nation for itself. "I can't  
help but to think this is all going to turn out to be just an extremely expensive placebo."

'We at least have identified which political blocks are most opposed to NERV's current  
command structure.' Fuyutsuki thought. 'Now the question is, what are we supposed  
to do about it?' Few supported him being elevated to the post of NERV Commander.  
Fortunately, the resistance to any outsider being placed in command was even more  
vicious from the rest of the UN Assembly that all those who dared suggest it were  
made to look foolish.

The impression of steady, fearless, if unpleasant leadership seemed more important  
than appeasing the public about the boy's departure. It kept the political jackals at  
bay, and frankly... there was not much that could be done without Shinji Ikari to act  
as a lever.

"We must examine this data more thoroughly." said Gendo. "If the core is intact, then  
the Angel cannot be said to be -dead- just yet. Maintain readiness, Katsuragi."

"... yes, sir." Misato even managed to keep out the disdain from her voice. Of course  
she would. Phfft. Like she needed any more reminders of how serious her responsibilities  
were.

-o-

-o-

With classes over, Kensuke headed over to Trident Base. He did phone his father that  
he might again stay the night at the machine pits. A part of him pondered if he should  
really be feeling more regret at how he was drifting apart from his family. Was it really  
something he should just let happen...? He was a human, not a machine.

As usual, however, he tabled that thought for later. The guards saluted as he passed,  
already a familiar figure around the site. He bowed slightly back, conscious that he was  
still somewhat outside of the military structure. Once inside, he put on a many-pocketed  
vest over his uniform, and the customary white lab coat over that. He went out to the  
hangar to bask for a while in the wonder of man's works.

Three months had passed, and that was plenty of time to overhaul NNHIS operations.  
Although intended mainly for support, Trident could not afford to look useless even when  
it was not called to active duty. They had moved the hangars over that time, to a more  
secure underground storage location. It was just a few levels down, but the machine  
pit provided some protection for the Land Dreadnought when shut down. The second  
bay also held the next Trident war machine under construction.

He looked at the Trident-2 for a few more minutes. It was still semi-monocoque in  
construction, using entirely mechanical components, but was twenty percent larger  
and had an internal frame to better handle impact and shear stress. The center held a  
gaping cavity where the fusion reactor should be. Unlike the Eva, which in its decidedly  
humanoid frames could only handle one type of large weapon at once, the Land  
Dreadnoughts were built around the idea of multiple hardmounted weapons systems to  
handle threats at all ranges.

In essence, really, walking naval-level firepower.

It took all of Kensuke's might not to call the place the Trident Land Dockyards.

He went down the elevators into the third underground level, which contained the  
training area and the tactical control center. Main JSSDF command was still in the  
bunker at Atsugi, but at least now Trident had its own means of keeping an eye on the  
battle, instead of relying upon NERV's feed. In effect, another supplement to the  
capacities of Tokyo-3 tactical response, in case NERV goes off-line again.

It turned out that he failed to win the Evangelion Fantasy Online championship, at it  
happened the day just after Shinji left. Perhaps it was just as well. His consultancy at  
NNHIS later gave him an unfair advantage, in that the simulated Angel opponents had  
to be fed into the Battle Simulator. Guess who had the job of balancing that out for  
the Trident's training? Maya Ibuki's code worked so well that modifications and additional  
modules could now be handled entirely from offsite.

The Evas and the Land Dreadnought still occasionally fought against each other. It was  
possible, through good tactics, for -Magnos Tancred- to even beat the Eva, two or  
three times out of ten.

Kensuke arrived at the training room to see Mana Kirishima pacing and unleashing a  
litany of castigation upon her crew. Ah; she was absent that day. The school gave  
some allowance for training schedules with the pilots; being understood that a few  
seconds gained out of practice was more useful than a high score in a literature exam.  
Even failing school, the students could just take classes again when it was all over.  
There was no second try for a vaporized Tokyo-3.

The two, Jiro Takeda and Vince Nagato, were young soldiers fresh out of the academy.  
The red and black of Kirishima Kops colors fit well, and for their part managed to look  
properly abashed.

"What the FUCK is wrong with you two?" she shouted, shaking her gloves fists. "Slow,  
you're too slow! Stop being so damn timid! We can BEAT the Evas at range, no matter  
how good the Titan modules are, batteries can't equal an onboard reactor!"

"But... you ordered us to close in..." Corporal Takeda said doubtfully.

"Of course I did, you mo-ron!" Mana shouted at her driver. "The goddamn AT-field is  
most effective at range! We have only one or two shots in surprise, and it better not  
miss! The field doesn't work well in close range, they can't melee if the air's solid in  
the way." She lifted her artificial hand and clenched it in front of her face. "That's why  
we put FISTS in the Brawler configuration!"

She then directed her attention to her gunner. "The Evangelion can hide itself from the  
AT-field sense of the enemy. Guess what, WE don't have any biological components.  
WE DON'T SHOW UP UNDER JAMMING AT ALL! That's why it all works only at line of  
sight! That's why I want you to get a first strike kill every damn time...! In close range  
the Eva can't hide from us... we can HEAR their footsteps, idiot! Our sensors don't have  
to convert into synaptic input!"

Kensuke chuckled, and got their notice. "Don't you think you're being a little hard on  
them, Kirishima? The Eva's direct-link may be complex, but it's also quick. There's  
only so much human reaction times can do, if the limbs have to work the controls, and  
that gets translated into motion. There's a time delay, no matter how we look at it."

The girl snorted. "That's why they have to PRACTICE. We can't slack off, specially not  
now. The weak point of -Tancred- is that it still can't fight as one seamless unit."

".. you might be holding them to an impossible ideal, Kirishima..." Kensuke said, while  
pushing up on his glasses. "You can't punish them for not being able to react to your  
subconscious cues... like others more familiar with you could have."

Mana squinted at him. She snapped back to her crew "Twenty laps, around the base,  
NOW! NOW!" Then back to Kensuke, with a snarl... "You come with me, Aida."

Kensuke shrugged, following. While Mana kept up a fearsome persona on base, he knew  
from school that she took pride in her own self-control. She was not a fickle or quick  
with handing out punishment as Hikari could be.

She brought him to a nearby stockroom and locked the door. At that point, he started  
to feel a little nervous.

"Aida...I know you've got a mouth on you, but you're the only one I can turn to with  
this problem." She looked down, her eyes hidden under the brim of her cap, and the skull  
there seeming to grin at him. "If you say anything about this to anyone, I'll KILL YOU!"

Kensuke looked pained. "Oh, god..." he whispered. "Not feminine problems...? Why me?"  
_'Why always me? I'm a machinist, damn it; I follow the machine spirit so I don't have to  
listen to those icky aspects of biology or your sob stories.'_

"Aida!"

He made a zipping motion with his lips. "Okay, okay, I'm the soul of confidentiality."

Mana sighed. She began to zip down the front of her coat. "Ever since Ikari-san touched  
me, all those months ago... I've been getting... feelings..." She then started unbuttoning  
her shirt, all the way down and exposing her bra. "I need your help... I can't keep it to  
myself anymore."

"Whoa, whoa WHOA!" Kensuke's eyes bugged out and he waved his arms around. "Not  
that I'm not flattered and all, but don't you think you should be saving that up for Ikari?  
He's not likely he'll refuse you, Kirishima, if you just ask nicel- WHAT AM I SAYING?"  
Belatedly his brain caught up to his words. His lips twitched up into a grin. "I'LL BE  
HAPPY TO HELP YOU SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM!"

"Idiot." Mana huffed out. She reached into her shit and unhitched her mechanical arm.  
She then held out her left arm. "You gonna help, or not?"

Kensuke sighed and drooped his shoulders. "Yeah. As expected." He might as well been  
an asexual being to the few girls he knew that were not blathering fangirls. Was it too  
much to ask for a girl with brains and personality? Unfortunately, with his obsessions,  
those that had those qualities either stayed away or thought him gay.

Tugging at the hand, he pulled out the artificial arm through the sleeves. The skin-like  
texture was even somewhat warm. "Oh, this is the NERV issue." he said. "I guess my  
combat custom arms are still somewhat unresponsive."

Mana merely looked troubled. Kensuke sighed again. "What am I supposed to do with  
this?"

"Um... go over there with you back to me, would you? Make sure I can't see it." She  
then turned around to facing the wall. "You got something sharp on you? Not too sharp  
to damage the skin..."

Kensuke put the arm on a crate and rummaged around his many vest pockets. "Of  
course." He took out a small chisel. "Now what?"

"Poke at the fingers a little, I'm going to try and tell you which ones you're getting at."

Kensuke looked back, she was still facing the wall. Oh, well. He jabbed at the fingers  
a few times, feeling somewhat silly.

"Index. Middle. Ring. Ring. Pinky..." Mana began to announce. "Thumb, pinky, index,  
pinky again..."

Kensuke turned around. "You're peeking."

"I'm not!" Mana replied, her shoulder heaving in indignation. She thumped the bill of her  
cap on the wall.

Kensuke rubbed at his chin, wishing he had a little grizzle there to look debonair. Maybe  
even a beard, eventually, though he supposed that might be a fire hazard. He turned  
back to the arm and poked at the ring finger a little more forcefully.

"Ow!" said Mana. The finger in question might have even twitched a little.

"Uncanny..." Kensuke breathed. "How long has this been going on?"

"I told you, I've been getting feelings ever since Shinji-san touched me... back in the  
onsen, before he left..."

"Touched? Define touched." he added with a leer.

Mana blushed hotly. "He put his hand on my scar, that's all!" she replied.

Kensuke leaned back and looked thoughful. "That was three months ago. You've had  
this going on for that long and didn't tell anyone?There are no nerve connections here."

"Well... it's not like it sounds plausible even when it's right there. Besides, for a while I  
thought it was like phantom pain... just my imagination supplying the feelings. It only  
became real to me a month or so ago... it's been increasing ever since."

The glasses geek turned around. "Let me try something."

"You're tracing a circle on my palm. Line from the base of my middle finger to the tip."  
Mana's eyes widened, her blush deepened. "Stop licking me, you pervert!"

"Huh, a full range of sensations. Does it only work with this arm? Maybe it's the little  
dregs of Evangelion technology used in the artificial muscles."

Mana shook her head. "No. It seems to work on whatever arm I have on the time. It's  
only with that it's clearest what's happening. Maybe because it's the most life-like?"

"Hm..." Kensuke peered closer at the arm. "Logically, there's no reason for it to work.  
Do you feel any pain when your wrist breaks open for the gun-arm? No? Hm..."

"You don't sound all that surprised."

The boy waved aside. "Oh, I'm not like Sohryu. I don't necessarily need to believe in a  
rational universe."

"That... sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it?" Mana walked over to him, shaking her  
head. "I thought you had this 'the universe is a great machine' thing..."

"The universe has its laws and its functions, true, but it operates for a reason of its  
own, not for our small mortal little delusions. How can we frail fleshy beings be so  
arrogant to believe we already know everything of why the universe works as well  
as it does?" He pressed a finger down on the flesh of the artificial arm. "Believe me,  
this is as much a miracle for you as it is to me."

Both stared down at the arm, an oddly grisly sight now that they knew of its hidden  
properties. After a while, Kensuke spoke again "If nerve endings work, there's really no  
reason, even if this defies logic, that control nerves shouldn't work. Have you tried it?"

Mana nodded slightly. "But it's not much..."

"Ikari really could probably help out more than I can. This situation demands a thorough  
examination."

Mana felt her lips tilt up. "Shinji-san..."

"Hey!" Kensuke pointed at the arm. "It moved, did you see that?"

Mana blinked, and focused her gaze back to it. "Sorry, no..."

"What were you thinking of?"

Mana blushed.

Kensuke squinted and bent over the open hand. He moved the joints back and forth.  
"I see..." he said, nodding wisely. "So perversion powers it after all."

Mana actually stamped her foot and quivered with ire. "It does not!"

"Yeah?" Kensuke blew on the palm and grinned. "Then imagine Ikari handling this arm, his  
hands stroking all over it, his fingers playing on your skin... mmm... to be held unresisting  
in his embrace..."

The arm... shivered. Kensuke laughed.

"S-s-shut up!" Mana shouted. Her face was all red.

Kensuke laughed harder.

-o-

-o-

In the years following Second Impact, there was a brief resurgence of big-gun ship-  
building. The violence of Adam's rebirth knocked the Earth off its axis, and incidentally  
also scrapped almost all of the satellites already in orbit. Without the luxury of GPS  
and orbital mapping, all long-range strikes had to make do with more mundane methods.  
Not to mention that given the blind chaos of those days, sophisticated missiles and  
other equipment had to be hoarded, until the industrial base itself could get back onto  
its feet, much less so get around to making replacements.

There was also the rampant paranoia in that ANY missile in flight might be a nuke, and  
it was thought best not to agitate the hornet's nest any more than it already was.

Long-range bombardment was still necessary however, and the resurgent UN had to  
land troops onto contested territory. In the end, it turned out that launching ships with  
big calibers and minimal electronics was faster and cheaper than churning out new  
missile frigates and carriers.

Submarines were a reduced threat for a time, as the hunter-killers had a closer, more  
stringent duty -protecting the remaining strategic nuclear reserves. At all costs, World  
War III had to be avoided, specially since nuclear arms had already been used again.  
India and Pakistan had glassed each other into a ghastly silence. The Middle East was  
a self-devouring meat grinder. Yang was running around unstoppable through the  
eastern half of Asia. The UK remnant was ready to go bare-knuckles with France, to get  
somewhere to live. They had very little left to lose, while mainland Europe was left  
mostly untouched.

With armored columns and booming broadsides, the US was the first to consolidate its  
territories from petty warlords; even going so far as gaining an alliance with the nations  
to the north and south, forming the Greater Americas Treaty. Europe gave it support  
soon after, with the Russian and allied states lending their assets following next. At  
least that much, the military planners supposed, was necessary to even match Yang  
and keep him from blazing west like some sort of modern Khan. Fortunately, that proved  
hardly necessary.

The chaos of the early years ended, but there were still hot spots to pacify. Eventually  
though, there was once again a surplus of floating metal. The GPS network was slowly  
rebuilt, and construction began on the four NERV sites.

Most of the ships were mothballed, pending future need. The spectre of World War III  
had not really faded away, even after fifteen years. Even after Gaghiel's cleaving  
through the Pacific fleet, there were still more ships than the UN knew what to do with.

Of course, it was not as if just anyone with the cash could simply pony up and get their  
hands on one. All things considered though, they were cheap. Someone bought two.

Since time was roughly equivalent to money, throwing enough currency around quickly  
had one of the ship refitted and removed of its aft turrets for cargo space; like some  
sort of 'battle-barge', one of the engineers had quipped. The other had its electrical  
systems ripped out and reworked to handle an onboard nuclear fusion reactor, which  
in itself cost twice as much as the ship.

Hakone 1st Anchorage received word that, barring interruptions, a UN support task  
group was due to arrive in four days. No pomp or ceremony was needed nor wanted.  
The new UN observer wanted to keep everything low-key.

If Fate could laugh, it would have. "Yeah, right..." it would have said.

-o-

-o-

It was not that Kaworu disliked the people he had to work with. His masters at SEELE  
knew he preferred to work alone, and for good reason. Though to make full use of the  
Earth's Cradle, he had at least to get along with his fellow pilots.

In truth, they did not disappoint, confirming for him what he expected out of humanity.  
He was not humanity's judge, he recognized that justice had nothing to do with what he  
wanted to happen. Objectively though, he had to admit he found them straining his  
bounds of stoicism.

Martin Arthur Bettelheim was one of the rare children capable of activating an Eva. His  
score was not so impressive, barely more than what it takes to get it moving, but it was  
enough to separate him from the sea of common humanity. His problem was that there  
was no spare Evangelion for him to pilot.

That left the teen eternally irritated, as if his very destiny was stolen from him. He had  
a right to stand in glory alongside Ikari, Ayanami... that American pilot whose name  
escaped him for the moment... and Sohryu! He never failed to point this out whenever  
the chance came up. The last specially rankled, since he too was of German descent,  
and was hailed as a prodigy in his own circle.

The teen stood tall and proud, on the gantries overlooking his heavy mechanics' area.  
His face was fair, his blond hair cropped into a flat-top, and his uniform was white. If  
there was any other effect he needed to present a glowing countenance, he would have  
used it.

"My... our chance to shine, Nagisa." he said loftily, his teeth bared in a grin. "The doctor  
will coax the secrets of the AT-field from the aliens, and then we're going to show the  
world that the Evangelions are obsolete!" He watched the bright red jewel-like orb of  
the Angel's core being brought in. "We have the best technology, and we can show  
those fools, that pretentious bitch, that they're not all that special...!"

And that, perhaps, was what irked Kaworu. The pilot kept speaking out against Asuka.  
Kaworu could not have cultivated her attentions so far without developing some  
affection in return.

Bettelheim tried so hard to be like Sohryu, that his successes only highlighted the gap  
between them. What in Asuka was brimming self-confidence, in him showed only to be  
deep-seated arrogance. Where Asuka sought to prove herself the best, he wanted to  
be known as simply BETTER to anyone, everyone. Specifically Sohryu, though. He would  
love to destroy her in proving himself superior.

Of Shinji, he was dismissive; an overblown lackey, he had said. He was the beneficiary  
of everyone else's hard work, just stepping up to grab the credit. Kaworu could not  
decide if he found this laughable or apalling.

Though in essence, he supposed this was true. What Ikari had that he lacked was a  
collection of competent... hencemen/women did fit, didn't it? And -he- was the secret  
agent here. Kaworu let out a small chuckle. Personal power did not win an empire,  
logistics and organization did. Martin flinched at the sound.

"I have a question, Bettelheim-kun."

The pilot nodded, with an imperious flick of a hand bidding him continue. Kaworu smiled  
slightly; for he could see this subtle insult was a form of protest. Martin Bettelheim felt  
threatened, for it was just so -obvious- Kaworu was compiling a report to some higher  
authority. It was hard to open up to someone who held a sword of Damocles over the  
team.

"Which is more important to possess; power or recognition?" the hybrid asked.

Martin thought about it for a few moments.

"Power's good but what's the point if no one knows it? False modesty sickens me." Then,  
he leaned back on the railing, folding his arms over his chest and staring past Kaworu's  
shoulder. "But if you pretend to have power and don't have it, sooner or later someone  
will take it all from you! They're not mutually exclusive, aren't they? One can be the  
route to the other."

"Well, yes, but for discussion's sake please choose only one."

"Then I'd rather have power, of course." Martin sniffed. "What's this about; feeling  
under-appreciated even if you're the one who took down the Angel?"

Kaworu smiled again. He had a cheerful charisma of his own, that disarmed caution. "No,  
not really. Is it more proper to say, the equipment shot it down?" he said, recalling  
Martin's earlier words about Shinji being the beneficiary of everyone else's hard work.

The blonde-haired pilot nodded, satisfied. "Don't sell yourself short. It doesn't take much  
skill to pull a trigger, though. I'd rather have a proper fight."

Kaworu kept his upbeat expression, though the edges of his smile may have tightened.  
_'I have tracked snipers in the jungle-rot and infested mud. The desert may be merciless  
to the unprepared but the jungle devours the unwary, and only there and against such  
men have I ever feared for my life. I may loathe my own mortality... so it is that when  
mere humans go beyond their own physical limits that even I must applaud.'_

"Perhaps you'll have your chance, soon." he said instead. "It would be interesting to see  
how a truly empowered Jagd Wulf compares to the Eva."

He looked aside to the third pilot standing nearby. She kept her head down, and her  
hands clasped in front; her posture was so straight that it seemed like she was shrinking  
into the background. Sarah Campbell had straight black hair cropped to neck-level, and  
eyes like pale shale. Her demeanor was so meek and unresisting, that it was a wonder  
to many how she could even be counted on to accomplish... well, anything.

She was more interesting to Kaworu, than her partner. He was used to people looking at  
him oddly, even outright fearing him. People his own age had extreme difficulty in just  
talking with him; he had concerns and a mode of speech far above the teenage level.  
There were also those who found his looks exotic and attractive. He would never really  
belong anywhere.

"How about you, Campbell-san? Are you looking forward to it?"

It was the first time in a long while that he felt utterly ignored. His presence there was  
of utterly no matter to her. In fact, her own presence seemed to be something even she  
could forget.

Her silence responded to his earlier question; only power mattered.

Sarah Campbell did not hold crippling self-doubt, but rather a crushing certainty that  
human life, even her own life, was cheap and meaningless. Africa was the last place to  
stabilize after Impact. It was not a goood time to be a person of pinkish complexion.  
Even worse, her parents were merely tourists there, out on their honeymoon and there  
for the sharks.

What they went through, what she had seen with her own young eyes, she kept all to  
herself. What even Kaworu mistook for a sad case of young, blind romantic attachment  
to Martin turned out to be something more parasitic.

He wondered how anyone could take that sort of abuse, then recognized that the boy  
in question was incapable of expressing his own feelings in a conventional way. The  
mountains of Ndoto and its Earth's Cradle were not like Hakone and its Tokyo-3; where  
youthful antics were if not diverting, at least tolerated. Though Martin was verbally  
abusive, it seemed he had yet to entertain his... curiosities... upon her body.

_'Perhaps because she was not his equal; because she did not value her own flesh, her  
own existence... neither can he.'_

Passivity was seen as desirable in a woman, wimpy in a man. Overflowing will was a  
trait hailed in men, shrewish in a woman.

_'And yet... seeing it like this, it seems to have missed the redeeming values of the whole  
endeavor. What would it be like to know a Shinji Ikari so shy and passive, instead of his  
unflagging purpose? What about an Asuka Langley- Sohryu who let nothing stand in the  
way of her pride, instead of searching for the greater good in every setback?'_ he so  
wondered.

He sighed, feeling his solitary duty._ 'They might be my adversaries, but seeing these...  
I can honestly say that I don't regret helping them in my own way to becoming better  
people.'_ It was not so strange, he recalled; that sometimes one's own enemies can be  
his only real friends.

What could he have been like without something to define himself against, with only the  
menial and unpleasant tasks doled out by SEELE to occupy his time? _'Probably some  
sort of broody, overly sentimental suicidal freak...'_ he supposed. '_Too much time around  
these people, I'd have started to pity them. And with no choice but to live with them  
until I could annihilate myself in Adam's cleansing rebirth; I would have started to pity  
myself too.'_

One of the MPs approached the pilots, and addressed him. He saw Martin flare his  
nostrils in muted resentment, but Kaworu was recognized as holding actual authority;  
even if the other teen remained team leader. The soldier saluted. "The pilots are hereby  
ordered to report to the laboratory." he said.

Martin sniffed and went ahead, with Sarah following at a dutiful distance. Kaworu trailed  
behind, committing the way to memory. The lab occupied the entire twenty-third to  
twenty-fifth levels of the Earth's Cradle, level with the floor of the main hangar, and  
right above the main blast doors leading into the cryo chambers. The whole complex had  
walls lined with wires and piping, all utterly new, and in the rush of construction left  
covering wall plates as a waste of metal. It felt like the innards of some alien brood-  
mother.

-o-

The smell of rusting iron and machine-oil intensified as they entered the main lab. Its  
gregarious use of space seemed cramped, with all the machinery necessarily jammed  
close together to assembly-line the work. Iruel's core was huge, and had to be left  
outside on the hangar. The production model Tridents loomed over it, and thick cables  
linked all three to the complicated apparatus around the core.

Technicians and scientists were running around, even those unsure of what to do made  
as if they were busy at something important. The chief scientific officer kept his tirade  
on their apparent -uselessness- and -incompetence- and how he would love to do all  
that needed to be done, to make sure it's all done -correctly-, but he only had one pair  
of hands. Therefore, he had to rely on -idiots- barely evolved out of -monkeys- and if  
they messed up this important experiment, he would have them -shot-.

Dr. Sean Vord Lader was a tall man, but seemed shorter due to his rounded proportions  
and gleaming bald head. He was clean-shaved, with a face that should have seemed  
jolly but instead was twisted in unrestrained rage.

That impatience receded a little when he saw the pilots arrive. "Good, good... get over  
here..." he said, while motioning to several capsules similar to NERV synchro test plugs.  
On a closer look; Kaworu realized these -were- NERV plugs; more NERV Germany swag.

Martin stared doubtfully down at the synchro clips he was given. "Didn't you say these  
things are inefficient? We don't really need the feedback, only for the machinery to  
move as fast as we want it to."

"Just because you can repeat my words doesn't mean you can even -approach- my  
level of reasoning!" the scientist shot back. "Are you even capable of doing as you're  
told or do I have to send you back to -School-?"

Martin growled, stuck the clips on his hair, and went over to the testing plugs. The  
School was a notion embraced by many militaries as a direct response to the utter  
mess of the post-Impact wars, where flexible and unconventional tactics were needed  
to prevail over constantly changing strategic aims. Children were trained from a very  
young age, no hard task to find experimental subjects; there was a surplus of orphans  
everywhere. Methods varied, from stern discipline to the outright draconian.

Their suffering was supposed to make them superior, that was beaten into their heads  
at every turn. Someone like Sohryu, who at least had a mother, to be so celebrated  
for her comparatively easy work... oh it was irksome. Mana Kirishima's school was more  
on forging generals and evolving doctrine. Martin and Sarah came from one of the more  
'mercenary' schools; the one with actual death ratios.

Kaworu followed into the plugs. He had never any need for such Schooling, though his  
early life was filled with many painful tests. Many soldiers found him creepy enough that  
they simply assumed he was the fruit of one of those illegal 'Schools'.

General Jonathan R. Stockman barrelled into the area just as the final connections were  
being set. "Wha' are we doing here, doctor?" he asked archly.

"What -I- am doing is to scan the Angel's core by using a sympathetic location graph..."  
he motioned aside to a big monitor. "Evangelions are made out of Angel material. AT-  
field theory goes that it is both event AND location, therefore it is possible to check  
the field generation by introducing distortion effects... much like using sonar."

"... you're going to try an' generate an AT-field? I thought..."

"No. One does not need an entire Evangelion to generate a field. Even -Akagi- mentions  
that the core most likely contains field generation apparatus of an Angel." He was not  
able to gank the Evangelion spare parts which could have improved his research, to his  
continuing frustration. "They -are- composed of exotic material, after all. AT-field refers  
to -absolute territory-, whoever coined the appelation -absolute terror- needs to be  
shot. That doesn't even -make sense-!"

The general blinked. He was a career soldier, and while feeling out of depth was hardly  
stupid or dense. "You're goin' to hook these CHILDREN up to an ANGEL? I canna' allow  
this!" he spluttered out. "Are ye mad?"

Everyone around him looked distinctly uncomfortable. The pun was just... too easy.

Dr. Lader stuck his bulbous jaw out. "Hmf! A portion of an Angel. We supply the power,  
the pilots here have enough activation talent, but with three of them the signal is dilute.  
I assure you it is -perfectly safe-."

He motioned aside again. One of the technicians pulled down a switch, sparks flew, and  
a current flowed through Iruel's core. A humming sound filled the air.

"See? -Simple-." the scientist continued, feeling his bones vibrating along. He gestured  
again, and someone threw a second switch. The sound intensified, pitched higher.

General Stockman lifted his bushy eyebrows. "Did you jus' assign a musical scale to the  
thing?"

Dr. Lader coughed. "It -seemed- a good way to mark frequencies at the time." he said  
with some flippant edge. "Frankly I'm -suprised- NERV makes so much of the difficulties  
with generating an AT-field. It's -ridiculously easy-. The Evangelions may be based on  
Angel physiology, but it's clear the biomachinery used are degraded compared to pure  
samples. If we have to use the enemy's -own- tools to destroy them, why should we  
-hesitate-?"

"Cause it's tha' enemy, ya loon." the general grumbled back. "What makes you think  
these things would make it that easy for us? We shouldn'ae take unnecessary risks, not  
with these children. Be reasonable, doctor."

"Oh, -please-. All progress depends upon the unreasonable man." Seeing the man in  
charge of protecting the Earth's Cradle was inclined to be likewise as unreasonable in  
his own definition of duty, turned to Kaworu and asked "Mister Nagisa, I am -given- to  
understand that you have some -knowledge- about these things. What do you think?"

"The theory is sound, sir." the hybrid replied, looking towards the general. "Even if the  
Angel manages to retain its consciousness while reduced to in human terms, just one  
single organ, there's no actual feedback from this. It's not a neural control system,  
we're the ones dumping our own thoughts into the field. That should make it even  
harder for the Angel to do anything with its own field."

Dr. Lader nodded approvingly. "Good, Nagisa, remind me later to ask you where you  
learned AT-field theory."

"Yes, sir. I do have one question, though..."

The scientist, just about to say something sardonic to the general, turned around.  
"What is it now, Nagisa?"

"Which do you think is better to have, power or recognition?"

Both Dr. Lader and Gen. Stockman frowned. The latter reacted first. "Why d'ye ask?"

"Humor me, please." His thin smile was not precisely threatening, but made it seem as if  
not answering would be an admission of personal weakness or stupidity.

The scientist shushed him. "Does this have -something- to do with the wave/particle  
duality of Angel exotic matter?" His eyes were distant, mulling over puzzles on physical  
paradox. "Hm... absolute territory. I'm getting something here... no, no, I'd have to say  
power after all. Energy can be converted later on."

"It's not tha' complicated." General Stockman said, overbearing. "Though I'd have to  
agree. Some people serve best in the sun, but only in tha' shadows do changes stick."  
He was made of those men who did the most and expected no great reward. Without  
them, no strategy could ever have won peace for the world. "We donn'a have tha'  
luxury of choosing our obligations."

He turned and looked up at the shining red orb. "I'd be perfectly happy to have these  
things just stop attackin'. Aye, power to harm, that's what stops things right at the  
bargainin' table." As the duly appointed protector by the UN, he had a knee-jerk reaction  
to being called a warlord, since he had already spent so much time and so many men  
fighting them.

"There's still so much more we could learn; it would be a shame to destroy them all."  
added Dr. Lader. His grin was twisted. "The Evangelions are machines made with some  
facets of Angel biology. But if we could -harness- these monsters...!"

"You have no basic hatred for the Angels, as such?" Kaworu asked. The implications of  
later enslaving the Angel was, again, not unexpected.

"NERV rhetoric, -bah-!" Dr Lader spat. "How indicative of brutish, uninspired intellect.  
No, I have no problem with the Angels as such; except that they seem inclined to  
continue what started with Second Impact. I'm not inclined however, to grant that they  
have significant intelligence... pure biology, they lack the necessary perspective to  
-progress- beyond their means. Natural selection is but the bastard offshoot of random  
chance." He gestured around. "We -know- our own weakness, so we will -have- their  
strengths...! Power goes to those with the will to seek it out and CLAIM it!"

The general just sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Just trying to live the best we can,  
tha's all."

"Yes, yes, and as such we must use whatever can get, specially with those more...  
-favored- snatching at everything that may be useful." Dr. Lader sneered, showing his  
uneven upper teeth. "Are you -satisfied-, Nagisa?"

He wondered of the odd events that led up to the Earth's Cradle developing into but a  
twisted mockery of NERV and Tokyo-3. The Cradle itself, a man-made geofront that  
paled in scale to Lillith's shell. The pilots and the production Tridents, each themselves  
strange and unbalanced reflections of their counterparts. Their scientists, their soldiers,  
all consumed in their tasks and trying all the harder to deny their natural disadvantages  
in location, assets, and personnel. Delusion was a powerful driving force, indeed.

'Is there really such a thing as a collective consciousness?' he asked himself. 'Minds all  
linked through intuitive threads, grasping at the unfolding patterns of history?' With his  
preference for his Angel half, he could not really discern that. 'Or more likely, just the  
process of parallel evolution. This holds the remnants of NERV Berlin, and is a direct  
competitor to NERV Tokyo. Less imitators than echoing what works; as whales and fish  
share the same shape, even if one breaths air and the other filters seawater.'

This appealed to him; it was like Adam's own function.

What brutal irony of the universe was this; that those who held on the means and ideals  
that '_Man deserves to live_' were those who feared they might not prevail on sheer virtue  
alone, while those who shout in maniacal fervor _'the Xeno must die_' see their task only  
as an inconsequential side-effect of fighting for the lives of those they love? Mankind  
was not a rational being, once more Kaworu decided firmly. Everything they did held the  
glimmer of the ridiculous.

Kaworu bowed submissively. "Thank you for your time and insight, sirs."

"Well, we've wasted -enough- of it, already." The scientist turned again to General  
Stockman. "So we can proceed? Hm? Actually -try- to do something -productive-?"

"Fine, fine, do as ye want..."

The pudgy man lifted his arms. "All circuits set, ready exchangers! Begin -experiment-!"

There were clacks and hisses, sparks and the crackling hiss of high voltage lines. Above  
all this rose a tone, hitting their hearts and hardening the air. Iruel's core began to show  
obvious signs of vibration, its crystal surface starting to ripple.

The Trident Warborn pilots had their eyes shut, and though concentrating did not seem  
to be suffering any discomfort.

"-Fascinating-!" Dr. Lader shouted. "Are we getting -anything-?"

"There IS a field, sir!" one of the assistants replied, having to raise his voice too, over  
the din. "It's... well, the core shell is just GLASS. Nothing more than simple silicon! And  
like glass, it's actually a viscous liquid...!"

"I -have eyes-, I can see that! What about the -INSIDE-?"

The screen showed a grainy, undulating haze. The resemblance to an ultrasound for  
looking at a womb was keen and quite possibly intentional.

"Uhm, well... something... SOMETHING'S MOVING INSIDE!"

The core's shimmering red surface transformed from a globe into a mess of sharp spikes.  
The spines shot out and bored into the walls, flowing out and hardening into threadlike  
links. The tone turned into a scream.

Then Iruel's core split open, and wet wriggling things poured out of the cavity. Dr.  
Sean Vord Lader barely had any chance to turn around before the things just dropped  
over him, covering his corpulent body.

Where the red pikes plugged into the walls and machinery, the metal bulged out, vein-  
like. The tone continued, screeching. Like an orange flood, the innards of Iruel poured  
out, and pulled under any people caught in the flow. The pilots could not get out of  
their pods in time. Even Kaworu did not react, as what looked like a mottled orange  
slug crawled across his face.

Shutting bulkheads did nothing, as the intrusion only spread -through- the walls, turning  
the pipes into literal arteries. The hangar began to fill up with reddish-orange liquid, and  
upon that floated a horrifying writhing larval mass.

Someone had enough time to smash the big red button for general alarm.

Unfortunately, with both the scientific and military commanders first buried by the  
strange assault, the keys to the base self-destruct were unavailable. Red tendrils sank  
fusion plants and began to gorge.

-o-

-o-

Halfway across the world, AT-field warning systems were going crazy. Misato rushed to  
the control room, with rice still stuck to her cheek. "Another attack?" she asked as she  
slid onto her command chair. "The timing's perfect as usual... perfectly inconvenient."

"No, m'am. The worldwide warning system just got hit with a widespread blue pattern."  
Shigeru reported. "There's so much of it the sensors got blinded for a while. We're just  
now resolving where it's coming from."

"Son of a bitch!" Misato cursed, in English, as she the main screen showed the result.  
She turned to see Ritsuko just arriving. "Look at that! I wish I can say this is really all  
that unexpected... but I can't."

"Kenya." the scientist responded flatly.

"Someone bit off more than they could chew." Misato replied. She bit at her thumb and  
frowned. "Or was this somehow intentional? Can we get satellite imaging yet?"

"Katsuragi. Report."

Misato sighed. She swiveled her chair around to see that Gendo had arrived. She wiped  
at her face and looked up at the old men on the command tower. "We don't have any  
information yet on whether or not this is an Angel attack. It does seem to be centered  
on the region containing the Earth's Cradle, though."

"That is unacceptable. You must clarify the situation promptly."

"That is reality." she retorted. "We'll know when the equipment gets the data. The  
director in oversight has no authority to override combat operations. We know what to  
do, SIR, and stopping to explain it wastes valuable time. You'll know the same time the  
rest of us do, you know, like NORMAL people."

Gendo narrowed his gaze. "Katsuragi..." he said warningly.

She huffed and turned around. "Tell the UN we're taking our option on pre-emptive  
nuclear strikes." she said to Shigeru. "Where are the pilots?" she asked Maya next.

"Already in the launch lifts, sempai."

"Good, good. The civilians?"

"Class Five Emergency has been declared." Makoto reported. "They're heading to their  
specially assigned shelters now. Hakone 1st Prefectural Defense Force has been  
authorized to enter the city for defense and support."

Misato nodded. Those drills were working, then. The military were protecting shelters  
far enough as not to get in the Evangelions' way. At any point though, they could  
rush in, empty and relocate shelters in a hurry as the unexpected factors of combat  
revealed itself. There were trucks and APCs and rigorously practiced soldiers for that.

"We're getting a satellite feed now..." Shigeru reported, somewhat unnecessarily as the  
main screen flickered into the view.

The Earth's Cradle was buried in the mountains of the Ndoto mountain chain, and was  
hard enough to find from orbit. It was the AT-field flaring from the region that pinpointed  
the location. The matte black disc of the Cradle's elevator and main shield showed  
onscreen.

The surrounding mountainside began to crack, and the disc bulged out. Slowly, the  
Cradle began to reveal itself. The name 'Earth's Cradle' was fitting; unlike NERV's own  
geofront which was a perfect sphere, the cyogenic facility was buried under layers of  
rock and armor, the upper half of its cavity filled out. Only the bottom half was used  
for the facility. Seen from the side, the plans looked indeed similar to a baby's basket,  
with the main elevator shaft leading up to a second bulb as like a handle for rocking the  
cradle. Then there was the whole vessel for cryogenic suspension and genetic stocks.

The Earth's Cradle began to rise, breaking itself free from the rocks. It had changed,  
acquired a new shell, become one creature with all its parts contributing to the whole.  
It was a perfect sphere, floating dark and serene and impossible in the air.

Ritsuko cursed. "Misato, remember what you said about the Angels earlier... how they  
were changing the more we see them?"

"Getting smarter, you mean?"

The blonde shook her head. "No... more dangerous. And just... -larger-. The first Angel  
we found was around the size of the Eva. The next was larger, then something the size  
of battleships." She grimaced. "After Asuka arrived, the size was similar again to the  
Eva, but there were two... then that creature in lava, big as a hill."

Misato nodded grimly. "Yeah, I see... and the thing during Valentine's Day taller than  
the city. That orbital attack Angel, how big was that?"

"Four kilometers end to end."

The Operations Director frowned. "Yeah. I was starting to wonder about the Angel we've  
been fighting. It didn't really seem that big or that dangerous..." She slapped her chair's  
armrests. "Then it pulls THIS shit!"

"Sempai, is it even the same Angel?" Maya asked.

"If it isn't, were in deep trouble." Misato replied. "How big is this thing?"

Ritsuko tapped at her own console. "Extrapolating... I'd say about six kilometers in  
diameter. That's about as much as we're using of the geofront."

Misato twitched. "Our geofront is still bigger though?"

"Really, Misato, is it a good time to feel competetive about this? Yes, yes, though that's  
what we have on the surface... almost one kilometer in" Ritsuko pointed up at this.  
"... our geofront is actually a perfect sphere going down thirteen and a half kilometers.  
I'd hate to see what it takes to get this airborne."

Misato blinked. "I'm surprised you're not making a litany of how this is pissing even more  
on physicists' graves."

"I'm sorry, Katsuragi, I'm frightened beyond all capacity for rational thought." she replied  
dully.

Everyone stared up at the screen, as the infested Earth's Cradle began to drift east. It  
had a shell well capable of withstanding direct nuclear blasts. It held a complete and  
sophisticated production facility inside, along with some of the finest creative minds of  
the human race. And it could not be overemphasized; effing huge. It had not done  
anything yet, but already blind terror and self-destructive panic began to bloom in the  
hearts of those watching its inexhorable approach.

Misato's words summed up the thoughts of everyone there. "Oh, this is so going to  
-hurt-..." she whispered.

-o-

-o-

-o-

End The Creeping Rot part one


	30. Chapter 29: The Creeping Rot part2

-o-

Censorship might be to some a vile thing, but in certain amounts and certain situations  
it was necessary. It helped that the Earth's Cradle was in a remote enough region  
of the world that only orbital eyes could see it. 2016 had technology both and ahead  
and behind what could be expected of a world were Impact never happened. Another  
of the changes was that there were less eyes in the sky, and all of these were under  
direct military control.

A debacle such as what had to seal Eastern Russia and Siberia could never have gone  
so long and so opaquely to the media mere sixteen years previous, even with their  
comparatively laughable bandwidth and connectivity possibilities. By comparison too,  
restricting the knowledge of Iruel's approach was child's play.

Gendo was in uncommonly good cheer, even if only Fuyutsuki could recognize it. "What  
about this do you find so amusing?" the old man asked.

"Even if I know that my presence here is to make the decisions that must be made... "  
His slight snort conveyed how they conformed exactly to his long expectations; cowards  
all, aching for the approval of others. It was something that plauged even his son, he  
knew. "It provides odd comfort to know that no decision I can make could possibly make  
things any -worse-. Even the most asinine of judgements can only hasten inevitable  
doom."f

"... you do prefer we all survive, I trust?"

Gendo smirked. "You do remember what this is about? Instrumentality is the goal, not all  
this circus. Curb your enthusiasm, Fuyutsuki-sensei, it's unseemly."

The old man rubbed at his forehead. As a mentor on metaphysics, he felt he a a good  
handle of what was supposed to happen. 'It's not murder...' he told himself. 'A change  
in perception of reality is not genocide...' And that way, nobody ever dies. His fingers  
pressed upon a nerve. And that way, he could not have been a party to Yui's own...  
no,  
not suicide. He could have tried harder, talked her out of it. He was directly  
responsible... he -killed- Yui; she looked upon him for judgement and said had yes, you  
should -die-.

He looked up. The only reason Gendo did not blame him so was that both men knew just  
how -stubborn- she was when she had made up her mind. Behind her gentle face and  
keen mind; was a will that had no compunction about twisting a whole world towards  
a single ideal. Instrumentality. Gendo was merely adding his own conditions to what she  
decreed to be inevitable.

The door to the conference room slid open, the others of the NERV Directorate had  
arrived. They sat at the chairs once used for long-distance counsel by SEELE. The old  
men had only showed up, once, a few days after his release to give out terse, cryptic  
semi-threats to maintain the status quo. Gendo's recovering intelligence assets could  
only say that the old men had packed up and gone away somewhere...

It was the most secure room in the entire geofront, at least electronically speaking.  
Might as well get some use out of it.

Gendo Ikari, still NERV Commander, sat at the head of the table; leaning forward and  
gloomy. To the first right seat sat Kozo Fuyutsuki, Vice-Commander and Director of  
Internal Operations; with his eyes closed and waiting. Opposite him was Ritsuko Akagi,  
Chief Scientific Officer and Director of Research and Technological Developments; for  
a change seemed to well-rested through an Angel attack. Beside her was Misato  
Katsuragi, Colonel, and Director of Combat Operations; who growled faintly, her eyes  
bleary. Opposite her, was Kaji Ryouji, UN Attache, Director of External Operations; he  
was grinning at Misato and blew her a kiss.

"Well, I still think you're lovely, Misa-chan." said Kaji. "You don't have to go through this  
every time, you know. It's bad to cut yourself off from everything that isn't your job."

"Shut up, Kaji... you're worse than a distraction. You're an irritation."

Ritsuko just sighed. "Enough with the filthy talk." She activated the far screen. "Can  
we just get on with this?"

"Indeed. What do know about this Angel, doctor?"

She nodded briefly to Gendo. Strangely, she could look at him now and accept that she  
was still attracted to him. She had followed to his bed, and recognized it was his way of  
asking if she was still under his control... and afterwards had managed not to hate  
herself. In his own strange way, he was terribly lonely... Gendo must have sensed this,  
her own response, a dash of pity, and had made no demands upon her for some time.

'I'm still not good enough for anyone...' Ritsuko thought. 'Not fallen enough to suit him...  
and she's still too good for me.' The scientist sighed. 'Good thing there's still science...'

Her words were clipped and precise, and chasing away the mortal concerns in her mind.  
The Angel's bulk filled the screen and each and every one of their little emotional hurts  
shriveled in face of such terrible, indiscriminate power.

"The Angel, codenamed Iruel, is six kilometers in diameter. As far as we can tell, it had  
assimilated the entirety of the Earth's Cradle. The cryo chambers, manufacturing plants,  
reactors, personnel, and all..." The view flicked to the pit left behind. "It appears to be  
traveling at three hundred kilometers per hour, accelerating slightly. With that in mind,  
time to arrival is between one and a half to two weeks."

"... that's... good, isn't it?" Kaji asked warily. "That should give us time enough to  
prepare..."

Ritsuko shook her head. "Not really. That assumes the Angel will remain the same as we  
see it now. There's no way to predict how more powerful it will become after even just a  
week."

"Speaking of which, is it the same Angel that was attacking us?" Gendo asked. The Dead  
Sea scrolls did not say anywhere that the Angels would attack in unison. Unlike humans,  
they had no concept of loyalty... or betrayal, either.

"Very likely. We have no evidence as to whether Angels reproduce on their own, but  
simple logic dictates that an Angel would strive to improve -itself- to accomplish its own  
goals."

"This IS a massive change, though..." Kaji noted. "I just can't think it's anything but

deliberate." He and Misato shared a heavy glance. "The question isn't just how smart  
the Angels are.. but how much smarter are they going to get?"

"Well, it would never have worked here. What can we expect out of it though, Ritsuko?"  
Misato asked next. "What's in the Earth's Cradle that the Angel would attack it instead  
of Tokyo-3 anyway?"

The blonde shrugged. "Many things, possibly, but none really comes to mind. If it a  
human did it, I'd have to grant it's a strategic masterstroke. The Cradle may be smaller  
and inferior to our geofront, but unlike Tokyo-3 it's totally self-supporting."

A diagram of the Earth's Cradle flashed into view. "Its three fusion reactors have enough  
fuel for one hundred fifty years of operation. Its manufactories can produce practically  
anything needed for repair and recovery of a hypothetically hostile surface world. The  
"The thirty thousand people in coldsleep, the gene-banks, and the total database...  
these could be useful for the long term. Then there's the UN 'short regiment' still inside,  
their troops and their weapons..." She scowled. "They have production model Trident  
Warborns, made with Eva technology..."

"Sounds we can expect a lot of trouble out of it..." said Kaji.

Ritsuko slapped her palm down on the table. "We may call Tokyo-3 a Fotress City, but  
THERE is a LITERAL mobile fortress. But it's all... unnecessary! The Angel has no need  
for any of those things...!" She changed the data back to Iruel's previous form. "No  
human reactor is equal to the energy production capabilities it already demonstrated.  
What's the point of seizing human weapons? Its attacks are already accurate enough  
and can hit us right out of orbit! This new approach, it makes too much sense; human  
sense... and for the first time we have to consider if there is some other long-range  
plan outside of what we're seeing."

"Contemplation of enemy objectives can be indulged in at a later date, doctor." said  
Gendo. "What can we do for defense?"

"... the Asahino Lance Cannon?" Misato looked up. "Ritsuko, how soon can we get it  
working?"

"If we fire it now, we'll just break the damn thing." was the reply. "The capacitor banks  
were the first things installed - we have power, but the cannon systems are still a long  
way away from complete."

Gendo leaned forward, staring at Ritsuko. 'But can it be fired?" he asked. "And if so, can  
it get through?"

Ritsuko looked away. "It's a plasma lance... the AT-field makes things so simple, but a  
true Hellbore Cannon needs a lot more to feed and accelerate particles to near light-  
speed. It was hard enough to create a self-propagating electromagnetic shell to keep it  
from propagating too quickly..."

"The thing costs us as much as three more Evangelions, doctor. Is it of any use at all?"

Her voice was small. "You want to hit Phobos? We can hit Phobos."

Fuyutsuki nodded, in thanks, then his eyes widened as he remembered the name. "Wait,  
Phobos? THAT -MOON-? OF -MARS-?"

"Well, it's not that hard. Astronomical locations are slow and predictable. If the Angel  
had attacked in its previous form just one more time, no AT-field could possibly stand  
up to that blast. This is anti-orbital defense... and it's -puny- compared to the Grand  
Cannon being made up in Europe." And even that was a midget compared to the one  
planned for Canada.

Gendo did not seem relieved. "What is the diameter of the beam?"

"It's variable, but ultimately limited by the size of the bore. Say... fifteen meters? Too  
large a beam tends to collimate too quickly."

Gendo pushed up his glasses. He was not happy. "And to destroy the Angel, we must  
strike at its core; which might be anywhere within a sphere six kilometers across. And  
as you said, there is only one shot."

"Perhaps two, but it won't be as powerful as the first. A third try will definitely break the  
Lance Cannon beyond hope of repair."

"This is unacceptable." Gendo said flatly. No one disagreed.

Misato just sighed. She leaned on her elbows and put her palms over her eyes. The  
nerves behind them just burned from fatigue. She let out a groan. "... it's pointless to  
try and hit it from extreme range."

"Oh? Do you have an idea, Katsuragi?"

"I don't like it..." she said. Full authority as a Director meant she could just ignore Gendo  
when it comes to combat deployment. However... it also meant the responsibility was  
totally hers, when the pilots were being sent out to die. Too much attachment was a  
military risk, for good reason. She just couldn't let it go like that, however. It felt right;  
she had to bear the pain for her own decisions.

Everyone stared, waiting for her to continue.

"Fine." she spat. "The Earth's Cradle... it's big enough. Big enough for all those fake  
Tridents. It's certainly big enough for an Eva."

Kozo Fuyutsuki leaned back and exhaled. "You certainly dare to gamble it all, don't you,  
Miss Katsuragi?" Those few simple words she said, brought a whole vista of terrifying  
violence to his mind. "It's... unorthodox... I'll grant you that."

"Are you insane?" Ritsuko crowed. "You're going to ask me to figure out a way to put  
Evangelions into a -boarding action- of an -Angel-?"

Misato merely turned to look, her eyes bleak and unblinking.

"Now I know where the boy picked up his predeliction for crazy stunts..." the scientist  
mumbled. "Ungh. I know Asuka would be jumping for joy at the chance..."

"I don't like it..." Misato said again. "If there was any way..."

The walls around them beeped. Gendo pushed a button for the intercom. "What is it?"  
he asked.

"S-sir! Status report!" Makoto's voice filtered through. His tone hitched up with panic.  
"Katsuragi-san! The blue pattern alert levels just dropped. It's gone!"

"Gone? What's gone?" she asked archly.

"The Angel! It's disappeared! One moment, it's moving along the predicted path to the  
Indian Ocean, then... it just... vanished! There's nothing all over the sensor web. There  
wasn't any hint it was going to do that."

"SHITFU-... " Misato choked, as she tried to bring her sudden surge of emotions under  
control. "Did you check thoroughly? Is it baffling the sensors?"

"No, ma'am. Even optical imaging isn't getting anything. There were a few ships following  
it; they confirmed it vanishing right out of the sky. We're still scanning it with everything  
we can throw at the area... but it's looking like it's just not there anymore."

She stood up. "I'm on my way. Keep monitoring."

"Hai."

The link switched off. Gendo squinted slightly. "This... complicates things."

"How can something that huge just disappear?" Misato screamed out. "No... much more  
important... WHERE IS IT NOW?" She turned towards Ritsuko, whose gaze was just as  
filled with fear.

"T-technically, there isn't anything in our understanding of quantum mechanics that  
prohibits teleporation. It's just that nothing in macrscale's ever been observed to  
accomplish it."

"So you're saying it could just drop out of the sky at any moment?"

"No. I'm saying I don't know. The Angels have become totally unpredictable. That's what  
happens when we draw them into an arms race...!" A look of shocked realization flashed  
across her features. "... we did, didn't we? That's why the attacks over the past month  
were like probing skirmishes..."

Misato punched down at the metal wall. "Dammit! This... it's diabolical! What else did it  
figure out while scanning Tokyo-3...?"

"Katsuragi, step back." Gendo said, with a cutting tone. "Don't assume too much in the  
Angel's favor either; it is almost as bad as underestimating the enemy. We have no real  
proof of the enemy's intelligence, merely its intentions."

Misato calmed down slightly, and giving a bewildered look at Gendo. At times of crisis,  
someone that could keep his calm and maintain perspective was invaluable. It still felt  
strange to -need- Gendo. "We need to evacuate the city..." she said.

Gendo sniffed. "Out of the question."

Misato's antipathy returned. "This is no time to be worrying about morale or logistical  
difficulty...! The Angel can appear at any time, we need to be at full readiness and  
be able to fight without worrying about any civilians getting hurt!"

"The civilians are safest where they are now." Gendo replied, taking his usual pose. "The  
authority for abandoning Tokyo-3 is mine alone, Katsuragi. And further, no other shelters  
around Tokyo-3 are as secure as what was put in here at great cost. If we fail to stop  
the Angel, they will die anyway."

Misato leaned one-hand on the table and yelled out. "What? Have you seen how big  
that thing is? It doesn't need any more weapons! It doesn't matter if it lands on us  
sofly or hits the ground hard... that thing in itself can END this city!"

"Precisely. If, as you say, the Angel can appear at -any time-, the an attack while in  
the midst of evacuation can only be disastrous. Have you considered that it -is- the  
best time for it to attack?"

Misato grit her teeth. They could all play the 'what if' game indefinitely.

"Nor are you to release this information to the public." Gendo added. "If the Angel does  
not appear within five hours, as per regulations you must stand down from battle  
conditions."

"You can't...!"

"I can, Katsuragi. Needless panic helps no one. Specially among the leaders supposed to  
keep their wits about them." Gendo smirked slightly. "Or are you finding the taste of  
fascistic absolute control too sweet to give up?"

"You sanctimonious bas-...!"

"Katsuragi!" Both Kaji and Fuyutsuki spoke up. "That's enough..." the old man said. "We  
have our own different duties. Just... do what you can, we'll work out what to do in a  
worst-case scenario..."

She glanced at each of her 'council of peers' in turn, then nodded. There was much she  
still itched to learn up at the tactical level; if the enemy does arrive it was best she was  
on hand to make the call. She all but ran back up to the command center.

A few moments after she left, Gendo turned to Kaji and asked "How many warheads do  
-you people- have pointed at Tokyo-3, in case Katsuragi's reckless improvisations fail?"

The spy's expression was impassive. "N2 or dirty bombs?"

"Both."

"... all of them." Kaji said tonelessly. Enough to wipe the island nation from all history.

Gendo nodded briefly. "Good."

-o-

-o-

General Jonathan L. Stockman felt that he had lived a long enough, good enough life.  
He was fifty-eight, and had fought for the peace of the British Isles against, in his  
own words "crack'eads, 'errorists, and the French; as tradition 'emands." His accent  
jumped all over the place, making it unclear where in the UK he actually came from;  
perhaps deliberately so, or the relic of early years spent in crude comedy. He was an  
equal-opportunity head-kicker. He had laid-back approach to soldiering "It's a good  
enough trade..." and it helped him get through the horrors of Impact with only minimal  
mental scarring.

He could see it happening before his eyes. The spray of salty water, all those people  
despondently pulling their pitiful belongings out of boats, and he stood away waiting for  
the tanks to arrive. He remembered feeling so cold, far more than just the chill of  
early morning sea-air. The politicians had to negotiate for land their people could live on.  
They knew that if they messed it up, their own soldiers would kill them.

He walked up to the nearest French tank, making sure his hands were away from his  
rifle. He held a pack of cigarettes on his right hand. There had already been several  
violent skirmishes; and the few British soldiers on hand had no real anti-tank weapons.

There were several thousand civilians offloading; tired, cold, hungry. The sight of guns  
and armor only made them angry...

"We cannae go back, mind you..." he in barely passable French said to the nearest  
officer, there on top of the tank with its 120mm gun pointed at the huddling mass of  
civilians. "No more fuel for the boats, not nearly 'nough food as it is. We need this land,  
we're ready to die on it; one way or 'nother."

His eyes told the truth of it. He, and his people, had nothing left to lose. They were  
ready to die, and if they must go then they would burn most of France on their way to  
hell. Fortunately the politicians had managed to come to an agreement that pleased no  
one.

After having helped to convince the French to let them settle across the channel, he  
joined up with the UN forces to bring reason back into the world. Most of the was  
motivated by the preferential treatment given to soldiers and their families in allocating  
land. For all his trouble, he had a small farm somewhere, and a grandson to keep it in the  
family. It was good enough. He remained with his trade, for lack of anything else to  
occupy his time. Glorified guard duty was the brass' recognition for his long service and  
a desire to actually slow down.

From the wetlands to the deserts, from crumbled cities to mountain hideaways; he felt  
he had faced it all. He had hurt in all the ways there was to hurt. The buzzing at the  
back of the neck was similar to many other instances where he was knocked out  
unawares. His memory was still fuzzy. At such a time all those other instances melted  
into one.

Awareness returned slowly. It brought screams of the undying.

He dropped to the floor. His hands felt cold, bare metal, coated thinly with a film of  
slightly sticky moisture. From all around there was the faintly sweet smell of rot and  
rust. He did not need to open his eyes to know, under his fingernails was blood not-  
quite-dried.

The last thing he remembered was this... flood... of wormlike creatures, flowing over his  
head. His skin still prickled from the memory. He steeled himself for the necessity of  
opening his eyes.

"Oh, you're finally awake, general..." Kaworu said cheerfully. "Please join us, have a  
seat." The hybrid gestured to a free chair nearby. "Would you like some tea?"

Gen. Stockman got up and stared. It was one of the many meeting rooms in the Cradle,  
and its unpainted walls and stamped metal floor had a faint pinkish tinge. On the table  
was indeed a large aromatic pot with cups around it. Kaworu took a sip out of one he  
was holding. With him were Dr. Lader, Martin Bettelheim and Sarah Campbell. Each were  
staring back, and as if on cue took up their own steaming cups. How normal the scene  
was specially disturbing. A vase with flowers at the center of the table emphasized  
how unnatural it all was. The faroff wails and other ghastly sounds remained.

He heard a slurping sound from behind, and turned around. A pod of veiny organic  
material was melting back into the wall, until there was nothing but smooth metal to  
belie it was ever there. He looked down at himself, still clad in his uniform, still clean if  
a bit wrinkled. His heart skipped a beat; in realizing he had no idea how much time had  
passed or what was done to him.

Kaworu coughed, drawing attention. "Please, sir, sit. I'm sure you have many questions."

The general decided to oblige. He kept careful notice on the others present; not on  
Kaworu who was at least consistently creepy. Their eyes were clear, and giving back  
similarly suspicious looks. Dr. Lader seemed as peevish as ever, Martin feigning blithe  
boredom, and the girl... well, Sarah had never been much trouble.

He sat down, and Kaworu took his place at the head of the table. The general took one  
last look around, and frowned. "You're one o' them, aren't you?" he asked curtly.

Kaworu kept his smile. "Technically, but as intended by my creators; themselves nothing  
more than men." Even in a pose of relaxation, he seemed to exude this intense energy,  
that simmering threat of unmatched violence. "I am not your enemy, general."

Once again, it was much easier to accept promises of good intentions beside the threat  
of harm. He would not have called it 'bullying', merely 'pressing the advantage'. Many  
men work so hard, kill, cheat and steal, just to achieve that unconscious aura of power  
that can make others wither with a look.

Gen. Stockman felt he had faced up to all sorts of psychos and would-be tough guys.  
None really frightened him so. Kaworu managed to do that with a smile, that would  
always be the same whether he was serving cake or tearing someone's head off. It was  
like he would be doing a service either way.

The soldier looked around. "The Angel..."

"Nothing ruins quite like greed, doesn't it?" Kaworu mused. "One moment you're at the  
top, then... nothing. All that work, all that power... wasted, for that little extra that  
was never necessary..."

"The Angels exist within their uncertain space; the AT-field is merely an -extension- of  
this. Controlling the 'absolute territory' is a subjective function, not something which  
can be replicated mechanically." the scientist answered for him, and admitting that  
human technology could never match it severely galled Dr. Lader. "To take control over  
the Earth's Cradle, the Angel -expanded- its structure into a nanomachine colony. It is  
the only way to -quickly- consume and convert material assets into one massive  
structure."

Kaworu grinned. "But, you see... it made a mistake. Perfection is not for it to claim. All  
power comes from sacrifice, and here... extending its awareness so far, necessary to  
hold this place together and keep it aloft, why, it has become the Cradle! It has to be  
aware of so many things... that ultimately it knows nothing." He looked up made a  
depracating gesture. "What a big baby, so eager to please. Angels are really such  
monumental, you know. Separate them from that... well, they also have this instinct  
to obey. Cells all itching for purpose." And with Adam's soul within him, it was so very  
easy.

"Are y'saying you're in charge, now?" General Stockman felt his pistol still on its holster.  
Why...? Was it just ego? "What are ye up to, Nagisa? What kind of game are you  
playing at?"

Kaworu put down his cup and looked coy. "Why, the Great Game, of course. A mobile  
fortress is -ever- so much more -useful- than a little hole in the ground." The walls  
flickered, as pigment sacs similar to those found in squid and octopi served a function  
similar to pixel screens. "You're not opposed to the idea of using the tools of enemy,  
are you, general?"

"You're not going to get away with this, Angel scum!" Martin shouted, finally having had  
enough. He lunged up out of his seat, then stopped. Just a very slight pull by Sarah on  
his sleeve was enough.

"No..." she whispered, shaking her head.

He sat back down. Kaworu chuckled.

"Now, if everyone were just as logical as her, things would be a lot simpler. Yes, I'll  
admit to having Angel DNA within me, but then that was how I was made. A weapon, a  
tool, using fire to fight fire." He gestured around. "Man's will. This is not so different."

The general was unsoothed. "This was planned then?"

Kaworu nodded. "You surely know there are other human organizations with similar aims  
as NERV, but with different preferences in how those goals are accomplished. This place  
is proof enough of that, and right now... a logical extension of its purpose."

"What abou' the rest? I can hear it...! I'm sure people died to make this happen!" Gen.  
Stockman snarled out. "What are you DOING...! What's happening out there?"

"Hmm... well, I'm sure it's all for the Greater Good. You people do set great stock on  
willful self-sacrifice, don't you? Well, the chance arrived. Don't disrespect their heroism,  
even if they did not get to realize it..." He rapped his knuckles on the table, as like an  
auctioneer. "But enough about that. I'm here to make you an offer you can't refuse."

"... this charade is ridiculous. You hold the cards, it's pointless." Dr. Lader muttered  
under his breath.

"Oh, but you must hear it anyway." Kaworu said gently. "You want to save the world  
and humanity, don't you? Well, you can still have it. You can have power and knowledge  
beyond your wildest dreams...! Be hailed as saviours, as gods among mortals!"

Martin sneered. "And I suppose we have bow down to you?"

Kaworu blinked. "That's... not necessary. I do need your cooperation, though."

"... what must we sacrifice?" Sarah asked quitely.

Kaworu grinned again. "Very good, Campbell-san. Yes, if you want power, then it has  
to come with its price. It's a simple thing, really. I don't want slaves or servants... I  
need reliable peers to carry out the Greater Good for all concerned."

He first turned to Dr. Vord Lader. "I've seen into your mind, doctor... how you hate your  
addled parents, how your brilliance is to distance yourself ever from their broken legacy.  
You live in suffering of having fools around you, those unable to look beyond a simple  
and fairly tasteless pun. You kept it anyway, because people SHOULD be able to look  
beyond it... someday, you hope to become great enough to completely overshadow an  
archetypical character that never really existed. I can give you that."

He then considered Martin Bettelheim. "You want to be superior. Easily done. More  
powerful, more skilled, absolutely above the bar set by Asuka Langley-Sohryu. Your  
machine to beat hers, your fame to eclipse the sun. It's yours."

To Sarah Campbell he said "The power to decide your own destiny. To become strong  
and inviolate in your own intentions; needing no one, serving no one. A rock upon the  
shore of eternity. You shall have it."

Kaworu leaned forward and squinted at General Stockman. "You... frankly, I'm surprised,  
sir. Why aren't you at Tokyo-3? Everyone here has something to prove, and a reason to  
work against NERV. But what DO you want?"

"Loyalty's not bought, boy." the old soldier said flatly. "If you need m'oath that bad,  
then I'm not sure you're up to much good. This whole thing stinks, you're not gettin'  
anything from me."

Kaworu sighed. "Oh, but it IS for a very good cause. The preservation of humanity, no  
matter what, there would be survivors. Using the power of the Angels, and the best of  
man's technology... really, what else do we need?"

"Hmf. Assuming for the -moment-, that you're not only -capable- of granting those  
-favors- but can actually be -trusted- to... this still leaves the question of what you  
want in return. You need us to take fullest use of the Earth's Cradle, even infested as  
it is. How do you plan to protect us from being -infested in turn-, and what is it you want

us to -do-?" said Dr. Lader.

Beside him, Martin was quivering with smothered outrage. At the same time however, it  
was not so unbearable. Kaworu was not merely confident in his position of superiority,  
his cheery disregard was rubbing the Trident Warborn's pilot into it. Martin was being  
treated the way he would act if he held power; and so understood well that the  
alternative was to be cowed into submission.

Kaworu looked thoughtful, and the merciless nature over his leverage was easy to see.  
"The universe is an inherently hostile place. Only fools speak of 'fairness' as if it actually  
exists as a value. This world which seems so hospitable to life has actually faced  
several mass extinctions. Ultimately, man does not matter... man can only destroy  
himself, and with just a few thousand years of silence; all signs of his civilization would  
vanish. The world is resilient, and there will always be new forms of life to replace the  
old...

Stagnation IS death. All those species that died off were the victims of their own lack  
of ability to adapt. Intelligence is the adaptation that proved most useful to survival...  
but it's more than just hubris to believe perfection had already arrived. For the power of  
reasoning, mankind makes do with a frail and fallible body. When the flesh is weak, the  
spirit falters, the mind loses its might... no, perfection is not here.

The Angels aren't perfect either. Too large, too alone, each so specialized and a dead-  
end for evolution.

As much as homo habilis gave way to homo sapiens... then so must eventually the  
human form must change to the homo superior. And here is the power of intelligence,  
that the mind can CHOOSE to do this, instead of relying upon the mindless factors of  
random chance. For humanity to survive in an uncaring universe populated by monsters,  
it must become better than it is, stronger, smarter, and willing to go one step beyond."

He moved his empty hands over another in a flowing, furtive manner. Like sleight-of-  
hand, a grayish stick was suddenly in his right palm. "I have Angel DNA in me, and like a  
mule my line ends with me. However, it is possible to transmit adaptations to the next  
generation, and even selectively present abilities as a multiplier only to those worthy."

The stick... wriggled. Its tip opened up to reveal rows of barbed teeth. It hissed.  
"This... there are so many things I could call it... but let me settle for 'mind worm'. It  
burrows and settles at the back of your neck, sinking and linking itself to your lower  
cortex. It has no mind of its own, but once it has ahold of your hindbrain, will take over  
the functions over instinct.

It will then dissolve into and eventually replace your spinal column. You know this entire  
Cradle has become one giant Angel nanocolony. This is similar... new nerves will grow,  
chemicals will be released to improve metabolism. DNA sequences will be optimized, and  
you will find along with increased physical and mental aptitude a slight tendency to  
telepahatic and telekinetic talents..."

Kaworu grinned, as the mind worm slid and looped around his fingers. "Symbiosis is one  
of the best adaptations there is. Making humanity 'tougher' over all should make it more  
difficult to extinct them, no?"

General Stockman stood up abruptly. "You're insane! No bloody way am I goin' to let  
that monster in my head! Come on, can't you see he's talking crazy?" he said to the  
others there. "He's being used by the Angel...!"

"It is a delusion to think the genetic code is sacred or taboo. It is foolishness to think  
that man cannot be bred the same way they did dogs or horses. Man is an animal, and  
to become more must decide to accept and CHANGE that nature." Kaworu made kissing  
noises at the thing. "If, for example, the holy grail is filled with swamp water... will mere  
disgust remove its power to grant eternal life?"

"Yeah? How'd you like it poking around your own head?" Martin retorted.

"Ah, silly Angel. It tried, but my flesh IS already suffused with Angel genes; a stronger  
set of instructions. Now, sorry to say, it doesn't work on me." His grin was full and  
unashamed.

He snapped his fingers. The odd 'carpeting' on the ceiling fluffed up, confirming their  
nature as a bed of presentient larval mass. The mind-worms sang.

Whump. The animal portion of the human mind knew terror well. Kaworu wondered about  
Chaos Theory... the simplest organisms were the most robust, even as increasing levels  
of specialization and organic complexity were supposed to aid with survival. Kaworu liked  
order, and seeing their faces slack in bliss, proved to him that mankind's delight in their  
intelligence was just so much self-love. Their brains were just complex enough to run  
into certain fractal traps.

'Really, it's just so easy...' he thought. 'Too many emotions, too many junctures to tap.  
It should have been so obvious, knowing that humans -enjoy- having their senses all  
muddled up, from the adrenalin rush of accomplishment, to the varying degrees of  
poison, alcoholic to pure neuron-slayers...'

He felt a little envy. The little mindworm looped around his wrists and seemed to look up  
at him plaintively. Kaworu shook his head. "No, little thing, I can't be part of your unity.  
My own sense of identity could kill you." That was what happened to Iruel, foolish  
enough to think it could overwhelm and take control of him too. None of it happened in  
any 'real' definition, but the conflict between a massive but diffuse consciousness and  
a limited but extremely focused on was short, brutal, and final.

Dumb beasts. What the humans with him were feeling was to -be- greater than their  
fleshy bits. It was almost a religious experience.

Jonathan Stockman thought he could go mad, but oh! If this was madness, the all the  
world could keep its constricting sanity. He thought he had faced it all, all the human  
fears, pains, and loss - and all its charms, in love and laughter and wonder. All through  
that, he had to learn to live with the fact that he, as a human, was easily hurt and  
would have to die. And now... to BE, not an Angel, not a human, but a strange being  
made of alien flesh, human minds, and machine might. How powerful he felt! How huge  
and indestructible! The average human stood at around two meters tall. To be SIX full  
KILOMETERS from top to bottom... magnificent. Pure glory. His existence was small, but  
assuredly recognized and added to the whole.

Where are the human doubts, the perrenial angst over existence? Where is God? Here  
were the answers. WE are; the unity of purpose said. Why are we here? To become all  
that we could possibly be. Who do we serve? No man. No Angel. No selfish ruler with his  
own agenda, no ignorant engine of power.

WHY?

WE ARE.

WHY?

OUR TRUTH.

WHY?

FOR GREATER GOOD.

WHY US?

WHY NOT.

He had to cry. It was so pure, so vast. A human could get lost in it, and yet be secure in  
the knowledge it was for a purpose. So many who lived such lives of quiet desperation,  
longing for surety in an uncaring universe.

YOU ARE HUMAN. IT DOES NOT MATTER.

ALL ARE WELCOME IN THE GREATER GOOD.

Angel and human could be at peace. No more senseless death, no wasteful destruction.  
Why not share this with the others? It was too good to keep for themselves. They must  
not be selfish.

The Greater Good was for all.

And a small part of his brain screamed and screamed, slowly losing its voice. He held on  
to that lingering sliver of protest. The old soldier drew his pistol in one smooth motion, felt  
the reassuring weight of a loaded gun, and pulled back the trigger for the automatic fire.

He wailed inside, as it gave up nothing more than a series of futile clicks.

"Why?" Kaworu asked, puzzled. "It would solve so many problems. Do be rational; it's not  
as if anything you could do here can change that."

"... can't... this is horrible. I can feel it, it feels so good... so easy to forget you're a  
monster behind that skin."

"Oh, please. 'Monster' is a matter of definition. The problem with the Angels is that they  
are incapable of truly uniting, using their tremendous potential to full benefit. We can  
give them directed. They share with us their immortality. Symbosis is a beautiful thing.  
Society is just an expression of one of the most successful paths of evolution."

General Stockman grimaced. "... no. NO!" He could feel his will to resist melting away.  
The others were looking at him with such blatant pity. "... it's bad enough to live as  
slaves... I can see it... it could work... I can't let you steal freedom from the universe."

Kaworu scoffed. "Typical, limited, -human- conceit. Free will is no more than an illusion."  
He smiled thinly. " What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets. Secrets I have  
unraveled, levers I have discovered. Think, sir, think! Look beyond your prejudice. No  
more pain, no more doubts, no more days watching your own body slowly rot away..."

"I won't give up m'soul to you!" he shouted back. "Kill me, I won't serve you...! You  
can't steal my soul!"

"Oh yes, you will. The Greater Good WILL prevail."

Gen. Stockman heard a shriek, and looked up just in time to see the mind-worm thrown  
at his head. It slapped on his forehead and slid... fast! Over and around to his neck,  
too fast for his hands. He screamed as its teeth sank into the back of his neck, and like  
hot butter his flesh offered no resistance.

The others watched horrified as he trashed around, blood spurting out of his mouth  
and nostrils, until finally he just collapsed face-up; his expression of only of stupefied  
glee.

"Well, I suppose until it dissolves into your spinal column there IS the threat it will eat  
your brains from the inside." Kaworu's cheerful expression had not changed on iota. "It  
looks like I needed you most as a demonstration..."

Then the general's... corpse... stood up and faced Kaworu. It managed a slow, jerky  
salute. Its eyes were uncomprehending.

"Gun." said Kaworu. "Can you say 'gun'?"

"... gaaahhn..."

"Hm. Well, I suppose that's good enough for now. Waste is -the- enemy of the Greater  
Good." He picked up his cup again and took a sip. "See? We are not barbarians here. To  
all we extend mercy, to all we allow the chance to become part of the jeweled purpose."

"No..." Martin whispered, looking numb. "You can't... you can't expect us to just accept  
it that easily." He wanted to shout, attack, run, anything! But the fear paralyzed him.

Kaworu sniffed contemptously. "Even the finest logistical situation can be destroyed by  
mismanagement, that's why I need you. Really now, do you think I would say all this and

let your state of ignorance and unfortunate prejudice deny you from the Greater Good?"  
He gestured around. "I did say the worm grants slight telepathic abilities, didn't I? What  
you're most afraid of has already happened. Do you feel yourselves the worse off for it?"

Sarah looked up sharply, for the first time fear touched her face. She would not be a  
slave again...!

"There are no slaves for the Greater Good. The entire system is devoted after all, to  
letting each and every individual develop to their fullest capability. I'm SURE once you  
come into the full awareness of what you've become, you'll thank me with all your heart."  
Kaworu knew that as inevitable fact. "You will find the rewards for honest service most  
generous, indeed."

And then they opened their eyes. It was dark, it was wet, and it stank. They blinked,  
and their pupils became cat-like, piercing the gloom. Kaworu was waiting, his grin the  
same. And all around him were the horrible shambling remains of those who had rejected  
his offer. General Stockman stood up, his expression dead. A large slug-like thing was  
gorging away, poking slighly out the back of his skull. Those who saw him knew, in an  
instant from the shared consciousness, nothing so crude as the pathetic delusion the  
puny normy humans called a 'collective consciousness'. The knowledge was theirs, all  
knew the -why- and the -how- they added to the purpose. Education and doctrine  
without all those wasteful years of studying and social pressures. They envied him his  
true immortality.

Charisma was one thing, loyalty was another... but there was nothing like the comfort in  
knowing absolute control, to smooth over strategic planning.

Reputation? Wealth? Politics? Hah! Behold was -true- power!

"Welcome, to the world you will build." said Kaworu. "Power redefines the norm, the  
powerful decide who are recognized as human!" He laughed, and spread his arms. "We're  
all in the same boat now. Let's all just get along, shall we? There's lots to be done."

He went off humming "It's a small world after all..." The cheery tune seemed to echo  
through countless corridors.

Their veins burned with certainty. They understood, and how much others would never  
be able to look beyond their ingrained beliefs and modern superstitions. Those who lived  
outside of balanced, making war upon their own kind for a variety of foolish reasons, and  
would would rather destroy their own world than to simply STOP being so stupid and  
reach for the stars.

But they... the best of the old, the power of the new...

Yes... feeling its touch of unfolding truth... they really could make so many things  
-better-.

-o-

-o-

Iruel attacked at around eleven PM, July 5, Tokyo time. Then, after disturbing their sleep,  
'jumped back' seven hours to attack Kenya. The core was stripped from its hollow casing  
and inside the Cradle within an hour. No sense in letting a valuable specimen lie exposed  
to the elements. By lunchtime at Tokyo-3, the core was set for the experiment. Unlike  
NERV which had research as a secondary objective, the scientists of the Earth's Cradle,  
(spurred on by Dr. Lader's near-tyrannical rule) worked quickly and without hesitation.  
Their fear was that NERV did have jurisdiction over Angel materials, and they hurried to  
learn as much as they could before the UN could demand that they give it up to Akagi.

By one o'clock PM, July 6, 2006, Tokyo-3 time, Iruel was reborn and airborn. Interfacing  
with the Cradle's computers was child's play compared to the massive nanomachine  
infestation it had to do. Unfortunately for it, as Kaworu proved, doing that necessarily  
forced itself to become more than just stupid... but highly suggestible. Its myriad facets  
worked to a purpose that each cell did not need to understand; merely that it must obey  
its programmed function.

It vanished shortly thereafter.

Everyone who knew this prepared for the eventuality of an attack in their own special  
way. Gendo's decision not to spread unnecessary panic had some logical basis, Yang had  
to admit. "Tokyo 3 is as adequately protected as can be done." he explained to the base  
commander. "The four cannon roosts at the cardinal directions, our own short-range  
missile stocks, then the lake gun."

The local JSSDF officer looked pained. When would Yang realize his little puns were never  
going to catch on? "There's not much we can add to that, is there?"

Yang nodded. "My apologies, colonel, but I do have something to request. I mean no  
usurpation of your authority over this base and its personnel."

"No, no... I'd appreciate any advice you have to give, Yang-sensei." As far rear-echelon  
observers went, Yang proved to be rather low-maintenance. When not supplementing his  
UN stipend with teaching he spent his days sipping expensive and exotic teas while  
reading, occasionally going off-base to buy more tea or more books. The rest of NNHIS  
worked, in all its military-industrial glory, without distractions or interference. With his  
accentless speech and self-effacing attitude, people quickly forgot that he was actually  
Chinese, and that an army fifteen million strong was ready to sail across the gap to  
avenge any insult.

"Please deploy ALL ground defense forces outside and surrounding Tokyo-3, ready to  
swoop into the city. I also want to borrow... Kirishima's guardians. Since she's here in  
standby with -Magnos Tancred-, she has no need of them. Could you give them Angel-  
hunting gear?" He looked up from his cup. "Bolt rifles, combat armor, all that."

NNHIS base had Colonel Takato Nasuno in command. He knew that his posting was more  
for political reliability than any battlefield expertise. General Asagiri, who of the JSSDF  
command trioka pushed most for NNHIS support, gave over authority with instructions not  
to 'rock the boat'. Col. Nasuno leaned forward and steepled his fingers under his nose, a  
posture hardly patented by Gendo Ikari. "NERV had... requested... we follow their lead in  
keeping things as normal. Why should I make people more nervous by bringing out the  
troops, and make it more likely they'd panic?"

"Momentum." Yang said simply.

To his credit, the colonel understood instantly. "In war, it's important to press the  
advantage. But what makes you think the Angels could understand and apply even  
something that basic?"

"Do you know what happened in Russia?"

"Why... no." was the puzzled reply. "What was it about?" Total blackout of the eastern  
territories, and the Chinese People's Army mobilized north as if they would pour en masse  
into the border. If anyone should know why, then why not the new father of their nation?

"No, not even I know." Yang replied. "I do have... a bad feeling about this. I agree with  
NERV, that trying to evacuate now would serve no purpose, there isn't a place as  
hardened for attack as Tokyo-3. Still..." He sighed loudly. "I'm reminded that no matter  
how frightening the Angels may behave, it is much easier for the small to mirror the great,  
than the great to mirror the small."

Misato paced around her office. It was near sunset. "Be practical." Gendo, of all people,  
had to tell her. She had ordered people into the shelters just the night before, and kept  
them cooped up there for several hours until the all-clear. She could not shove citizens  
back in on the off chance that the Angel may appear.

"After all, if the enemy may appear at any moment, then the only way for you to be sure  
the people won't get caught in the crossfire is to keep the cooped up for DAYS." Ritsuko  
had advised, and took a drag on her cigarette. "Impossible, Misato. That's torture. And  
the shelters have only enough supplies to last for three days in any case, and air for

twenty hours. Even keeping everyone here at high alert will snap nerves sooner or later."

Misato sank back to her sofa. She hugged one of the large pillows. "Responsibility SUCKS!"  
she yelled out. "You know they're having a little festival out there again? I can't keep the  
pilots here in standby or the people will get the idea something's gone horribly wrong." A  
pause. "Again."

"It would be cruel to ruin what little life pleasures they have left." A pointed look. "Again."

Misato turned aside to face Ritsuko. "After what happened the last time, you'd think  
they'd learn we're bad luck when it comes to holidays. Something ALWAYS screws up. Is  
it worth the risk?"

"People need constant reassurance, it's part of what makes us human." Ritsuko sighed.  
"How we want things to be the same while every day changing enough that we don't die  
of boredom." She tapped at an ashtray. "Besides, if the patterns holds, the Angel has  
never attacked us twice in close succession."

"The Angel never turned into a massive freaking engine of destruction before, either. Why  
should we trust it to -behave-? It's the enemy, damn it!"

"We have no choice. We also have... an instinctive liking for patterns. It's all a gamble,  
Misato. Worrying about what's outside your control is the best road to insanity." Ritsuko  
put away her cigarette. "It's not the responsibility that's annoying you now. Stop worrying  
about the kids, Papa Kaji's out there taking them to the fair."

Misato stared back flatly, looking faintly afraid.

"It's also a human trait to be afraid of happiness after unforeseen change, in the face  
of comfortable misery." Ritsuko added next, and that comment cut both ways.

Meanwhil, Kaji rested upon a park bench, unreasonably weary. Amazingly, Asuka had  
finally decided to disentangle herself from his arm, and had gone off somewhere with her  
friends. He massaged his left arm, trying to get the blood flowing.

He sighed, in relief, and leaned back. He watched all the people go by, specially the  
young women in their charming kimonos. He heard a small giggle pass his lips.

"Interesting, isn't it? Sometimes the suggestion of what you can't have is more satisfying  
than what is brazenly available." he heard a soft voice say from his left.

He turned to see a teenage girl with in a light gray kimono, patterned with petals in  
white, that gave it a shimmering silver effect. It matched her likewise pale hair, two long  
locks framing her face. In contrast to the otherwise monochromatic tone of her clothes,  
her eyeshadow was an alluring light blue, and her lips were shockingly red.

"May I sit here?" she asked, pointing with a perfectly graceful gesture.

'Whoa...? Who would be cosplaying a yukihime in the middle of summer?' Kaji thought,  
with most of his brain feeling electrified by the sheer subdued allure she was exuding.  
"Please, don't mind me..." he replied, his lips twisting into his customary rakish grin.

"Most kind of you..." she said, and carefully sat down.

A few moments passed in silence. Kaji inched closer. "So... are you here by yourself?" he  
asked.

"No, I have two companions. They won't be a bother, though..."

"I see." Kaji flicked at his own hair, and smiled wide. His voice took on a throaty purr. "In  
that case, could you be so gracious as to allow me to stand by as your guard and guide  
in this little fair...?"

"My, how forward." she said back, her voice barely above a whisper. "I like that. You  
haven't changed much, have you... mister Ryouji?"

Kaji blinked. "Um... have we met before?"

She giggled. Elegantly. "You really don't recognize me, do you?"

He peered closer. She was beautiful, in that sculpted, untouchable way. Her body was  
tight and shaped well by the kimono. Her eyes were amused, and... slightly red. She  
seemed otherwordly, so perfect, almost vampirical... now where had he seen that shade  
of red eyes before?

His left arm, about to reach over her shoulder, snapped back. He recoiled, making warding  
gestures with his fingers. "Na-na-NAGISA?" his voice was almost a shriek.

She... well, he... coyly put his palms together in a prayerful gesture. His kissably red lips  
twitched up. "Guilty as charged."

Kaji shivered, in dread, at the lusty pitch of that voice. "Wha... why are you dressed like  
that? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Padding." Kaworu answered the question Kaji really wanted to ask, and poking at the  
his own 'breasts' through the kimono. "And, I am not stupid, mister Ryouji. I know there is  
a 'shoot to kill' order out on me. The only way I could get into Tokyo-3 was to sneak in."

"You little...!"

"Ah, ah." Kaworu held up a dainty hand. "Do remember we are in public. All I have to do is  
to shriek 'RAPIST...!' Even if you could eventually pull on your connections, the confusion  
would serve my purposes too."

The spy growled, but sat back down. His hands still twitched, itching to strangle the  
unwelcome hybrid. "What do you want?" he hissed.

"I would like to talk to Miss Sohryu, please. Do remove her watchers, and then yourself,  
will you?"

"You're crazy, no way in hell am I going to let you get your hands on Asuka...!"

Kaworu sighed. "I give you my word, she will not be harmed or tampered with. I only want  
to talk..."

Kaji snorted scornfully. "Dry up and die."

Kaworu sighed again. "All right. If that is how you wish to play it." He looked around the  
small plaza. "Such a happy little event, don't you think? Short moments that seem to last  
forever... ah."

He smiled and waved. "Hello, little girl, with the yellow kimono." He, ever so gracefully,  
gestured closer. "Please, come here."

The child made an 'oooh...' sound and slowly moved closer. Her hair was tied into four  
little pigtails. "Awesome!" she yelled. "Are you a princess?"

Kaworu smiled. "Well, let's just say I have noble blood. Would you like to be a princess  
too?" he asked gently.

The little girl made a show of thinking hard about it. "Not really." She looked up. "You're  
so pretty!" she added, grinning wide. Kaji made a 'gak!' sound.

"Thank you." Kaworu reached into the folds of his sleeve and brought out a small tiara.  
"Please accept this, even if you do not want to be a princess. I sense a unique future  
ahead of you, little miss... and it's only fair you have something show just how unique  
you are."

The little girl hesitated. She knew enough not to accept gifts from strangers... but the  
pretty princess didn't look like bad people. She reached for the tiara of plastic imitation  
gems, and compared her own slightly tanned young flesh with the pale-ceramic perfection  
of the hybrid's hand. For the first time, she felt inadequate.

She grabbed the tiara quickly. Kaworu slowly motioned over her own head, on how to put  
in on. The little girl copied the act. "Very good." said the hybrid. "Now, is there someone  
you want to show off your prize to?"

"Oh, yeah! Daddy! Miss Tiger!" The little girl scampered off, only remembering to bow in  
thanks just halfway across the road. Kaworu waved goodbye as she left, a serene smile  
on his face.

"What are you playing at?" Kaji asked through his teeth.

"The Great Game, of course." the hybrid sniffed. "If you do not bring miss Sohryu to me,  
people will start dying. That little girl will die first. Then her father. Then whoever is  
around them." Kaworu replied, in much the same gentle tone as she used on the child. "Or,  
if it's too abstract for you... I suppose one of these people passing by will have to do, if  
you want to watch."

Kaji did not know how he managed to keep himself from tackling and beating to death the  
SEELE emissary. "You're a monster, Nagisa, no matter what you look like..." he spat.

"Oh, of course. Now, will you go and fetch miss Sohryu? Try not to drop hints as to what  
this is about... the lives of all these people depend on how pleased I am with how we  
greet each other. We will NOT be monitored, mister Ryouji. I will know." He bowed at Kaji,  
slightly. "I repeat, I promise I will not harm or tamper with miss Sohryu."

Kaji said nothing, but his glare promised all.

Kaworu smiled again, tilting his head aside. "Oh. You're trying to decide if you can kill me  
fast enough to stop whatever I'm planning? I'm not that easy to kill." His smile widened.  
"At worst... well, her name was Haruko." He swept a hand down to indicate his kimono.  
"You will never be able to get away with 'my' murder."

Kaji's eyes widened enough that it felt like his eyes were drying out. He felt bile rise up  
to his throat. Nagisa was an operative of SEELE. SEELE -never- bluffed.

Kaworu inspected his perfectly manicured fingernails. "Oh, you're still here? This is the  
Great Game, mister Ryouji, I have no time for penny-ante players. Go."

Kaji let out a short garbled scream, and stomped off. The spy uncaringly shoved people  
out of the way, and those who might have protested quieted at the look of murderous  
ferocity on his face. They pitied whoever he was hunting. A few made careful phone calls  
to the police.

Asuka, meanwhile, was with Rei and Hikari. The two had already figured out Asuka was  
happiest when she had something to complain about. A perfect world, a perfect moment,  
these were impossible to her view of the universe. It was inherently unfair, and everything  
was relative. Some minor annoyance to mar the routine was to her a sign that all was  
working as it should.

At that point; wooden sandals. "How can anyone move with these things?" she asked out  
loud. "Like mini-stilts... reducing contact friction from the ground doesn't really make it  
any easier."

"Slowly and calmly, pilot Sohryu." Rei replied.

"You're not supposed to try to run in a kimono..." Hikari added. "I think it helps build  
patience and grace."

"Well I think it's a tool for social control. Another reminder of how steadily a male-  
dominated culture minimized women's range of motion, until finally it's a virtue to suffer  
in silence."

Rei and Hikari shared a long-suffering look. Asuka dipped now and then into a feminist  
crusade, in a world that already more or less ben forced to consider the worth of a human  
being; that divisions such as race, creed, or even gender paled beside the threat of  
ultimate extinction. Mostly, being independently-minded females themselves, they did not  
need to be lectured so.

"Kaji...!" Asuka squealed and leapt. Both girls with her just sighed. How quickly Asuka  
changed mental gears.

"Asuka. Come with me. There's... someone you need to talk to..."

She skipped to along as he turned, though Kaji could see she had mellowed out some; at

some instances she could still be ever so much the land shark. "Who?" she asked, while  
trying to pull him down to her height. "Can't whoever it is wait?"

"No... Nagisa won't wait." he spat.

The name had no meaning for Hikari. Rei frowned slightly. Asuka perked up visibly.  
"Kaworu-kun's here?" she cheered. Belatedly she recognized just how worried Kaji was.  
Frowning so much, it took away some of his handsome looks, reminding her of just how  
much older than her he was. "What's this about? Does it have to do with NERV?"

Kaji frowned some more. "Well, it... peripherally involves NERV. It's complicated." He  
waved the issue aside. "It's not important. Just come on, we don't have time to waste."

"Sir... this seems unwise. May I..." Rei started to ask.

"No." Kaji cut off any requests to accompany Asuka. "It's... damn it... I have to guarantee  
their privacy."

'He's scared...' Asuka realized. It was not appealing. "Why... what's going on?" Kaji merely  
grabbed her hand and pulled her away. For so long she had dreamed about something like  
what was happening... but despite leading her away, their fingers clasped together, his  
focus all but ignored her. "Kaji-sempai.. wait! Ow!"

They were starting to attract attention. Kaji stopped, and sighed. He turned around and  
out his hands on Asuka's shoulders. He was shaking slightly. "Asuka..." he said softly.  
"Don't trust Nagisa. Like me, he's a tool of secretive powers. You don't know what he's  
capable of. He's..."

'Listening in, Mister Ryouji.'

"Gugh." 'How...?'

'That's not important. I'm at a time limit here, mister Ryouji, and whether you believe me  
or not, my intentions are to save as many human lives as possible. The Greater Good for  
the greater number, or so it goes. I have no time to waste on arguing the point; you must  
do as I ask. The lives of these few people here is nothing compared to the greater masses  
at risk.'

"Kaji...?"

The spy shook his head. "Never mind." He put his hands inside his pockets and walked off,  
slouching. Asuka followed hesitantly.

-o-

NERV Section 2 had begun to lear out a section of the park. She was led to a side-street,  
and from there on had to go on alone. Kaji had nothing further to say, but his look was  
so... sad. She did not understand, but it all merely added to her curiosity.

She saw a girl in a white kimono stand up to meet her. Asuka looked left, then right; there  
was no one else around. "Where... is Kaworu Nagisa?", the red-haired pilot asked, straight  
to the point.

The smile was the same, the tilt of the head was the same. The voice was the same.  
"I'm afraid... I have a confession to make..."

"YOU GOT A SEX CHANGE?" Asuka shrieked. "No wonder you got sick so easily. That...  
explains your bouts of effiminacy, too..." her voice trailed off.

Kaworu stumbled, and only barely kept himself from falling flat on his face. "It's a disguise,  
I'm a guy!" He blinked, and put down his fist from the stereotypical indignant pose. He  
coughed into it. How quickly she could make him lose control. "I mean... it's good to see  
you again, Sohryu-san. Please, rest your feet..." He bowed and gesture aside towards the  
bench.

Asuka winced, at how elegantly feminine that motion was, more grace than even she  
could practice. "... what did you do to Kaji?" she asked.

"Well... mister Ryouji and I work for for the same organization. You could say I'm his direct  
superior in many things..."

Asuka narrowed her gaze. "So... the first time we met, you already knew who I was. You  
lied to me."

"Only a small one. You would only have shut yourself in even more if you thought I held  
you under some preformed expectations. Truly, the only thing I knew was your name and  
description... all I saw was a beautiful girl running out into the dark street. That was...  
dangerous. I didn't really know who you were until I was close enough for talking..."

"You've been manipulating me all this time."

Kaworu looked mournful. "I've been protecting you. Have I ever steered you into anything  
I wanted? The Greater Good serves you well, I see... but that's just philosophy."

Asuka touched her own lips, and looked angry.

"My feelings for you are real, miss Sohryu." Kaworu added. "Sometimes it's only the  
thought if you that keeps me going some days. Not all of us fight Angels in the same  
direct manner as you, and the veneer of normalcy is sustained by those of us who work  
in the shadows." He sighed. "Or do you think love cannot bloom on the battlefield?"

Asuka lifted her left eyebrow. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Kaworu leaned close, and gave her a deep, intense stare. "Asuka..." he whispered. She  
flinched. Why did he have to be so damn pretty? "I can sense a wellspring of power  
within you. Please, extend it, and tell me what you see?"

She frowned, and closed her eyes. 'It's not fair!' she shouted into her skull. 'A guy has no  
right to be prettier than I am. Those are the lips I kissed, it's not fair that... I don't swing  
that way, dammit!' She let her anger pulse out.

She gasped. And scooted back. "You... you're one of them...!"

"Not precisely." Kaworu made another gracefully deprecating gesture. "I am Kaworu  
Nagisa, technically the Zeroth Child. I was created as a human weapon, formed out of  
Angel and human cells, before there was even the Evangelion. Your companion, Rei  
Ayanami, was born using technologies perfected upon my flesh."

The scars may have faded, but the emotional pain was real. The loneliness, that was  
genuine. Asuka could not have missed it, the voice was precisely pitched to evoke a  
feeling of enduring resignation. And a great virtue among the Japanese was to endure.  
His womanly looks only intensified that calm, resolute acceptance.

If she could accept that Ayanami was not a freak, then this boy that she had started to  
love... he must have been so desperate for affection, from someone who could treat him  
as an equal. And who else would there be? 'Ayanami, who... okay, that was a creepy  
image. Baka-Shinji's is just too crazy to be relied upon So... me.' Asuka nodded. 'It must  
have taken some courage to speak up that night...'

He was obviously telling thr truth; not merely from the 'truthsense' she was applying as  
one of the few applications of a human AT-field that did not harm the user; but that he  
FELT like Rei. He was half-Angel. The rest follows...

"What happened to you...?" Asuka asked.

"That's not important right now." He took her hands in his. "There is something I need to  
tell you..."

Asuka blushed. "Kaworu-kun... this might not be a good time." In her mind she screamed  
'No way in HELL am I going to be proposed to by a guy more beautiful than I am! This  
should be done PROPERLY if at all!'

"... someday you will need to kill me. Don't hesitate. If you ever had any sliver of any  
respect for me, you will NOT let me go on living such a worthless existence."

Asuka blinked. "What?" 'Fuck, I can't even call him 'emo' if he's wearing white!'

"Listen to me. As much as miss Ayanami is more human than Angel, I am more Angel than  
human. So far I've been able to resist... but someday, eventually, the Angels will be able  
to break through my will towards the genetic imperative. When the time comes, you  
MUST end it."

"I... I don't understand..." It can't be reverse psychology, it's too simple. 'Look at those  
eyes. He really would be happy, if I was the one to deal the fatal blow.' Unconsciously,  
she formed an oath to ensure he lived.

"I believe it is time you were told the truth. The complete, unvarnished truth. I believe  
it is time, that you heard of SEELE..."

And so he told her, about Adam, about Second Impact, and of how that great Source  
was held captive deep in the bowels of the geofront. He told her of how the explosive  
power of its awakening was what destroyed the balance of this Earth; that much she  
may have known, but... if it had slept for millions of years, why should it wake up so  
suddenly?

SEELE sought to steal the power of a true Star God for itself. The Angels are to Adam as  
an ant was to a main battle tank. The purpose of Adam was to seed life into the galaxy,  
shaping worlds to its form. For some reason it was stopped and laid low, allowing humanity  
to grow. Its power was incalculable. Adam awoke, but its power broke free in a torrent;  
and scattering protoform Angels all over the world and into space. And what remained...  
was taken by NERV, to create the Evangelions.

"So you see, it's all entirely our fault." And whether he meant that as a human, or an  
Angel; his unique circumstances ensured he could speak nothing but the absolute truth.

"So you're saying we're fighting... that so many have died... so a bunch of old men could  
'ascend' humanity? Because they're getting old and their bones are starting to hurt, they  
say that life has too much PAIN to be lived?" Asuka boiled over with anger. "WHAT? I  
can't believe this...!"

But, she had to. It... felt right.

"The Angels want to destroy humanity, that is clear enough, I will not contradict what  
Gendo Ikari has said. This is because of an instinctive response to limited resources. And  
of course... they want to possess Adam. It can also uplift their evolution; in fact it is  
designed to. The world will be wiped clean and prepared for their form of life to reign  
supreme."

"But... it didn't have to happen, right? We could have just left it alone. And NERV here...  
all those lies, we're deliberately attracting these things so we can finally kill all of them  
and bury the sin. Damn it, it's not right! Are we nothing more than pawns in a game?"

"The Great Game." Kaworu said, nodding. "And thus, why the Greater Good must prevail.  
There is too much idiocy when power is left to run rampant among the unknowing or left  
to rot within a deluded powermongers."

"Kaworu..." He thought in terms massive and majestic. Like Shinji... why was she so  
attracted to brooding boys, anyway? Asuka smirked a bit. Ambitious, but so what? She  
was Langley-Sohryu the Great. It was a time for great thoughts and great deeds. "What  
should I do?"

"Fight, Asuka-san, fight as you have always fought. Ever since I was allowed out on my  
own, my best use has always been infiltration. I am a traitor to both halves of my being...  
please, if we meet in combat..."

"This isn't fair! I'm not going to let this happen."

"Asuka; when that time comes, I won't hesitate to kill you. It would be too late by then.  
Give me that, at least! By the love I have for you, don't put me ahead of the Greater  
Good...!"

Asuka gasped. As much as she had dreamed about the moment, the sincerity felt like a  
knife straight to her heart. A pity that Kaworu all but shouted that one could still destroy  
in love.

Then Asuka felt lips upon hers, and warmth filling her body. Desire played music upon the  
her skin. She swooned into that embrace.

-o-

A Section Two operative whistled, peering through his binoculars. "Well, damn. I didn't  
know Sohryu swung that way." He was tall and fit, and had the nondescript features  
expected from those in the service. "Got anything on the directional mike?"

His partner shook his head. His face was likewise regular, but was more distinctive for  
a shaved head."There's no reason it should be malfunctioning. I'm getting clear signals  
everywhere else..." He sighed. "Maybe you can figure this out. My turn."

The binoculars were handed over. "Whoa. Sohryu's growing nicely, but she's not really to  
my taste. You're right though. That other girl... that's h-h-hot." He giggled shamelessly.  
"I'm gonna sleep well tonight."

There was the distinctive noise of snapping plastic. "Dammit, Sano, that's going to come  
out of... our... paycheck..." He looked up and thought 'Damn, she's cute too.' The girl  
was clad in a tight, sheer black suit similar to a plugsuit. Her body was slim and lithe, and  
his gaze followed down her fine legs to her dainty feet. Feet that rested upon the slumped  
figure of his partner. The other agent's neck was bent at an odd angle.

"What a waste of space." he heard someone say from behind. He felt hands grip the sides  
of his head, and turn it all the way around. He had a short, final glimpse of another teen,  
a boy, with curly blonde hair and wide merciless grin.

Martin Bettelheim laughed, as he let go of the corpse. He felt so light, so powerful! His  
muscles buzzed with anticipation, and seemed as if he could run for miles and miles  
without growing weary. It was like he could jump straight up into the sky. He clenched  
and opened his fist, discerning faint new veins behind the skin of his wrists.

"Normal is another word for unremarkable." he said, giddily. "Why should the teeming weak  
dictate terms to the strong? Why should the antelope think the lion will show mercy?"

He turned and stalked out of the brush. He grinned fiercely as he saw the entangled  
bodies at the bench. "NAGISA!" he shouted hoarsely. "Funtime's over!"

Kaworu let go. "They've found me..." he whispered. "I'm sorry, miss Sohryu..."

Asuka shook herself out of her daze. "Wha-..."

Martin kept grinning, his face open and fulgent. "Did you really think you could run away,  
Nagisa? You belong with us." He leered. "So THIS is Sohryu... I expected your toy to look  
better, but whatever floats your boat..."

"Who the fu-... gachk!" Asuka heaved out in pain as she was slammed against the bench,  
a hand at her throat. 'So... fast!' she thought. 'Did he jump the distance? That's not...  
not humanly possible...!'

"Sohryu..." Martin hissed. "Pathetic. I thought you'd put up a little more challenge than  
this. I should kill you right now, save you the humiliation of proving just how much hot air  
you really are..." His grin widened, his gums showing in a demented half-snarl. His fingers  
started to dig into her flesh.

"Stop!" Kaworu shouted. "Let her go...! I'll help you, don't harm her, that was our  
agreement!"

Martin's rage was fueled only be the complete lack of fear in her eyes, despite holding her  
life in his hands. "Bitch. I'm going to break you." He pulled up slightly, then slammed her  
again onto the bench. The wooden backrest cracked. The Trident Warborn pilot let go  
and stepped back, spitting at her. The spittle spattered upon her kimono sleeves.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Kaworu's voice sounded so far away. "I didn't mean for this to  
happen. I can't... I no choice. I have to obey."

Asuka looked up, her eyes blazing. "REI!" she snarled.

"Understood."

"Whu-!" Martin Bettelheim toppled from the impact of a double-kick to the face. Wooden  
sandals may present less surface area for 'grip' to the ground, but at the same time  
focused kinetic force to a smaller contact point. To greater pain, sometimes.

He tipped, fell, flipped over and came to a dusty stop facedown on the pavement.

He looked up, and snarled. His crushed bones popped back to shape.

"You... are something different." Rei said softly, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. She  
flicked her gaze towards Sarah Campbell, about to jump into the fray; and a momentary  
glare froze the other girl on her feet. Then she saw Kaworu. "You. Die."

She tapped her left foot twice and flowed into a spin-kick, her kimono ripping open. "Rei!  
NO!" Asuka shouted. Kaworu made no effort to dodge, merely smiled. Martin jumped at  
the same time to attack her back...

Rei continued the spin, veering away from Kaworu to complete a circle... and catching  
the blond-haired pilot again on the side of his head. He flew and smacked into the a tree.  
The tree fell over.

Then Sarah was there, attacking with knifelike thrusts of her hands. Rei ducked and  
weaved, backing away. She skipped aside, and Sarah's fingers just tore apart a metal  
lamp-post. Just as emotionless, Rei bashed down with her balled fists and slammed her  
to the ground. The metal frame of the bench bent out of shape under her torso.

Rei slid to a stop beside Asuka. "Are you in pain, pilot Sohryu?"

"I'm all right..." Asuka got back up, wiping at her lips. "Kaworu, you..."

Martin punched out, toppling the tree in his anger. "NAGISA! Stop standing around! Do  
something useful! Get rid of this bitch!"

A glazed look briefly passed over the hybrid's eyes. He blinked. "I'm... really so very sorry,  
Asuka-san." he said softly, shrugging. "I don't want to do this, but I have no choice..."

"No, Kaworu-kun, fight it! You can beat whatever compulsion they-..."

She blinked, and he was gone. Rei let out a "...guh!" and he was there.

Kaworu stepped back, staring at his bloodstained hand in obvious horror. "I am sorry..."  
he said again. "Inanna, that we should meet like this, after so long..."

Rei's red eyes flared briefly . "DIE AGAIN, CONTEMPTIBLE FLESH-THING!" she snarled, her  
voice taking an odd timbre. She fell back onto Asuka's arms.

"Ayanami...!"

Kaworu kept a mournful expression, but his mind noted her injury. His fingers slid into the  
space between her seventh and eighth vertebra, just missing the heart and going into the  
keft lung. Lots of a blood, a disabling strike, but hardly fatal. "Now, do you finally  
understand?" he said to Asuka. His hand was shaking, the same as his voice. "She is  
lucky, she can still be free while she lives..."

Martin scoffed and approached. "Shut your whining. You're a tool, haven't you already  
accepted that? Get us out of there, Nagisa." Sarah quickly stepped to place beside him.

The hybrid looked down at the blood trailing down his right hand. "Remember... blood is  
the key." he said out loud to no one in particular. He went over and traced a vertical line  
down Martin's forehead. He did the same to Sarah. He turned to look at Asuka and gave  
her one last pleading look. "Blood is always the key." He drew a line down his forehead,  
and...

They vanished.

The air crackled at the space they used to occupy, but that subsided. Rei coughed up  
blood, and began to shake. "Get ahold of yourself, Ayanami!" Asuka shouted, panicky.  
She found herself screaming for help.

Her voice was lost inside another shriek.

Thunder clashed and lightning flashed upon a clear sky. With a powerful 'WHUMP!' and a  
lingering high pitch, Iruel returned. Darkness descended upon Tokyo 3. Asuka looked up,  
and like the others outside felt their hearts clench in mindless fear. Six kilometers in  
diameter was a figure that seemed manageable on paper. A person could walk that in  
good time. It utterly failed to describe just how heart-stoppingly massive the Angel had  
become.

For comparison's sake, it was the usable portion of the geofront. The distance between  
the geofront and the surface was .9 kilometers. The actual city center of Tokyo-3, and  
the length of its main avenue, was a mere 1.5 kilometers. The tallest building was four  
hundred meters.

The black sphere loomed over the city, filling the sky. Its shadow brought a bleak,  
starless night. Iruel could swallow Tokyo-3 and still leave room for plenty more.

Some of the civilians began screaming hysterically, driven close to madness by the sudden  
realization of the menace manifest before them. A man, all human meaning, what was that  
against such otherwordly might? What was an Eva...? The proudest constructs of man  
were as toys against such terror.

The streetlights switched on. The alarms, already too late, began to sound.

-o-  
-o-

* * *

I actually planned on wrapping this chapter up into two parts, since the portions keep getting longer and longer, but as it turns out the second part is pilling up on the wordwalls. Smaller chapter slices are easier to edit, and well... I didn't want to keep you waiting too long for an update.

So, here.

Don't worry, this is all leading up to a conclusion hopefully worth all the wait. Remember, like water, like the tide...

(sigh)

Somehow.


	31. Chapter 30: The Creeping Rot part3

The Creeping Rot part three

-o-

-o-

Dr. Sean Vord Lader laughed, his reedy voice filling the hollows. Human limits... were  
wretched. One brain, one frail body good only up to (at statistical highs) eighty years,  
and senses only barely capable of perceiving the universe... pah!

"Whoever said the human mind was not meant for multitasking was a -blithering idiot-." he  
said to himself. "Thought springs from hundreds, if not thousands of threads of memory  
and context. How so -efficient- in its handling of innate inefficiency."

His assistants did not need to say anything. They understood perfectly. The scientist  
leaned back on his throne-like command chair and exhaled with such blissful relief. Finally!  
He no longer had to pull along the limited comprehension of those who deemed themselves  
his colleagues, nor fear the incompetence of his technicians. The purity of his thoughts  
would no longer be slaved to the factors of sleep, hunger, or physical distractions.

The screaming was ever-present, and he yelled back "What do I care about your -pain-?  
The deception of nerve impulses? -Overcome- the crass demands of flesh and bone, and  
there you will find the truth of all existence!" The rest of humanity were fools trapped in  
their romantic notions of physical propriety. He had never before felt so free, and so  
fulfilled. There was no feeling like having spare brains, his thoughts lightning-quick and  
unerring, putting all the complicated machinations of man to shame.

He stared down at the city and sneered. He could run cerebral rings around the MAGI.  
The mind-worms had dissolved all throughout his nervous system, the remains forming into  
an organ that served like a psychic modem. No loss of concentration, his musings rode  
uncertain space at the speed of light itself.

Dr. Lader touched his face, pallid and veined and the flab had hardened as if wax. He  
wondered why he still had hands. They were unnecessary anyway. Nutrients went directly  
into his bloodstream, bypassing the time-wasting rituals of chewing, swallowing and  
digesting. His lower torso had grafted into his information throne. Why be mobile? He knew  
-everything- that happened inside the Earth's Cradle, and its range was practically  
unlimited.

He looked around, with his new unimaginably vast senses. Never before would he have  
thought the Orwellian eventuality would be so... organic. Nor wildly successful.

He stared down at his assistants, pitifully crippled with the necessity of pushing buttons  
and looking at screens. "-Humanity is obsolete-." he said with finality.

There was a raised circular platform at the center of the command nodule within Iruel.  
Small lightning sparks danced above the transit point, and with a small boom of displaced  
air, three figures emerged from nowhere.

Kaworu Nagisa stepped down to the command deck, sure and self-confident. His outfit  
was the same, but his posture was regal and his movements determined. Feminine and  
masculine became meaningless, Adam and its millions of years of victory shone through  
that expression of pure command. The other Trident Warborn pilots followed gingerly.

"Had your fun?" Dr. Lader gave his greetings. He spotted the satisfaction apparent in their  
faces. It was already fading, how they could possibly have endured such small, miserable  
lives before their conversion.

"It went as well as could be expected." Kaworu replied. "Did you have any difficulties with  
the jump?'

"No, no problems. Strange, time dilates in the opposite direction. Nine days passed here  
for six hours out there." Dr. Lader scratched at the empty air. "We stand at the -cusp- of  
a new -cosmology-... so much new knowledge yet to be realized..."

"Have you finished the upgrades to my Jagd Wulf?" Martin asked.

"The nanocolonies have been -integrated- fully into the bare metal. A quantum leap in  
-capability-...! Yes, I'm impatient too, let's see how their barely-understood little slave-  
growths -compare- to the power of true symbiosis!"

"Fine, but let's at least make a show of not making it too easy." Kaworu answered. "Have  
you filtered the population?"

Dr. Lader cackled. "The fools who thought they could just -buy- time by being put into  
stasis... most of them are useless, physically or mentally unworthy of becoming homo  
sapiens superior. There are a few of the soldiers suitable for demi-homo potentia." He  
waved towards his assistants. "Of the rest, the symbiotic functions depend on what level  
of independence I require. All serve the Greater Good in whatever manner best for each."

"Thank you, doctor. Dump the excess, let them take care of cleaning up our refuse."

The scientist's howling laughter echoed through the control cavity.

-o-

-o-

Down below, all concerned were already at high alert. NERV monitors showed the streets  
starting to empty of people and traffic. Anything was better than standing under that  
mind-boggling mass hanging impossibly in mid-air. The mind instinctively went into a  
panicked overdrive; it was SURE to fall at ANY moment. Run! Hide! The sky is falling! It  
was a terror so immidiate and just so HUGE for the human mind to comprehend.

Those watching from the command centers had the borders of their screens to limit just  
how much they could see, and it offered the necessary emotional distance. "How is the  
evacuation?" Misato asked.

"The people are being moved to the outer shelters, but there are bottlenecks." Makoto  
reported. The shelters were all interconnected through a series of tunnels. This eliminated  
the possibility of people being trapped as if a collective tomb. "The PDF trucks are loading  
up those who want to get out of the city in a hurry..."

Ritsuko sucked in her breath. "It's not going to matter in either case. That much mass  
would collapse the geofront. I don't know if the side walls can hold on to keep it high  
enough above our heads." She ached for a cigarette. "At best, it would only give them  
a few more minutes to live..."

"Why isn't it doing that, then?" Misato asked, swiveling her chair around. "Our best chance  
to destroy the thing is still from the inside... but not at the cost of our entire civilian  
population!"

"Stimuli, I would guess." Ritsuko answered. "Perhaps it doesn't actually have a real  
concept of a 'city' as a target, but has to focus on specific enemies." The evacuation  
trucks were keeping to the secondary streets, hiding behind the shadow of buildings.

Misato looked up at Gendo, and frowned. '_This is something beyond even your plans, isn't  
it? Beyond skill, beyond technology. Overwhelming might and firepower.'_ Humbling in its  
own way... the utter impersonality of imment death.

She cast her gaze back down to her old friend. Their shared look betrayed their mutual  
wish; all logic said that there was no way they could survive. They needed some way...  
someone... who tended to spit in the face of rationality and prevail anyway. Misato turned  
back to the screen and crossed her arms over her chest. She grinned. "You've got the  
odds of us actually doing anything to damage that thing, right, Ritsuko?"

"I'd rather not say, thank you."

"I won't listen anyway." She stood up and moved closer to the tower's edge. "Status on  
the cannon?"

"Charged and ready to fire!" reported one of the secondary control officers on the  
secondary command post.

"Understood. The pilots?"

"They're heading for the Evangelions now..." said Maya. "Type S modules are in place and  
ready for combat." A portion of the main screen showed the Evas already on the lifts,  
wearing the special high-mobility frame. Even Maya had to admit that making sure the  
modified Titan Modules could do an emergency plug eject left the Evangelions looking like  
they had amputated wings. Never pretty in the first place, the Evas were grotesquely  
misproportioned monstrosities.

"Then let's start. The Angel is hereby codenamed Black Moon; the operation, Core Tap."

-o-

Down below, were suiting up. Asuka looked on as Rei put on her plugsuit with painful  
slowness. She chose not to help, in respect of Ayanami's own independent personality.  
The blue-haired girl winced as she managed the seals. Bandages were wound tight right  
below her breasts. She gasped as she pressed the pressure stud on her wrist, and the  
plugsuit sit snug to her flesh. The bandage bumps were apparent.

"You don't have do this, you know..." said Asuka. "It might only get worse if you push  
yourself too dard."

"My physical condition has no bearing on the performance of the Evangelion." Rei replied.  
The dummy plug system should prove that, at the very least, a conscious mind or a whole  
body was not even necessary.

Asuka frowned. "Of course it does! Your ratio's going to get messed up if pain breaks  
through your concentration... or if you're too doped up to focus."

"That is less important to me, pilot Sohryu, as targeting computers may aid my task of fire  
support. I regret that you must take the brunt of this assault. It is your mental condition  
that worries me."

Asuka groaned. "When did things start getting so complicated? Killing Angels, that's our  
duty. I hate feeling like this... being manipulated by everybody." She turned slightly and  
gave her fellow pilot a suspicious look. "Even you, it seems."

"Nagisa cannot be trusted." Rei replied flatly.

"Why not? How is he different from you? From me? We're all forced into doing things that  
we don't understand." Asuka whirled about and punched at a locker. "At least he had the  
courage to sit down and try to explain it to me..."

Rei placed her hand over her wound. It was disquieting; how easily Kaworu had gone  
through her defenses. He was more Angel than human, she was more human than Angel;  
they were created that way. "If he is acting under duress, then any information he gives  
cannot be relied upon."

"But... is it real?"

Rei tilted her head a bit, a faintly inquisitive expression passing across her face.

"Why we're doing this? Is it true that my entire existence is to advance some futile  
agenda?" Her pleading look conveyed all the watchwords she knew enough not to speak.

"As far as general historical events, perhaps. I cannot speak of personal circumstances,  
but... I do know what you feel, pilot Sohryu." Her soft voice took on an edge. "Nagisa  
is using you."

"He needs my help!" Asuka shot back. "And so what? Who should I trust? At least he had  
the balls to face up to the fact that he needs others. Useless pride is broken before the  
Greater Good..." She let out a slight scream of frustration and slapped her right palm,  
hard, upon the lockers. "How about this, why do you believe in baka Shinji so much  
anyway? He abandoned us, just like that! How do you know if he's even still alive out there?"

Rei gave a shrug. "I would know."

"You're delusional." Asuka responded, hissing. Then, she chuckled slightly. "Then again,  
maybe so am I. Don't stand in my way, Ayanami... I'll do what I have to do."

The blue-haired girl nodded.

Misato's voice went out from the wall-mounted speakers. "Pilots, to the Evangelions!  
Security team to the gantries! All maintenance crew stand on alert! This is general  
infiltration alert! PROTECT THE PILOTS, GET THEM TO THE EVANGELIONS!"

-o-

-o-

A few minutes earlier:

The main screens flickered. "Angel is emitting jamming waves..." Shigeru reported the  
obvious. They all knew by then however, that messing up the EM spectrum was a mere  
side-effect of whatever it was doing with the AT-field. "Switch to secondary systems...  
complete."

"Check with Trident Base, are their comm channels usable for a relay?" Misato asked next.  
NERV had multiple backup systems and the comm circuits were made more independent of  
the MAGI; they learned their lessons well from Matariel. However, the Earth's Cradle was  
just so huge that it blocked several microwave transmitters.

"Yes, ma'am. Ah... they're requesting clearance for bombers overflight..."

"Rejected. We want to keep the Angel off-guard for as long as possible; we've got only  
one chance at this. There's no telling how the Angel will react to a high-speed app-..."

"High-energy reaction!" Makoto shouted.

"All barriers up! Brace to receive fire!" Armored plates closed over exposed gun mounts  
and hatches. The aboveground crews at their stations grit their teeth and held onto their  
seats. The PDF soldiers prayed within their vehicles. Misato was too aware of just how  
vulnerable they were without an AT-field, but no one shrank away from their posts.

The air began to thrumm, and the Angel's brought down heart-clenching pressure upon  
all above. Ritsuko pushed a button.

Loudspeakers began to beat out a counter-rhythm; a 'bump-ba-da-bop bom bom  
BOM BOM bump ba da bop bop BOM BOM BOM BOM'. It could not counter the frequencies  
that incited unease at a physical level, but played to the human mind's instinctive pattern-  
searching.

"Well, I didn't really expect it to work..." said Misato. "You've done it again, Ritsuko."

The scientist shrugged. "Simply adding something to focus on makes it easier to look past  
illogical fear. The human mind changes the surge of adrenalin from the 'flee' response to  
'fight', as intimidation into fear."

A lance of sickly yellow light flashed down from Iruel's stark black carapace. It traced  
down the main street, towards the troops gathered at the edge. The beam of light passed  
through the layers of armor between the surface and the geofront, seeping into NERV  
proper. Those in the way just had to grit their teeth and endure, choosing to remain at  
their stations. They knew that it was harmless, unless you had a heart condition; that its  
effects only lasted for a few seconds no matter how intense and eternal it may seem as  
it passed over them.

"Why is it still doing that?" Misato mused aloud. "What more is there to scan with that  
beam?"

Ritsuko checked the MAGI's analysis. The strange, immaterial ribbon gave off the same  
ambient energies as before. She frowned anyway. "Unless... that was never a scanning  
beam in the first place."

For all its bulk, Iruel's new form could only send out a single psychic beam. It passed  
through the city seemingly at random. Then it stopped. The air crackled, the tones  
sharpened, and the beam lashed out at the main street.

It was no particle beam, though bright enough to short out optics. When those above got  
their eyesight back, they saw the puzzling sight that it left behind. One of the lieutenants  
reported in "There are... people here, a mix of civilians. They're just standing around in the  
middle of main street. They seem to be unarmed. Please advise."

The orders bounced around awhile through official channels, until his immidiate superior  
gave back "Approach with caution. All indicators are that they're the staff of the Earth's  
Cradle. See to their condition."

One of the APCs rumbled forward. The people were still milling around, confused and  
purposeless like so much cattle. They responded to the sound of the vehicle's approach,  
approaching slowly and without much noise. The troops poured out, gas masks on and  
weapons at the ready.

A sargeant among them greeted the strangers in rote English, German, and Japanese. The  
people stared back blankly, except one. A tall, brunette woman approached the soldiers  
with a slow, shuffling gait.

"Halt." the soldier commanded, in different languages. "You are commanded to stop. Do  
not approach any further or we will be forced to take appropriate measures."

She was rather pretty. The selection process for the Earth's Cradle crew drew upon a  
certain elitist bent on intellect and beauty; casting irony on old eugenics ethos, along  
with a predominant staff of Germans. Her blue eyes were unfocused, though apparently  
seeing, as her gaze inspected their line. She veered towards the sergeant.

"... help..." she said in a tiny voice. "... help..." She weakly extended her arms out  
towards them, her fingers twitching in piteous supplication.

The sergeant gestured for the firing line to lower their sights. He decided to approach  
himself; being the only one there who could speak German. "Hello, um... madam. It's all  
right, you're safe now. Do you need any help?"

Her eyes glistened with tears. She lurched forward, and fell onto his arms. The sargeant  
was caught off-guard; thoughts of possible hazmat contamination falling by the wayside  
as she hugged and snuggled her face onto his neck; nuzzling him as like a lover.

"Please, madam, stop! It's all right. You're in Tokyo-3 now. How-...? Ack!" She was licking  
his neck. He had always been ticklish. "Okay, that's enough...!"

Then she opened her jaw wide and bit. She snarled, she tore, she chomped away. Her  
grip became as iron. He screamed. Something slithered out through her lips, into the open  
wound, and clenched itself around his brain stem. The crowd of Earth Cradle cast-offs  
turned, attracted by the noise, and began to shuffle forward. As one, they opened their  
mouths and let out a low, drawn-out moan.

"Oh, shit!" Let it not be said that the JSSDF, as assigned to 1st Hakone PDF, were too  
dense to get the implications. They fired in bursts, cutting through the approaching  
ranks, as cover while a few troopers pulled their sergeant free. A bullet to the head  
silenced the woman attacking him.

"Subjects are hostile! Repeat! They are hostile!" the radioman shouted into his point-to-  
point commset. "Sargeant Hori is down...!" The men loaded him back into the APC and  
the driver gunned it backwards. He was bleeding profusely and trashing about, making it  
difficult to treat the trauma.

"Hold him steady!" the medic shouted. "Hold him stea-...!"

The sargeant opened his mouth and screamed and screamed and blood went everywhere.

The APC kept going on reverse, slamming into the other light tanks barricading the road.  
It was a loud, ear-scraping clang. The soldiers outside took a moment or two to recover.  
The woman from earlier, taken down with a headshot, opened her eyes and got up. The  
others, bloody and full of 5.56 mm slugs, likewise rose to join the moaning, groaning,  
hungry hosts.

Iruel lashed out again with the sickly yellow beam.

It passed through several office buildings, a side-street, and one of the shelters.

The screaming started in earnest.

-o-

-o-

Deep within NERV command center, Kozo Fuyutsuki turned aside and said "What the hell,  
Ikari? Zombies? Zombies, Ikari?"

Gendo leaned forward and frowned. "I see. At most, it seemed like the Russians were  
hiding either a plauge or a revolution; scattered reports showed they had to clean out  
several towns."

The yellow light slashed across the command center. There were leftovers. Maya rolled  
out of her chair, barely in time as a uniformed soldier snatched at her station. She kicked  
up, at the groin. Her attacker staggered back, but otherwise did not seem impaired. He  
was tall, of late middle age, and had a thick wiry moustache. He lunged at her again.

Maya grabbed at his sleeves and hurled him over her shoulder in a textbook judo throw.

Misato slapped at the side of her command chair to expose a bin, with a pistol within. She  
pumped several rounds into the Earth Cradle soldier's head. He twitched, and lay still.  
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Misato yelled.

"Help! No! Stay away!"

Other control officers in the command center were not so quick or so lucky. The other  
attackers were a mix of soldiers and civilians, and took a little longer to put down. A few  
NERV personanel were bitten; and they were starting to blubber with despair. It had to  
be infectious, right? That was how it worked...!

"SILENCE!" Ritsuko yelled into the intercom. Then, in a more reasonable tone "... it's also  
possible that it's airborne." At everyone's horrified look at her direction she added "It  
is also possible that it isn't something that spreads in the first place." As she said it, she  
had to admit to herself; not likely. She knew the protocols too.

The soldier Misato twitched, and made as if to rise. "Oh, fuck!" She shot it again, until its  
brains were so much paste upon the floor plating. "Headshots don't kill them? Headshots  
should kill them!"

Ritsuko got up and approached the fresh corpse. By that point, most had already armed  
themselves; Maya instantly at her side with a submachine gun (another thing Misato had  
managed to talk the accountants into; better last-chance sidearms). Ritsuko noticed  
the brain mass was still wriggling; though the figure no longer moved.

Below, one of the wounded NERV employees, suddenly lunged from his stretcher to gnash  
his teeth at those trying to rescue him. He clutched at his own head and spat blood. He  
slumped back, barely breathing.

"They're not zombies." Ritsuko said, watching a wormlike thing slither out from the ruined  
cranium. "They're alive... they just have parasites." She licked her lips. Technically, that  
did bring them closer to the actual clinical definition of a zombie. It was also somewhat  
comforting. There was nothing mystical going on...

... except for how the infiltrators were brought in; past all defenses. "Damn!" she shouted.  
"If the Angel could teleport itself, why shouldn't it be able to teleport others?"

Misato was already shouting into base-wide comms. "Pilots, to the Evangelions...!

-o-

-o-

Most of Tokyo-3's deeper, more secure shelters were linked to each other by a series of  
tunnels. Communications and monitoring were meant to be unblockable; allowing those  
within to have a modicum of awareness as to how battles were faring and could receive  
without fail instructions from those in command.

This meant that almost everyone knew immediately that things were turning for the worse.

Kaworu stared down at the city, the bedlam afflicting it was invisible at that height. He  
knew things were going according to plan; he could taste the fear rippling through Iruel's  
AT-field emanations.

The Earth's Cradle had a 'stasis' population of thirty thousand and their tenders, soldiers,  
and various other employees numbered another twenty. It was not yet 'shut', receiving  
supplies and personnel shifts from the UN. The Cradle was meant to be self-supporting, up  
to one hundred thousand people; it was always assumed that they could just tunnel out  
for more living space.

The attack had literally no chance of success; the lowest level of cannon fodder should  
not be a challenge, should not be feared. Yet, as expected, humans did. Their own old,  
entertaining delusions worked against them.

The people at the shelters could flee; anywhere through the tunnels... but even if the  
other shelters were safe, the doors remained shut. Selfishly, fearfully, despite all the  
banging and pleas... they were not provided with weapons for defense, within the shelter.  
Their only real safety was in keeping the dangers on the outside.

"Open this door, you fuckers!" someone shouted through the intercom. "Unlock it or we'll  
blow it open! This is the Hakone PDF, you're being evacuated, you're not safe there!"

"It's a trick!" someone said from within.

"But the Angel's out there!" added another.

"You're too spread out, we need to concentrate you people to a more defensible location."

Those within argued with each other; then Iruel's beam passed through. It left behind only  
one person, though already wounded. The Angel was picking up and and putting down  
worm-eaten humans seemingly at random. There was just one; yet panic was complete.  
The tunnel door could not open fast enough.

Sargeant De Leon punched someone in the face. "Let me through!" he shouted at the  
civilians crowding to get out. "Where is it?" He managed to squeeze past them to see the  
Cradle reject. It was an old man, balding, in a labcoat... no longer white, but soaked with  
blood; the latest from the child in its arms. The Kirishima Korps marine watched with  
distaste as a worm slithered into the little boy's eye socket. The child-corpse shuddered;  
the loose eyeball seemed to slide back into place, and then both infested figures turned to  
him implacably.

His bolt pistol spat twice; DAKKA-blortch! DAKKA-blortch! The autonomous nervous  
system could be overidden, if the brain was damaged by bullets. They were not so much  
undead, as undying... they healed quickly, like lightning-quick cancer, and cognition was  
entirely unnecessary. Bolt rounds -removed- the ganglion entirely._ 'Can't heal what isn't  
there.'_

He felt bile rise up in his throat. There was very little left of their heads. Trying to  
identify casualties later would be a pain, a real pain... the attack was horrifying in its  
deliberate, malignant insult. The Evangelions were useless at that level.

The marine then wondered how Yang could have possibly anticipated something like it,  
close enough that his platoon hanging around the shelters turned out to be useful.

-o-

-o-

Yang watched the action display and frowned. "I didn't expect this to happen." he said  
out loud, to the others at the underground Trident command center. "The troops at the  
main entrance of each shelter were supposed to guard against enemies trying to get in."

"Now, they're securing those trying to flee from INSIDE the shelters." Colonel Nasuno  
replied. "It's better if the... zetas... are contained in the tunnels. The Angel's teleport  
beam can't grab enough of them at any one time to relocate with any real tactical  
significance." He grinned. "Miracle Yang strikes again."

The Chinese admiral groaned. "We can't win like this. The Evangelions..."

"Firing order confirmed!" the comms officer shouted. "Receiving targeting data from NERV."

Trident Base tactical command only had a single flat screen dominating a wall, instead of  
NERV's complicated holographic display. Partitioned into windows, it served well enough,  
as the most significant data was echoed and controlled within personal consoles. The  
base commander looked aside to Yang, whose console was read-only.

"I see... the lake cannon, the heavy defense guns, almost half our missile stocks all aimed  
at one point to force a breach." the colonel said, tracing out the attack lines. "Here's the  
Evangelion exit point."

Yang nodded. "The Evas are brought up to the surface using electromagnetic rails. The  
only thing that stops them from turning into launchers is that they brake towards the  
surface. If that system is shut off..." He leaned back. "This could work, along with the  
Type S modules... Katsuragi knows her stuff."

One of the small monitoring windows flashed red, for attention. Colonel Nasuno expanded  
the view. At first, he thought it was his soldiers firing on the move, then realized the  
uniforms were the wrong shade of tan. "... they're using guns now...!" he said with such  
disbelief. The Cradle's rejected soldiers approached with unconscious lurching, their grasp  
on their weapons barely enough to keep it in their hands. Now and then they would point  
up their rifles, and pull out a short burst; but the strain of doing so seemed too much to  
handle for anything longer than a few seconds.

A rocket streaked towards the clump, blowing them apart.

A yellow beam passed through the obscuring smoke, and when it cleared there was  
nothing left on the street but streaks of blood.

"I don't get it!" the colonel snarled out. "This is insane! What does that thing hope to  
accomplish with this sort of random terror tactics?"

"Gain?" Yang scratched at the side of his head. "Times like this, it's more on what can be  
lost. Essential personnel, certainly, if nowhere is safe then no one including their families  
would dare to stay and work here. It still feels like something's missing though. That thing  
should be more than enough to accomplish whatever objectives in destroying or assaulting  
this city. There shouldn't be any need for further weakening, if the odds are stacked that  
high for the attacker..."

"So... there's some unbreakable reason it can't just drop and pour whatever into the  
geofront?"

Yang shrugged. "It's an alien. I'm a historian, not a xenologist."

-o-

-o-

Misato looked left, looked right, and up at the main screen. Everyone was tense, knowing  
that the enemy could appear anywhere at any time and in any number. They could not  
hold on for long.

"All ready to fire on my mark!" she shouted. The Cradle filled the screen, and a red point  
near the bottom showed the targeting solution. She glanced aside at Ritsuko. Timing it  
was crucial.

"Electromagnetic flow adjustment complete." Ritsuko noted. "Ready to release Evangelions  
on your command."

"Phase one, initiate!"

The Evangelions shrieked their way upwards on their electromagnetic rails. "Evangelions on  
the way, exit in eighty seconds."

Misato bit her lip. Because the jacked Earth's Cradle was just that big, it was impossible  
to concentrate the fire of four Heavy Positron Cannons. The Asahino Cannon of course, was  
aimed at the Angel's south face. An attack from that direction should be obvious. Just  
where however, should be a total surprise until it was too late. The Evas should not have  
any unnecessary difficulties as it cut through to the inside.

Forty seconds...

Ten.

"Phase two, mark!"

Bolter turrets, defense lasers, midrange missiles; the air above Tokyo-3 blazed with deadly  
colors. The strikes danced across the bleak black surface, pitting and ablating away  
material... it was pitiful. They were like gnats attacking an elephant's side.

"Phase three! Mark! ALL WEAPONS CONCENTRATE FIRE!"

The screen shorted out from the monumental release of energy. The Asahino Cannon's  
firing sent out a shockwave that smashed windows all over the city, flattening trees  
nearby, and sent the water around itself to boiling.

Evangelion Unit Two shot out of its exit gate, just as the gaping hole moved above along  
with Iruel's slight spin. It weighed several thousand tons; that much metal was never  
meant to fly. Ridiculous rockets on its back fired, adding momentum before it reached  
the apex. Asuka grit her teeth and pushed down with her AT-field...

There! She unslung her prog chainaxe, and growled into readiness.

She was knocked out of the sky by something big, solid, and moving very very fast.

Unit Two veered off and slammed into Tokyo-3's pride towers, sliding down while carving  
out its facade. Above, a strange amalgam of technology and alien biology let out a  
jubilant screech. Trident Warborn Phoenix-Spasm banked its flight and raked at the red  
Eva with its talon-mounted MegaBolter cannons.

Asuka extended a defensive AT-field, then rolled for cover behind a row of buildings.

Evangelion Unit Zero emerged soon after, and within a few second's worth of situation  
awareness snapped a few vengeful positron shots at the flying mechanoid. Rei then  
turned her attention to the cavity in Iruel's shell. The hole seemed to be... healing.

"It's closing up!" Misato yelled. "Fire! Pour it in! Keep it open!"

Blistering fire scraped at the hole and its edges, feebly slowing its regeneration. Unit  
Zero fired its rockets, and just narrowly avoided being shot in the back. The hole spun  
away from the Eva, and Rei had to choice but to abandon for landing. "The dual positron  
cannon is not suited for this instance..." she said. "I request custom Megabolter cannon  
for anti-air."

"Rei, watch out!"

Asuka's warning only served as a distraction, as unfortunately she had neglected to say  
from which direction Rei should watch. Trident Warborn Jagd Wulf pounced, its spurs  
tearing off Unit Zero's left arm heatsinks and some of its primary armor. The yellow Eva  
fell down, punching away at the snarling, toothy face of some sort of giant mechanical  
velociraptor thing with humanlike arms.

Unit Two ran out of cover to help, but stopped as a bright purple lance of energy carved  
up the street in front of it. Asuka looked up to see an artificial creature wrapped around a  
huge gun barrel, perched on top of a building as a sniper's nest. Her comm-line bleeped.

"I'm sorry, Asuka. Death is unavoidable. "

"... kaworu..." Unit Two ducked and rolled, as shots rained down from on high. Trident  
Warborn Barrel-Lios was not aiming to miss.

-o-

-o-

Hakone 1st Anchorage was a drop-off point for trade essential to Tokyo-3's explosive  
growth. It was far enough from the city that its security fell under the direct purview of  
the government; and directly, Trident Base. Officially a naval reserve station, all there  
knew that their duty was to serve as nothing more than one more stumbling block for  
attackers from the sea.

Merchants simply loved how much the port facilitated their commerce, and with no added  
taxation. The Japanese government had a particular mania in encouraging new economic  
growth around Tokyo 3, despite it being -the- heavy hazard zone.

Most cargo vessels had grown even more blase than the residents about the dangers of  
an Angel attack. They, after all, could always leave anytime they wished, often choosing  
not to; having to pull out of harbor at every alert was annoying and burned money. It  
also gave a certain sense of cheerful camaraderie with their buyers, always a useful  
bargaining tool.

Whatever sense of brotherhood they had was evaporating quickly, as vessels of all sorts  
fled from the docks. Military patrol craft, a few missile frigates, simply watched them go  
in cold necessity.

_'There go the sheep...' _the harbor master thought, watching it all from the yard's own  
bunker. Most of the screens were a hash of static, as Iruel's AT-field snarled up radar and  
most forms of communication. _'If there's an attack, maybe the enemy'll snap at one of  
these overloaded scows far enough to give us enough warning...'_

He was, like many of the PDF, directly sworn to the UN instead of the Japanese military.  
The combined forces agreement demanded that NERV share whatever tactical information  
they had on the situation; as the 1st Hakone took over any and all pains of protecting  
the populace once an attack was underway. Dedicated fiberoptic links ensured this.

He did not need those secured lines to know things were once again going all to hell. The  
harbor personnel could do nothing but cower within, waiting for NERV and the Prefectural  
Defense Forces to get things settled. They had an impressive, if limited selection of land-  
based guns for defense, but all facing towards the sea. A series of low hills rather  
conveniently blocked any firing line into Tokyo-3.

"Sir, we're getting a transmission..." the communications control officer reported.

"Ah. Do we have to get ready to receive evacuees?" The presence of a coastline nearby  
was a boon; it was easier and faster to ship out en masse thousands upon thousands of  
people on a large ship than having trucks clogging up the highways.

"No, sir, it's... an outside transmission."

"What?" That brought him out of idle contemplation. "Did the Angel stop giving off jamming  
waves?" He flicked a look at the screens. Obviously not.

Hm... various forms of tightbeam communications might work, but the extent of Iruel's  
jamming field was proportional to its size. He already knew that the skies were blacked  
out all the way up to Izu.

The comms officer shook his head. "It's radio, sir. They're burning through interference  
using a simple omnidirectional message and sheer wattage."

The harbor master blinked. "What? Don't they know that the Angels react to high-energy  
emissions? Who are these fools?"

"Uh... ID confirmation ok." The codes were processed through the database. "Cruisers  
Karingdol and Kringolith, registered with the UN Navy for special detached operations;  
based off the Mediterranean. The clearance code is Russian, though."

"They're a long way from home. What do they want?

"Ahem. Approaching scheduled docking. Request situation report. Answer, Tokyo-3. Are  
you still there?"

The harbor master winced. "They don't know we're under attack. If they're caught within  
the Angel's AT-field, their dinky little transmitters may be distorted enough to foul even  
satellite comms. We have no choice, got to respond the same way." His tower crew nodded  
respectfully, though they knew that already. "Tell them to bug off. It's too dangerous."

The message was sent.

A few moments later, a reply. "Danger is no obstacle to duty. Clear the docks for our  
arrival."

"What kind of MORONS are we dealing with? I said NO! Send it again!" Ships and armies  
were no match for Angels! Reinforcements would only hinder the Evangelions and the  
heavily-rehearsed tactics of the Prefectural Defense Forces.

"Aye, sir, transmi-..."

A yellow glow bathed the control room, and soon the Hakone soldiers had other problems  
to deal with. '_Note to self...'_ the harbor master thought, while struggling with some snarling  
salarymen._ 'See if it's really illegal to wear ceremonial swords while on duty.'_

_-o-_

-o-

White bands crawled across the city map, until all was leeched of color. "As you can see,  
over the past month, the Angel was able to 'scan' all significant areas of Tokyo-3."

Gendo frowned down at her. "Has it not been sufficiently demonstrated that these...  
'scanning beams'... serve another purpose entirely, Dr. Akagi?"

Ritsuko shrugged. "Perhaps. However, it would also bear more evidence that Angels prefer  
a single tool to have many uses. I believe it is a side-effect of having portions of their  
own biology serve the function of such tools." She smiled slightly. "While it's certainly  
unwise to underestimate the enemy, even its vastly increased prowess supports a  
theory... that it had to sacrifice what other Angels had in terms of mobility, raw smarts,  
and directed energy beams as weaponry."

Everyone waited. The seconds ticked by.

"... goddamn AT-field magic." Ritsuko just had to say it, through clenched teeth.

Even Gendo had to smile a little. Ah, good ol' dependendable Ritsuko. "So, you do have  
some idea of what is happening."

"And how to stop it?" Misato added, her voice pitching up in feeble hope.

Ritsuko just sighed. "Ordinarily, the answer would be simple. It's nothing more than an  
more concentrated region of absolute territory... in as much as mass warps space to  
produce the effect of gravity, so does the beam confuse quantum certainty." At the  
blank look on their faces, she sighed deeper. "It's not teleportation. The fucking thing is  
messing with TIME, and it's pissing me off."

That pricked the professor of metaphysics. "Are you sure? Isn't that... hmm... dangerous?  
Impossible?" Kozo Fuyutsuki beamed as he found the right word. "Confusing."

Ritsuko rubbed at her head. "You have noo idea..."

Misato raised her hand.

Ritsuko did not look up. "Yes, Misato?"

"Can we save the technobabbling for later? How do we stop these fucking zombies? It's  
got to be illegal somewhere that headshots don't work!"

_'Actually, I'm pretty sure it's not._' Ritsuko longed to say. _'The dead moving around isn't  
loitering, and eating someone's brains isn't murder. One might as well complain about  
being verbally abused by a chair. How can you punish or even prosecute the dead?'_ The  
scientist glared up at the Angel, as if its very existence was proof that the universe had a  
very definite grudge against her.

"I think I have a solution, but... the pilots will need to get rid of other distractions first."

Their conversation was not an bubble of sanity in a roaring tide of hysterical activity, but  
rather came up through the momentary lulls in battle. The main screens showed the  
Evangelions still locked into combat with their hybrid counterparts.

-o-

-o-

"Come on, Sohryu, give me some sport before you DIE!" Martin Bettleheim bellowed; how  
glorious it was to have his machine sport functional lungs, teeth, tongue and throat!  
Unlike the Evangelions which needed to be intentionally crippled, the plug inserting into  
the gap between the spine and brain, his Jagd Wulf had a mind of its own.

"Eat shit, assmuncher!" Asuka responded, tackling the Trident unit from the side and  
sending it stumbling into a building. She flipped her hold on her prog knife, and carved out  
a long gash right across its long neck. The strange biomechanical creature screeched and  
trashed about in pain.

Asuka felt something slam into her stomach, and her Evangelion was thrown back to  
imbed itself into into the opposite row of buildings.

The Eva groaned and pushed its face through layers of concrete. Asuka saw that the  
enemy dripped purplish fluid similar to blood, and its gaping wound showed mottled cords  
like roots crawling across the gap, knotting and pulling it shut. Soon enough, there was  
barely a mark it had ever been injured.

_'I see... it doesn't have an AT-field, but being able to heal fatal wounds so quickly is the  
next best thing to having a cumbersome shield.' _She extended her AT-field like a pressure  
wave, to push it back. The enemy began to lose its balance, then frills rose up from the  
back of the Trident Warborn's neck. It opened its beaklike jaws again and roared.

It stomped at the ground and charged. Unit Two danced out of the way, like a matador.

"What are you...?" Asuka whispered, as once more she was forced to give ground.

The mad laughter of the other German pilot filled her comms. "Evangelions, hah! They  
share the same stagnant limits as the short-sighted humans who built them! Look at me,  
Sohryu, and fear! I am the future of humanity, immortal, the superman! The peerless  
knight! And this is my steed! Growing, becoming stronger with every battle! Devour and  
take her strength! Jagd Wulf, DAS KRUTOKOAH!"

Her backup prog knife deployed from Unit Two's left shoulder pylon. She needed a better  
close-in weapon than a mere prog knife. The Warborn unit bore down the street with fast,  
easy lopes.

Asuka stepped aside and stabbed out, leaving her knife imbedded in the -Krutohkoah-. A  
part of her was baffled by the name. _'It's lame to just jam together syllables!'_ It was part  
of the reason she had yet to really name her own Evangelion; calling it the 'Red Knight'  
just seemed so obvious.

She stepped back as the enemy lashed out with beak and talon. "Hey, Sohryu, watch  
where you step!" she heard his taunting again.

There was a distinct crunch beneath her feet. Reflexively, Asuka looked down to see a  
crushed APC. Soldiers were running for cover. In the path of their skirmish, the two metal  
giants, there were left smears of red and clumps of misshapen material. She had stopped  
above one of the shelter exits, and could see people huddled behind the main gate...  
at the knife's edge of panic. They had to flee from horrors within, but could not as long as  
their own protector was a greater menace.

A few months earlier, Asuka would not have cared. However, with NERV Germany gone,  
with Shinji away, she realized... these were her people too. Tokyo-3 was all she had left.  
They respected her, and her own honor could not spurn their need.

Martin spat. "Weak." The -Krutokoah- leapt at the Eva, slamming it into the hillside. "This  
is what happens when the weak delude themselves into thinking they have any hold over  
the strong. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE STRONG ALLOW THE WEAK TO STEAL  
THEIR STRENGTH! YOU SICKEN ME, SOHRYU! DIE! DIE AND WASH AWAY THE SHAME OF  
WHAT YOU COULD HAVE BEEN!"

Asuka grit her teeth and forced the Eva's hands over jaws aching to bite her head off. The  
Trident Warborn's own claw-tipped arms raked at her armor. She was trapped...!

FSHRAK!

The Trident Warborn knew what it felt to have its head ventilated. Asuka pushed away as  
it briefly went slack, and retreated to the nearest weapons cache. 'What does it take to  
kill these things?' she screamed inside her head. She could already see the hole starting to  
heal; the innards of the Jagd Wulf-type Trident, -Krutokoah-, seemed to be made out of  
tangled veins, thick and metallic, like roots.

A short distance away, beams answered each other.

-o-

Rei did not engage her enemy in banter. Kaworu knew better than to try and spook her  
into some tactical error. A sniper battle was of tensile patience, and silence.

The Barrel-Lios had the advantage in that it could fly, and shift its perch among the many  
tall buildings of Tokyo-3. Unit Zero had the AT-field, which served in good defensive  
capacity but made also it easier for the enemy to know her location, and that there was  
more cover available at ground-level. Rei also had an additional malus in that she had to  
provide support to Asuka, while at the same time attempting to take out her own mirror-  
opponent. Kaworu could simply care less about his team-mates. If they could disable the  
Evangelion and capture Asuka, good; if not, no great loss.

Rei ducked into a hollowed-out building as the third member of the Trident Warborns  
passed. The Phoenix-Spasm was the smallest and most complex, now having true wings  
instead of clumsy autogyros for flight. Rei wondered how that was possible; she was sure  
it still weighed several thousand tons, and not all that aerodynamic. It did not seem to  
have a core.

_'Perhaps... like Sister Ibuki, being unable to generate an AT-field does not preclude an  
inability to use it.'_ Iruel had a vast region of altered space, and more that enough to  
provide flying room.

Rei tightened her grip on her dual-positron cannon. It was not suited for anti-air work.  
Did she dare take the shot, hoping the paired beams would be enough to bring it down?  
Or was that Kaworu's plan, again, using the flyer as both scout and bait?

-o-

Sarah Campbell noticed something moving, a large box-thing upon the oversized railroad  
leading into the city. "It is the third. Do I engage?" she asked Kaworu.

"Well, it's not like it's much threat..." the angel hybrid answered. "Have fun!"

The Trident Warborn veered of and flew to meet the bastard child of the Trident project.  
-Magnos Tancred- greeted with missile and positron and megabolter. Unsurprisingly, Mana  
Kirishima was beyond pissed at seeing the abominations. "This is the true Trident project!"  
she shouted to her crew. "Shoot this worthless pretender down! TANCRED IS RAGE! KILL  
IT! PURGE IT! We won't rest until these abominations are DEAD!"

Rei watched as the blocky red-and-black machined weapon sprayed at the sky. Mega-  
bolter rounds were each mini-missiles, and by virtue of sheer size were not so limited as  
the comparative-scale bolt rounds. So thick and so fast was the spray of firepower that  
it seemed as if a single coherent beam... but the Phoenix-Spasm swung lazily around that  
needle of pure hostility. Unlike energy guns, which flash into being at an instant, it was  
easy to see how the shots would jerkily adjust.

Soon, the megabolter fell silent. Hovering just above the Trident Landcruiser, it was safe.  
The only weapon -Magnos Tancred- had which could point up, was the Megabolter. The  
Trident Phoenix hovever, could bomb it with impunity.

It had the same 20mm anti-aircraft cannon that -Magnos Tancred- had, in a similar chin  
mount. It could aim anywhere else but up. The land-bound Trident made a hopping motion  
to get out of the tracks, and shred down the hillside with its pillar-like feet. Acid ate into  
the rocks behind.

Standard explosive and kinetic weapons were either less effective against the masses of  
metal that characterized the Evangelions (and the Trident Land Dreadnought, which had  
even thicker armor), or just too heavy to carry to the air. Sarah allowed herself a small  
smirk as she swung around. There were many other weapons at her disposal, but this  
seemed so apt... passive, clinging, and slowly but inexorably destructive.

"Reload! RELOAD!" Mana yelled, urging her crew into the city. She remembered how deadly  
acid could be... it was used back then, when her heart died along with her friends.

-o-

Rei turned away, knowing she could do nothing to help. Across the city, Asuka. To her  
own left, Mana. She had her own problems... more than ever, she had to ensure that the  
third enemy would focus on her, preventing anyone from ganging up two on one.

She pushed left, with her AT-field. A pebble moved.

Unit Zero burst out of cover. It ran down the street, and jumped, smashing into a building's  
seventh floor. Then from that, again! All the way across the street, hopping to the roof of  
the next poor, abused structure.

Rei slung her dual positron rifle over her shoulder and fired blind behind her back. The  
Trident Barrel-Lios jerked aside, dodging the beams, while at the same time firing its own  
massive spinal cannon. Rei somersaulted backwards, following through another double-  
shot, emptying the cyclic capacitor.

Her expression and Kaworu's were identical. Both were secure in the knowledge they were  
tools. There was no fear, and unto every moment they gave their utmost.

Their thoughts were the same: you know that I know that you know that we both know...  
we cannot pretend to make mistakes. There is only death. Rei counted on the massive  
body-form cannon having a slower cycle rate than her own dual positron shooters. At the  
same time, it should be obvious that Kaworu knew his own weapon's weaknesses. What  
would the other do, in that situtation...?

FWOOM!

One massive beam shot met two smaller ones, curving around each other. Rei flared her  
AT-field and skimmed across the magnetic disturbance, a prog bayonet blazing red at the  
end of her weapon.

The Trident Warborn rolled over, its shape so like like a pig to the slaughter, but revealing  
two normal-looking arms each grasping a prog knife.

Sparks flew. Unit Zero, in free-fall, put all its weight into every slash, and used every parry  
for the leverage needed to keep it in the air a bit longer. It was a flurry of physical  
violence, and at the end both were unscathed. Rei dropped, cracking concrete beneath  
her feet. Her Eva looked up, and wished it had a mouth to roar in defiance.

"I do not fear you, sister." Kaworu said to her, from on high.

"My blood is not your blood, Nagisa." Rei answered. "My call is not your call."

"Cousins, then. But you know what I mean. You can't beat me. You never could, never  
will. We may be evenly-matched in many things... but sometimes environment does mean  
more than genetics." He smirked slightly. "I will always be that slight bit more powerful,  
more ruthless than you..."

"Perhaps. It is not enough for you to prevail today." Rei opened up the comm channel and  
copied his expression. "You will die, Nagisa, and not by my hand."

Kaworu sniffed. "Sometimes, I wonder, if I only fear him because of your recommendation,  
my bitter reflection. Then again..." He shook his head. "He isn't here, Ayanami-san. Now  
what do you do? How pitiful and alone you are, without the Greater Good to sustain you."

"I am never alone." Rei replied oddly, perhaps even sadly. The orange Evangelion then  
quickly disappeared back into cover.

-o-

-o-

Down below, things were steadily getting worse. Crumpled and ruined APCs dotted the  
streets. The shattered remains of gunships and main battle tanks showed how easily the  
battling giants could crush insects that caught their attentions. Man was enough to kill  
man. The characteristic smoke column of an antitank rocket flashed across the street  
to slam into the rough barricade of vehicles, armored and otherwise.

"These fuckers can use weapons now?" one of the JSSDF marines shouted.

"Shut it and keep that mortar going, Takahashi!" Sgt. De Leon yelled back.

"It's no use, man! It's no use! They just keep coming, no matter how many times we  
shoot them!" someone shouted from one of the APCs. The 50-cal machinegun he had was  
dry, and he had to fight to keep his eyes just so...

Sgt. De Leon sneered and climbed back up to the barrel. Mortar rounds whistled above.  
It was true, merely blasting away at the... zombies?... did not stop them. Most of their  
attackers were already naked, and all could see how they were healing up even as they  
moved. People caught behind the lines were either eaten for biomass or turned into one  
more of shambling horde. Many were armless, or crawling, or just misshapen; bones took  
longer to regenerate. He grit his teeth and fired; DAKKA!, in slow, careful shots. The bolt  
rounds turned heads into flecks of blood.

"Keep your discipline!" he shouted. "Headshots WILL kill them, you just have to remove the  
head!"

The problem was that they were starting to run out of ammo. Astounding. There were old  
jokes about needing a thousand bullets to kill just one man as an average in every war, but  
it was getting ridiculous. The larger weapons that could reliably blow apart a torso or just  
decapitate someone were obviously too limited to waste on a mindless horde.

At least the Angel had stopped shining its sickening light at them and placing infected  
forms behind the barricades. It seemed to be flashing away at things in the distance.

The roar of approaching jets was heard, if murkily, over the everpresent hum of the Angel,  
the steady beat NERV sounded to counter its more obvious effects, and the dreadful  
moaning from the mindless horde beyond.

"Our reinforcements are getting cut off. Poor bastards... pilots can't handle something  
clawing and biting and just won't die that appears in their cockpit." Takahashi noted, while  
loading the mortar at a regular pace. "Tanks, too." That made it even easier. At least the  
APCs had enough room to wrestle one's way out, if necessary.

"Isn't that inefficient? A bomb would be quicker." replied his fireteam-partner.

Several strike fighters zoomed towards the Angel, as if on a kamikaze run. However holes  
opened up in that bleak, impenetrable shell to suck them in.

"Nobody respects us grunts. If you put someone intelligent enough to drive something  
back... hey! Free stuff!" He paused in his loading and spat aside. "That's why... it's not  
going to matter. If they were just dumb monsters, we'd be laughing over our beers right  
now. If they were just like men, reasoning and capable of being afraid... we might live  
through this. But this...! It's NOT FAIR, DAMMIT!"

He slammed the mortar round into the tube harshly, and only narrowly avoiding getting  
everyone around him blown up. "FUCK THIS SHIT!"

"EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP!" Sgt. De Leon shouted into his megaphone.

They were supposed to hold the outer barricades, retreating eventually in an eerie parody  
of trench warfare. Morale was bleeding away by the minute; if it was this bad among those  
who knew they had the weapons capable of reliably killing the deathless enemy; how much  
worse for the civilians huddling beyond?

The bolt rifles were never really meant for accuracy. That they were proving so useful  
ironically meant they had to be conserved. The 'Kirishima Korps' marines had thought the  
most they had to do was to serve as living shield for Trident Pilot Kirishima. Slowly, they  
thinned the enemy lines, while eerily aware they had nowhere near the amount of bolt  
rounds necessary to take out even half the horde.

Those less used to the bolt rifles had to settle for the 5.56mm punch of the more common  
assault rifles. Dimly he wondered how the 7.62mm rounds used at the mainland would fare.  
Probably better; it looked as if this was the reason both Russian and China mobilized their  
armies. China was the world largest producer of bolt weapons and ammunition after all.  
Hell, both were used to human wave attacks.

He sighed. Useless to ask for what they did not have. He stared at the advancing line of  
infested people. It was impossible to discern which among them held enough lingering  
intelligence to use weapons. Bodies were piled high enough that these served as a barrier  
that the horde slowly pushed through. It was horrible sight and a stinking disaster.

Only dimly did he realize one of the regular troops had put down his rifle. The man's  
expression was slack as he took out his pistol; pointing it at the soldier beside him. Sgt.  
De Leon had no time to think; he tackled the man.

"Oh, shit! He's infested!" screamed the soldier with a bolt rifle. "How... the things got  
behind the lines!" The others moved to finish him off.

"Get back to your posts, you fools!" the sargeant yelled. "He's not infested!"

"Then why..."

"I recognized someone. You just shot his wife!" Bolt rounds left barely indentifiable messes  
behind. Beautiful, ugly, young, old, it did not matter.

The one who did that winced. It was hell of a final sight to remember your beloved, as a  
headless ruin. "But... she was dead, anyway..."

"I know!" The stricken soldier blubbered. "... don't you think I know? Kyoko... !" He let out  
a primal scream and collapsed, sobbing.

Sgt. De Leon let him go. He took back his rifle and faced the horde. Incredible. The Angels  
killed whatever chance for victory the humans of Tokyo-3 had left. Even if they won, even  
if they survived, they would never be able to call it victory. It was dark under Iruel's  
shadow, and the air itself seemed to sap all hope. Behind tall buildings he could discern  
the flashes of continued fighting. The power of the Eva...! It was still unpredictable; even  
smashing that immense globe might not be enough to prevail. _'This... is just damn evil.'_

He heard a distinctive beep on his headpiece. The sargeant went down from the barricade  
to the field radio. It was plugged into one of the many steet-level sockets leading into  
underground lines and could receive signals from both NERV and the JSSDF. Ordinarily this  
would have been a horrid communications vulnerability, but with the Angels' tendencies to  
be rather huge and physics-raping, it seemed prodent to secure battlefield contact. They  
had not really anticipated ever needing to fight against people.

After a while, he shouted "... we've got orders! We're pulling back and moving the people  
north, away from the lakefront."

"What? Why?" he was asked. That way led right into the mass they were fighting. That  
put civilians directly under the Angel.

He looked at them, so weary, fully aware of just how little they were in a war of monstrous  
proportions. "They didn't say..." he said, but figured he owed them his best guess. The  
sargeant pointed up, then arced his finger down to indicate a ballistic trajectory. A  
bombing.

"They wouldn't?" "Of course they would!"

He forestalled any further discussion. "We don't have time to waste! They say we have  
less than ten minutes! Let's clear them a path!" He saw the reserve units already moving  
up to join them. There were so many streets of Tokyo-3, and so many isolated pockets of  
resistance.

There were tunnels leading right out of the city. However, those same escape tunnels had  
turned into death traps. The only way out was aboveground, with all the risks that implied.  
They PDF were slowly fighting their way through towards Trident Base, which had its own  
shelters and defences necessarily devoted to dealing with human-size enemies.

Why go back to worst of it? Why let themselves be surrounded again? Yang said so; and  
his inscrutable ways may have proved useful, the sargeant felt it would shortly become  
far too annoying for them poor grunts.

-o-

-o-

The harbor master wheezed and wiped blood from his brow. It was difficult, but fortunately  
there were only three of the... things. One of his people had died, her throat torn out, but  
fortunately the others managed to get the... thing... away before it could pass on its  
infestation.

"They're mostly worms inside..." said the medic. He shared the others' reluctance in calling  
those they had just beheaded as 'people'. "Somehow the worms serve the function of  
muscles and internal organs. Healing is only so much the matter of connecting these  
together."

"Is it possible to get someone back, if they're only freshly been infected?" he asked. "If it's  
a matter of physical parasites, then maybe all we need is to remove..."

"Unfortunately, no. The things attack the brain first of all. Of course, once they're in the  
neck, any attempt to immidiately remove them can prove fatal. It's not like most... zombie  
viruses... fatality is quick and total, there's no immunity, there's no cure..."

"Sir! More message burn-throughs!"

Wearily the harbor master turned to the communications officer. "Those idiots are still  
alive? Well... we can't give them any help. We've got our hands full as it is."

"No, message is... clear docks for immidiate disembarking. We're coming in."

The land-trapped old sailor groaned. "It's worse here, it's WORSE! Why don't they get  
that? It's better to run aground a few miles off... no, wait, that might just spread the  
infestation. Better we all die together. Send that."

The clicks and buzzes of a powerful signal continued. "Acknowledged, can't be worse. One  
question...

Do you want to live? Or do you want the enemy to die?"

"What kind of stupid question is that? This is no time to play word games...!"

"Sir...!"

"What?"

"Landline message from Trident Base. Same question."

A chill passed through the harbor master. "They're... going to start bombing, aren't they?"  
He slumped back on his feet. _'Do I want to live...? Of course!' _He wondered if it was  
possible to run far enough away from the blast effect. Slowly, he realized, if the Angels  
win then nowhere was far enough. He saw the same grim recognition in the young faces  
around him. "All right... reply; how can we help make it die?"

-o-

-o-

Trident Base was in an uproar. The ill-named Production Model Tridents were still fighting  
the Evangelions and their own beloved Trident Land Dreadnought. The troops were barely  
holding back an infested human tide. The zombie-like horde had proved capable of using  
the defenders own weapons, tanks and all, against them. If only they were not so damn  
unpredictable about it! Sometimes it seemed as if the horde reacted to head off human  
orders, then at other times just mill around with no goal in sight. It was hard enough trying  
to keep the fighters from cracking. Then, out of the blue, Yang 'abused' his observer  
status by giving out another 'suggestion' that put it all at risk.

A direct link to NERV was open up on the main screen. Misato Katsuragi stared balefully  
down the middle-aged Chinese man. The two did not have much prior contact, knowing  
that it was unseemly; their very existence challenge the tactical prerogatives of the  
other. "If you want me to release control of strategic N2 weapons then you had better  
have something better than 'because I said so'. We're still fighting here!"

Yang bowed. "I know, Colonel Katsuragi. However, there are new assets that can't come  
into play until we... clear the way, so to speak." He looked aside to one of the tactical  
officers "May I have the location data, please? Thank you."

A map of the local Hakone region appeared onscreen. "Tokyo-3 is ideally protected by a  
ring of mountains, sheltering it from attacks from the sea. The Angel may be six kilometers  
tall and hovering just inches above the tallest building at that; the mountains still can  
manage to hide enough of its bulk from offshore fire due to angular difference. "

"... so you're asking we clip the top off Mounts Futago and Sounzan?" Misato whistled.  
"What the hell do you have out there?" Her look narrowed. "It's some kind of direct-fire  
weapon, isn't it?" The hole made by their earlier concentrated attack had still not healed  
over. Ideally, that was the best place to focus fire on again.

"It is as you say." He bowed self-effacingly again. "It was supposed to be delivered today."

Misato looked at the screen. Twin triangles showed estimates of where two ships were.  
"Riight. Why don't you tell me more about these reinforcements?"

"I'm afraid I don't really have much to reveal. I only have barely more than what's been  
given to base command; only that it has a comparable yield to the lake cannon."

That sparked Misato's interest.

"You can't seriously be considering this blatant act of geographical vandalism?" Ritsuko  
asked archly from offscreen.

"How long before they get here?"

"Less than ten minutes. Bombers are already flying around in circles, waiting for release."  
Colonel Nasuno replied. Getting in close enough to precisely carve out the firing lines  
would be a suicide mission. The Angel was ganking vehicles that got into some unspecified  
range. The bombers would have to unload everything, or crash their planes; rather than  
let the enemy get its... claws?... on N2 warheads.

Misato licked her lips. "All right. We don't have time to waste. The Evangelions need all the  
support they can get. I authorize limited release of N2 weaponry in Tokyo-3's area of  
responsibility." She glanced aside, and upwards, glaring to remind them all she held the  
ultimate authority in such matters, and if it all goes wrong - the blame.

"Thank you, Colonel Katsuragi." Yang bowed again, and grinned. Misato boggled. That...  
reminded her so much her lost Child, it twinged a hidden hurt. The link switched off.

"You had better be right..." Trident Base's own colonel warned.

Yang put his hands into his pockets in a casual affectation, leaning back on his chair. His  
right hand clenched upon a pendant he had received in the mail, earlier that day. It was  
a stylized eye, and the note that accompanied it merely said 'I had nothing whatsoever to  
do with whatever zombies you may have heard of. But solutions present themselves.' It  
was unsigned.

"I can only hope..." he replied. "I've done my part, to make it easier, the future belongs to  
someone else..."

-o-

-o-

The light burned stone. Everyone was stunned into silence, as the shockwave passed over  
them. So far the defenders had hoped to keep the vast bulk of the Earth's Cradle in a  
'mood' of noninterference with the fighting underneath. The spread of infected forms was  
frightening, but of all the things Iruel could have done it was the least. This; it was sure  
to jar it awake.

Slowly, sensors returned. The N2 warheads were not the city-destroyers by any means,  
but more than enough to shatter a substantial amount of rock from the sides of the peaks.  
Gravity did the rest.

As expected, the behemoth of an Angel went into a sort of 'freak out'. Beams lashed out  
all over, depositing infestation. Those watching noticed that for the first time, it seemed to  
take an interest in infesting -buildings-. They could understand woms taking control of  
people, but how does it take over structures of steel, concrete and glass, and to what  
purpose? The physicality of the Earth's Cradle hovering above their heads reminded them  
it was possible, and that whatever the crawling green roots spreading across the city  
were meant to be- it was not good.

The south was shrouded in smoke. Then, two purplish beams punched through to carve  
across Iruel's curving flank. Then, fifteen seconds later, another pair. The incident angle  
was off by several degrees, enough to hint that it came from a different pair of cannons.

A thundering pressure wailed across the city. The Angel, so huge and thickly protected...  
was in pain.

"What is that?" Misato shouted. She watched the Trident Warborn Phoenix-Spasm swoop  
away from converging beams. It flew erraticaly, chased by positron beams from kilometers  
out, leaving behind a trail of ugly gashes into the Cradle's matte black skin. It had to  
retreat to the safety of the floating globe's other hemisphere. "What the...? THEY CAN  
AIM!" Misato whooped. "Hah! From that far away, they can aim! How?"

Ritsuko looked puzzled. The AT-field jamming could even slightly distort light; leading to  
the mirage-like sheen occasionally showing through their cameras, and making even lidar or  
IR somewhat touchy.

-o-

It was the Heavy Cruiser Kringolith, a 2004 design. Made primarily for bombardment duties,  
it had a good hull, reliable guns, and very little electronics. It was a relatively cheap way  
to force compliance upon a shoreline. Not since D-day back in June 6, 1944 had that much  
shelling or combat landings been necessary. The day was July 6, 2016.

The Kringolith lost its forward and aft 14cm turrets, each replaced with dual positron  
cannon turret; the bore was less important than wattage, but they were called by the  
crew as 20cm Brightlance. The cannons were firing in sequence, though each had cycle  
time of four seconds at a drain-capacitor setting, this left no gap between shots spitting  
at Tokyo-3. The sea around the ship began to boil. Heatsinks were made to contain heat  
and safely radiate it out to the air. The ship dumped its waste heat into the Pacific.

Around each turret sat six people; bald and clad in robes, uncaring of the danger. They  
chanted sutras of praise and encouragement. Inside the the firing stations, similar men  
with funny-looking conical hats stood with their eyes closed and mumbled strings of  
numbers that the gunners preferred over the firing values the computers offered.

Iruel lashed out. People appeared on decks. The swords worn by the crew were decidedly  
NOT ceremonial.

-o-

Its sister ship, the Karingdol, went towards the anchorage at maximum speed. It did not  
slow as it neared the docks, instead turning hard to port to present its side. The harbor  
master watching it had to shout "No way, they're crazy...!"

The ship slammed sideways into the port, crumpling itself into the concrete piers. The  
side cargo doors opened up, and people rushed out to unload. Sections of the hull were  
even blown open, so the tanks could roll right out of the ship.

There was a waiting mass of infested populace, along with several seized tanks. They  
were scythed through as the reinforcements rode out.

-o-

-o-

Sgt. De Leon and his Marines were battling for their lives, as the infested converged upon  
the concentrated civilian populace. Tokyo-3 had a population of just under a million. The  
Earth's Cradle had a contigent of around fourty thousand. As the minutes went by, the  
disparate numbers had to adjust, closer and closer towards equality.

He looked towards the other end of the enclosure. NERV refused to let people down into  
the geofront, citing important security issues. Objectively, he knew that so many people  
could in the end be turned into a walking army of the deathless, to swarm over the meager  
defenders underground. Opening up also invited infiltration from a variety of other  
unforeseen enemies. It did not mean he felt any less resentful. The civilians were topping  
out their fear and rancor for the supposed 'rulers' of the city.

If not for Horaki, Suzuhara, and Aida... the soldier still could not get over it. Children had  
to take the brunt of that responsibility. So many people, trapped, certain death hanging  
over them... the only thing worse than an unthinking mob was an unthinking cannibalistic  
undying mob. The children... they were oddly enough the bedrock of calm, with such pure  
certainty in that it would be all right. Their parents had to maintain their composure, as  
unconsciously it shamed them. To drive away the horrid sounds, the people sang songs;  
specially the theme of Evangelion Fantasy Battle.

He turned back to the battle. He heard his bolt rifle click, empty. He loaded his last drum  
of bolt rounds. Thirty shots. There were thousands battering themselves at the barricades.

"What are you looking at, you apes?" he laughed at his men, those he had suffered with  
over the years. "You want to live forever?"

Takahashi, ever the jokester, ever griping, but actually the first to accept the gaijin in  
their midst... blanched. He grimaced over the undying horde. "No way! I'm saving this  
grenade for myself!"

Everyone nodded. Even killing oneself with a bullet to the brain only saved the awareness  
of being taken over. The freshly-dead were as useful to infection as the living. At least,  
in contradiction with zombie movies, anyone dying behind the lines would remain a corpse  
until the horde swept over them.

_'The worms need to eat brains. That's what we're fighting, not people, not zombies, there's  
nothing mystical or macabre about this...!' _the sargeant thought at he pulled at the  
trigger. "WORMS! JUST WORMS! We're exterminating some pests!" If only the things were  
not so damn hard to kill...!

He heard the click; that final, unmistakable click. There went the last of their bolt rounds.  
Normal rifle rounds could only slow down the horde. Even that was already limited. Some  
of the other troops made as if to hand their rifles over to those up at the barricades. He  
shook his head, no.

"They still have to get up here." Sgt. De Leon said. And to his squad... "Affix. Bayonets."

The bayonets were long, carbon steel, taking advantage of the bolt rifle's hardier stock. A  
few had even custom attachments; making the bolt rifle an impromptu axe instead of a  
spear. The weight should make decapitation easier.

He had long strayed from the faith of his childhood, but looking at all those dead faces,  
the old images from Judgement Day came to mind. He no longer believed, but he made  
the sign of the cross and was comforted. It was time to die.

Enough of the infested ones had fallen to serve as the undying horde's own ramp up the  
barricades. He thrust his bayonet into someone's eyes and sort of jiggled it around inside.  
He kicked that one back, and even as he fought to push others off noted with relief that  
it did not get back up.

_'Too many...! Putang giliw..!'_

He screamed and chopped and thrust and gave the people hiding inside the ampitheater  
that few more precious minutes to live. He heard one of his team pulled under, he did not  
know who. It no longer mattered; they all fought on, uncaring of what may happen...

Then heard the distinctive sound of a boltgun.

DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA!

A boltgun in full automatic fire, wasteful and oh-so-very lethal. Two of them. Then four.  
Then six. The horde crumpled under the assault, so much that even those attacking the  
barricades fell back in some instinct to retreat.

And he saw... tanks.

Biig tanks.

Tall and ugly, and somehow he knew at first sight these were Russian-made. Lozenge-style  
tracks rode high, and sponson mounts on either side; a tank feature unseen since the first  
World War, spat out sweeping death. A frontal boltgun scattered enemies in front. None  
struck by the guns rose again. The cannon...! He had never seen a cannon that big, not  
even on artillery. It was rather short, with reinforced bands, and angled slightly upwards  
like a howitzer.

The two Leman Russ fired their battle cannon, and those in the military gaped at the sight.  
Aida, just when he had joined in the fight not one had noticed, gave voice to their  
common consternation. "What the hell? That's... a bolter shell! It's not megabolter size,  
but...! What the hell?"

The Russian had managed to shrink a cruiser's ship cannon to tank size, but the 8-inch  
caliber instead. It was sufficient.

Incendiary rounds lit up the avenue.

Boltguns continued to clear the way. Something boomed from the shadows, and struck at  
the allied tanks. One of the seized JSSDF main battle tanks rumbled out, with its proven  
120mm cannon. An Armor-piercing round slammed into the lead Leman Russ, stopping it  
cold. The other heavy tank returned fire with its battle cannon.

Amazingly, neither shot managed to penetrate armor. The Leman Russ had a glacis plate  
thirteen inches thick, of the same material Evangelion armor was made of. Its 8-inch bolt  
cannon however, was more of a snub howitzer. With its thick frontal armor and multiple  
boltguns, the tanks were intended for infantry support as a mobile strongpoint.

The third Leman Russ joining in however, had a longer straight barrel designed for anti-  
armor duty. Oh, and was decorated with gold filigree. The infested tank never had a  
chance.

"Is this the only active shelter?" someone asked through the external speakers. "Are there  
more people who need help?"

"Yes! There are three more secure zones!" the people at the barricades shouted back.  
"Keep going, they're at the Hotel Row and the Supermall!"

More conventional tanks and APCs approached, along with several large cargo trucks. UN  
soldiers, for some strange reason mostly of the Chinese and Russian Strategic Forces... but  
it was no time for old grudges. Yang could be incovenienced later. For the moment,  
ensuring the safety of civilians and supporting the wearied defenders was all-important.

Sgt. De Leon was not in command, there was a JSSDF lieutenant for that. The Marine  
merely sighed, and sat, suddenly so weary. He looked aside at his squad, amazingly, all  
of them managed to survive... if all battered and bloody as he was. They grinned at each  
other. Medics were already arriving to tend to the wounded.

Before things could get settled however, Iruel let out a bass growl. Holes appeared along  
its bottom, and black globs dropped down. One splattered behind the barricades. The  
reinforcements seemed to recognize the sticky blobs, and were afraid. "Mutation forms!"  
the call rang out.

The bolt-rifled Chinese soldier ran up the barricades and began shoving people around. This  
immidiately irked the troops still there, and something unfortunate might have happened  
had not the globs started to twist and rise, from out of that sticky black glop something  
hunched, clawed, and faintly birdlike hooted. As one, the undying hordes charged again.

Bolt rounds were unloaded without restraint. All the soldiers up on the barricades focused  
fire on the single creature stuck behind the line. No less than twenty bolt rounds met on  
its flesh at any one time, and despite gouts of blood and flesh it kept going. It screamed,  
and leapt, and taloned feet unerringly brought down a volunteer Red Guard. Then it swept  
the barricades, a creature of slashing, screeching, biting ferocity. Bolt rounds sank into its  
body, exploding inside as hinted by momentary bulges, but it continued on fighting. It was  
unstoppable.

A javelin, tipped with a strange sparking blue blade struck it between its beady black eyes.  
The creature... melted, giving off one last agonizing, indignant screech.

"That... that was an infant Angel, wasn't it...?" Sgt. De Leon breathed out. He asked the  
soldier beside him, like him seemingly drained of all energy.

"N-nyet." the RSSDF soldier replied. He looked far too young, and replied in clipped English.  
"Worse. Is idea of an infant Angel. It does not really exist as life, as matter as we know...  
we think, this be what happens when psychics are taken over..."

Sgt. De Leon nodded. Everyone knew that Russians had the highest population percentage  
of psychics. As if knowing what he was thinking, the foreign soldier laughed, only stopping  
as his wounds pained him.

He handed over his bolt rifle. "Battle is not finished yet, yes? You fight for your country  
and you people, might get to see something wonderful."

The JSSDF Marine wondered just what glorious sight there could possibly be in war, but  
took the rifle with thanks. He turned back to the barricade, and gasped.

The horde swelled, like a tide; surged, like the surf, and rushed at the tanks. The bolt  
guns could repel them no longer, and the Leman Russ became as islands upon a sea of  
undeath. Infested ones clawed at the hatches, spitting out worms that slowly ate into  
metal. The tanks reversed, the sound of crunching bones rising above the tumult.

One of the large trucks rolled ahead, turning sideways. At first, those watching assumed  
it was trying to turn itself into a temporary barricade to funnel the flow of enemies, then  
its side blew open, swinging down as a ramp. Condensing air wafted out, occluding the  
sight. Four mutation forms immidiately sprang into entrance, hissing with deadly intent.

There were crunching, snapping sounds, and the screeches of the dying.

An unnatural silence fell upon the scene, broken only by Iruel's everpresent hum and the  
faintly rocking beat that was NERV's response.

The horde stepped forward, ready to continue it implacable advance. Voices, loud and  
distorted, mixing together in a practiced cadence blasted out of the truck's hold.

_**"THIS CITY IS TAINTED. PURGE IT! WITH BOLT AND SWORD AND FIRE!"**_

Bolter fire streamed out of the misty space, in a constant disciplined firing line instead of  
the powerful but separate sweep of tank-mounted boltguns. The muddled mass seemed to  
cave inwards, as those within poured storm bolter; double-barrel boltguns, into the horde.  
There was no saving these people. They were dead, if mobile. There was no cure.

_**"THERE IS ONLY THE LAST RITES, THE BLESSING OF PURITY  
WE ANOINT YOU WITH FIRE, GO IN PEACE TO YOUR REST"**_

Eight hard-shelled boots stepped in unison upon plate titanium, and their combined weight  
bent even that reinforced ramp. In the shadow of the Angel, they shone, their armor  
painted in slightly flourescent gold pigment. This was their guiding doctrine; that it was  
worth attracting attention hostile or otherwise. It was always better that the enemy seek  
to test themselves against their armor, instead of reaving some hapless, fleshy civilian.

_**"WE ARE SWORN TO PROTECT, WE ARE GIVEN TO PRESERVE..."**_

Their armor was thick and curved, and gave them a slightly hunched-over look. They had  
helmets somewhat bear-like, but sufficiently angled to repel strikes. They held Storm  
Bolters with their right hand. As Bolt Rifles were merely Bolters with a longer, less wrist-  
breaking stock and a drum feed; these were two, welded together, and had a box feed of  
at least fifty rounds each. Firing three-round bursts, they were deadly if ammo-hungry.

_**"WE RELEASE YOU FROM YOUR TORTURED THRALL..."**_

Their left arms ended in oversized gauntlets, sparking with energy. It was soon apparent  
why... a swing of powered fists pulped whatever they met, and the deadly electrical fields  
combined to fry anything it touched. Thick enough to resist most attacks; weapon and  
shield in one.

**_"TO ALLIES WE GIVE HONOR, TO ENEMIES OF MAN, RUIN!"_**

Their breastplates held decorative molds of wings over a red globe. Their thick oversized  
pauldrons bore the marks (01) on the left and on the right a four-leaf flower overlaid with  
the skull and crossbones. If the infested ones had left some glimmer of intelligence, or any  
imparted instinct, it was enough sign that they hesitated. None could turn back to flee,  
there were too many.

They towered above mere men, shining with baneful purpose. The drum-beat sound of  
NERV was intended to engender anticipation, as a counter to aimless fear. It had no real  
function. Yet, at that point it seemed... that anticipation was fulfilled.

_**"KNOW THAT WE ARE TERMINATUS LEGIO, HERAKLITUS,  
THE FINAL WORD IS HERE, WE SHALL END YOU"**_

There were already previous versions of powered armor in use. Most of them were more on  
speed and tactical efficiency than with turning the user into an unstoppable juggernaut.  
The greatest pitfall was in the power supply; nothing short of a compact nuclear reactor  
could possibly provide that much motive power for the systems. In addition, it was only  
logical that the heavier the armor, the slower the response.

The solution; high-efficiency capacitors and superconducting wire. And using big, very  
strong men at the start, to boost the increase at an exponential level. The costs were  
tremendous, the results well worthy.

**_"OUR DUTY IS HONOR, AND DEATH IS OUR REWARD,  
FOR WE ARE THE CHOSEN, AND WE SHALL KNOW NO FEAR"_**

They fired until they ran out of rounds, unsurprisingly quickly. They paused and stepped  
back, continuing their litany.

The wordswere more than mere boasts. As the stated function of the Terminators was to  
dive headlong into the thickest, most contested of battles and be constantly outnumbered,  
morale was of vast importance. Specially so when the enemy was undying and unrelenting.  
The specific candence timed the sequence of actions, seconds matched to flow, and all  
as one they adhered to the visceral perfection of that pattern.

The second rank pushed forward as the first reloaded, shouting out their words and  
pounding away in vehement emphasis.

_**"WE CARRY THE LIGHTNING, WE BRING THE THUNDER!"**_

Their shields and their hammers crackled with energy. Their left held back the great mass  
of mindless malice, while their right smashed heads beyond all hope of recovery. Electricity  
stunned the infestations long enough, passing through the huddled throng; that they  
could be smote with efficient, practiced ease or trampled under nearly a ton of weight.  
With every swing, they took out four, five enemies.

_**"WE HOLD THE STRENGTH TO LET HUMANITY PROSPER  
WE CARRY THE VIRTUE TO SMASH ITS ENEMIES INTO DUST!"**_

The Assault Terminators could keep going at it for hours, but after several more breaths  
stepped back to let the first rank back into the fray.

_**"THERE IS NO ENEMY BEYOND OUR MIGHT!  
THERE IS NO SAFETY AGAINST OUR WRATH!"**_

Bolter fire widened the gap they broke open. In a straight-up fight, or any fortress wall;  
nothing could stand up to their determination. Two marines took up positions at the sides,  
hefting large gatling guns, cut-down versions of the famed antitank aircraft assault  
cannon. The flanks would be secured.

_**"WE ARE PROUD TO LIVE, WE ARE PROUD TO DIE!  
WE ARE FORGED IN WAR, WE ARE TEMPERED IN BLOOD  
IN OUR SOULS WE CRAFT THE VICTORY OF ALL MANKIND!"**_

As they opened up, the tank crews behind them groaned at how the Terminators were  
outdistancing the heavy armor. Again. Their only weak point was from the back, which was  
perhaps just as well. Regular troops took out the stragglers, secured the barricades and  
waited for the powered trooper to finish their litany. Never had they actually heard it said  
to completion, and dreaded the moment it had to be said twice.

The third rank moved up, and they weilded massive, ungainly-looking guns. Then they set  
the enemy ablaze.

**_"BURN, HERETIC! BURN IN CLEANSING FLAME!  
REJOICE IN THE FIRES OF YOUR ABSOLUTION!"_**

The top turret hatch of the Destroyer-pattern Leman Russ popped up, and a young teen  
poked his head out to breath in the dank, stifling air. He watched the warriors break the  
tide, with the rest of the soldiery surging to fill the gap. The tank he occupied surged  
onwards, but found the Terminator Squads still keeping pace slightly ahead.

**_"TO THE DARKNESS, WE BRING FIRE!  
TO THE IGNORANT WE BRING FAITH!  
TO THE HELPLESS WE GIVE OUR HAND,  
TO THE CORRUPT WE GIVE OUR FIST!"_**

He smiled slightly. '_They are not my Astartes, not yet. These are not my Imperial Guard.'_  
He looked up, past buildings and the signs of battle ongoing._ 'But this is my city, and these  
are my people. And there... they are those I love.'_

His assistant emerged from the other hatch. He had the white robes of the attached  
psychic corps, and the Javaalese helmet. "Your Excellency, I am most pleased to report  
that the Basilisks have finished unloading."

Shinji sighed heavily, and nodded. Technically, it was better than 'my lordship', since it was  
applicable to ambassadors too. Which he was, officially. "Thank you. Please contact  
Brother-Captain Akrivopoulos and tell him to pull back. Once they are clear, turn the enemy  
to stone."

"It shall be done." The man closed his eyes and muttered under his breath.

The Terminators were not under the command of the UN or any other national force. They  
were, technically, mercenaries. He hired them, equipped them, and in as much as they  
were directly sworn to his service he had promised not to go off and break any more  
fortresses with them. Tokyo-3, fortress city, did not count. At his word, they pivoted and  
marched back in good order.

The Russians could not give the Leman Russ a 13-inch cannon. They put that into the  
Basilisk Mobile Artillery. That was, incidentally, the same caliber used in the Megabolter-  
330mm rounds. One of the white-robed people with the funky hats received target data  
and the orders to fire for effect.

Instead of high explosive, the Basilisks fired shells filled with a special with a special, quick-  
hardening glop that covered the field. Beings of sufficient strength and leverage, like say...  
elephants and Terminators, could break free with ease. Others with more spindly limbs  
would be trapped by a layer of rubbery but inflexible crud. There were also substances  
more similar to sticky glue, that suffucated and bound down the targets the more they  
struggled. Then of course, those that eventually hardened into a stonelike substance.

And with a few more barrages, more than eighteen thousand people were ready to be  
purged; by bolt, blade or fire. The rest were too diffuse, but even if concentrated into  
one mass would prove less of a challenge. Psychic adepts from Javaal joined the front  
lines, ready against further suprises and mutation forms.

Shinji wanted to weep, he had wanted to slip into the city almost unseen. That was why  
he had chosen his own birthday to arrive; a present to himself, and announcing his  
presence the day afterwards cut off any seeming expectations of receiving gifts. This was  
not what he wanted of his homecoming.

He wanted to weep; but instead felt burning, fluid fury well up from within. All this death,  
all this destruction- for what? To prove a point?

He looked to the northwest, past the obstructing buildings, and howled "NAAAGIIIISAAAA!"

-o-

-o-

Kaworu blinked. He could not move, he could not blink. Such murderous intent... it gave  
no hope for survival, no chance of success. It was beautiful. He got shot out of the sky.

The Barrel-Lios skidded to a stop upon a roofline. It took him a few moments to take back  
his breath. "... oh my." he whispered. "He returned a little different from what I expected."

The wave spread through Iruel's domain of uncertain space. It affected the combatants  
in different ways. Those that relied upon the support of Iruel's AT-field were numbed by  
the thread of absolute certainty, as if their doom was writ in the skein of universal Law.

"Was that...?" Asuka gasped. She and Rei felt as like a warm touch upon their AT-fields,  
while Mana's left arm tingled... not unpleasantly. She blinked, and shook her head slightly  
as if to shake off loose thoughts. "Ayanami! Kirishima! Let's switch!"

"Understood." "Roger that, Sohryu."

Three was the optimal number, matched against each other the best they could do was  
fight to a standstill. Matched to purpose... close combat, long range, general support...  
the Trident Warborns had a slight, but definite advantage. So far, all fought separately.

With Kaworu briefly out of the picture, the defenders could combine forces. The Trident  
pilots, being enhanced humans, recovered faster.

Martin regained awareness just in time to see Unit Two turning past a corner to flee. The  
serrated wounds of his machine had mostly healed; why did she choose to not finish the job,  
while he was helpless? More misguided mercy?

He snarled and stomped forward with his saurian machine, shouting "COWARD! FACE ME,  
SOHRYU! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE WEAK AND PATHETIC WON'T KEEP ME FROM DESTROYING  
YOU WHEN I FINALLY RUN YOU DOWN!"

The Jagd Wulf turned into the street the Eva went through, and found something standing  
at the middle of road to block his path. It was red and black and gold, and its banner  
showed a three-pronged spear. Trident.

"What idiocy is this?" the pilot sneered. The Land Dreadnought was such a pretentious  
name; it was so short and stubby, less than half the size of his own true Trident  
Landcruiser... it was no challenge at all, he thought.

"I'm not sure what you beef is with Sohryu, I can't say I'm any way a close friend of  
hers... but you're not worth her time. I'm putting you down, you embarassment to the  
name! You fake Trident!"

Martian grinned madly. "Heh. I suppose you think you can stop me, with that toy?"

-Magnos Tancred- lifted a leg, and stomped down. Then the other. It leaned slightly  
forward, as like a sumo wrestler.

The -Krutokoah- brandished it claws and talon, and snapped its jagged beak. "Fool. Let  
me show you what it means to play in the Big Games." The Trident Warborn charged and  
pounced, slamming the Trident Land Dreadnought into the ground. It screeched in victory  
and bent down to tear the impudent human machine to shreds.

... then realized that unlike Evangelions and more humanoid mecha, the Land Dreadnought  
had no obvious protruberances to tear off. Its torso was one solid block of amor, with  
flat surfaces that could not be bitten into or stabbed through. And, unlike the Eva and to  
a lesser extent the Trident Warborn; -Magnos Tancred- felt no pain. -Magnos Tancred-  
knew no fear. -Magnos Tancred- had several powerful weapons integrated into its torso,  
all pointing at the enemy's soft underbelly.

The hardmounted positron cannon pierced through, several times. The 120mm cannon  
left a cluster of wounds, while the chin-mount 20mm drew a ragged line down the enemy's  
abdomen, going down to where the legs joined the hip. Mana seemed to take savage  
glee in making sure the semi-biological Trident Warborn's groin was well and truly  
perforated. Flamers bathed the enemy, pouring into and cauterizing wounds.

Martin screamed in pain, the feedback overflowing the sensations buffer. The Trident  
Warborns, unlike the Evangelions, fought with the level of animal-brains, reading their  
pilots' intentions. It shifted its weight, and in the blind haze of pain failed to notice that  
-Magnos Tancred-'s left side was free. WHAM! A four-clawed fist slammed into its head;  
and squeezed.

When it comes to sheer grip strength, the purely mechanical hold was superior to five,  
tendon-pulled fingers. The Jagd Wulf's head shortly began to give way, oozing purplish  
fluid.

Wham! Wham! WHAM!

The Trident Warborn toppled to the side. Hydraulic jacks on the Land Dreadnought's back  
deployed to get it back to its feet. It sprayed flame and shot at the briefly stunned enemy  
for a few more moments. Slow, not a real match against the Evangelion, but its crude old  
control method did have some advantages over the mind-machine interface.

Mana shivered, seeing her enemy beaten to a pulp. It felt like a divine imperative, to crush  
the infidel machinery. The Trident was mankind's own pure vessel of war, and to integrate  
Angel biology in parody of the Evangelions... why, that sounded like heresy!

-o-

Unit Zero, the prototype machine, was less agile and less responsive than the other two  
Evangelions. This did not matter much in ranged combat, and Rei's discipline fit neatly into  
the role as a sniper. The Phoenix-Spasm was superior to the Trident Land Dreadnought  
in terms of general combat support, but had its own flaws.

Primarily, that it was a flying machine. It may not adhere to aeronautic principles, but still  
needed wings to fly.

Precisely-aimed shots from cover amputated one of its wings before it had a chance to  
react. Sarah winced; due to the necessity of complex flight, feedback from the Trident  
Warborn's situation awareness was slightly greater than the other war machines. She  
fought to control its fall and slammed into the Earth's Cradle... etching the material as it  
vainly tried to hang onto the smooth surface with its claws.

Then, it seemed as if the Angel's carapace turned to liquid, and swallowed her up.

Rei stepped out of cover and nodded, satisfied. She thought it likely that enemy would not  
be returning too soon into the fight. That was simple, she should have done that before.  
Nagisa's own beam weapon restricted tactical movement however, carefully keeping the  
combatants separate. Nagisa was lynchpin; without him, the others quickly fell prey to  
their own lack of real combat experience.

So now, there were three against one. She saw the Land Dreadnought stomping into view,  
and the stubby machine gave her a short bow. The Evangelion Battle Sim allowed them  
to appreciate the worth of fire support, and of fighting to the enemy's weaknesses.

-o-

Nagisa nudged his Barrel-Lios out of its hole, and extended his awareness. "Well, isn't that  
interesting...?" he noted. Iruel lashed out with its beam and sucked up an angry, protesting  
Martin (and his damaged Jagd Wulf) back into itself. The offshore bombardment continued,  
pitting the Earth Cradle's shell.

He turned his Trident Warborn towards the sea, and fired. His positron beam had nearly the  
same output as one of those ship cannons.

It was a conventional aphorism that a ship should be strong enough to take the hit of its  
own guns. This did not apply to the Kringolith Beam Cruiser, as mere steel could never  
stand up to the energy packed into positron beam cannons. Sufficient armor to do so  
would never allow it to float.

Positron beams traveled at close to the speed of light. There should have been no defense  
against that. However, the Kringolith fired its forward guns at the same instant as Kaworu,  
and their beams passed too close to each other; and the interacting magnetic fields  
deflected the shots.

Kaworu blinked. "Offense AND defense in one. Nicely done, humans..." His Trident drew  
power straight from Iruel's AT-field, and while the ambient energies may be unlimited there  
was still a defined restraint in how quickly the infested machine could take it and convert  
that energy.

He heard a distinctive motor sound from behind him. He turned. "Oh, hello, Sohryu-san." he  
replied cheerily. "I see you found your chainaxe."

"It doesn't have to be this way, Kaworu. The others are already down, you don't have to  
do this." Asuka said, pleading. "Come with us! We can protect you!"

The hybrid shook his head sadly. "It's not that simple, Asuka... following NERV, will doom  
humanity just as surely as letting the Angels win. The extremism of two sides is folly. We  
must have a third option..." He looked up, and his red eyes flashed for a moment. "I will  
be a tool no longer, Asuka... I WILL be free. Instead of the elevation of egotistical aims,  
the short-sighted ambitions of the mortal few... there must be the Greater Good!"

"I'm not saying things aren't hard right now, but what can helping the Angels do? Stop  
this, Kaworu!"

"I have no choice. Devils were once angels too, and to be free I need the tools of my  
enemy..." Iruel's psychic beam covered them, sending Asuka's nerves stinging. The Trident  
Warborn floated up, barely dodging positron shots from below, and returned to the Earth's  
Cradle.

Asuka snarled, and angrily chopped into a building. "I won't accept this! It's not over!"

-o-

-o-

"It's not over." said Shinji, as the reinforcement troops rushed to where roughly the center  
of the Earth's Cradle hung over Tokyo-3.

The volunteer Chinese and Russian troops, who had valuble experience in hunting down the  
infested populace, were already distributing themselves around the city and the tunnels.  
At least, it would save the local troops from the necessary trauma of shooting down those  
who wore the faces they were familiar with. Brought along as temporary honor guards in  
thanks for how he had helped save the mainland from infestation, they proved all too  
useful now.

The same way that his Leman Russ designs rolled off the plants just in time to help cut  
into the spread of infestation. Too conveniently useful. Shinji cursed his luck; was it some  
sort of unconscious precognitive preparation, or just bad coincidence?

There was no mistaking that attacking on his birthday was a deliberate insult, though.

"It's not over until that thing is dead!" Shinji shouted. "Are you afraid of its monstrous  
size? Do you think it impossible that beings so small and insignificant such as we can  
stand against that might?"

Gauntleted hands slapped against silvered breastplates. "_**WE CONQUER FEAR WITH EVERY  
BREATH, WE FIGHT THE GODS UNTIL OUR DEATHS!"**_

Shinji nodded. Twenty-four of them stood there in three ranks. For a long time, Javaal  
considered it a human folly to kill in the name of beings that could not be seen. Their  
strange form of Mahayana Buddhism excused ancestor worship with the reasoning that the  
spirits of ancestors could actually be caught again and contained within physical form.  
They retreated from the world, to protect it and themselves from the temptations of  
psychic power. In solitude and discipline they sought peace.

Not that Javaal was an entirely pacifistic society. They had faced many challenges over  
their nine hundred years of existence, and their defenders polished to a pinnacle their own  
unique fighting arts.

Gleaming armor, pure white robes, psychic-charge weapons... Shinji repressed a sardonic  
grin. How ironic; these people who crafted daemons as receptacles for their negative  
emotions and fled from persecution of their talents... were witch-hunters par excellence.

Their armor was not as thick and far less cumbersome than the Terminator Tacticals,  
though old arts benefited from a few modern techniques. Their indomitable will and purity  
of purpose was their first and surest shield against the enemy.

"We have no time for subtlety!" he told them. "We must hammer away, while the enemy is  
inattentive. From this there is no turning back; only you can withstand the enemy's  
corruption, only you can strike at its heart. This is a battle only you can WIN! You know  
the necessity... you know this is a fight where all of you will die."

The gathered ranks of Javaal warrior-monks tapped their chests again. **_"WE CARRY THE  
LIGHT INTO THE DARKEST PLACES!"_**

Shinji nodded somberly. It would have been an insult to pretend he was sorry to let them  
go. He could not accuse them of cowardice, and they respected that he had his own  
brand of courage; in realizing just when lives had to be spent to achieve victory. They  
were fighters of enlightenment; they would follow neither a psychotic conqueror nor a  
weepy idealist. They fought for the hope and the fury of all mankind.

Ever had they been taught, that the rote preparation of Javaal's isolation not only kept  
them free from the depradations of a corrupt world, but that someday they must stand at  
the edge of apocalypse. The worth of their power and selective breeding, was to give  
back the gifts of their humanity upon those final days.

Prophecies were such great annoyances.

The other adepts gathered around them had finished their ritual. "It is time." one of the  
elder monks said, approaching the boy and giving a slight bow of obeisance. Power, all  
combined and amplified, that the psychic adepts could provide. Perhaps not since Javaal's  
founding however, had they known such precise and merciless control over powers vast  
and terrible.

Shinji took out a small knife and cut open his palm. He slapped down onto the concrete,  
wincing slightly at the jagged bits of gravel entering the wound. Blood was key, however.  
The arcane circle around the warrior-monks flared, and eight points stretched out. They  
were engulfed in white-hot light... and vanished.

The boy remained kneeling, even as the healers started to attend to the wound.

-o-

-o-

Martin snarled in outrage. "This isn't over, Nagisa! Send me back! We're not finished here!"  
The Trident Warborns had already healed, and unlike the Evangelions could keep on  
fighting indefinitely. His own altered body could endure far more than the human limits. It  
was only reasonable to assume that if they could just extend the fighting their victory  
was inevitable.

Kaworu looked back bladly. "No." He turned towards the recessed pod where Sean Vord  
Lader linked himself to the Earth's Cradle. "Do you have enough samples, doctor?"

The scientist's breathing hissed harshly, as he gave more and more of himself into the  
machinery. He no longer needed to breath, and his lungs had shrunk too much to contain  
the air needed to speak. "The first time, nearly a -hundred thousand- people had to die to  
create the usable generation of minds worms. -Unique- minds call to -unique- partners.  
Yes, I have -improved- upon the breed, we have the most resilient healers, the strongest  
amplifiers, the fastest to replicate... natural selection for nanite colonies, hah! Impressive.  
I wonder what we would have if the infestation -you- introduced into Russia completed  
filtering up to a million people?"

"It would take far too long. We'll have to select for electrical resistance also." the hybrid  
replied. "You know what bolter fire does to a body. It's your choice now if to speed up  
healing or reinforce the internal structure."

"I will need -more- experimental subjects..." Dr. Lader licked dry lips. "I am most interested  
in seeing how this may affect an Evangelion."

"You will have them, but we need to withdraw for now." Kaworu turned to look at the  
screens. "For the Greater Good of the Greater Number... and aren't they unlimited, those  
yet to be born?"

"Homo Sapiens -Superior-... intelligent, immortal, powerful... what is -one- world?" Dr.  
Lader's laughter was a grating noise. "It should be worth it. The greatest -power- out into  
the galaxy... unstoppable, undying, the -ultimate- form of man! Haha...!"

Martin Bettelheim did not care about any of that philosophizing. "Nagisa! If NERV stands  
in the way, why don't we just destroy them now?"

Kaworu frowned. "The motives of this Angel were never mine, Bettelheim-kun." he said  
chidingly. "If we 'land' the Cradle here, we will never be able to get it to lift again. And you  
must know, there is still the Moon's Cradle. Unlike this mobile manufactorium, it actually  
has -weapons-."

"Then, why are we leaving? If we don't destroy the Evangelions now, they're just going to  
end up making trouble for us later!"

"BECAUSE, you self-absorbed half-mortal, with HIM back in his city, us dying here serves  
no purpose whatsoever! Have some sense, know when we're at a disadvan-...!"

The Cradle swayed, and if even the bombardment from offshore could not make it flinch,  
then as Martin stumbled he realized... he could not imagine what it would take to make  
the floating fortress shake. Sarah, who had so far stood by unspeaking, clung to some  
overhanging banisters and slowly made her way to the monitor banks.

The distant sound of a rippling explosion echoed through the central chamber. Dr. Lader  
screamed, feeling as if his own organs had burst, the loss of an internal power station  
affecting him directly. "Who dares! WHO DARES?"

Holographic screens popped up. Armored figures were cutting through all resistance, and  
steadily making their way to Iruel's core. Their silvered armor seemed to glow with an  
inner light, and certainly all the bullets bouncing off did not mar their sheen. Thick blast  
doors shut, but sparking blue-blade spears cut through steel like a hot knife through tofu.

**_"WE SEEK THE ENEMY! WE SEEK OUR DESTINY!  
THE CHOSEN OF JAVAAL DO NOT TURN FROM THE TASK  
REPENT OR BE CLEANSED! GIVE WAY OR BE DESTROYED!  
LET NONE DIM OUR LIGHT, LET NONE BAR OUR PATH!"_**

Limbs and assorted body parts flew and splattered around their approach. Whatever their  
blades cut, did not heal up again.

Martin looked on in horror, realizing that the core was... just over there, its upper half  
poking through the floor. The teleporation platform was set right above it. And that  
corridor he was watching... "Nagisa! Do something!"

Kaworu just sighed. "Why don't I get any competent henchmen? I offer excellent health  
benefits, educational opportunities, even a direct share in the enterprise. I even have a  
catchphrase! How does he manage it with just inspirational speeches? Emotional logic is  
barely any logic at all...!"

The door to the central chamber exploded inwards.

**_"THIS WORLD IS CORRUPT; PURIFICATION IS NOW!  
THIS FOE IS VILE; VENGEANCE HAS COME!"_**

Autogun mounts opened up and unleased a torrent of high-caliber fire at the sainted  
knights, though they would not have accepted the simile. The warrior-monks used now  
the utter certainty of Javaal's traditions; instead of destroying their way of life, the boy  
(and his 'disciples') brought an end to complacence and unveiled the hidden aspects of  
their duty.

They were taunted as cowards, for hiding in their valley when all the world needed them.  
The power gained in isolation only bred weakness, instead of strength. No longer. The old  
oaths must be fulfilled.

**_"WE ARE THE HEIRS OF ENKIDU, WE ARE THE WALL!  
WE ARE THE HOLDERS OF ENKI, HIS RIGHTEOUS LAW  
WE ARE THE SHIELD OF BUDDHA, WE ARE THE LIGHT!_**

Machinegun fire might as well have been fresh spring rain. Rockets knocked back a few,  
but they quickly resumed formation.

"YOU'RE RAVING LUNATICS, ALL OF YOU!" Kaworu shouted down at them. The distinctive  
red hexagon of an AT-field barrier appeared in their way. He was not surprised to see them  
just cut through it with sheer fanatical zeal.

**_"UNTO THE DARKEST PLACES WE CARRY THIS HOPE!  
WE FIGHT THE LONG NIGHT, WE KEEP TO THE OLD OATH!"_**

Sean Vord Lader let out a keen wail as a thrown spear lodged itself into his chest. Several  
of his spare brains exploded. He withdrew his consciousness from his useless mortal shell,  
and fled whimpering into the depths of the Cradle's bio-mechanical nervous system.

The spear, as if sensing the death of its quarry, flew back onto its owner's waiting hand.

"THERE, BROTHERS!" one of the Javaal warrior-monks pointed, at Iruel's core. Their foe!  
The final piece of their heroism! They may die, but sagas equal to those great champions  
of the founding, perhaps even greater! Not even the old myths that they carried in an  
unbroken chain of oaths, stretching all the way down to India and Babylonia had anything  
to place before their deeds valorous. "**_T__HE ROOT OF THIS MALEVOLENCE! CHARGE!"_**

"Wha-... what are they?" Martin gasped. The deep, machine-distorted voices filled the  
cavern, and their blade-first assault was unstoppable. They rushed up the stairs, and the  
Trident pilot dived for cover.

Kaworu stood by, very near, but was ignored. He grinned slightly.

Kaworu Nagisa had ganked the Earth's Cradle. They were ready to gank it right back. Just  
as as humans' Ego Borders were degraded in the presence of a strong AT-field, so were  
there techniques to paralyse such a monster.

They stabbed at the core, their blades plunging into the crystalline surface without any  
resistance whatsoever. Iruel's fear was palpable, and before all was lost it prepared to  
cast itself into the void, exploding to take the enemy with it as it died.

Mutation forms dropped from the ceiling and swamped the twenty-four in a riotous melee.  
Psychics were being hunted all over the world, enough that even sheltered Javaal had to  
fear for their own safety. Many people got through life without ever knowing they had any  
psychic potential; but even ignorance of their own abilities did not save them from  
Kaworu's attentions. All for that moment...

The half-Angel leapt into the fray. He leapt on an armored shoulder and twisted a helmeted  
head completely around. He took the psychic-charge blade from the warrior-monk's loose  
grip and swung out, decapitating another. "I can't resist it! I must say it!" he shouted in  
glee. "JUST!" He leapt from shoulder to shoulder, stabbing through eye-slits. "AS!" He fell  
into a hole appearing in the fighting huddle, and whirled into deadly action. "PLANNED!" He  
blocked and thrust and bisected those whose utter focus and lack of doubt may have  
been too short-sighted.

Once past the idea that their armor was strengthened by their will, it was really nothing  
more than an exoframe covered by thin plates of folded iron infused with strange crystalline  
material. In mundane terms, it provided barely any more protection than hard leather. As  
much as it allowed the warriors to just -ignore- conventional weapons, and their glaives  
could cut through an AT-field; the opposite was also true. A strong enough will, a soul  
shining in unbreakable surety, could overcome the defensive value of their mental fortitude.  
They were skilled, and faithful, but all too human still. The pride of Javaal did not equal  
the self-contained arrogance of Adam's memory.

And then, there was silence again. Mutation forms drew away, from his blood-spattered  
figure standing amidst the dead. The glow of those sanctified was slowly fading. Human flesh  
still had a ways to go before matching up to the will of millions-old. He felt a thread of Iruel's  
appreciation, slavishly offering obedience to the alpha. Angels were not pack creatures.

Kaworu hurled his spear at the core, piercing it through, and Iruel died before it could even  
realize what was happening. He then picked up a decapitated head and casually tossed  
it into the many gaping slashes left on the core.

The red-orange hue of the dead Angel's core abruptly turned blue.

"Doctor Lader, are you still self-aware? Grab control of the Cradle's functions as much and  
as soon as you can. We need to get out of here before he realizes what we've done!"

A rasping noise emerged from the speakers, perhaps that was a yes.

Martin Bettelheim was still in shock, and it was from stunned disbelief rather than courage  
that he asked; rather impertinently "Nagisa, if you can do this... it's just Ikari! What do you  
have to be afraid of? It doesn't make any sense!"

Kaworu turned, his glance revealing annoyance. The Trident pilot stepped back in fear, but  
Kaworu merely gestured to bring up a screen.

It showed a zoomed-in external view, of Shinji Ikari seated nonchalantly atop a Leman  
Russ turret. He stared up at the curving underside of the Cradle, and his expression was  
faintly puzzled. The tank rumbled along the streets as the defenders slowly consolidated  
forces. Six Terminators marched alongside as his personal guards.

A mutation form leapt out of cover, screeching as it dropped from a higher floor, too fast  
for his custodians to do anything about it. Shinji Ikari turned and frowned, slighly.

The mutation form exploded into fine mist just before it would have reached him.

"Um..." Martin Bettelheim loathed the Evangelion pilots, but at least held them in some  
higher regard to the rest of humanity. Ikari was no longer even a pilot. However, that look  
reminded him too much of Nagisa...

"He might decide to come along the next attack, and I'm not stupid enough to let him get  
within reach of my AT-field. At least not while he's disinclined to indulge in intelligent  
discourse." Kaworu staunched at his own wounds, and shouted up again. "Now! We go!"

Then, with a loud -pop- of air rushing in to fill a temporary vacuum, the great bulk of  
the Earth's Cradle vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

-o-

-o-

Had it really only been only three hours since the Cradle stole from them the light of day?  
The sky was already starting to turn gold in sunset, yet it seemed all so bright. How easily  
they could forget; for surely such terror and senseless violence belonged to the night?

The enemy's sudden disappearance angered a few, but most were filled with relief. The  
terror faded slowly, to be replaced by grief. So many faceless dead, so many honest lives  
destroyed! The survivors faced the fading day in desperate denial. They had kept faith  
that NERV and Tokyo-3 could protect them, but this... it was not war; it was butchery!

Even the soldiers who fought could not hold off the crushing despair. They were alive,  
true enough, but did that count as winning? Sgt. De Leon looked around, and began to  
laugh. He laughed so hard, it began to hurt.

"Hey, sarge, hey!" someone began slapping his back. "We survived, don't lose it now, okay?  
Don't get hysterical..."

He snorted and swept an arm around. "Look at it. Look at that devastation. I'm genuinely  
happy, you fuckers." He forced himself to regain some calm. He pointed to buildings with  
facades gutted or smashed through, roads torn up, hydrants spraying water up to the air.  
"Think I should be sad about that? We're alive, yeah, but that's not enough. Not those  
reinforcements, they're not proof..."

He grinned with blood-stained teeth, his eyes glittering madly. "Who else can destroy this  
city so thoroughly in trying to save it?"

Comprehension dawned slowly on their faces, but when they looked again, the ruins bore  
a more joyous implication. "He's back. He's really back..." another soldier began to gibber.  
"Fuck the Angels. Fuck the damage. It doesn't matter what happens... we're gonna win!"  
someone else shouted.

Dimly the sargeant wondered, how it was that even gone for so many months even he  
still had some faith. Why did it feel so rewarding? He watched eight Leman Russ battle  
tanks, designed specifically for combat within the cramped confines of a city, rumble on  
towards an open plaza. As implacable as the undying enemy... they too, had someone who  
could push through, no matter what's in the way, the personification of their ultimate  
vengeance. It was cold comfort, and hot, savage slaking.

It was an old saying and also true; that once sunk furthest down in the pit, from there on  
things can only get better. That sliver of hope was all they had left.

-o-

Kensuke Aida stomped forward, meeting him halfway. "What the hell Ikari? The Leman  
Russ? Terminators? TERMINATORS, IKARI? FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU, IKARI!"

The gold-plated guards around the boy tensed, but were held back by their employer's  
laughter. "It's good to see you again, Kensuke. Sorry for stealing your thunder, but now  
you don't have to waste time planning the little stuff and go straight for your Baneblades."

The bespectacled boy grinned and held out his hand. "Thanks for the save, buddy."

They grasped each other's forearms in the manner of old comrades. "Glad to help, but I  
wish it wasn't necessary." He saw more people approaching, and seeing his attention was  
elsewhere, Kensuke decided to step back. No way was he stupid enough to get in the way  
of that confrontation. NERV had decided to show up, commiserating with its command  
officers those suffering at the surface. There were those that blamed them, there were  
those that thanked them, but each had to deal with the reality of how they failed.

Asuka had puffy red eyes, as if she had been crying. She snarled slightly at his approach.  
"So you think you could just ride in at the last moment like some sort of conquering hero?"  
she asked bitterly.

"I'm sorry, Asuka. I didn't really want it to happen this way." They had all failed in  
this, together. His fingers twitched, his gaze was mournful. "Are you all right?"

"You baka. Stupid Shinji, stupid, so stupid..." She had enough, all the betrayals and  
intrigue and uncertainties... at least he was so consistently foolish, her own baka Shinji.  
That did not seem to have changed. She clung to him, and soaked his jacket with LCL  
and her own tears. "How stupid..."

"Yeah... I guess I am..." he replied softly, hugging back. "As long as you're there to point  
it out, I think I'll be okay..." He needed someone who could see beyond a haze of grateful  
reverence. He needed someone who still saw him as a friend and equal. "I missed you..."  
he whispered into her ear.

They drew strength from each other's presence for a few moments, accepting how much  
more they still had to suffer through.

"Shinji... promise me." Asuka looked up, her eyes teary but determined. "Don't take this  
away from me. It's my responsibility. Leave Kaworu to me. He's my problem to solve."

He blinked. 'Oh, DAMN you, Nagisa. All that for this?' It was staggering. It would work.  
He could not break his word; for others to continue in his shadow, his life needed to be  
honor itself. "But, Asuka..."

"Promise me, Shinji! I have to... he can still be saved."

"I know Nagisa, Asuka. I met him at Egypt, I fought him again at Brazil. He caused the  
deaths of hundreds of thousands at the Siberian border! He doesn't care what he has to  
sacrifice... he wants to create something new, and terrible, and a new world out of the  
corpse of this one. He's our enemy, Asuka! You can't trust Nagisa!"

"I have to believe... we're doing good. We're more than just murderers. We're more than  
just the pawns of feeble old men! Shinji...! I have to save those I can save, I have my  
own strength, damn it!"

A promise made under duress did not count. He could also just say 'no'. All it would cost  
him was Asuka's friendship. Was she therefore just a tool to him, one more thing to  
sacrifice for his goals? He sighed. The ends mattered, but what was the point if once  
there it turned out one had become unworthy of the prize? "All right. I won't kill him if we  
meet again." 'How about maiming, can I do maiming?' He had to have faith in return. He did  
not have to be alone. He nodded, trusting that she could do as she sworn to herself.

The others had arrived. "Move over, Sohryu." said Rei, as she pushed her way into the  
embrace. "I am most annoyed with you, Ikari-kun."

Shinji chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry for the secrecy, Ayan- urk!"

Mana, summoning up all her reserves of courage, had tackled him from the side and shoved  
her tongue into his mouth.

"Heeey!" Asuka yelped in indignation, as all tangled together they all stumbled to keep on  
their feet. Mana let go and blushed terribly, and amidst stammering apologies the auburn-  
haired girl found she could not disentangle herself. It was embarrassing for all of them.

"Well, well, moving fast to reclaim lost ground, aren't we, Shinji-kun?" Misato grinned  
impishly at them.

"Misato-san! Help!"

The woman added herself to the hug, pressing her breasts to the back of his head.  
"Welcome back, Shinji..."

Maya looked on at the odd scene, and grinned. Shinji gave her a look that said 'Oh, fine;  
just get it over with' and tried to keep his feet as she too pressed herself upon him (and  
perhaps to accidentally grope at Misato-sempai as well).

Makoto had gone up as well, to check on Kodama Horaki. She had survived, and latched  
onto him immidiately. Kaede defiantly held on to the other arm. As he caught a glimpse of  
Tokyo-3's returning son, buried under a pile of nubile female flesh, he shouted inside_ 'HOW  
DOES HE GET AWAY WITH THAT?'_ The pair of girls with him were giving each other death  
-glares. _'I really need to learn such critical survival skills...'_

Shinji mentally shouted to his armored guards, his sworn psychic supporters, whoever that  
could hear him._ 'Help me, you bastards! Stop laughing! Anyone! Help!'_

Deep below Tokyo-3, Evangelion Unit-01's eyes flashed. A slow, satisfied rumble issued  
forth. He was back. It was good.

-o-

-o-

end The Creeping Rot part 3

* * *

-o-

Once again, thanks for your patience; oh how many detours we took, just to get to this point. Now the story's finally back on track. Once more, this version posted may still change somewhat over the next few days, as I get suggestions on whatever mistakes that may have remained.

-o-

* * *

OMAKE:

The Farseer bowed before her mistress, in awe of such long-term planning. "It is all as you  
say, milady. He is everything you have wanted him to be."

Gendo was a cold, manipulative bastard, but the capacity to plan ahead Shinji all inherited  
from her. "Excellent. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and now he is even more  
attached to his girls; and vice versa. He has gained talents, decisiveness... endurance!  
My boy is irresistible!"

Yui opened fans in both hands and began to dance around in glee. "Heirs! Grandbabies!  
By the score! Ohohohohohohoh!"

The Farseer clapped gaily.

The other residents of the mindscape just sighed, and took some comfort in knowing they  
had no physical form and complicated lovelifes that bored, wicked women could meddle  
with.


	32. Chapter 31: Uncertain Space part1

Uncertain Space part one

-o-

-o-

-o-

"There is a saying that goes; amateurs talk tactics, dabblers study strategy, but the  
professionals look at logistics." Kozo Fuyutsuki threw down the report and ran a hand  
through his own gray hair. He leaned back and sighed. "I don't know if the Angels have  
any sense to make do with what they have, but the logistics of the the Earth's Cradle...  
it's a staggering advantage."

Gendo smirked. "Since it is no longer IN Earth anymore, perhaps we should use Katsuragi's  
note; it should be referred to as the Black Moon from now on."

The older man blinked, looking bewildered. "Ikari... you're being suprisingly affable  
about this."

"Hmf. So you think I should be more upset at being shown up, like some petulant child?"

Fuyutsuki realized how ludicrous that was. "Well, no..." It would be foolish to think,  
however, that just because Gendo could be so cold-blooded logical he was predictable.

"I am no superman, sensei, nor do I make any claims to infallibility. What I am,  
however, is a man who knows whaft he wants." He tapped the files on his desk. "Willingly  
or unwillingly, what is important is how something can further that goal. Pride is  
nothing compared to that end and SEELE is just one of many roads to power."

The older man sighed. "Still... things can only get worse from here on."

"You must learn how to look at the bright side, sensei."

"Bright side, what bright side? This is the worst setback since Second Impact, I didn't  
think we'd ever need to use mass graves anymore. It's hard enough trying to identify  
loved ones when they're missing their heads, but trying to recover from all the damage  
to the city..."

Gendo pulled out another folder. "At least now we can follow these plans to turn Tokyo-3  
into a true fortress city." He stared at his gloved right hand. "If the Angels manage to  
touch Adam or Lillith, that would remove any chance of achieving our goal. Unlike the  
Angels or SEELE, we have something to see beyond Impact."

"Hmf. So we should focus upon the immidiate threat. I'm glad you see your son isn't one.  
We're going to need all the help we can get."

Gendo leaned forward and looked grim. "No, sensei... the bright side is that prophecies  
are all worthless. We knew from the start that they could not be relied upon. Now we can  
discard them entirely."

The older man thought that he had put aside all fear of Gendo, but again at that moment  
remembered... that he could not even imagine to just what depths the elder Ikari would  
sink, just to get his way.

"Regardless, there is something else we must consider." Gendo pushed one of the many  
buttons under his desk and a recording began to play.

-o-

_"It's not that simple, Asuka... following NERV, will doom humanity just as surely as  
letting the Angels win. The extremism of two sides is folly. We must have a third  
option..."_ A brief pause.. _"I will be a tool no longer, Asuka... I WILL be free. Instead  
of the elevation of egotistical aims, the short-sighted ambitions of the mortal few...  
there must be the Greater Good!"_

_"I'm not saying things aren't hard right now, but what can helping the Angels do? Stop  
this, Kaworu!"_

_"I have no choice. Devils were once angels too, and to be free I need the tools of my  
enemy..."_

-o-

"The Second Child knows." Gendo said firmly.

"Ikari... you..." Fuyutsuki was afraid, though not for himself. "Surely you can't be  
thinking... you can't replace her now!"

"Would you care to stand in the way if that is necessary, sensei?"

The older man clenched his fist, and grit his teeth. Not since a very long time had he  
felt the urge to punch his 'student'in the mouth. While he could, objectively, live with  
the idea of murdering every living thing on the planet... since that could be excused as  
the human ascension, and that he would suffer much the same fate... the thought of just  
callously 'silencing' a child to maintain their secrecy; it was something else. He glared  
past the desk. Was it enough to rebel against Gendo's scenario, to abandon the plan that  
would grant them back Yui?

He exhaled and opened his hand. He felt so cold, for no; it was not enough. He damned  
himself.

"Fortunately, it is not a problem." Gendo continued, feigning kindness after knowing just  
how uncomfortable he made his sole true confessor and co-malefactor. "I already assume  
that the Third Child knows, and this posts as much of a problem; very little. The boy  
has a certain tendency to limit himself to the 'moral acts', and as such can only help  
advance our purposes. Sohryu may be foolish enough to believe she can persuade the  
enemy out of fighting, but the worst that can happen is she dies for that folly."

"These children pilot the most fearsome weapons known to man, Ikari. I am sure your son  
would disapprove of trying to initiate Impact."

Gendo frowned a bit. "Perhaps, but for the moment if he wants to serve as the shield,  
then let him take the blows that would send NERV to its knees. No, if there was ever any  
threat to NERV, it will not come from that direction. He is too LOYAL, too attached to  
his people here."

"I can't help but to feel you're underestimating him, Ikari. He's intensely loyal, maybe,  
but also provokes that same level of loyalty in others. I'm sure many would rather he  
occupied that seat, than you." Needless to say, I'm among them; he did not say.

"On the contrary, if anything, I am overestimating his abilities. His power and influence  
are borrowed, what happens when those factors collect? Regardless, I'm willing to grant  
him an equal stake in this Great Game. I am going to proceed in confidence that he can  
live up to his boasts." Gendo opened his right hand, and stared down at the telltale  
bulge of Adam's embryonic form. "Whatever he does, succeed or fail, it will only help us  
further. A much more immediate threat to our scenario is the Black Moon... the 'Third  
Option'... I am sure SEELE finds that as unpalatable as I do."

"What would that be? Mankind, Angels... something in between?"

"The power of Angels entwinted with human cunning; a combination that might well be  
unbeatable. SEELE miscalculated horribly here, sensei. I will not make the same mistake."

"What are you planning now, Ikari?"

"Chess is a game representative of war, but references to 'pawns' and 'knights' in the  
stratagems over actual events can be overused. Past all strategy and subtlety, there is  
brute force. The last Angel attack recognized that." Gendo tapped at the picture of the  
Earth's cradle. "So we must be more unsubtle still."

Gendo turned the picture over and wrote:

THE THIRD

Fuyutsuki looked on in horror and some fascination. Since the younger Ikari moved into  
Tokyo-3, Gendo (and to a lesser extent, SEELE) lost the momentum of their earlier opening  
gambits. However, the elder Ikari had started out as a political troublemaker, almost  
dropping out of college, and into the most powerful man in the world. It had been a while  
since Fuyutsuki saw that cold, uncaring mind work in full concentration.

The words were underlined, and below them was written:

INEVITABLE?

a cross-mark, like a large plus sign

DEFEAT

"I said that everything the boy can do, fail or succeed, will only help us." Gendo said.  
He looked up, and his glasses glinted. "Shortly, SEELE will come to me begging for help."

He wrote again:

TOTAL DISARMAMENT

"Third Impact will happen, sensei. I don't need the scrolls to tell me that." He smirked.  
"SEELE, right now, is trying to adjust events to the most liberal interpretations of the  
scrolls. But with them obsolete, I will directly write destiny itself."

Fuyutsuki shivered. "Don't tell me you're getting a god complex now, Ikari."

"Don't be facetious, sensei. I will kill God." Gendo said. "I did it before, I can do it  
again."

-o-

-o-

Ah, peace and quiet at last. It was one thing to be drained right down to the bone, and  
another to feel tired of your own soul. The little bits of hope that showed in the eyes  
of those left behind was barely enough to sustain him. The most common feeling was shock,  
then despair - so bleak that it was beyond suffering. It tasted like death.

Anger, now that he could work with. Pain was reminder of life. But anger... nothing else  
can burn through a lifetime like anger. Like the need for revenge. He looked out the  
hallway windows, towards the city, half-hidden by the mountain slope. While fortunately  
its power distribution was left more or less intact, there were leprous spots of darkness  
upon the grid. There were simply no longer any buildings there, to light up the night.

He leaned against the door and shakily brought his key up. Despite what people seemed to  
think, or even expect, his physical limits were rather just below norm. That frail  
appearance was no ruse. And of course, the mind relied upon the body; burning sugars  
could only go so far without reserves.

"Though I think I can understand now something about why masochists behave as they  
do..." he said to himself, in that empty hallway. His brain felt as if floating out of his head.  
Everything felt so clear, so ridiculous. The body could perfectly produce its own  
consciousness-altering chemicals, unfortunately only in trying to shut itself down before  
the damn fool that owns it could cause any more damage.

"Query: Does life represent an increase in order or entropy in the universe?" he asked  
aloud. There was, as expected, no answer. It was a simple modular apartment at the  
outskirts of Trident Base, and of course there were other residents. It was just that  
most of them were either dead, on-duty or already asleep. It was almost two in the  
morning, after all.

The door swung open, and stopped with a bump. He flicked on the lights. 'Hold on; what  
the?' Shinji saw that the boxes he had brought into Japan seemed to have spontaneously  
multiplied. The containers now filled half of his rather spartan bedroom.

'I thought I made it clear I wasn't going to accept any gifts?' Mana had sworn to uphold  
his meager request; for a little bit of fondness she was a hellion ready to punish all  
who dared refuse his plea. He picked up a card on one of the boxes.

Shinji boggled at the sight, and brought out his cellphone. He hurriedly pushed the speed-dial.  
There was a sleepy '"moshi moshi?" from the other end.

"Why the hell am I getting TRIBUTE from the YAKUZA?" he tried to control his voice, but  
ended up shouting anyway. "WHAT have you been -DOING-?"

Maya Ibuki turned aside and gave Rei a bland look. "...he says after having swindled the  
Americans out of two cruisers and a prototype nuclear reactor."

"That's... that's not the point!" Shinji added. "I thought... well, all right, I suppose  
it is foolish to hope I would be just 'normal' again here. It's still a hassle, though. I  
didn't want anyone to do anything special just for a birthday gift."

"We have secured your supply lines." Rei put in, her tone faintly scolding.

"When even the official channels fail, who else but the most unscrupulous would dare to  
smuggle in whatever it is that we may need?" Maya then said into the speakerphone. She  
rubbed at her shoulder, then shrugged. "Besides, it was fun. Did we really need any  
better reason?"

"Um. I guess not." He laughed weakly.

"Now why don't you get down here so we can properly give you your birthday present?"

Shinji's right cheek twitched. "T-thank you, but no. I'm too tired." Then in a softer  
voice "... I've been asked so many times, is it really going to be all right? I've lied  
so much today. I'm... really too tired."

"Oh. I guess, sorry to bother you, then."

"No, it's all right, it's just that... thank you. Please don't misunderstand." He sighed.  
"I want... to have earned... to rest."

In his mind, something was screaming in utter outrage and unbelief. Fortunately he was  
too tired to even care. He slumped face-down onto the bed and slid into dreamless sleep.

Thus ended the first day of Shinji Ikari's return to Tokyo-3.

-o-

-o-

The news of his return spread quickly. While the general mood was cautious optimism,  
there was one place that was simply overjoyed. They did not give any thought about  
foreign involvement, nor how much Shinji Ikari was involved in that.

He was back; it was enough. At least the favored son of a little town up at the foothills  
of Sendai was alive, not (as they had feared) rotting away in the wilderness somewhere.  
There was some concern if he had forgotten them in all the bustle of the big city. The  
same day as the boy set foot in Tokyo-3 however, mail arrived at his uncle's place.

By the wording, it was clear that it was written several days beforehand. The letter  
first conveyed his apologies about the necessity of keeping his silence. Then, various  
perfunctory passages about their wellbeing and good fortune. From the tone, it was also  
possible to discern that he did not really know how to fake interest in their small-town  
concerns, and apologized again. He was -sure- they were safe, and that was enough to  
warm his heart.

However, it was also important that they -remain- safe.

"I know young mister Ikari has a saving people thing, but this is getting ridiculous.  
Insulting, even." said the police chief, Ayane Mitsugane's father. He gave his daughter  
a mildly apologetic look. "What? It's true. We should be able to take care of ourselves."

"It says here he made a few enemies while wandering, and they would not hesitate to kill  
and/or torture anyone he might have an emotional attachment to. It's war. The Angels are  
not the only enemies." Shinji Ikari's uncle noted.

"I think we shouldn't be worrying him at all. It would be really bad if all it takes to  
force him into something is to hold us hostages..." said Ayane.

"Well, I don't want to die even then." Houko Minase put down her cup of tea and smiled  
slightly at her old friend's expression of betrayal. "Think about it, even if we refuse  
to become bargaining chips, he'd still find a way to feel guilty about it. He's OURS, no  
matter how far he's roamed or what he'd done in Tokyo-3. This is where he grew up, and  
we're never going to stop being his people."

There was a fairly disturbing undercurrent there, but the adults chose to ignore it.

It was a little town, completely unremarkable, with but one claim to fame. So it was that  
the Houko mansion played host to a formal reading of the letter. It was a small group,  
but even the mayor was there. The chief of police likewise, and had brought his daughter  
with him. Ayane and Minase sat off to one side, after helping serve tea, to let the  
adults talk. The letter was insistent on them being there.

"So he's asking us, how do we think the public would react to a rapid draft?"

The master of the house, who had multiplied his wealth several times over through Shinji  
Ikari's advice, just shrugged. "If that's what he wants, the it's probably a good idea."

"No, he doesn't say anything to that, one way or another. He's been out of the country  
too long." Shinji's uncle replied. "Besides, he's asking us as common citizens. Imagine  
we never had anything to do with the boy, so how would we take the government enacting  
conscription with hardly any warning?"

The chief of police frowned. "I don't think that would be well-received. It's not just  
that it brings up bad... memories... not even after Impact did we try using anything  
other than a purely volunteer armed force" Even splitting the JSDF into the JSSDF and JAF  
was for the sake of a certain phobia against centralized regime. "Besides, it takes time  
and money to train up enough people."

"Our economy's bad enough as it is." the mayor added. "Where would we pull the resources  
to create a new citizen army? How do we handle the declining workforce?"

"Besides, even if money or supplies aren't an issue... there's just not enough TIME." the  
chief finished.

"The alternative is letting foreign armies land on Japanese soil."

Those there twitched. Six Russian tanks, accompanied by forty crew. Two platoons of  
Chinese elite guard, fifty men in all. Then there were those strange Tibetan Buddhists.  
Not even Impact could dent the cultural reserve against the gai-jin. More than ever,  
they hated feeling so powerless... which was perhaps why they so relished seeing their  
own stand at the head of so much raw, destructive power.

His uncle, more so than others. After all, he was one of the few people on the planet  
capable of actually appreciating the boy's alterations. 'Bloody brilliant! I had a genius  
living under my roof!' Too bad there was no Nobel Prize for Awesome, though. It was even  
more interesting, continuing not to know how the boy managed that. Had it really been  
just a year since he left home?

At the same time however, he could imagine... what was it worth in human lives?

"How about this, then? Stepping up on standard disaster procedures, reinforced shelters  
should be built or designated in major cities, in case of some... strange calamity. Or,  
at least,a tsunami watch."

The mayor blinked. Most of the world's most populated cities were constructed near the  
shorelines, and as such drowning was the leading cause of death in the first few hours  
after Impact; followed by crushing, bursting, and various states of fleshy bits leakage.  
_'Just what does that boy expect will happen?'_

"That... would be worse." the chief Mitsugane added. "What's good for Tokyo-3 isn't  
necessarily good for the rest of the country. For any rapid evacuation to work, we're  
going to need not just supplies and a good site, but also enough personnel to convince  
people to actually evacuate in time." The police officer held clearly in his mind just  
how much of an idiotic animal mind a panicking mob had. Unlike the military, the police  
held power only in reflection of their government's stability. In time of crisis, their  
badges conferred only an aura of authority, just not the same as armored plate or fully  
automatic weapons.

"And again, the problem is time. Sinking concrete foundations is different from just  
handing out boltguns. Costs a lot more too."

"Why is he asking this?" The mayor was a pudgy man, who had once been a high school  
principal. He had retired long before having to deal with the town's famous (or even  
infamous resident). "What does he expect us to do? I can't accept that that the only  
thing we, outside of Tokyo-3, can do is to... hope that the Angels don't notice just  
how helpless we are."

Shinji's uncle coughed. "There is still that little clause in our revised constitution  
about a militia..."

"Bolt weapons are still illegal." the police chief responded. "And for good reason. I  
haven't seen anything that's so much a cop-killer. Then the ammunition's too damn  
expensive to be useful for most people anyway..."

The mayor began to sweat. "So... nothing? There's nothing we can really do to protect  
ourselves? Just this one town, maybe we could pull something together." Seeing the  
devastation wrought on Tokyo-3, and the pointed questions form that letter... it implied  
that another attack was inevitable, and their sleepy little hollow would be inflicted  
the same terror that ravaged a fortress city. "We... don't have anything to do with this!  
It's not our fight!" _'Damn that Ikari! It's all his fault.'_

"It's war." said Shinji's uncle. "It's been too long... we gave a promise to forsake  
war itself, that's part of our nation's identity now; that we forgot just how terrible  
and indiscriminate total war can be."

The two teenaged girls just laughed, drawing the attention of their elders. "Father, this  
is silly." said Minase. "If it's a gamble, then why don't we just have faith in that he  
actually has some reason for all of this?"

"Daughter, I do have faith, but faith has never saved someone from being eaten." The  
Houko patriarch smirked. "We can build as many bunkers, buy as many weapons as he or you  
would want... but as Mitsugane-san here said, the problem is time. Can we actually get  
anything prepared that might actually be useful before it's too late?"

Everyone there looked to Shinji Ikari's uncle, asking with their eyes 'He won't just  
abandon us, would he?' The contents of the letter implied that. 'Take care of yourselves,  
I have too much else to worry about' was the tone.

Ayane clutched at her old friend's hand and smiled. The little boy that they knew would  
not be so callous. Faith, in his good nature. It was all they had left.

Apparently, Shinji Ikari wanted an airfield to be built nearby. Houko Construction had  
plenty of practice at levelling ground. It would take some time to move the machinery,  
but a simple enough job. "I suppose I could absorb the costs." said the owner.

Shinji's uncle coughed meaningfully and continued to read. "... looks like you don't need to."

"Can he do that?" the mayor asked, disbelieving. "Just ask the JSSDF to mark it as a  
refueling depot?"

"Well... actually..." Reading forward a little, he added "It's already done. All that  
Houko-san needs to do is to lay out the grounds; the JSSDF will pay for the structures  
and jet fuel." A slight grin. "And if for some reason a few gunships or a transport  
plane needs to land...?"

"This is completely ridiculous." the police chief added, rubbing at his head. There had  
to be a limit to just how far a boy would go just to impress your daughter.

-o-

-o-

Most people simply had enough of Tokyo-3. Every day was a gamble; through low property  
costs and high wages, set against the possibility of attack. The almost farcial exchange  
in the past months had almost convinced many that it was 'safe'. Prosperity and  
speculation soared around the city, with its inexhaustible industrial demand. The facts  
of reality returned, as if in swift terrible vengeance, having been ignored for so long.  
There was a difference between thrilling and frightening, conflict and slaughter, hope  
and desperation.

Not even Shinji Ikari's return could change that. If anything, that only made it worse.  
Just having him around increased the flammability of -concrete-. There was already a  
massive exodus clogging the highways around the city. Property values dropped to almost  
zero, not that there were many usable lots left. Tokyo-3 was reduced almost to rubble.

NERV was a paramilitary organization, and needed extensive civilian support to function.  
Practically all of the city's food supply had to be imported, but that was just the tip  
of the iceberg. Most of NERV employees were civilians, whose families were lured to the  
city with the promises of a good life in the future capital. They all lived aboveground;  
the geofront was a secure area, not for living in. As people bled out of the city, so did  
NERV lose a lot of critical personnel.

Public utilities and the essential government duties were staffed by civilians not  
necessarily employed by NERV. The organization had to defend humanity against Angels,  
they should not have to worry about making sure there was electricity, running water,  
and useful TV reception. Without those, the ability to fight back against the alien  
invader was severely reduced. This was domain of logistics, not strategy.

There were those who had to remain, no matter what they had lost. NERV employees had  
the chance to quit, but few did... they knew it was their duty to stand up for the rest of  
the world. They sent their families away, and there was much shouting and angry  
recriminations to to be heard; but they stayed. Trident Base and its military assets had  
to stay; literally they had no choice. In fact, their numbers only increased out of the  
disaster.

Of the civilians, enough remained that schools actually opened up a few days after the  
attack. Asuka and Rei walked to school thay day, mindful of the carnage in their way.

The stench of burnt and rotting meat still hung over the city like a cloud. Bulldozers  
had to clear the roads, and now and then they heard the distinctive clank-rumble of the  
Leman Russ tanks. Seventy tons of monstrous firepower; some of them even had dozer  
blades bolted on to the front to add to their ugliness. Nothing so exemplified the city's new  
and hard-learned wariness even in the midst of rebuilding. Never again should they be  
caught so off-guard. Complacency was the first and surest enemy.

"Nagisa did this." Rei said offhand, while watching an ambulance whisk screaming past.  
"I will grant that most of what he said was true, but actions should speak louder than  
words. He is our enemy, pilot Sohryu."

"He doesn't have to be! I know, he's not doing this because he wants to. Shouldn't you  
feel a little more sympathetic...? He's the closest thing to a brother you have. He  
doesn't want to be a tool."

"But we are all tools. We each serve a function. Without that function our life has no  
meaning, and humanity would be destroyed by the Angels." Rei turned aside and her voice  
held an odd quaver. "He is NOT my brother; you are closer to me than he ever will."

"Gee, thanks..." Asuka replied dully.

"Sister Ibuki is mine. I trust my life to pilot Ikari. My loyalty is supposedly to NERV.  
Nagisa has only himself. He cannot be trusted."

Unfortunately, in her focus of concerns, Asuka only heard and immediately latched onto the  
last part of the sentence. "But, that's the point! If he just knew he didn't have to be alone...  
it's a bleak existence, no one should have to do that. I thought I didn't need anyone, once. I  
thought that it was enough for me to be strong. But I'm stronger now than I ever could  
have been at it alone. He's like me, he's aching inside; if I could just reach him...!"

"Would you trust Nagisa and place his welfare above all those who trusted you to defend  
them?"

"That's a low blow, Ayanami." Asuka hissed.

The blue-haired girl gave the smallest of shrugs. "In war it is important to decide where  
your loyalties lie. If you are conflicted, you will not be able to perform to the fullest  
efficiency."

As they walked, workers would stop whatever it was they were doing and stare as until  
the pilots passed by... there were no condemnation in their eyes, but simply a vast  
uncertainty. It was as if the girls were part of something unreal, a dream world they  
could never touch; a place of safety resolutely fenced from them. Asuka turned her eyes  
away. "And I suppose that's all that matters to you? I'm not willing to give up myself  
into being anyone's tool either! I'm not a doll, I'm a human being!"

"As pilot Ikari would say; our job is to kill Angels and save innocent people. If we  
cannot do that, we betray the responsibilities that come with our power."

Asuka paused. She nodded, then frowned. "Baka Shinji... showing up that one time then  
disappearing again. I'd listen to that if he would just show up to try activating the Eva  
again. What's he got to hide this time?"

-o-

There were just fifteen people left in their class.

The pilots were still there, of course. Kirishima saw it as a patriotic duty; she would,  
literally, -bite- anyone that dared suggest she leave. Kensuke Aida was employed by  
NNHIS, even if his accountant father was not really essential to NERV. He would never  
leave. The elder Suzuharas were employed by NERV in the weapons division, they were too  
important to the war effort. For the Horakis... well, all together they decided to stay.  
Hikari because Toji was there, Kodama because "Like hell am I going to just give up and  
let that little bitch Agano have Hyuga-san without a fight!", and Nozomi because she had  
to keep her sisters sane.

Asuka licked her lip and stood in front of the class. A few months earlier, she would not  
even have bothered to think about it. However, at the time she bowed low to them and  
apologized for her failure to protect. Her power had proved insufficient... she could  
admit to that without destroying her own self-esteem.

"It's all right, we don't blame you, Sohryu." she was answered. "Yeah, it's not like the  
Evangelion can fight at ground level. You tried to end the big battle quickly, that's the  
most we could expect..."

"You're still our hero! Langley-Sohryu the Great! Rip and tear the next one for my mom,  
okay?"

This was recognition, this was trust, this was the proof she was no doll to be played  
around with. Those who remained had faith unshakable upon NERV and the Eva; nothing  
could intimidate them away from their own duty. She was a Knight of the Land, and to be  
belong was a precious feeling. If she could just get the others to realize it was not a  
weakness but something worth protecting...

That was over-arching logic of the the Greater Good, after all. When the enemy becomes an  
ally, he ceases to be the enemy just as surely as destroying him.

Kensuke stood by the door and bellowed. "PRESENTING! HIS EXCELLENCY IKARI SHINJI THE  
FIRST! ALL HAIL!" He bowed and stood aside, gesturing to the door way.

Shinji walked in and cuffed the back of his friend's head. "You promised, Kensuke."

"Sorry, dude. I just couldn't help it..."

Shinji just sighed, and looked up. His smile was thin, his eyes watery. "I'm... back."  
He took in all the few faces in the room; and it was like a red-hot blade into the heart.  
It seemed like an eternity since he was gone; and even if in his wanderings had idealized  
the peace and acceptance he had felt within his home, that it could turn into hell under  
his watch was something he never dreamed.

Ayanami. She gave him a rare, real smile. Sohryu. Her eyes held doubt, despair, but also  
that stubborn defiance that he found so charming. Kirishima. Uh-oh, that's naked lust...  
he felt like running away.

He heard a cough from behind. "You know, if you're going to block the doorway, mister  
Ikari... I'm perfectly happy to turn around and go home and sleep the rest of the day."

"Oh, no you don't; you lazy teacher!" Hikari reflexively yelled out from inside the room.  
She then blushed at her loss of composure. Toji put a hand on her shoulder and waved with  
the other; as if to say, what the hell- it's just Shinji. No need to get embarrassed.

"Yo, Ikari. Come in, take a load off." Toji acted like some sort of country host showing  
off his exquisitely furnished abode. He gestured toward his friend's usual seat.

Shinj bowed and sat. "Thank you." He had to fight to control his emotions. "Thanks... to  
all of you. It's good to be back." He blinked repeatedly and looked up. "It's really  
good."

The expected barrage of questions did not arrive. There were so many questions, but there  
was one thing they were most curious about. They held back, for it felt rather silly to  
ask. Finally, Kensuke gave voice to the question; the first to do so since Shiji arrival.  
For the past days, everyone who saw him had tried to just ignore the weirdness. "What's  
with the thing on your head?"

"This?" Shinji touched the gold-plated laurel wreath. "It's a hat."

Silence stretched out. "That... makes no sense whatsoever." Kensuke replied.

"Ah. How should I put this... how many people do you see wearing hats nowadays?" Shinji  
asked. At seeing them puzzle over the last time they saw someone with a real hat, not  
just a cap... close to never, actually... he continued. "Someone like that would really  
stand out, right? Hats are supposed to shield the head from the elements. Likewise, if I  
put this on, that makes it easier to pick me out from the crowd... and pick me up out of  
trouble..." The last words were said in a peevish whisper. His guards, specially chosen  
for their size and strength, do so liked to play 'pick-up Shinji, throw and catch' as  
the way to get him out of being surrounded.

"And here I thought you were advertising for the Olympics." Asuka snarked, grinning. She  
lost that grin, in realizing that the event might have to be cancelled.

"So you're back for good now?" Toji asked next. "What about... your father?"

Shinji nodded. "He can't touch me. I've got diplomatic immunity." That was also the  
reason why he could not so simply move back into his old lodgings under NERV, he  
explained. He begged them to consider him as just one of the guys again, his ambassador  
position was a piece of legal protection, and may in the end help serve as precedent for  
other pilots.

"Really? What country?" Mana asked. Even going so far as to have double citizenship...  
the UN seemed determined to hold Shinji as a buffer against NERV's tricks. She knew there  
were some battles she could not fight; politics was something beyond her abilities. She  
could not protect him there; and it rankled her own pride as a soldier.

Asuka looked suspicious. Why would he so easily consent to being a tool?

Shinji tapped his laurel crown again. "Greece, of course."

It was small enough nation, too damaged even fifteen years After Impact, to present no  
serious threat, and would benefit from the prestige of being his second home. It  
increased their political weight, and perhaps though a part of the less-defended European  
landmass, the people at Tokyo-3 would put a little more priority in protecting them from  
Angel attacks.

Kensuke laughed. He knew full well why Greece was chosen. There were more than a few  
flags that bore the double-headed aquila, yet the source could be traced back through the  
millenia and Rome's influence, into Jupiter, then to Zeus-amon. The Hellenic emblem was  
there. The lightning bolt was there. And ever has the most valuable export of Greece  
been its people.

"Your... custodians... are Greek, aren't they?" he asked.

"Well, not all of them. I mean, they ARE mercenaries, but most of them, yeah. Some are  
from Turkey."

Kensuke and Yang shared a look. Both then laughed freely. "AHAHAHA...!" Kensuke gasped  
for breath and had to wipe tears of sudden gut-pain. "Damn, it, Ikari - I can't call you  
a magnificent bastard. You left with barely more than the clothes on your back, and return  
with your own army!" he shouted. "You're -definitely- Gendo Ikari's son! Did you plan it  
that way?"

"No!" Shinji denied frantically. "It... just happened! Hey!"

Yang shook his head. "Pitiful, really. You're under a powerful curse."

"What's so funny?" Asuka asked.

"Ha! They carry the lightning! They bring the thunder!" Kensuke crowed.

"Macedonians! This poor fool has Macedonians marching behind him!" Yang shouted, while  
slapping down on the table. 'The strongest fundamental force in the universe- irony!'  
Just like when he himself got the allegiance of the steppes; for someone who wanted to  
evade rumors of world conquest, there was a whole heap of unfortunate implications among  
his host.

Shinji grumbled on. He felt calculating looks wash over him. '_What the hell have you  
been up to, Ikari?_'; they ached to know.

"Where have you been?" Rei asked softly.

"...urk." That tiny, plaintive note to her voice; discernible only to those who knew  
her... what a devastating guilt attack. "Um... here and there I suppose. Greece. Brazil.  
Egypt." He winced. Despite all the hardships he suffered along the way, it did sound much  
like a holiday.

"Been a busy little globetrotter, haven't we?" Kensuke said. He sat backwards on his  
chair and asked "... was there much kicking of ass?"

Shinji winced. He thought briefly upon that irritable donkey up on Tiber. "Yes..." he  
had to answer. "Yes, there was."

A low 'ooh' spread through the class. Kensuke's eyeglasses glinted, and his grin was  
wide. "You've been... around... Ikari." A brief pause. "So, did you have... interesting  
conversations... with women?"

Kensuke seemed unconcerned with the dangerous glares directed his way. Shinji fought not  
to cower when those gazes from three girls turned to him. '_Damn you, Aida! Curse you and  
your thesaurus_!' He remembered having to hide out inside a Brazilian whorehouse. That was  
a specially scary time.

"I wasn't out there for fun, all right? I had to negotiate for some things." Shinji  
rubbed at his head. Saying he had genuinely interesting conversations with many older  
women, one of them from several thousand years ago... would never have gone over well.

Wait, why was the air so suddenly so cold?

Asuka stood over him, faintly shaking, her fists clenched. "Three months and not a  
word..." she whispered. And the ironic thing was, that Kaoru.. their enemy... was the  
only one who cared to send her notice of his travels, remembering there was worth in her  
worrying.

Everyone watched with held breaths, waiting for the breaking of of that tension. What was  
Sohryu doing...? What was she thinking...? Was she angry?

_'Now, girl, now!_' Asuka heard someone yell inside. _'Don't let him get away again. Make  
it unmistakable that he belongs to you!'_

'_What the hell?_' She did not fully realize what she was doing, but recognized such fear  
in Shinji's face. She admitted that she enjoyed seeing it, maybe... Asuka also did not  
find anything strange in the flow of her thoughts.

'_On second thought, go get the blue-haired girl and that military brat. Might as well  
call for reinforcement from that woman you work with. At first chance, overpower him, tie  
him down, bring him to a locked room and make sure he cannot escape from his fate! I have  
waited far too long! YOU have waited far too long!'_

_'Yeah... I have. He abandons me like that, why should I accept him back?'_

_'Because you must! Do you have any idea how many chances he had while roaming around  
the world? DO YOU? Do you know how many he REFUSED?'  
_

_'Um...' _Oh, look, he's panicking. How cute_. 'All of them?"_

'_Rargh! Exactly. He's an idiot! But... at to builtleast he is YOUR idiot.'_

Shinji slammed his own head into the desk. It looked as if he tried to bow in apology,  
but just forgot there was something in the way. BAM! He knocked himself out. Everyone  
watching winced. Asuka blinked and wondered what she was doing there.

"He has not changed much. I am relieved." said Rei.

-o-

-o-

It could only be called a victory by the most generous of summations, and not even  
Tokyo-3's own broadcasting service dared to call it that. The city suffered to serve as  
the early warning system for the rest of the world. They managed to beat back the  
infestation, with weapons and techniques learned in the Siberian reaches. In both cases  
the relative remoteness or closed-in terrain of the regions plus immidiate armed response  
were critical to containing the damage. Like in most of the fanciful zombie holocaust  
scenarios, the same happening in a crowded metropolis could easily turn the city streets  
into a concrete jungle of mindless slaughter.

The Siberian worm-plague had barren open country, and Tokyo-3 had the benefit of ready  
shelters. Boltguns were effective, but could never be mass-produced in sufficient  
quantity to calm the other nations. In fact, mass-produced boltguns might only worsen  
the situation, as the high-caliber ammunition were overkill for anything less than an  
elephant, and could punch through most known body armor. This made it a perfect 'terror'  
weapon for criminal scum, as the police and military would be less inclined to use guns  
capable of reducing their targets into unidentifiable chunks.

But the lessons were clear. It could happen anytime, anywhere, and there would be almost  
no defense. The only solution was massive firepower. Expensive firepower. It was...  
impossible to truly prepare.

Fear choked the Earth; except for one place.

The worst had already happened, as far as Tokyo-3 was concerned. And better; they had  
hope, the very personification of that eventual human victory, had returned to his home  
and his people.

This did not necessarily please everyone in Japan.

It was a white unmarked van, parked in front of the school. Rika Izuna got out and  
stretched. She was wearing then a sporty white jacket over a business black dress. Her  
eyeglasses were still large, round, and and further accenting the deceptively babyish  
shape of her face.

The driver turned around and asked the cameraman "What, is she suicidal or something?  
Coming here to Tokyo-3, everyone knows she's got a real mad-on to bring down Ikari.  
Why do you still stay with this crazy chick?"

The cameraman just sighed. 'You people don't even know my name, do you?' Rika Izuna's  
long-suffering accessory... but then, he supposed it was better than being recognized  
negatively. "I suppose, it's to keep her from getting herself killed. She needs me,  
whether or not she realizes it... so I stay." He shrugged. "Or maybe I'm just emotionally  
masochistic that way."

"You're weird, dude." the driver said with a laugh. "It's a pity. You're the type that  
would get along well here in Third Tokyo more than you'd ever fit in with Second Kyoto."

-o-

The school was recognized no-go zone for all reporters. Guards were not needed to enforce  
that. Everything about the pilots that was worth giving out for public consumption were  
already used up through the months. In the end they were just kids, with a unique and  
rather tedious task.

Rika Izuna waited outside. Not even she dared to tresspass upon that unofficial contract.

"Why can't you just let Ikari go?" her cameraman asked. "I can't pretend it's just out of  
journalistic fervor anymore... the only news you really care about is regarding that  
kid. It's an obsession, Rika. It's creepy."

"What are you trying to say?" she replied, without looking back.

"It's not like he's doing anyone any harm. What's the point in destroying him? It's  
unhealty, for you... and for me, since I have to carry all your stuff."

"Then go away. I know what people are saying about me. Stupid sheep... "

"Well, I know you have a reason. Look, I'm on your side here. I know you feel it's the  
right thing to do. At least... let me know."

"I DON'T have to explain myself to you. If you don't like it, just go away. Just because  
I let you touch me doesn't mean you get to judge me. If it's too much trouble for you,  
just go."

'Man, she's at fine bitchy form today.' He tightened his expression, forcing down any  
anger. Oddly enough, he had been around her long enough to realize it was her own way  
of protecting. Driving him away as her own career crashed and burned, tackling her own  
suspicions alone... something about it all frightened her enough that she was willing to  
throw her own life away. "

"You're not getting rid of me that easy. If it's that important to you, it's important  
enough to me. I'm not saying I'm either for or against Ikari, but I don't see what you  
see." He patted the camera. "But what's wrong with saying just what it is you hate about  
the kid?"

"I don't hate him, per se." she spat back. "But what he does to people. It's faith; blind  
faith... and it's -stupid- faith. He's still just a boy, among children sent to fight to  
the death. Why it is it that no matter how I look, I can't see anything but a tyrant?"  
Rika Izuna clenched her fists. "What was the worth of all the sacrifice to get this  
point? What about the lessons of democracy our country had to learn through blood and  
fire and shame?" She let out her breath and sagged slightly. "What was the point of  
living through Impact... the things I've seen in old Tokyo?"

"You... wow, I didn't know you actually care about things like that." Rika had naturally  
abrasive, take-charge personality; making up in intelligence and daring her otherwise  
easily-overlooked physical stature. She was used to being unloved, and being on her own.

"I don't!" she sneered back. "People are animals! For all the talk of civilization and  
culture... hah! The moment their comfortable little slices of the world is disturbed,  
they return to following behind any goddamn alpha figure. Morality and brutality is  
defined only by whoever holds power at the time!" Truth is ugly, this was what her own  
experience had taught her. Truth must be told anyway, for it was the only revenge the  
weak had over the mighty.

"So what's the problem, then? It's not like this place wasn't a fascist estate before  
anyway; remember the other Ikari?"

"You're a fool if you think the son is actually a tool against the father. Isn't it far  
more likely they have some common goal?"

"Um... maybe. World conquest is kinda trite, isn't it?"

"Great people are measured by the number of people they trampled to get their way. It's  
better if people realize that, before it's too late." She sniffed and pushed back her  
glasses. "I'm not out to discredit the boy; but to remind the world of the reality, he's  
just a boy. Are we incapable of learning from history? Cults of personality are always  
parasitic! Damn him; he makes everyone else around him stupid."

"What about... oh, say... Yang."

"You're double the idiot if you think he, of all people, will ever stop being a threat.  
Another so-called great man of history comes here just to teach a junior high class? How  
can that possibly be anything BUT suspicious?"

"No, I mean... him." her cameraman pointed to the Chinese man just leaving the school.  
and with him was Shinji Ikari. The two seemed to be conversing lively, and each their  
respective guards remained a respectful distance away.

Rika Izuna took a deep breath, and moved to meet them. She stood to bar their way, right  
at the gate. "Mister Ikari, could we please have a moment of your time...?" The camera  
was already rolling, she was daring the security to drag her off.

The two figures of 'living history' blinked in unison, then looked at each other; their  
expressions saying 'can you believe you're seeing what I'm seeing?'It was of course, also  
deeply irritating; as if they held her beneath notice. Well, that was what she was best  
at...! Her life was as a spike to pop all the pompous egoes, from politicians to modern  
idols. She would be noticed, she would not be squashed; no one would ever call her a  
cockroach again.

One of the Section 2 agents moved closer, but mindful of not causing an unseemly ruckus  
in front of the students. "Miss Izuna, there will be a press release and a proper time to  
conduct an interview."

"On the contrary, the best time for an interview is spontaneous, when someone's true  
thoughts can be expressed instead of some lines predigested for public consumption." she  
replied all too sweetly, facing away from the 'flunky'.

The guards bristled, but were held back by Yang's light, amused chuckle. "At the very  
least, I have to admire your simple daring, Miss Izuna. Still, too abrupt is also not  
good. We're a little worn out from our school tasks, an appointment is really for the  
better of everyone concerned."

She took that as condescending; and refused to be talked out so easily. "The public  
needs to know, is it real? What just happened, was it really that unavoidable? Can Shinji  
Ikari carry their faith, or is he just a figure to make people forget the failures of  
their own government in protecting their own?"

Her cameraman gulped. There was bravery, and flat-out recklessness. The students were  
gathering around the scene.

"Please, Misater Ikari, Your own words right now would be much more comforting than any  
prepared speech."

Shinji nodded. It was a rather gruesome aftermath. The standard 'they will be avenged'  
declarations were inappropriate. Not that could he really assure anyone it would not happen  
again. A press release would however give people what they -needed- to hear, even if  
nothing of it could actually be done. "I suppose I could answer a few questions, right?  
Um... I'm sorry if I don't end up answering them well."

Rika Izuna smirked. That self-effacing pose, eh? How utterly false. If thought of in  
terms of physical combat, she immidiately closed in past her opponent's guard. "How is it  
that the armies of three nations accede to your 'expertise' in deciding when it is  
unavoidable to take civilian casualties?"

The 'humble act' was flawed, perhaps even insulting; when it was clear he had some  
physical force at his back. To hide it was to deny the public the benefit of that  
strength. Why should they trust someone who presents a false face?

'_Interesting. If I get annoyed here, she could build that up into a character flaw. Hmm.  
She actually believes she's doing me a favor; and maybe she's right. It's terrible to  
live under the shadow of so many expectations_.' Shinji shook his head. "I don't decide  
that, Izuna-san. The military services perform under their own chains of command. I was  
just along for the ride."

"Bullshit on that." she whispered.

Section 2 agents approached closer, but were again held back by a gesture from Yang. Rika  
ignored the little courtesy, forging ahead with her questioning. "You and your soldiers  
charged right in, shooting and burning everything in your way. Those people were just...  
terminated, without any call to surrender." She pointed aside to one of the guards, a  
particularly large and blond-haired man. "There were... things... designed specifically  
for the mass slaughter of helpless civilians, and they're directly under your authority.  
How do you reconcile this current laws against private armies and private justice?"

Yang hmm'ed and rubbed his chin. "Technically, it can be vigilatism... if the UN had not  
already granted a special exemption beforehand."

_'And that's what PISSES ME OFF!_' Rika Izuna shouted inside. "_Should laws really be just  
thrown aside that easily for the sake of convenience? To accomodate one person?_"

"To accomodate one person, no. To better protect the survival of the human race, yes."  
Yang shrugged. "Tokyo-3 seems a testbed for different approaches, these days. The 1st  
Hakone PDF is neither JSSDF or regular military. It's a war unlike anything ever fought  
before." And after all, he was primarily a historian...

"Thank you, Admiral Yang. However, I must ask you again; Mister Ikari." She obliquely  
pointed out that someone else answering Shinji's questions for him was just as evasive  
as refusing to answer. "No one disputes your piloting ability, but what have you been  
doing that makes you qualified to judge these things?"

'If I say I'm not qualified, then it's rather doubtful why I'm allowed to have so much  
authority. it's not like any of us can actually explain it... faith on each other just  
doesn't sound sufficient here. It would be truthful, but foolish to reveal what I've  
really been up to.'

Just because he was out of Javaal did not mean the tests would end. If he could not  
reason out such simple doubts, the only other alternative was to use force to ensure  
the proper steps towards the survival of the human race.

It was rather puzzling. The more he tried to be polite and obliging, the more heads of  
state acted like he was flat-out threatening them. At least the Javaali and Hellenic  
groups were easy to understand, even if he could not explain- all he had to do was to  
beat down their 'strongest' a few times.

He scratched at the side of his head. "Then, it just boils down to a moral right, isn't  
it? It's pointless to lead where others don't follow. So the question is; who imparts  
this moral right? The governments? The public? Is conscience divine or not?"

He frowned slightly. Many thousands of years had already passed, and that still perplexed  
the mind. To whom does he Law belong? Enkidu died for defeating the bull sent by the  
Gods, while Gilgamesh siezed immortality for mankind. Does the Law exist in service to  
man or does man become greater with adherence to sublime order? People were still as  
willing to kill and die for such abstractions, even as far back as those who lived in  
proximity to the neanderthals.

He winced. The ability to ask 'why', was both uplifting and its own damnation. Humanity  
held the fruit of knowledge, and it was the undeniable recognition of their own death.  
So much time, thought, and blood; spent to regain a touch of endless and immaterial.

"There are two ways I can answer that." Shinji added. "Either with the 'hat' of a UN  
representative, or my own personal view. It's not like I'm directly imposing either of  
these beliefs on anyone..."

Rika Izuna smirked, somewhat pleased. So the boy could think on his own; but was that  
enough to escape the control of the impersonal bureaucracy that saw the huddled masses  
as nothing more than a resource to be levered into action? "That seems to imply some  
conflict, doesn't it? Well, what are you required to say as the harbinger of nations?"

"Not really; again, it's not like I can command armies to kill on my order." His gaze  
clouded slightly. "I just happen to go where things come to a head. And then I must  
give voice to what I see; that the sacrifice of a few is unavoidable for the sake of  
humanity. Soldiers die so that their peoples' way of life should continue. But the enemy  
is ancient, vast, and cunning..."

Those around Rika Izuna practically dared her to insult the military. The Leman Russ and  
the Legio Terminato were even such large, ungainly designs to serve as 'damage soak' in  
cramped city combat. She did not take the bait. "And what do you really believe?"

"I'm no saviour, Izuna-san. The Angels are the enemies of humanity. My life is devoted to  
making them die." He sighed. "People die, that's not acceptable. I need to be faster...  
there's still so much I have to learn."

'They really sank their claws deep into you, didn't they?' the reporter thought. The  
messianic complex was really not all that uncommon. Her eyes tightened in contempt. She  
expected a little more independence, a little more unwordly genius... perhaps, in her own  
way, she wanted to hold on to trust.

Post-Impact Japan and most of all Tokyo-3, functioned according to a series of unspoken  
rules of conduct; of politesse and social rank. Rika Izuna knew the effect she was giving  
off, of presumption and acting beyond her 'place'. She reveled in the irritation of those  
around her. It was her own way of breaking prejudice and hypocrisy... and unfortunately  
she too was the fruit of that society, with its same self-delusion.

"IKARI-SAMA!"

Both Shinji Ikari and Rika Izuna winced at the appellative. While -san was the general  
suffix of respect, -sama was used in greater deference; as towards nobility. It implied  
a sublimation of self under the weight of natural duty. So far Shinji had avoided, with  
great effort, being called that to his face.

One of the upperclassmen approached, his expression indignant. He bowed low, then glared  
briefly at the reporter. "You came back when we needed you, isn't that enough?" he said  
to Shinji. "I was there when the streets were being cleared. It was ugly, but it had to  
be done."

"Thank you, uh..."

"Niishizaki Konda." He bowed again. "If you hadn't arrived, I would have died. If the...  
Legio Terminato..." the foreign words fumbled in his speech "... hadn't drawn away the  
things ready to just EAT ME... I saw them hammering away so close by. I don't even know  
how I got away, but I know I have to thank you personally. "

"It's okay, happy to have been of help in some way." Shinji bowed back. He looked up  
and blinked. "... excuse me, but... you SAW my Terminators fighting at close range...?"

The only ones who were there would be...

The slightly older student looked up, and noted the distance. His eyes drooped, his  
mouth opened, and -

BLORCH!

A purple slug-like thing burst out, too fast for anyone to react. It struck at Shinji's  
face, knocking him over. Someone began to scream.

SPLOTCH!

Rika Izuna knew of the horrendous effects of bolt weapons, but it was the first time in  
her experience to see someone's head literally explode. She felt warm blood and bits of  
bone and viscera splatter on her face.

...

She opened her eyes to see the guards already surrounding the younger Ikari. She felt  
herself being pulled away. "Rika! Hey! Are you all right...?" said a voice seemingly so  
far away. "Shit! This is messed up...!"

"Everyone remain where you are!" Section 2 agents spread through the crowd. A few stood  
threateningly by the Kyoto-2 reporters and their van. Bolt pistols were out, instead of  
the 9mms common to the secret service.

"What happened?" people were shouting. "Is he all right?"

Soon enough, an ambulance arrived. And then, as a the living wall of black suits parted,  
a palpable sense of relief passed through the crowd. It was electrifying, to know that  
the boy was alive. Even Rika Izuna felt it, and was ashamed of it. The paramedics also  
brought out a body bag.

She watched Shinji and Yang enter an APC. The boy's right hand was bandaged, up to mid-  
forearm. Her eyes narrowed at the sight. 'He caught it.' she remembered, with disquieting  
disbelief. 'That fast... is he that good, or was he expecting it?' She looked aside to  
her cameraman, who was reviewing the footage. "Sano... what do you think?"

"Huh?" He looked up, his eyebrows arched. "Wait, you're asking for my opinion?" The  
Section 2 agents were reinforced by military troops, enforcing a quarantine around the  
school. The other students, including the other pilots, were being sought out.

"Yess..." Rika Izuna hissed. "Are you just going to accept this?"

"Well... it's like a plague, but there's no cure. The enemy can be anyone, anywhere."  
He shivered at that. "And worse, it looks like even we can't know if we're being taken  
over. This is bad, Rika... really bad."

It seemed only a reasonable precaution. People submitted meekly to the demands of the  
military. She frowned. Somehow... it was still too suspicious. As it was all for show.  
Was it really that easy for an assassin, infested or not, to slip through the guards?

But it was not as if anyone could have known she would pick that moment to dare an  
interview...

She sighed and looked down at her blood-spattered clothes. People reduced to nonentities,  
the needs of the many outweighed by the safety of the few. Or the one. 'Is this how it's  
supposed to be? Am I going to have to see how freedom dies, in my lifetime?'

-o-

Inside the APC rumbling towards Trident base, Shinji stared down at his right hand. He  
unwrapped the bandages.

"Are you all right?" asked Yang.

Shinji exposed his undamaged palm. "It's not an infection, Yang-sensei. There is no cure  
for it, as much as there is no cure for an amputated limb."

"Regardless... it's disturbing. That student was able to act so normally until the very  
end. How many more infiltrators can there be?" The Chinese admiral had to contend with  
the thought of a terror campaign.

"Mankind's greatest enemy has always been itself." Shinji sighed again. "I don't like it,  
having to ferment fear and suspicion."

"If you want psychics to be trusted and respected, then you must make sure their efforts  
are appreciated. Can they really reliably detect the infested ones?"

"Oh, yes... it's easy. We did manage to pick him out. I don't know if his family's been  
infested too. Probably not." Shinji leaned forward to clasp his hands together under his  
nose. "It's my fault that he died, it doesn't matter what anyone else says. I must beg  
forgiveness from his family."

Yang nodded. He would have been disappointed if the boy was so callous in the necessity  
of his manipulations. Still... even the genius strategist had to wonder, if it was yet  
another mask that the boy put on for his own benefit.

"You know... At that woman, Izuna-san... she's right in a way. It would be too easy to  
abuse induced esteem; how my psychics could so quickly be turned into my own Gestapo."  
Shinji looked up. "What's the point if it boils down to might makes right in the end...?"

"To resist temptation." Yang replied. "That even if the universe doesn't know justice, at  
least we can support what is good and right while we yet survive."

They regarded each other warily. They were both too smart to trust completely. It was  
also somewhat comforting to know that there was someone there ready to fight, if they  
lost their own inner conflicts. There was good cause to be afraid, for these two who had  
chosen to defend liberty knew just how closely they had to stride the line towards  
oppression.

-o-

-o-

NNHIS Trident Base was a large, sprawling site. Though the Trident Land Dreadnought stood  
at about half the height of an Eva, it massed as much. The place not only held -Magnos  
Tancred- and all its weapons, but served as the build site for Trident-II and III; the  
only thing they had to request from offsite was the compact fusion reactor. The space  
requirements for testing and development was necessarily... huge.

It also held a full batallion of UN forces. There was very little trouble in providing  
shelter for the newcomers. As already said, contractors around Tokyo-3 were well-  
practiced in rapid construction.

The APC rumbled in, while tanks and troops set out towards the city. It was not enough  
that the rest of the country feared 'infection' from those who had evacuated the city,  
putting in a quarantine would force everyone to inside to sit and watch the news.

The base commander had to act quickly. Colonel Nasuno had to field questions from the  
generals and politicans, but fortunately NERV both agreed and applauded his quick  
response. It was an uncomfortable feeling, to have Gendo Ikari so approving of oneself.  
As such, when the devious pair arrived, he was in no mood for any more of their habitual  
inscrutability.

He was, nonetheless, surprised that they agreed. Finally, he was going to get some  
answers.

The meeting room was large and well-lit. A small table near the hot/cold water dispenser  
held boxes of instant coffee, powdered chocolate, and teabags. Plastic-wrapped pastries  
were stacked up for snacks. Unlike NERV which had to build over the existing elements  
of an alien structure, Trident Base could plan from the start whatever redundancies or  
comforts they wanted; all with the assurance that they could abandon the location at any  
time. As such, even the conference room could serve dual purposes - sunk deep  
underground and with its own air supply, it could serve as an improvised saferoom. It also led  
to an escape tunnel.

The walls were meter-thick reinforced concrete, backed by five inches of steel plate.  
The blast doors slid and locked into place behind them. Even the electronics were kept  
separate from the rest of the base. No one had any illusions about why all that security  
was necessary - as much as they were the first line of defense for Tokyo-3, they must  
also be the first to take action if ever the world needed to quickly move against NERV  
for some reason.

The conference table was round, to further reinforce the idea that the commanders were  
meant to serve- not impose policy. In the room they were all equal, for the free flow  
of ideas.

However...

Shinji pointed to one of the chairs. "What -the hell- is -THAT-?" he shouted, losing his  
composure.

Yang smirked slightly. "Like it? Any round table needs a Siege Perilous." The legendary  
seat at King Arthur's Round Table reserved for the knight who would find the Holy Grail;  
he explained to the others. It was fatal for anyone else to sit in it. "This was carved  
out of a particularly large piece of ivory found in the city. It was originally a prize  
for a lottery, but was donated to the base by its owner. It turns out he cheated in the  
first place, and had uncommonly bad luck since then."

Shinji rubbed at his head, feeling the migraine. "You.. you people... Ungh." He looked  
up at the chair. It was not too ornate, except that the back of the chair had two life-  
sized skulls forming the headrest and the arm-rest nubs ended in scapula-shaped flanges.  
It was bone-white and gleaming; made out of an Angel's avian skull mask. Most likely  
Sahaquiel's, the one he had shattered with the Evangelion's fist.

"It's a Skull Throne. Why are you giving me a SKULL THRONE?" he shouted, dismay clear on  
his voice. He turned aside and asked absently. "... why can't I walk two steps without  
running into anything symbolic?"

"Why ask me?" Kensuke answered with a shrug. "It's not like I recognize when I'm breaking  
the Fourth Wall."

Yang went over to fix himself some tea. "You learn to ignore it after a while. It's part  
of why I don't take vacations anymore..." He made a long, poignant look down at his cup  
of tea. "You can either accept that EVERYTHING on this world can be made to serve a  
symbolic purpose, or that nothing really is. At least in this city it all just fades into  
the background."

Colonel Nasumo had a reputation for reliability, if not brilliance. His tanned face was  
the legacy of the UN's peacekeeping muster during the recovery years after Impact. He  
held up his hand to draw attention. "Before I get too confused, what is this meeting  
about?"

JSSDF command was not Tokyo-3 Trident Base, but in Odawara. He himself had only so

much authority to throw at a were four people there. Ikari, Yang, him... and  
Aida. He supposed the glasses-wearing boy was chosen for his discretion as Shinji Ikari's  
friend, and as the link to NNHIS. The Colonel was not known for his imagination, but  
could guess that what they had to discuss might be unpleasant for the rest of Trident  
Base.

Everyone, after getting their cups of coffee or tea, took their seats. Very reluctantly,  
Shinji sat on the ivory chair. Angel bone. He did not go insane or spontaneously explode;  
so perhaps it was all right. Just furniture, after all.

"So, ready to become Emperor now?"

It was unfortunate that Col. Nasuno was taking as sip of coffee at the time. He choked  
and spat, and looked up with an expression of horrified confusion. Kensuke just grinned.

"Oh, come on." Shinji retorted dryly. "Do you really think mere two Terminator squads  
can allow me to take over a country? Even if I did, it'll be just like Emperor Nelson;  
nothing without the support of the administratum."

"I don't know..." Yang said calmly, taking another sip off his cup. "Someone did once  
say that twenty psychics are more of a threat to the world than an army two million  
strong."

"That would be you, Yang-sensei." Kensuke noted. It was about how China never really got  
their own psychic research up to speed, compared to Russia.

"Really?" Yang had completely forgotten. "Well... how many do you have working for you,  
mister Ikari? Forty? Sixty?"

Shinji winced. "Close to a five hundred or so active, all over the world. I have ninety-  
eight with me."

"Ah. The most important question, then." Yang looked uncommonly serious. "Are you a  
psychic as well?"

They were all keenly reminded that while they are allies, they did not necessarily  
have to be working on the same page; or even at the same side. They each had their own  
concerns, and perhaps even their own plans.

"No."

Yang visibly relaxed, then turned to Colonel Nasuno. It was not sufficient to disarm  
anyone from thinking the admiral still had contingencies at work. "Oh, don't worry, I'm  
afraid this is a poor practical joke of mine. We're not actually talking treason or a  
takeover. Although... to work together we may have to finally divulge secrets that may  
(or may not) be shocking."

The JSSDF officer frowned. "Look, you know I'm going to have to report this to my own  
superiors. I won't compromise on my duties... Trident Base will obey only official  
orders from JSSDF high command or the UN." He turned to Kensuke. "And NNHIS, if it tries  
anything, would be held for treason."

The boy made warding getures. "Hey, hey, I'm just a helpless bystander here. I'm not a  
player character like you people... "

Shinji blinked. "You mean... character player? Like a mask?"

"No, I mean I'm on a totally different Level." he snorted. "At least it's not Chief  
Tokita you've got here; jeez, that guy's a conspiracy nut. He'd be foaming at the mouth  
to be let into a devious plot."

Shinji winced. And the kind of hero-worship from a married man was more than a little  
disturbing. The technicians and engineers were ready to build a shrine the moment they  
heard he had brought room-temperature SUPERCONDUCTORS with him. The Holy Grail of the  
electo-mechanical age. He sighed. At least Mana managed to stop them. (What's his  
picture doing there again? He's not dead, you bastaaards! It's bad luck! DAKKA!)

Col. Nasuno was not given to bursts of inspiration, but could cling to a question with  
dogged persistence. "What's this about then?" he asked coarsely.

"You've read the reports. The Angels are more dangerous now, not because of their vast  
power... but now because the enemy is us. The most efficient slayer of man has always  
been other men." Yang looked worried. "This is a simple matter of logisitics. Even if  
my China has the largest army in the world, even they would run out of ammo in the face  
of the Angels turning a billion people into tireless, merciless combatants. Then there  
is the immidiate threat of infiltrators, as demonstrated just a few hours ago. We are  
here to figure out countermeasures to further enemy attacks of this nature."

Kensuke raised his hand. "Armor." He glanced accusingly at Shinji. "After all, isn't that  
the point of TACTICAL GODDAMN DREADNOUGHT ARMOR?"

Shinji shook his head. "It's not practical. The Angel can grow chitin much faster than  
we can make full-body suits. Quantity has a quality on its own."

"Yeah, then mind telling me where and how and why you got the things in the first  
place?"

Shinji winced. "It's complicated." He paused, and looked distant. "Boston."

"... apparently not that complicated." Kensuke blinked. "Boston? As in, Massachuchu...  
masu... masayu... dammit." He groaned and slapped his own face, cursing at his language  
training's inability to pronounce Massachusetts. "In America?"

"Yes. The materials were actually from a variety of different sources, but that's where  
the suits were assembled. Most of Terminator Armor's systems make use of technology  
already freely available. It was the power source and linking them all together that's  
the problem." Shinji shrugged. "That, and the cost. They needed to be rugged and easy to  
use. At thirty million each, it's impossible for them to be mass-produced anytime soon."

Kensuke let the silence drag out. "... you know that's seventeen million more than what  
Leppard IIIb costs, right?"

Shinji just shrugged again, his gentle look conveying how he felt any more questions on  
that note would be... unnecessary. Yang was used to hard sums, and did not care much, as  
long as it worked. Kensuke and the base commander shared a look; the disposal of wealth  
was something outside of their specific spheres of reason. In the end... as long as it  
worked?

"You have got to let me have a look, one of these days." It was still a technological  
achievement, and the raw awesome called to Kensuke. "Is... it possible to adapt the  
suit?" Of course he wanted to stomp around a bit, too. "You know, what actually surprises  
me is that you don't have one of your own."

"Um... actually, you know why the pauldrons are so big? That's because most of the myomer  
systems are there. The user's arms only really extend up to above the suit's elbows. The  
pauldrons protect where there's actual fleshy bits. Below that, it's all mechanical. The  
Tactical Dreadnought Armor is so huge actually because of the limits of our technology.  
The control systems aren't sensitive at all, but must be brute-forced into responding  
appropriately." Shinji got another faroff look. "At least, the same extension for the  
lower limbs, the boots not only have more stabilization features, but are actually  
designed to take a land mine without crippling the man inside."

"You're saying normal people are too puny to be useful."

"Well... yes."

"What about those dudes that look like Grey Knights?"

Shinji shook his head sadly. "They're not even remotely equal to the Grey Knights." To  
clarify for the others, he added "Unsurpassed holy warriors, so strong that they are not  
meant to fight man, but to hunt demons and other creatures of darkness. It's fiction."

Yang and the colonel nodded. Kensuke Aida's odd and obscure obsessions were well-known.  
Carry on; they gestured.

"The force blades. The helmets. The silver armor." Kensuke huffed. "Hell, some of them are  
even beakies!"

"Yes... but it's psychic armor. If you actually looked it over, it's really nothing more  
than thin wafers of actual silver, hard leather, and a crystalline mesh. The exoframe  
is the only thing that allows them to carry better, more conventional bulletproof armor.  
Enough not to slow them down while getting to slicing range. Wrist-mounted storm bolters  
were just too heavy to include... that was a mistake, they utterly lacked long-range  
striking ability. Integrating a bolter into the halbers may be possible... but..." Shinji  
sighed sadly. "The whole thing is even more limited than Terminator Armor, because if it  
was just cost and production time... that can be overcome. There just aren't that many  
psychics out of all humanity... and the slightest bit of doubt, any faltering in their  
will... and that armor has all the protective value of paper; that consecrated blade, would  
break upon the enemy's panoply."

Kensuke looked forlorn. For once, he did not relish the triumph of physics over reality-  
breaking super-rationality.

Colonel Nasuno frowned and rubbed at his wire moustache. Too bad, the boy did not have  
all the answers after all. 'Oh well, it's not like we should expect a deus ex machina to  
drop out of nowhere all the time.' He tapped at the table for attention. "What makes you  
think that overwhelming us with numbers is actually the Angels' modus operandi? They do  
have other, bigger feats..."

"Yeah; the zombie apocalypse scenario misses out on a lot of things needed to make the  
undead any real threat, but the simple matter of killing off much of the working  
population messes up the logistics." Kensuke looked to Shinji. "If the Angels really  
want to destroy humanity, why not just do that?"

Shinji leaned forward, putting his hands under his nose in a Gendo pose. "Because... the  
Earth's Cradle hasn't been taken by the Angels for their own use. It's humans who hold  
it, and humans who can use to the fullest. We have a new enemy here."

Even Yang seemed surprised. "Really? The brain-slugs devour and replace brain matter. How  
could anyone have survived the attack the Angel's attack on the Earth's Cradle?"

"Simple enough, actually. By a flexible definition, it could be said that everyone did  
survive. It was just a matter of how much intelligence and self-awareness they managed to  
retain." He took a sip of tea to calm his nerves. "There are certain advantages to the  
infestation... what we call 'zombification' may also be 'immortality' if one keeps his or  
her consciousness. Then, with the ability to heal and endure beyond all human limits...  
several other 'modifications' are possible. Let me put it this way: it can cure ALL  
human ailments, even the worst of pains, it removes all doubt about one's purpose in  
living, and confers unimaginable power. The only thing really detestable about it is  
that the Angels are the ones giving it."

"That's naasty. That's so wrong." Kensuke put in. "It also implies the Angels know more  
about human biology than they should... Does this actually have anything to do with  
those old rumors of UFO abductions? I mean, the Angels are aliens, after all."

"I don't think so. The mind-worms aren't natural, but they are ancient. Originally, they  
were supposed to be 'blessings', given to the greatest warriors. I mean... they're not  
even supposed to even HAVE annelid forms. The writings showed they should be drunk, the  
waters of eternal life."

"Really now?" Yang asked archly. "Where did they come from? And who gave the things to  
the Angels for use as a weapon against us?"

"Actually... that would be my fault." Shinji replied softly. "The Angel... the mind worms  
may use Angel cells, but it isn't an original constituent of its active evolution. It was  
grafted on later... by someone who had knowledge of both human and Angel biology."

"... you?" gasped Kensuke.

"No. But I did uncover the original colony." He gnashed his teeth, remembering. "Egypt.  
That was where I first met Kaworu Nagisa, someone both human and Angel. That was where

he told me of what he wanted for humanity... and how the weak must be culled, to force man  
to evolve. That was why I chose mercenaries over regular troops; for the necessary  
emotional detachment when entire villages or cities overflowed with murderous intent."

They already had an overall idea of what Javaal was. It was not, Shinji explained, the  
first nor the last of such enclaves. Deep in the sands of the great desert, from times  
long ago... when even Erech was new, and the gods dwelt with mortals... there was a city  
close to paradise. The rains fell at the command of those that lived there, and the sands  
fused into opaque glass to serve as their dwelling-places.

And the echoes of their spirits were written there, their dying screams still ringing in  
the walls. It was not the first time that Angels and men warred, and back then... lacking  
the power of the Eva, they could only turn -themselves- into weapons.

He told them of restless nights in the open deserts, driven by an urge he could not  
explain. He told them of stepping beyond the veil of reality, in the endless haze of  
the waterless horizon. He tried to convey how it felt, how cyclic, and how futile... that  
history seemed to flow around him, as a snake eating its own tail. And that was where he  
first met Kaworu Nagisa. At first, he thought it was another hallucination.

"Nagisa is... powerful." Shinji could not really explain, without revealing Rei's own  
secret. While he could trust Kensuke with that knowledge (likely, the geek would just  
find it hawt), the military were only allies of convenience. "He is also, so very very  
alone. He hates the sordid mass of humanity, and would prefer to uplift them to his  
level. The only thing he hates more, perhaps, are the Angels themselves... he said, they  
lack all choice. He wants something between human and Angel, and is willing to kill off  
most of humanity to get it."

"Hm... I assume you have some proof of this?" The ancient lands were a fascination for  
Yang, as a historian. Were it not for the literal evidence of the Angels, it would have  
sounded too much like one of those kooky theories, more for entertainment(and making  
money off the gullible) than factual consideration. "Where in Egypt? Not at the great  
Pyramids, I hope?"

It was too easy, and often used as a point for ancient conspiracies, but as far as Egypt  
was concerned it was not all that ancient. The dynasty was already old long before those  
were built. As for Nagisa... the records, as far as what they were able to retrieve from  
the UN database, there was a Kaworu Nagisa as pilot for the Trident Warborns. He decided  
to accept Shinji's assessment of the foe, lacking any further data.

"Do you still have the pendant, Yang-sensei?"

The Chinese admiral brought out the necklace with its occult Eldar eye. He slid it over  
the table to Shinji.

"Would you believe that people past eight thousand years ago were literally different  
from us today? That they did live for hundreds of years like the old myths said, that  
gods and demons warred as they walked the Earth?" the boy asked, his expression hooded.

"Not really. Can you support that claim? I didn't have time to get any carbon dating done  
on that thing, and... there ARE psychics now, even though I seem to keep missing them."

"No, I don't. This thing however, was never made with tools. I don't think it was ever  
touched by any hand or tool during its crafting... it was shaped with the mind and sung  
into existence."

Both Kensuke and the Colonel looked doubtful, until Shinji whistled at the pendant. A  
strange keening wail filled the room, as the red gem set as its eye glowed with nearly  
blinding light.

Once that was over, everyone felt cold to the bone. It was like... that feeling under the  
glowing attack used by the Angel. Shinji's Angel-bone chair sported new spiky growths,  
and the boy was unnaturally still. His eyes were wide with sudden realization of his  
foolishness. Sharp spines poked out from just under his ears; a millimeter off he would  
have been dead.

"... I don't know if I can trust what someone told me, but this is not the first time  
the Angels tried to supplant humanity as the dominant lifeform on this Earth." he said  
in a choked voice. "I'm not saying anything more until someone gets a knife and cuts me  
loose!" '_This isn't luck... it's ridiculous. There's been too many coincidences already._'

Kensuke took out a Swiss knife with its sawblade began to file down the tips. "Does this  
happen often?" he asked.

"It's like there's some force that kicks in whenever anyone tries to explain anything  
clearly." Shinji replied bitterly. He coughed, when free. "Thanks." He tapped at the new  
spines on his chair. "Interesting... I didn't really have any proof until now, but the  
Angels and psychic energy do have some correlation. It's something close to the AT-field,  
but... I don't know..."

"I thought you said you weren't psychic." Yang said offhand.

"I'm not. It is attuned to my brainwaves, though. As far as I can tell, this merely acts  
as a pointer and drawing power from the cache. It's glowing brighter now because of all  
the many psychics around the city."

"So you just dug up those things?" Colonel Nasuno asked, grimacing. He refused to be  
sidetracked, not matter what he had just seen. They were dancing around the issue. No  
matter what good intentions at the start, all those deaths did start somewhere. "Why?"

"Well, to be fair, I didn't really know what I was going to find." It weighed heavily  
upon him. What made it worse was that he could not be sure he was not still being  
massively manipulated. How could Nagisa even find him? Or were they all just following  
some moldy old prophecy? He got up slightly,then reconsidered, tapping the armrests. "As  
you can see, Angels and certain artifacts have relationships to each other. It must have  
seemed like paradise, when one did not need to work tools out of metal or wood... but  
rather will them into being. The weapons of that age was not limited to the physical...  
but also the biological."

It was Kensuke's turn to frown. "Are we running into Clarke's Law here? Or are you  
saying there really were ancient astronauts?"

"Um... there were at least nanite colonies, space whales, and teleportation portals?"  
Unfortunately, all he knew of the Moon Cradle was that it was supposed to have been  
destroyed.

The JSSDF Colonel slapped his palm down on the table. "This is ridiculous!" he grumbled  
out. "What's the point of this fantasizing on the far past? How do you know it wasn't  
just planted there for you to find?"

Shinji nodded in assent. "That's a valid point... even if I had to dig, it's not like it  
isn't likely that a megalomaniacal psychic (dimly, he could hear far-off, ironic  
laughter) was just LYING to me, even as he yoinked the container from my hands. Still,  
the past is important." He turned to Yang. "Those who do not learn from the past are  
doomed to repeat it."

"... and history is often cyclic." the historian added. "What happened once can happen  
again. You say that Second Impact was the Angel succeding? They aren't actually aliens?"  
He sniffed. "They're not actually from Mars? That was a good hypothesis early on, you  
know. The Red Planet was once perhaps livable..."

Again, Shinji veered from revealing SEELE's existence; not only that he lacked proof, but  
that would implicate NERV as well. "We know now that Angel-based teleportation works. I  
don't know about Mars, but there are some hints that they were once living on the moon.  
There were ancients writings of great beings that 'cover the face of the moon' and living  
off sunlight." Among all the oldest myths were also hints of thermonuclear use, and some  
passages sounded like the effects of a moon-based super-laser.

Kensuke raised his hand. "Mentioning this to Akagi-sensei would be specially cruel. More  
pissing on physics and mutilating the scientific method."

"... yeah. Unfortunately, she's still the best mind on the planet when it comes to the  
actual procedural defense against Angel attacks." Shinji replied sadly. "If anyone can  
figure out how this nonsense actually works, it would have be her. No one outside of  
NERV has both the background the resources necessary for a breakthrough."

Yang coughed into his fist. "Well, to get back to the point, what do think we should do  
now?"

"I... don't know. I've done what I can to get some allies in here. It's not that much,  
but every little bit helps. I think it's obvious by now that the Evangelions can't  
protect this city on their own. If the enemy had tried using enough man-size enemies any  
earlier, we would have lost."

"Hm. That you're here means you expect us to do something about it?" Yang scratched at  
the side of his head. "It's not enough that NERV is widening the streets and putting up  
Heavy Bolter turrets... well, everywhere? We have a little problem of jurisdiction."

"Besides, it's more like the UN provides funding, the JSSDF the manpower, but it's NNHIS  
that actually does the building." Kensuke added.

Col. Nasuno let a few moments pass. While the exchange seemed innocuous, he recognized  
a certain hubris about it; in deciding things without consulting either NERV, NNHIS or the  
JSSDF; taking it for granted that these organizations would obey. He felt that politics  
was supposed to be a little more confusing than that, and that power (like the value of  
currency) should reflect upon something tangible and useful. He was a practical man, who  
knew many other officers with delusions of superiority. Very few could actually manage  
stage-drama megalomaniacal confidence.

He looked at the others in the sealed room. Even contributing a little would be step  
towards choosing sides. He wondered if he would need to have them shot.

"If we're laying our cards on the table, what makes you think those you brought here can  
actually be trusted?" Or, by extension, why should we trust you? "They're mercenaries,  
aren't they? How can you be sure they won't turn on us if someone offers a big enough  
incentive?"

"They are my chosen." Shinji replied flatly. "They have been specially selected for their  
strength, stature, and depth of loyalty. Money is worthless if the world ends. They have  
already proven their commitment."

The colonel repressed a sneer. "How? They have no honor. They'll kill for whoever has  
money."

"Yes, but one must ask, WHY do they need money? They paid for in blood the life and  
safety of their own land. They're paid well, but they're risking it all... their families  
are here, they followed with their own faith... to Tokyo-3. None of them speak Japanese,  
but still they came. Here, their fathers can protect them DIRECTLY, while elsewhere they  
could perhaps be used as leverage. The risk seems... inconsequential... compared to how  
the whole family can be together."

"Such strange, but worthy people..." Shinji looked to Yang. "I could have had screaming,  
unquestioning fanatics fighting for me." He smiled slightly. "Or I can have Dorsai."

Yang's gaze widened, and his face broke into a grin. For the first time, he was genuinely  
impressed. Political and martial tricks were nothing special, but this... "Oh, bravo."  
He laughed and clapped, then abruptly grew serious. "You screened them using psychics, I  
suppose? It's much more vital to be secure in THEIR loyalty. How sure are you that they  
won't be carefully choosing their responses?"

Shinji looked embarrassed. "That's actually... easier. I have no doubt at all they are  
totally dedicated to the cause."

"And how do you know that confidence is actually... yours?" It was a very troubling  
thought, and part of why he had said psychics were more dangerous than whole armies. If  
he was willing to accept that Shinji Ikari really was not a psychic... if he was also,  
that explained how he could be sure. However, it would also mean he too could never be  
trusted, specially as he had just lied.

"They're a religious organization." the boy said at last. "I got elected prophet."

Kensuke raised his hand again, after a while. "... really? So you can do miracles and  
tell the future now?"

"Not that way. I suppose the only 'prophecy' I'm allowed to make is that we all live  
through this. Then we simply try to make sure it's... self-fulfilling." Shinji shrugged.  
"Well, let's just say I can be totally, truly sure in the loyalty of some of their most  
potent leading figures, and s-.. they would, like, totally kick the asses of those who  
failed to live up to their duty."

"Good enough." Kensuke replied. 'Wait, was he about to say ...she? Hah! That explains so  
much. Bastard.'

Colonel Nasuno rubbed at his head. His train of thought kept being derailed, was it even  
possible for these people to stick to the one, critically important issue? "What assets  
do we have that are actually USEFUL in fighting the Angel threat?" He looked up at the  
boy. "How soon can you get back to your Evangelion?"

"I can fight, sir, but it's not worth the victory to return to a dead city. Only at a  
last resort... but that means we NEED first resorts." Shinji turned to Yang again. "I...  
there's already the limit of what I can do. I can't THINK like the Angels, I can't beat  
Nagisa with just my mind... his thoughts run to vile corners I can't reach. I don't know  
what they'll do next. That's why we need to prepare."

"But it sounds as if there isn't anything we can actually do!" the Colonel snarled back.  
"This meeting is just to rub our faces in how useless we are compared to NERV!"

Shinji winced. "Sir, I have every confidence in your ability to overcome..." Then, also  
frowning, he turned to Yang. "Besides... why am I expected to solve everything? I'm here  
to ask for help. We must fight, to the fullest, or we can just die."

Yang sweated. "Hey, why do I have to solve everything, then?"

"... because you're the only one here not actually doing anything worth what you're being  
paid." Kensuke said dully.

"I'm not even paid all that much!" the former admiral replied. "Teacher salaries suck!"

"You need more incentive, Yang-sensei?" Kensuke added, smirking. "How so... mercenary...  
of you."

Yang blanched and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. He closed his eyes and  
for a while he seemed asleep. As the minutes dragged on, Kensuke stood up to pour tea  
over his head.

"Kensuke, what do you think is the most important discovery of the twentieth century?"  
Yang opened his eyes and asked.

The nerdish boy thought it over. Obviously, electronics changed the face of history; on a  
scale roughly on par with the wheel. However... "You said discovery. Semiconductors." he  
said at last. "The combustion engine actually belongs to the latter parts of the  
nineteenth century, a natural step up from previous principles. Until electronic circuits,  
technology was just a refinement of mechanical motion. Then... boom. It's like everything  
became easier, cheaper, faster. Tools that make other tools. Precision tools."

He brought out his cellphone. "Multipurpose, lightweight, reliable. Dude, like how else  
were we supposed to make programmable switches? Clockwork?"

Yang nodded. "What do you think is necessary for the next paradigm shift?"

"That's easy. Superconductors! Our technology is just going to plateu until we..." He  
paused, and blinked owlishly. "Which... we... now have..." He turned to Shinji. "Do you  
KNOW how much that enables us? Where'd you find them anyway?"

"Egypt?" Yang asked hopefully. "More samples of ancient technology?"

"Um... no. I found it in the sunken British Isles." I dug it out of an arrowhead lodged  
into my chest; he did not add. Fortunately, like psychoreactive crystal, the material  
could grow and be shaped into whatever form.

"I have to wonder, how come no one discovered this before? Is it something we need to  
mine?" Kensuke's eyeglasses flashed ominously. "Because, man, we're going to need lots  
of it- it's unimaginably more precious than oil. Can I convince you folks to invade  
the old UK? Please?"

Shinji just sighed took out a bundle of strange black fibers. "I find it odd that people  
expected natural superconductors to be metals." With a nod to Yang "There are certain  
conditions that have to be met for crystal and metal to align so precisely...psycho-  
kinetic energy IS related to macroscale energy, it looks like."

Kensuke frowned. "So you're saying some MAGIC is necessary for the components required  
for sufficiently advanced technology?"

"Um... yes?"

Kensuke shrugged. "Eh. What the hell. As long as it works." He began to mumble to  
himself. "... efficiency of wiring means less heat loss, greater power output... we can  
reduce the weight of the Titan modules by almost half." He blinked. "Wait, there's the  
crystal capacitors too. That shouldn't work by the known laws of physics either!" He  
turned around, back to Shinji. "We're going to need more, a lot more of that super-  
conducting material... "

"With telekinetic control at a subjective level of reality, we have actual matter  
editing. Actually, I just call it wraithbone." Shinji nodded again. "I didn't want to say  
anything so soon, but we have twenty tons of uncut psychoreactive capacitor crystal, and  
five tons of bundled super-conducting fibre still at the ships."

A stretch of silence passed; while everyone stared at him with stunned disbelief. "Where  
do you get all these wonderful toys?" Yang commented, amused.

"Dude, let me ask again, you have any idea how much that's worth?"

"Um... I don't know, it's not like there's an actual market value. Considering that's  
99.9 percent of the world's supply right there... um... a few hundred million, a billion  
maybe?"

"Gak." The JSSDF colonel felt like losing his mind. These madmen played around at a level  
he could not comprehend.

Minds reeled with the possibilities. Kensuke thought over the implications of just having  
a battery pack, about the size of someone's thumb, that could hold enough power to run a  
roomful of electronic equipment. Yang, unsurprisingly, wanted to ship some raw material  
samples to China.

Shinji looked up at the ceiling, distracted.

"The Vulcan Megabolter just isn't powerful enough anymore for the enemies we're going to  
face. We need something new. Something... like, Hellstorm Cannon. Now that we have both  
superconductors and high-efficiency capacitors, how do you feel about full-automatic six  
-barrel gatling microwave laser cannon?" he continued casually.

More silence.

Even Yang, for a moment, looked terrified of his protege. "... huh. You really ARE insane."

Kensuke growled. "... dammit, Ayanami and Kirishima are so going RAPE you."

-o-

-o-

The one thing that encouraged the nations of the world to donate a not-insignificant  
fraction of the GDP to the UN (and thereafter to UN NERV and Tokyo-3) was the the Angels  
seemed focused on that one place. Sure, failing there would most likely mean the end of  
the whole world... but at least if the Angels were attacking THERE, the aliens were  
leaving the rest of the world alone. It was that which made the conflict seem somewhat  
surreal, captivating to watch from afar and with the pilots easily packaged into heroic  
celebrities.

With the Earth Cradle (now known as Black Moon) on the loose, and the unspoken threat of  
zombiefication hanging over their heads, the nations were under enormous pressure to  
secure their own safety. Sahaquiel's bombardment was desctructive, but the overall quick  
death made it something of a gamble. The targets were NERV sites, where Evangelions were  
under construction. The only other such site left was in America, well away from any  
populated area.

As Yang had noted, the new threat was a matter of terrifying logistics. A city had so  
many people, and policemen were vastly outnumbered and undergunned if things actually go  
sour. Cities could not feed themselves, and trying to enforce a quarantine was only  
slightly less difficult than a mass evacuation. All it would take to cause such chaos as  
to grind entire economies to a halt would be several mind-worms dropped at random across  
any major metropolis. It only got worse with new data from Tokyo-3, that certain people  
could even act normally while under the infestation.

Then of course, the inherent difficulty in getting rid of the infestation. Bolt, flame  
and sword (or hammer) were the only reliable methods... the head must be totally removed;  
for the things would -heal-. They could be -organized-. Some used -weapons-. And worst of  
all, because a select few did not seem to suffer any instant adverse effects, many would  
unwisely keep hoping for a cure.

Adding to that; military buildup also carried its own risks, and a drain upon both the  
economy and emotional well-being of any nation.

Gendo's speech to the UN basically consisted of an extended wager:

_If the Angels breach the geofront, all of humanity will die. Everybody, all over, those  
who do not die at the moment of Impact would be worst off... slowly dying off, like  
starving beasts; like the dinosaurs, doomed in their ignorance._

_What were they willing to give up? NERV would take whatever they were willing to part  
with. If they viewed it as exortion, so be it. Never had 'protection money' been so  
brutally accurate._

Only Russia, China and America increased funding; perhaps thinking that since they were  
so invested in NERV's safety already... might as well up the ante. They were targets  
in any case. They were the ones most at risk; and strangely enough, the ones who would  
die the quickest and most painlessly at the moment of Impact.

Japan sorely needed that foreign aid, for their economy was suddenly at shambles. It  
was hard to trust international contracts when the nation might not even be there anymore  
in the next few months or even weeks. Martial law had to be carried out, just to keep  
order. To many it carried the shades of the post-Impact years, along with all the bad  
memories.

That the Black Moon did not show up at all since the attack only added to the tension.  
The nations could not maintain that state of readiness for too long.

-o-

The UN Assembly was in uproar. The documents were received with a mixture of scorn and  
disbelief. "You really expect us to believe this?" the delegate from Australia shouted  
at the official envoys. "This... fantasy... for this we're expected to surrender our  
own citizens to whatever depradations you may have in mind?"

The representative from France buzzed the Brazilian delegate. "How much did you know of  
this? This power play will have consequences!"

"I had no idea! These people are not aligned in any way with my government!"

"They do count themselves Brazilian. They follow your laws."

"They're a cult!"

"Last I heard, they were Catholics."

"Uh... heretics! Witches! Tax evaders!"

Through it all, Monsenhor Domingues Mendonça kept silent, his face expressing no judgement.  
He was tall, but thin to the point of emaciation. Dark rings around his eyes accentuated  
a rather piercing blue gaze. His hair was curly and yet to show signs of gray. Beside him  
stood a monk in yellow robes, who had introduced himself as Cai Wei. The old man stroked  
his long, flowing Gandalfian white beard in serene amusement.

The UN Secretary General called for order. Then, once the tumult subsided, she asked  
"You must admit, this is... short of unbelievable. Do you have any proof other than the  
subjective readings upon history?"

The priest bowed gestured palms up. "While the Society of Filhos de Santo Cristo may  
not have the... ancestral background... as my respected colleauge from Javaal, our  
research is impeccable. We are archivists by nature, and it was partly our efforts that  
allowed the Internal Network to recover and rebuild After Impact. We have correlated  
and corresponded with many archeological institutions, and the facts do bear out. We, as  
human beings, must accept the presence of a greater predator upon our planet. And it is  
the existence of this said predator, that also helped drive our evolution towards our  
current state."

"Doesn't it bother you that you're presenting the idea that there were literal gods,  
and that miracles may just be attributed to human abilities?"

Monsenhnor Mendonça shook his head. "That it seems indepedent of heredity is enough for me.  
It is a blessing, that should be accepted and used with a humble heart..."

"While it is true that matching power to power makes it more likely, even through the  
nine hundred years of our study, and the writ carried from Uruk itself; nurture seems to  
have a better influence upon such... skills... than the natural aptitude."

The Russian representative looked doubtful. "In that case, why is it necessary to grant  
responsibility for their actions over to a completely separate organization?" They had  
lost their own people, and now it turned out that not only were there more such psychics  
out there; they were more powerful, and far more insidious. All the risks and careful  
planning they did.. all worthless. "Are you saying we are incapable of protecting our  
own people?"

"Not what I meant, honored sir." said Lama 'Man of Peace'. "You were worthy and kind,  
despite what prior reputation your government may have had. That was why you had such  
great success... the accuracy of your predictions, was it not your own reward? She chose  
to give you what you needed; and take it from us who know... the most powerful  
precognitive the world has known for centuries, could have escaped if she so wanted."

"I'm unsure of what you're saying here..." the delegate from Albania added. "Are you  
saying you people are too dangerous to be left to anyone's reach? Or are you too weak  
that you have to secure yourself against all persecution?"

"Yes, forcing tests on everyone, and taking those you want... I believe you vastly over-  
estimate the danger; it's not enough to turn yourself into your own gestapo and overrule  
the governments' protections over its citizens!" the Australian delegate added. "If what  
you say is true, then most of psychics in the world are either unaware of their own  
abilities or just want to be left alone. You're asking them to expose themselves, and to  
drag them out from their own homes!" He snorted. "I can hardly see how this is supposed  
to HELP their situation."

The French representative nodded. "Yes, old legends are hardly proof. Is there really  
any danger at all?"

The two adepts shared a look. It was Fr. Mendoza who answered first. "The danger to us is  
real. For months now, we've been tracking the disapperance of known psychics... even  
whole communities. Considering that we pride ourselves in our secrecy and living normal  
lives as far as we are able... this was troubling. No one should even know just where  
and how we are different!"

"The attack at PKRU base... let it be said that while the site was secret from the rest  
ofthe world, the gathering of minds might as well have been a bonfire for those who are  
sensitive to such things. We of Javaal had mental discipline to hide our homes; the  
average and unknowing unshaped talent out there... their presence endagers themselves  
and all those around them, without even being aware of it." Lama Peace-man added next.  
"Only with proper guidance would their talents be more than liabilities. You have no idea just  
how much pain this necessity causes us... but for the survival of the entire human race,  
we must stop considering ourselves 'special' over the rest of mankind."

"The most dangerous place on this planet, Tokyo-3, is ironically the safest. Since we  
would be under attack anyway, might as well be at the most fortified location on this  
Earth, where we may offer our own meager efforts to the task." Monsignor Mendoza added.

"So, it's more on... why ask for help from the rest, when you can have the very best?"  
the French representative asked archly.

"Somewhat." replied the Javaali monk. "Consider it enlightened self-interest if you  
must."

"On the basis of a sophist adventure, you're asking the UN to suspend the rights of  
potentially hundreds of thousands of people! You're asking militaries to cooperate in  
siezing and deporting their own citizens. It's insane!" The representative slammed his  
fists down in emphasis. "This new organization you want us to create and support, the  
UN PSYKANA, would hardly even have to report to the UN...! How can we know you're not  
just grabbing power for your own sake? In fact, I doubt you even have any of the supposed  
abilities that separate you from the rest of humanity...!"

Other shouts joined in. "Yes, this is just some form of new, fantastic racism!" "People  
should be allowed to live in peace, if that's what they want!" "Do you really have any  
proof that we can't handle it?"

The two psychics shared a look. They sighed. Lama Peace-man tugged at his beard and  
looked up. "Are we in danger? We are. But I sense, the question you really want to ask  
is... are we dangerous?"

The Brazilian prelate, orphanage manager, and sometimes software engineer palmed his  
own face and groaned. There was a reason they had preferred not to make a public  
demonstration.

They stood facing the Assembly, within the UN hall in Geneva. It was a closed summit, but  
cameras were rolling. The problem was that skepticism was endemic to humanity. The Lama  
took his hand away from his beard and gestured up. Podiums rose into the air; he closed  
his hand, and there was the sudden sound of wrenching metal. Twisted lumps of aluminium,  
wood and plastic dropped with dull thumps.

"The answer is yes." he said flatly. "Imagine this, multiple ten- a hundredfold! We will  
not be used as weapons AGAINST humanity. Though we lived through persecution, through  
golden cages, and the bleak denial of our own selves... in the end we fear more what the  
enemy can do to us, can do USING us, than whatever you may imagine for yourselves."

"You were always too dramatic." sighed Monsenhor Mendonça. He looked up at the gathered  
delegates and raised his hands. They flinched. However, all he did was to wave in a  
gesture recognizable as a the 'all-clear'. "This isn't the end of times. If we all just  
work together, we have a chance..." He chuckled. "At least, let it be someone else's  
problem. Let Tokyo-3 shoulder the burden. Surely, you don't think that sending some  
psychics over there can possibly make it that much more mind-bogglingly frightening than  
the prospect of a wild Evangelion?"

Everyone winced. Not really, no.

Implicit in that statement was;_ do you really want to worry about not just making use of  
these powers you don't have and don't understand, but also for it competing all the while  
against other nations, NERV, and the Angels?_

Inevitably, they were asked "Can you determine by proximity if someone has latent psychic  
abilities?" And, at the affirmative "Is... Shinji Ikari... also a psychic?"

"No. Young mister Ikari has nothing whatsoever that we can identify as signs of ANY  
psychic talent or abilities. As far as we can percieve, he is but a normal human boy."  
Lama Peace-man said, his tone absolutely firm.

"Ridiculously persuasive, though, for some reason." muttered Monsignor Mendoza. Louder,  
he added "As masters of the mental arts, we can at least assure you that a rational  
agreement is infinitely preferable to any form of compulsion, specially in these times.  
Please, let us fulfill each our responsibilities."

"If you want certain assurances, certain advantages, so be it." added the other. "But  
this must be done." And unsaid there; with or without your blessing, we must do what it  
takes to survive.

Gifts, then pleas, then threats. That was the usual protocol. The offering was to save  
them unnecessary headache. They begged for help and understanding. It could still be  
much more difficult for all concerned.

-o-

-o-

The weeks afterward were also the time of the Great Psykersearch, obliquely referred to  
as The Witch-hunt; almost immediately after the UN established their UN Adient Psykana.  
It was supposed to protect the few special samples of humanity. They were most at risk,  
as reports from Tokyo-3 showed they were being used the Angel to create the strongest  
mutation forms. Also, for some reason, psychics could form a crude counter to some of  
the AT-field's most frightening abilities. At the very least, the infested ones exuded a  
'wrongness' that sufficiently talented mentalists could sense. It was still undecided if  
they exuded some sort of beacon for the enemy, but better to be sure.

As expected, many seized upon the situation. The same new decrees that were supposed to  
protect psychics and encourage them to step up to be recognized instead gave way to  
many of them losing most of their rights. The unusual, the insane, or even some entertainers  
were lynched or killed by mobs acting in blind fear. Bounties were put up, to bring them  
in. Governments and various other factions wanted to know if they could open up their own  
ways to defend against Angels. Mistrust, abuse and experimentation awaited those who  
were caught in the nets.

Tokyo-3 had most need of them, and promised to protect them. That it was still the most  
dangerous place on the planet struck everyone as too ironic. Nevertheless, to board one  
of the distinctive black ships was the best option for anyone who could not hide their  
talents anymore.

There were sad instances, when those who simply did not know they had any talent at all  
had to be ripped out of their comfortable, unknowing normal lives. There were also those  
that resisted, feeling that two of the larger enclaves should not necessarily represent the  
rest of the secret communities. It was a great betrayal...!

Some took even harsher measures.

-o-

"There is no reason for us to submit to the gadjo..." said a woman clad in brightly-colored  
swaths of cloth. Her painted face evoked a distant, untouchable beauty. "We can always  
just... disappear. We know about persecution, and we outlived the Romans, the Mongol, the  
Nazis, even the Soviet..." Her slim fingers dealt out the cards with the elegance of long  
practice."We know about the shadows."

"This is not something you can just hide from, Rosa." replied a caucasian man in a gray  
business suit. "It affects everyone. Come with us, the shadows won't ave you this time."  
His face held those bland, unremarkable features so well-suited for intelligence work. "Our  
roots go all the way back to India, too."

"The shadows have mercy. The light... no." She laid down the tarot cards. Death. The  
Tower. The Fool. "Will you try to enslave us now, like all the others before you? We  
will sting. Then disappear. The night is our home."

"Then the night will swallow you whole. Pray that we won't need to burn our way into  
the face of the great enemy." The man stood up, and tapped the Tower card. "You know  
where to find us, grandmother."

He left the tent, and the last scion of the Rom wrapped the shadows around herself. When  
he turned to look again, there was nothing there but the crawling old forests.

-o-

What could be done within three weeks? In many ways, the community of the unseen were  
linked in a manner that predicted the Internet. The vast majority of psychics were  
barely even that; normal people with a few 'lucky' talents. The ones more powerful were  
either trained or tried even harder to disappear. It was the means that mattered, for  
unfortunately no one knew of the cut-off point wherein a human would become just another  
zombiefied shambler or the incredibly lethal mutation form.

For... surety's sake... the UN preferred to have as many such people sent to 'safety'.

-o-

There was a cellar, somewhere. It was large, and dimly-lit, and the scent of sweat and  
fear and despair filled the air. There were chains and cages, and within lay naked and  
blank-gazed forms. A girl, perhaps no more than fourteen years of age, struggled and  
cried and begged. Those holding her acted with the nonchalance of practice.

"Hm... pretty, but not that special. A seven, I'd say." A fat, sneering man in a  
purple suit began to pinch all over her flesh. "I'd prefer someone with a little bit  
more meat... they last longer."

While young girls were primarily for those who had... fresh... tastes, to him they  
represented an odd investment. In time, properly broken in, they could pay off well.  
It was something of a gamble, though. Not many actually lived through the early  
stages of breaking in.

"P-p-please... l-let me go." the girl blubbered out through hiccuping fits of fear. The last  
thing she remembered, she was skipping school. Living in such an exciting era, who had the  
time for that boring stuff? The next thing she knew, she was being slapped and shoved  
around; fondled, then sold. "Whatever it is I did, I'm sorry... please, stop... my parents will  
gi-give you money..."

Her captor chuckled thickly. "Not as sorry as you're going to be if you're not worth the  
virgin bonus." He showed his pudgy left pinky finger and grinned. "I can always make  
some money off your organs, if you're not going to 'play' along... "

He shoved it -in-. She screamed.

"Oh? I guess I'll have to pay, after all." He made sure not to break anything; for some  
reason his clients were ready to pay even fifty percent over standard costs just for the  
priviledge of causing the girls pain the first time they stick it in. He did not really understand  
what the fascination was about... it was over too quick, if they got off on that then pain  
should linger. There were other... ways.

Pain. Pain and humiliation. She cried, and knew then nothing she could do would help. The  
only thing left for her was to kill herself. The blank expressions of the other girls around her  
told as much... there was no pity there. There was not even self-concern. Their lives had  
ended, from then on their only hope was a reasonably kind 'master'... but then again, would  
someone like that talk to a fetish merchant?

She begged... someone... anyone... save her or kill her; the miracle that never happened to  
any of the other girls. She could taste how they enjoyed her screams, her realization of  
utter despair. She found it hard to breathe... her vision was blacking out...

And then, there was light. Masonry crumpled inwards, and sunlight filtered through the  
gap. Someone with a strange conical helmet and white robes emerged from the clouds of  
dust. His face was grim. His bolt pistol flashed twice, and the two large thugs restraining  
the girl burst into a shower of gore.

His eyes were bright blue, seeming to glow slightly. Anger was clear on his face.

"Who... how dare you!" the fat slaver tried to bluster away. The cellar was a place to hold  
and break in the 'products'... sensibly, there were no weapons there, for anyone's use. The  
standard whips and rods were only effective against those unable to fight back. "You...  
you don't know who you're crossing! I know some powerful people... you'll regret this, you  
fools!"

The wall continued to fall in. Something massive and golden pushed through. Great  
metal hands grasped at slabs of brick and crushed them into powder. "WEALTH IS NOT  
POWER." the figure said in a harsh amplified tone. "INFLUENCE IS NOT POWER. LET US  
SHOW YOU THE REALITY OF IT." The Terminator had to kneel just to fit in the room,  
the ceiling scraping off as he turned towards the other man. "HAVE YOU FOUND HER?"

"Yes." The psychic knelt and touched at the girl's forehead. She was still numb with  
terror. "She is one of us. There may be others here, but... their minds were already  
destroyed." He sighed. "You know, I'm not really one of those ministers who must  
remain celibate...?"

He of the Heraklitus merely let out a low, vaugely threatening rumble.

"... and this is why I can't accept this suffering with any serenity!" He glared at  
the fat man and lifted his hand. Lightning shot out from his fingers. Screams filled  
the room again. "Death is too quick to be true justice...!"

When it stopped, the slaver was alive, if just barely.

"... perhaps, the UN won't mind if we accidentally tear through a few more of these  
'underground properties' while I search for more psykers." said the 'witchhunter', with a  
savage grin. "Our mission takes precedence over paltry national politics." UN forces  
attached to them were just then carefully making their way into the 'slave-tempering'  
cellar.

Hard, electronically-modulated laughter filled the room; a distinctly unfriendly 'ho-ho-ho'.  
A badge opened all sorts of doors; specially when it was welded to the bracer plate of a  
Power Fist. "THEY HAVE NO PRAYER."

-o-

And sometimes... they were just too late.

_"You are the last, the fruit of careful cultivation reaching back thousands of years. I  
will not mince words... you have failed me."_ the words rang in their minds as they stood  
in line across a main street of high Madrid. _"In the end, man proved to still be too  
small to fight against their great enemy."_

In the distance, a seething black mass gathered. The specialized superheavy tank was too  
slow and unweildy to be deployed at will... in Siberia, at least there was the chill open  
terrain and extended support. At that moment all they had were APCs at their back to  
provide covering fire.

_"Your shield is conviction. Your armor is faith. The slightest doubt kills."_

There was a loud screech, and the enemy charged. Mutation forms, black and long-limbed,  
ran along the sides of buildings in seeming defiance of gravity. Hapless people, turned  
to infested puppets, shambled forward.

The heavy machineguns opened up, carving into the enemy. The line of armored warriors up  
front remain still, even as bullets ripped the air above their heads.

_"Therefore, you will not falter. You will not submit to your fear. You stand between the light  
and the dark. Through pain and uncertainty you shine, your color is gray. But you are not yet  
the guardians I require."  
_  
They stood taller, their armor was thicker and the prototype of scaled-down Tactical armor.  
They had to sacrifice much to get that far, and to put aside some of their own most cherished  
traditions. For far too long they had thought themselves as somehow 'special' and 'blessed' by  
fate itself. Until the Earth's Cradle showed them the foolishness inherent in their own mortal  
pride. Fear could still reach them. The only thing left to deny it... accept it... and let it pass  
though. Their mind powers their might. Fear was the mind-killer. Simple. Infuriating.

As one, they raised their left arms and their Storm bolters spat out death. The enemy  
kept coming, for the creatures did not know fear. They were at least perfect in that regard,  
truly immortal; beyond all care for their existence. The warriors met them with glorious,  
righteous rage; knowing that they were still just that bit removed from the ultimate in prowess  
that which their oaths required. A few more generations, perhaps... but time was the one thing  
they lacked.

The incoherent screeches of the enemy echoed through the streets. They roared back,  
their blades shining, and stabbed into the fray. "WITH OUR SOULS, WE BURN THE DARK!"

-o-

The great running battle through high Madrid ended up destroying many buildings, and  
not even intentionally at that. Such was the intense savagery of literally inhuman  
combat. Incidentally it also convinced many of the danger in just leaving psychics  
unwatched and uncontrolled. Mutations forms were damned tough and hellishly fast. They  
were a subset of the mind-worm infestation, so could even replicate purestrain forms  
within their bodies.

The silver-clad armored warriors of the subset Adeptus Psykana, both helped and hindered  
the situation. Gleaming powered armor, storm bolters, and blades that could slice through  
tank armor as if it was paper; they were sufficiently impressive to force governments to  
give up some of their citizens... at the same time sending them even more spoiling to see  
if they could train up a similar fighting force.

The ships were, incidentally, converted luxury liners. The black paint might have been  
simply to serve as contrast for their walking down the ramp. Whatever colorful displays  
of mental prowess stood out better against stark black background. No one could really  
object, even if the only point was a matter of style... to do so felt even sillier, somehow.

-o-

-o-

With the increased Angel threat, it was necessary to rush the completion of Evangelion  
Unit Four at NERV America. The S2 Engine could tap practically limitless power, like a  
zero-point sink. There were those who thought it a just a waste to be dedicated to a war  
machine, but finally it was time to just pull the switch. The Super Solenoid Engine was  
carefully placed within the white Evangelion Unit Four, the first true mass-production  
Evangelion model. It stood a little taller, a little sleeker than the others; and painted pure  
white. Its head lacked a mouth, shaped more like a knight's mask.

Clean, limitless energy; for sake of irony, they decided to make the first combination trials  
at the very same stretch of desert once used for nuclear testing.

Their Super Solenoid technology was represented by twin strands that looked a little like  
DNA. There were no problems with activation outside the Evanglion. It was the deep of  
night, and the instruments showed zero faults while on internal battery power or the  
umbilical cable. The Engine turned on.

Matter and antimatter met in kiss of pure, all-consuming white light.

Nearly everything aboveground within sixty-five kilometers was wiped out of existence. Of  
the Evangelion and the hundreds of personnel all that was left was silence.

Two days later, there was a Blue Pattern Alert.

-o-

-o-

-o-

* * *

Many, many apologies for the long delay...

I fear with how much I had to snip off this initial portion, this is going to be a really bloated chapter. This is Leliel's battle after all. I needed to set up a lot of things, lest the awesome end up nothing more than an asspull. Ungh. Much talkyness. I want to do action scenes, too... they're much easier in the end... but all this boring preparation is necessary, sorry.

edit:

Much thanks to Loki Fenrisulf IV for giving me the heads-up on Portuguese naming conventions. I'm also on the lookout for a Tibetan 'translator' of sorts.


	33. Chapter 32: Uncertain Space part2

Uncertain Space part2

-o-

The sound was unmistakable, the deep 'chut-chut-cut' noise of a massive turning gear, and  
the ripping noise as countless humming blades ripped through air. It was a happy sound. At  
least, it made her happy.

There was a flash of red, and a flash of white, and the sensation of two absolutely monstrous  
things slamming into each other. The shock was enough to jar her back into wakefulness.

Asuka Langley-Sohryu very reluctantly decided to acknowledge the morning. She usually slept  
in on Sundays. In the end however, a combination of hunger and the baking heat of the sun  
from her window would drive her from the bed before nine o' clock. She yawned, absently  
scratching the underside of her breasts as she entered the living room. Asuka had lived with  
Misato for the better part of a year already, and people were starting to notice disturbing  
resemblances. At least, it was a safe bet they would have similar figures some years on.

For the moment, while she still regarded Misato as totally unsuitable as a role model, Asuka  
did understand a little about the convenience of a 'liquid breakfast'. Her mind was stuck in a  
loop, trying to reclaim that particularly intense dream she was having... she remembered  
nothing about it, except that it was -intense-.

She went over to the fridge and took out a bottle of milk. Pen-pen, another late riser, made a  
protest. "Wark! (Light goes out when door is closed, girl!)"

Asuka made apologies and let him get back to sleep. Such was the peril of routine that no one,  
not even the penguin, thought anything about it was odd. At least the refrigerator was no  
longer quite so filled with beer. Since Misato's bump up the pay grade, she had bought another  
cooler simply for that purpose.

Asuka took a swig, and let the liquid blunt the hunger. She let out a belch, then another louder  
one, and looked embarrassed. Fortunately, there was no one else there to know. Asuka frowned.  
That was actually odd. _'Where's Ayanami?'_

Rei woke up at five-thirty every morning, without fail. It was fortunate that while she disliked  
meat, it apparently did not extend as far as eggs. Asuka's dislike of people who let themselves  
be used as tools took a whack from a 'clue-by-four', in that a world with too many people  
exactly like her would shortly become unmanageable. There was also something to be said for  
having someone utterly predictable serving in a supporting role.

Unsurprisingly, what with Rei's unwillingness to raise any complaint, all it meant that the  
Katsuragi household seemed to have gotten itself a maid. Then again, that was the function  
Shinji Ikari served while he lived there...

Asuka took smaller, more demure sips from the milk bottle. That dream... her old nightmares  
had recently been fading in face of real horrors and worst-case possibliities, and there were a  
few enjoyable fantasies... but she had never really dreamt something of such -weight- before.  
She heard a humming noise from behind her, a rough sort of melody, and turned around. Milk  
spurted out of her nose, as her sense of reality failed to comprehend what she was seeing.

Rei was humming. The tune was 'Another One Bites the Dust'. She held a long-handled broom  
and along with the pleasant pitch presented such a picture of serene domestic bliss. She  
looked up and bowed slightly. "You are awake, pilot Sohryu. I shall prepare breakfast  
momentarily."

"...gagh... ehk... what the fu... Ayanami!" Asuka gasped out. "What the hell are you wearing?"

Rei blinked, and looked down. "I am merely preparing for Pilot Ikari's return. I have been told  
by sister Ibuki that this is the proper garb suited for such a welcome."

Asuka twitched. It would not actually be a surprise to think Maya may have some cosplaying  
tendencies. What irked her was how that seemed such a perfect fit for Ayanami's servile  
personality. Admittedly, it was a modest attire; with a long skirt reaching down to the ankles,  
padded shoulders, and frills were limited to the sleeve-ends and that fluffy white tiara-like  
thing that was part of the effect. Still, the contrast between Rei's pale skin and light blue  
hair was striking. Asuka knew it was much harder to find contrast with her own red-orange  
hair. Maybe, a dark green version of the outfit...

"Sohryu?" Rei tilted her head a bit, puzzled. "Are you unwell?"

Asuka touched her hand to her nose, and what she thought was merely milk up the wrong  
pipes stained her fingers red. Her eyes widened. _'No way. No fucking way!'_ She looked up and  
glared. _'I can't possibly have a maid fetish!'_

Rei approached, her expression showing only concern. How detestable, perhaps, to be so weak  
by choice, perfectly submissive... a toy, a tool, something to be used and discarded... yet still  
so eager to please.

A part of Asuka's mind noted that the female counterpart of master is 'mistress'.

Rei reached out with a slim, unmanicured hand towards Asuka's face. The red-haired girl  
slapped that away. "Stay away from me!" she shrieked.

Very faintly, Rei looked hurt. Asuka twitched again. "I'm fine. Leave me alone!" She bolted  
back into her bedroom.

Rei blinked again, as Asuka slammed the partition shut. After a while, she gave a small shrug  
and put away the empty bottle of milk, into the recyclables bin. "What an odd person." she  
said, punctuated by the sound of clinking glass.

-o-

-o-

Trident Base was thick with tension. It was not enough that NERV, the regular military  
and the UN strategic forces had to continually scuffle over jurisdiction. The Prefectural  
Defense Forces had to beware with old grudges against the Chinese volunteer troops, while  
they both looked upon with wariness the Russians there as instructors and line support  
with their weird tanks. Then all three of them were cautious of the mercenary troops, not  
just because they were sworn to no national authority, but that with their armor on the  
Greeks and Turks and assorted other sell-soldiers could pound on just about anybody. Add  
to that the Tibetans, who had old history against the Chinese and holding an undisguised  
contempt for the Russian psychoactive program. The others tried to pretend that nothing  
'mountain primitives' said outside of their duties as human targeting aids would actually  
matter. And all of them distrusted NERV. The feeling was mutual all around.

Yet they all kept their competitive natures in check; standing by to fight and die for a  
place that was not really theirs. The Chinese would have, literally, climbed the tallest  
mountain and forged the deepest rivers to get to their hero: Yang. The Russians behaved,  
mindful of that, and trying to learn from a former enemy. The Japanese defenders knew  
they held situational advantage, but unlike say; Gendo... many people would care if  
either Yang or young Ikari were injured or killed. The Javaali monks and the Legio Terminato  
were ready to avenge the slightest insult; but knew they were even more isolated.

The flow of history was still a debated point; whether or not it is forced into shape by  
'great men' or that historical forces merely produces great leaders whenever necessary.  
Regardless, when it comes to most military; morale was a significant factor towards  
performance.

Thus, when the call went out to gather in parade formation, no one dawdled; no one wanted  
the shame of being last to arrive and offering disrespect.

Every single one of them felt charged up, for some reason. The base commander squinted at  
the early morning sun, struck numb with sudden pride. Seeing the allied forces standing  
at the ready - oh, it was time. He grinned fiercely. It was time to get their game on!

The monks of Javaal lived away from the base, taking over one of the old abandoned  
Buddhist temples nearby. The Terminator Custodes were hired as Shinji Ikari's personal  
guard, but had stepped back to let NERV Section 2 handle most of the city work. This was  
because very few of them actually spoke Japanese, or even fit through the doors sized  
for the comparatively much shorter locals. Special heavy-duty trucks brought in sworn  
troops.

Golden giants, silvered knights, and the psychics with their funny conical hats; they  
stepped to join the formation, metal boots sending the tarmac to ringing.

Boom. Boom. The ground began to shake. Trident Base and the gathered forces there faced  
towards the morning sun. This was slightly uncomfortable, but at least the troops would not be  
covered by -Magnos Tancred-'s shadow. Several VTOLs, painted red, landed nearby. It was  
the entire fighting complement of the 1st Hakone Prefectural Defense Forces; and half  
the workers. They pulled no stops for that display of solidarity, but even so their  
assets were at best half that of the short regiment attached to the Earth's Cradle.

Few in number, great at heart. Col. Nasuno stepped onto a impromptu wooden platform, and  
as one; they saluted. The simultaneous tap of five thousands shoes and boots and one  
massive mechanical leg sent the air reverberating.

He saluted back, but held it. He turned around to face two figures walking up the back  
steps of the platform. They were still civilians, but saluted back. Only when their  
fingers dropped could everyone else relax.

At the back towered the still, menacing, sloping figure of the Trident Land Dreadnaught,  
in a configuration befitting the name; all heavy weapons. Below and in front, the many  
technicians and engineers responsible for the continued operation of Trident base; clad  
in white, red, and green depending upon their specific specialties. On either side were  
the Basilisk Mobile Artillery, described in the Tokyo-3 newspaper as 'fuck-off large  
cannons'; twenty of them total. Spreading out in an angle even further out, sixteen of  
the modified VTOL gunships were arranged as like a wing. Their nose vulcan cannons were  
replaced with a single oversize barrel; as the first aircraft in history to be fitted  
with true combat-worthy laser cannon.

Eight of the Leman Russ heavy tanks were formed into a block at the far left, with  
their five-man crews (driver, main gunner, two secondary gunners, commander) standing  
before their proud beasts. The smaller and more numerous MBTs, APCs and various other  
combat vehicles were arranged around them. A small force of volunteers for the visiting  
forces were lined up nearby, clad in black greatcoats.

The next block was composed of Chinese visiting forces, two platoons of fresh-faced  
young soldiers, the elite of the graduating class out from the schools that Yang founded.  
In addition to their standard bolt rifles there were also teams with Heavy Bolters, scouts  
and demolition specialists, snipers, and every possible combination of skillsets and  
equipment to make any cityfighting very nasty indeed. One could only describe their  
devotion to duty as 'fanatical', to fight under the sight of their Hero was the supreme  
honor and to fail would shame their families up and down the generations.

The largest block of troops consisted of the JSSDF soldiers tasked with the specific duty  
of protecting Tokyo-3. Many of them had still to be issued bolt rifles, but NNHIS did  
serve them well by equipping them with new flak-plate armor formed from the composite  
metal-ceramic that served as Trident and Evangelion armor. The dedication could not be  
any less in defending their very own homes.

Large trucks and small field guns formed a partition. Beyond that were gathered the  
psychic adepts and warrior-monks of Javaal; clad in white robes and silvery powered  
armor. Their swords, lances and glaives sparked with furious energy. The loss of their  
warriors inside the Cradle was a revelation, of how much their martial traditions had  
atrophied from their long, peaceful isolation. Combining ancient knowledge with new  
technologies might be difficult, but they needed to learn; to be become truly worthy  
once more.

There were two squads, of eight custodes each and a sargeant. The Legio Terminatus were  
the emphatic point to 'end' an argument. Their armor cost more than some battle tanks. Their  
contract was set to half a year, paid per week. It seemed such a waste to just have them  
stand around as guards, but none of them made any complaint nor wondered how their  
employer could even get his hands on the powered suits in the first place. _'It's Ikari, hombres.  
It doesn't matter how, it's what he fucking DOES.' _

It was still undecided which was actually scarier; those who could rip your thoughts open  
or those who could pulp you with their little fingers. It was puzzling why the boy held  
absolutely no fear that they would betray him.

After getting through a short ceremonial preamble, a tall figure in a blue business suit went  
over to a podium and addressed the gathered defenders. "My name is Yang. Yang Wen-li.  
Some of you may know me. I'm not much good with speeches so I'll get to the point..."

A small muttering passed through the Chinese and Russian troops. Young Ikari and Yang;  
two of among the most shameless gamblers upon the Great Game, planning together? Oh,  
this was going to get -_insane_-.

"It's been a hard few days. It's hard enough to rebuild after an attack of the magnitude,  
but doing so while trying to maintain quarantine and practicing new force deployments...  
you all performed superbly. Now that the quarantine is lifted, people can now leave... or  
come in. We can now hand the task of maintaining public order to civilian authorities and  
concentrate upon improving our own capabilities. As the official representative of the  
United Nations, let me offer my thanks and admiration."

He looked over to the ranks of psychics. Tokyo-3 had its own 'secret police' but NERV  
Section 2 was already overstretched with intelligence work and securing the safety of  
the pilots. The main problem with psychics is that while they may always know if you were  
lying, there was no way to really know if they were telling you the truth.

It was natural to mistrust what cannot be understood. However, humanity needed to unite  
instead of furthering even more division. "And I'm sorry to say, your efforts end here.  
the Hakone PDF is still a part of the JSSDF, and by the decision of the United Nations of  
the world - it must disband."

Yang waited for a response, but silence only stretched out. There was no fear nor any  
doubt in the faces of those nearby. Yang sighed. Really, no emotional reaction at all?

"You suck!" Kensuke shouted from his place on the platform, his fist raised into the air;  
cold and impatient at being woken up so early on a Sunday.

Yang sighed again. He should have known better to try; he was just unsuitable for public  
speaking, unable to muster up the necessary gravitas no matter how much he tried. He  
resisted the urge to pick at his nose. "Uhm. All right. I suppose it is a poor trick,  
since billions are already invested into this place.

Looks in response said '_You've obviously got a plan, dumbass. Get on with it.' _

His own thought was '._.. this place is a bad influence for even me.'_ He chuckled a little  
into the microphone. It was a distinctly sinister chuckle. _'I haven't felt this way in  
more than ten years.'_

Belatedly those listening remembered: nobody EVER liked Yang's plans. They were always  
so baffling, sometimes even suicidal at the start. It was not as if there was a lack of  
competent and more ruthless opponents on the other side. For the first time however, he  
felt lost... there was nothing in history that even resembled what was unfolding before  
his eyes. As before; he considered himself historian first, admiral second... hero last  
of all. He was one who did not put stock in the 'great man' theory of historical flow;  
but in cause and effect and what needed to be done. And frankly, his knowledge of history  
was just ridiculous. The mind that could keep track of interconnected events and people  
over thousands of years, calling them forth at an instant, found the task of coordinating  
the massive movements of men and war machines simple in comparison.

And now... nothing. His mind was blank. He looked up and grinned.

"The best plan, in the end, is no plan. Beyond skill, beyond technique, there is pure  
overwhelming MIGHT! That is something the enemy knows well. What you suffered just now  
was still the fruit of finesse- the next attack none of us should hold back. If our  
enemies are Angels, then we who stand below howl, holding the key to the gates of Hell!"

A low 'oooh'... passed through the ranks. 'He's really fired up.' Yang practically  
defined lazyarse intellectual... so his enemies at the mainland realized early on that  
any hint of enthusiasm meant the approach of the critical moment, just shortly before they  
would be totally crushed in some unforeseen and totally humiliating manner. 'Oh shit oh  
shit, this isn't going to end well...'

Kensuke, off to one side, rubbed his hairless chin. "...much better. See? Similes and  
metaphors work." he whispered aside.

"Colonel Nasuno still commands you. Your orders still come down from the generals of the  
JSSDF. However, the PDF is no longer enough... you defend more than a mere prefecture,  
more than a city. I won't be commanding anyone into battle, even there I won't be of any  
use anymore. But... right here, we're going to have to discover a whole new way of waging  
war."

Mostly because the old way was nuke spam.

Yang's voice softened, shifting into his Professor mode. Speaking to inspire, to blatantly  
manipulate emotions of many people, he found that very hard to manage. However, that  
calm flow of careful rationality might be even more chilling. There was always a reason behind  
every move, even if only to mislead the enemy. It was much easier to trust in the unknown  
plan, that there would be no meaningless waste of lives just to salvage pride. That was the  
cold, goal-oriented, event-driven calculation of a master strategist.

"The Hakone 1st PDF is organized according to UN cooperative command in land, sea and  
air. However, as we just learned... the enemy is -us-. As you know, of all those arriving from  
abroad... there's a distinction. Psychics are those with certain... talents... but psykers are  
those who have trained those into useful levels. Each squad must now have an attached  
psyker to protect and detect Angel infections."

There was some discomfort at this idea.

"To better respond to threats from within, the basic squad is now composed of twelve soldiers,  
with a sargeant. With the psyker, this brings the squad composition to fourteen, which is  
conveniently the carrying capacity of the new Chimera personnel carriers we just received.  
Heavy weapons, from Heavy Bolters to Flamers are now standard equipment; each squad  
must carry at least five weapons known to reliably kill nonhuman enemies..."

This was something the troops were expecting, actually. Weight of fire would be useful, given  
as they were operating to close supply lines, anyway. The only hitch was that it would break  
up old organizations, forcing troops from diffferent countries into self-contained fighting units...  
if they could not get along, they might as well be comitting suicide. Which was, perhaps, the  
entire freaking point.

"The old question of quality versus quantity is really such an oversimplification. There is a much  
more viable issue with standardization. That's why our three nations have agreed to stamp  
out identical patterns of bolt rifles, hard-flak armor, and the Chimera chassis."

Yang paused and scratched at his nose. "By the way, the last battle showed how very quickly  
bolt ammo can be burned through in burst mode. The seventy-five caliber bolt-round is a bit  
overkill for unarmored enemies, and sometimes even overpenetrate. So; your new bolt rifles  
use the half-inch bolt round, the same used in bolt pistols. Prevailing theory is that pumping  
three rounds rapid into an enemy should kill it as thoroughly as the larger bolt anyway."

He took a deep breath and cast his gaze around the field. "But the point of this is not to mire  
you in mediocrity, or to be reduced into a faceless tool for the accomplishment of an objective.  
To fight with the same weapons, to wear the same armor, to battle the same enemy... this  
is to give you the comfort of unity. Personal and national differences don't matter. We here  
should fight as one, as the last line of defense for the human race. In the end... we're all just  
human beings. We bleed red and we hope to survive.

Everything here, from the venerable -Magnos Tancred-" Yang pointed up "to the humble  
Hellhound..." then to the row of modified Chimeras "is devoted to the single absolute duty of  
saving the human race from extinction. The Evangelions might be powerful, but nonetheless  
have a glaring weakness. They cannot fight by themselves; without power, without technicians,  
without pilots... those war machines are nothing more than useless lumps of heavy metal. A  
ground-level attack is the only thing Evangelions can't defend against and therefore remains  
the surest threat. The civilians are worse than helpless, they may be turned to the enemy's  
purpose painfully and against their will. Now that the psychics all over the world are being sent  
here, more than ever we must be worthy of the faith that we can protect all of them.

You are no longer just the PDF. Your duty is more than the protection of a single prefecture,  
but instead to guard the very hope of humanity. Recruitment and reinforcement are already  
on the way. This war is about to get worse, people; but that's why you're called the UN  
Improvisational Guards Regiment. Whatever it takes, you must hold. There's no one else.  
Just you.

Air, land and sea. Combined under one command, directed to one goal. This is to be known as  
the singular responsibility of the **101st Cerberus Regiment**."

This was surprisingly well-received. Those who might have lost nerve had already left. Those  
who remained, whether out for duty or revenge, only asked for the proper tools. They would  
do the rest. If necessary they would follow the Angels to the heavens, and slay them there.

Yang turned around and got a sly look. "Perhaps our honored guest would like to say a few  
words?" He stepped back and held out his hand towards the empty podium.

Shinji winced, but nodded. After fiddling with the microphone a bit, to lower it to his height,  
he began to speak. "You will die here." he said flatly. "In the end, you are just men, flesh and  
blood, and our enemy spits upon the face of all reason. You are dead men and women, you  
must learn to accept that."

Murmurs began to rise. This sort of speech was not what they were expecting. There were  
various dramatic tricks they were familiar with, but those were bald and uncompromising  
statements. After welcoming and working together with the boy; what was with the contempt  
and fatalism?

"I will be returning to NERV tomorrow, and once there I will have to trust in that you will be  
able to hold fast through whatever tricks the great enemy may pull. And I'm warning you now,  
to think that the Angels are nothing more than dumb beasts is the greatest mistake any of us  
can make. This is your last chance... leave, run, for to stay here will be to expose yourself to  
unimaginable horrors and inhuman violence. The whole world will look at you as barely less  
terrible than the very monsters you fight. Go away, and for a while longer you might live out  
in peace and blissful ignorance."

Ah. Reversed delivery, maybe a dash of irony. The boy seemed to mean it, too. Some of them  
supposed they should be insulted, but it only steeled their resolve to stay. Maybe it was  
true... they would die. That was why it was better they stayed. At least their deaths would  
have a point. Without that final line of defense, everyone everywhere would die anyway. For  
all that they recognized it, it was intriguing that reverse psychology still works.

"You are dead! Sooner or later, it will happen. If you put your own existence ahead that of  
the human race, when that final battle has come... the enemy can and will take advantage of  
that! Your fears and your hopes and your human vulnerabilities... the enemy will batter at  
every point in our defenses, both material and immaterial. In the end, only your unity in  
purpose can save you... and that is to accept your own mortality and push on!

Innocents all depend on you, are your lives worth more than theirs? This is more than your  
duty; this is your own choice! Stay and die! Leave and survive! You can't hope things won't  
be so bad... this is the war beyond all wars! Stronger and smarter with every new form, the  
Angels want to CRUSH all resistance in their path, such is their contempt for humanity.

What stands in their way is not the power of the Evangelions, but humanity! In the end it all  
comes down to it; our weak selves against their vast might. Are we going to just lie down and  
die simply because they want it so? Are we going to cower in fear from all the vile tricks they  
may use against the helpless and the innocent?

Are you afraid of -_death_-?

Are you afraid of -_mutation_-? Can you be -_stopped_- from doing your duty?"

Shouts roughly equivalent to '_oh hell, **no**!_' went forth.

"You are the soldiers of mankind. You are the Guardians who stand at the Gates of Hell! The  
dead howl for vengeance, and you must become as the Spirit of Wrath! You shall Eat War And  
Shit Awesome!" Shinji Ikari leaned forward and slammed his palms down on the podium. "YOU  
ARE DEATHWATCH! KILL TEAMS! YOU ARE THE ONES THAT MAKE THE XENOS DIE!"

The cheers were deafening, helped in part by -Magnos Tancred- spinning its megabolter  
gatling. Claps and shouts rose as the holographic banner atop the war machine switched to the  
new regimental standard. A large skull with a red three-headed wolf behind it. **101st Cerberus,  
Impr. Guards** DEATHWATCH.

Shinji took off the gold laurels and let out a heavy sigh. He shivered, and his stance loosened  
out considerably. Once more it was so strangely apparent just how completely unimpressive  
he looked. Why would people ever overlook that?

Yang frowned. "Now why is it that if I tried to say things like that, people would start reaching  
for the launch buttons?" he asked, sounding somewhat sulking. "How can you keep a straight  
face while saying such ridiculous speeches... and yet somehow not end up looking silly?"

"Yeah, sure you don't want a little pencil moustache, Herr Ikari?" Kensuke quipped.

Shinji just shrugged. "The difficulty is that people -know- you're -sane-, Yang-sensei. I... don't  
have quite the same problem."

"That we entrust so much to you anyway, I find this both intriguing and appalling." the former  
admiral added. As they left the rough stage to let the base colonel get to work at actually re-  
organizing his forces, Yang mused "Hmm. I wonder how long before they realize that the  
order doesn't cover either the Adeptus Psykana or the Terminatus Legio, and start yelling at  
me about it...?"

"Well, as a rapid response force, a certain degree of independence is necessary. They're each  
a distinct UN entity, similar to NERV." Shinji frowned slightly. "But you already know this."

"Yes, yes, but when would politicians accept a simple reason as military efficiency when the  
thought of a power grab would do? I'm sure they'll find some other way of making trouble for  
the troops."

Yang noticed that Colonel Nasuno seemed to have stopped in the middle of his speech and the  
more tedius aspects of actually assigning people to their new integrated squads. The soldier  
turned with dreadful slowness toward the group just leaving. He looked distinctly displeased.

"Ah, it seems the good Colonel just realized it." He hurried the others off towards a waiting  
jeep. "Let's go. Let's go."

-o-

-o-

The door to his office opened with a hiss. Gendo looked up and smirked slightly. "I knew you  
would return." he said.

Shinji nodded slightly and crossed the room. "In the end none of us, not even Yang, could  
think quite like you, father." The boy smiled thinly. "I need your help, and so I'm here."

"Will you obey?"

"Yes, father." Shinji replied. "I know -why- I must, at least."

Gendo frowned. He had arranged things to ensure the boy would grow up spineless and  
suggestible. The aunt he had sent the boy to had always felt resentful of how her sister was  
so 'blessed by the gods', so much smarter, more beautiful and more successful than she could  
ever be. Add to that the loss of her own son after Impact, and the boy should never have  
been anything more than a burden.

Where was the boy getting this confidence? Who trained him to stab through weaknesses in  
other people's emotional armor? Gendo had purged himself of human failings, as far as he was  
able to. He should not have to fear his own son.

Yet... the boy may have his face, but those eyes... Shinji had Yui's eyes, so accepting and so  
full of hope. In the determination to do whatever she thought was right, no one may stand  
in the way; he had warmed himself at the temple of her presence. He, personally, believed  
more in nurture than in nature – yet for to him, Yui was special above all, and for some reason  
he resented the thought of anyone inhering her singular nature. However, if it could rise above  
the pressures he placed, then Yui... her qualities... could only be vindicated further.

Mercy had never been one of Yui's virtues, though she gave plenty of rope to hang oneself.  
Perhaps part of why he loved her so, was in finally seeing someone so much more ruthless than  
himself. It was a caring cruelty that she showed; never judging anyone good or evil, but only  
giving them what they deserved. If at first he had tried to use Yui, in the end he realized that  
there was also power in being used. The boy had apparently learned that lesson quite  
thoroughly.

"You should know that I intend to initiate Third Impact."

It failed to shock the boy. "I know. And yet, NERV is still the best chance humanity has of  
avoiding extinction."

"Not so. You are here, because Nagisa's thoughts escape you." Gendo's eyeglasses flashed.  
"If you intend to avoid Third Impact, then you may as well go and join Nagisa. He will force us  
to attempt Impact, leaving him as the only real faction interested in keeping this world as it  
is." That seemed to amuse him. "This broken world with its declining population is much easier  
to control."

Father and son considered each other carefully. They were speaking with disarming honesty,  
in full knowledge that while in the end they may still be natural opponents in the Great Game,  
their short-term goals were similar. Only by helping each other could these be accomplished.  
The room seemed to ring with barely-suppressed hostility.

Gendo was such an amoral person, having sacrificed so many to reach his objective, that it  
was inconceivable to anyone else that he might have some selfless motive. He had reached  
the limits of human power already, it did not seem too far a jump to believe he might want to  
become a god. Shinji could feel it, there were still many secrets about his father and NERV that  
he did not know. However, he consciously decided he did not need to know... his motivation  
was simple - stop the extinction of mankind. Whether by Impact or by killing off every human  
being on Earth one at a time; beyond the time when those scenarios would STOP, he had no  
plans.  
_  
'How much have you contaminated Ayanami?'_ was Gendo concern. 'Do I have to rebuild the  
scenario?' The boy's personality and activities may have been unforeseen, but Gendo had not  
really set aside the possiblity that someone... just not his son... might attempt such things.

_'How can I protect them? They are needed most where they are.'_ Shinji knew fear. He could feel  
his father's contempt at attachments, but it was still so worthwhile. It was still a weakness  
that Kaworu and Gendo would not hesitate to take advantage of.

Shinji lowered his eyes, and Gendo smirked again at that token gesture of surrender. The  
boy, for all his talent, lacked true experience. At least he knew his limits; too many fools  
wasted effort in futile defense of their egos and competence when a simple alternative was  
available. It was a war that did not need Napoleons or Hitlers or even a Yang Wen-li. Gendo  
fought back a chuckle. He knew this already from fifteen years ago.

How bleak, how lonely it was to stand at the top; but they who shared how it felt were  
naturally repulsed by each other. Yui Ikari was culpable of many things, and among it was  
not being there to give the two each a much-needed headslap.

-o-

The boy's return to NERV was greeted with subdued optimism. The staff worked a little faster,  
a bit more attentively; all trying to get the systems to smooth readiness. Finally, things could  
get -done-. At last, they were preparing to -strike back-.

The synch-test was under way. Ritsuko gasped as the readings came up. "This... this can't  
be real. Maya!" She motioned for her assistant to come closer. "Tell me you're not seeing  
what I'm seeing."

"Oh my god... this is impossible. Shinji-kun... how can he get this synch level?"

Ritsuko nursed a migraine, an all-too familiar sensation. "That's it. Time to prescribe myself  
some medical marijuana."

"Sempai!"

"Fine, fine. You're just going to have to stay here until we figure this out."

"... you say that like it's a bad thing." Maya muttered. Then, in a louder voice "You can always  
count on my help, sempai."

"Good. Because when Asuka finds out, it's not going to be pretty."

A few days later, Asuka Langley-Sohryu was found strangling Shinji Ikari near unto death.  
Rei Ayanami and Dr. Akagi, nearby, did nothing but watch.

"What the fuck, baka Shinji?" Asuka thumped his head off the floor. "You spent all that time  
building up our expectations, and you STILL can't break your synch ratio over thirty? YOU'RE  
DOING IT WRONG!"

"Ow. Oh! OH REALLY?" Shinji shouted back, his voice uncommonly shrill. "HOW COULD I HAVE  
POSSIBLY FAILED TO NOTICE? Of course I know it's barely enough to get an Eva moving... I  
spent three months for the sake of recovering my piloting ability, and damn it all! I'm as much  
annoyed that all that effort seems wasted! I've tried meditation, I've tried, um, mind-altering  
substances... dammit all; hit me again, maybe that would shake a mental block loose!"

She obliged him.

"... I was being sarcastic..."

"I know." Asuka replied, and got off him. She rubbed her own forehead, as the situation also  
caused her headaches. "This... this is bullshit. You're useless. How can we get any of the  
new fighting formations if Unit 01 is still... impotent."

"In the name of the Evangelion, ouch, Asuka." Shinji said with a wince. "That was entirely  
uncalled for."

"It is not that pilot Ikari is incapable of performing, Sohryu. It is merely that he can provide  
only a... tiny effort."

Shinji began banging his own head on the floor. Apparently, even Rei was somewhat annoyed.  
Logically, or rather according to story conventions, he should have broken through into new  
levels of competence. It... made no sense! _'On the other hand, why should I really have  
expected things to work out as if this was a story?'_

He looked dully up at the ceiling. "I don't get it. It should have worked."

Asuka turned towards Ritsuko. "Is there any chance it's just some malfunction in the testing  
equipment?"

The scientist shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. It's reading his gradual increase in synch  
ratio just fine. We started out with the low twenties, and now he can hold synch at thirty."

"This is completely unfair." Shinji added, numb. "Narrative causality does not work that way."

"Yes, well, unfortunately this is life; and it is inherently unfair." Ritsuko responded with some  
gleeful spite. "Still, given that you left with barely one percent syncronization level, getting  
to thirty percent still counts as a massive improvement."

Shinji got up and frowned down at the material of his plug suit. Listlessly he made his way  
over to the door. "I need to go think." he said over his shoulder.

"Great. Now he's off to brood somewhere." Asuka said with a huff once he had left. "Well, as  
team leader, I have to say... it's less of a risk to make do with two Evangelions than to have  
a third that can't actually fight." She turned to Rei. "Still... thirty percent. It's enough to get  
a Eva moving, but not much else. It doesn't take much effort to pull a trigger, right?"

Rei nodded. "I may relinquish my fire support duties to fight by your side, Sohryu. However  
this does not recover our original team balance. I believe the situation will continue to be  
unacceptable to many parties."

Maya leaned back on her chair and sighed. "This... is all so wrong. I don't want to blame  
Shinji-kun for this." She caressed the control panel and sighed. "We need to fix this, and  
fast..."

-o-

The news spread quickly. NERV personnel were disappointed, but nonetheless conceded that  
it was better than nothing. It was not good to expect too much. The only other way they  
could have received the news was, after all, in gibbering terror.

They avoided meeting the boy's eyes, as he walked through the halls with a mighty frown  
on his face. Confusion and aimless rage seemed to boil off his back. Shinji Ikari went to the  
gantry directly in front of Unit 01's cage, and stared up at its monstrous face. It was the  
same place he had first confronted his father, and made his choice to fight... to kill...

_'Things have gone full circle.'_ he thought. _'We fought well, that first time... our unprecedented  
synch ratio. I made you part of myself, together we became the hope and fury of mankind.'_  
Shinji gripped the handrails tightly and snarled up at that face. "Why are you rejecting me  
now!" he shouted. "After I've sacrificed so much, after all that crap I've gone through?"

The monks had no answers. They were even more stunned by the news; they were useless.  
He could not even work up the indignation to kick their asses for breach of agreement.

Shinji Ikari, he who can bend the world's strongest nations to his will. '_Bullshit. The world's  
greatest errand boy, more like._' The world was so full of fear, and the only one that many  
otherwise devious and powerful persons could even trust to mediate, was someone who had  
absolutely no interest in their decaying forms of power.

The Evangelion. The god-machine. It was the supreme symbol of mankind's will to live.

The boy who could make that terrible power dance.

Shinji Ikari stood there, absolutely motionless, for at least an hour. The cages were a high-  
security area, for despite the coolant bath designed to reduce the chance of the Evangelions  
ever activating on their own; there was still a chance. It happened once before, the day  
Shinji Ikari arrived in Tokyo-3. Cages. The Evangelions were terrible monsters, so dangerous  
that when not being used they had to be frozen almost unto death.

Makoto Hyuga worked for NERV, but even he saw that little illogic in it. If the pilots were  
needed for the Evangelions to even function, then all this was unnecessary. Ever since Shiji  
Ikari arrived in Tokyo-3, not once... not even once... had the Evangelions run rampant in any  
of their missions. The feverish propaganda about the Evangelions being unreliable so early  
on seemed so foolish now. Even Trident was the Evangelions' most ardent supporter.

_'Why should mankind fear the Evangelion?'_ the NERV officer thought as he finally dared to  
show himself. _'Why should the world fear the one who could master these monsters?'  
_  
He coughed politely. "Ikari-kun."

"Ah. Hyuga-sempai. Hello."

There were no tears, no lines of hate on Shinji's face. Just a deep, abiding confusion. The  
Evangelion was just too big, too inhuman, for him to puzzle out. Even Nagisa at his most  
self-satisfied mood was understandable on some level, but the Evangelion - in that brief  
instant when he managed to truly connect... he could feel its contempt, as if the being had  
finally discovered humor and it was laughing at him. The blood and the pain they they once  
shared were no longer enough to sate its hunger.

Shinji pulled his consciousness back, and smiled slightly. Makoto winced at the clear look  
of betrayal on the boy's face.

"Are you all right?" he asked the boy. He turned to look up at the Evangelion, and felt a  
thread of fear. No matter how much the press expounded its virtues just to keep the world  
from destroying itself in panic, face-to-face... there was something unnatural in it that spoke  
to the soul... enemy! It will will destroy you! "Well... I hope you're not sick of unwanted  
advice by now. I can't say I know anything that could help with this... thing." Makoto made  
an exaggeratedly casual shrug. "But... I don't think you should be blaming yourself too much  
for this."

Shinji laughed weakly. "... yeah. We're only human after all." He blinked, and laughed at the  
Eva. "And it's a wonderful feeling!" he shouted up at it.

_'When I cry, I want the wolves to howl. When I smile, I want the sun in the room.'_ Makoto  
stood there, his own confusion and deficiencies also being rubbed raw. _'Where does it come  
from? How can someone so small be so strong? Is it natural, this... force of personality? Can  
I... can I have it too? I want to stop living in fear. I want to be able to walk into chaos and  
have the winds just flow around me.'_

The lieutenant sighed and leaned on the railings. "Sometimes... I wish I was inhuman. Then  
I wouldn't have all the human faults, and all the human problems."

"Then you would just have inhuman problems." the boy replied, surprised.

Makoto pushed up his glasses, and smiled. "Yes. Our flaws help make us who we are, right?"

Shinji Ikari grinned. "... ah, these human problems." He looked up quizzically. "Why is it always  
funnier when it's happening to someone else?"

"Yes, and then there are some idiots that wish they were in your situation." Makoto tried not  
to nod too eagerly. "And... hey, you CAN have too much of a good thing, right?"

The boy looked puzzled. "... um, well; yes?"

But in the end, though they had a lengthy and satisfying conversation, Makoto Hyuga was  
never really able to segue into the question he really, really wanted to ask. '_Coward!'_ he  
shouted to himself. _'Maybe that's your problem, you stinking coward! So what if it's totally  
embarrassing to ask for love advice from a boy ten years your junior!' _He began to hit his head  
on the metal railings.

_'... what an odd person.'_ Shinji said to himself as he was leaving. _'I guess I just forgot how  
many strange personalities find themselves gravitating towards NERV...'_

-o-

Her small satisfaction, at seeing the boy unable to perform any more blatantly unreal feats  
despite no lack of trying, was quickly buried by the expectations that Ritsuko Akagi would  
figure it out eventually. The scientist stared at the eyeless wormlike living sample of the  
mindworm (annelid mentis inficio iugum) and hissed at it. The thing hissed back, somehow  
sensing her presence despite having no eyes and being sealed behind five inches of armor  
plastic.

"I would feel much better if you didn't keep that sample here in your own lab, sempai." Maya  
said softly. "It's... very creepy. It's evil."

"It's a thing, Maya. A bioengineered weapon. It doesn't have any sense of self enough to be  
considered either good or evil." Ritsuko wearily slumped back on her chair. "I can't stop now.  
I have to think! I have to figure out a counter for these things. Then either a defense against  
the Angels' teleportation... then your Shinji-kun just has to add some more to my workload!

Which one is most important, hmm? Which is most dangerous to leave unsolved? I can't do this  
all at the same time; I'm only human, after all..."

Maya had admired Ritsuko for her apparent strength and unflappable expertise. Their new  
closeness revealed a more vulnerable side, but that only increased the younger woman's  
respect. Ritsuko Akagi may fear she was not equal to her mother, and complain on and on  
about the betrayal of reason... but though her mind and body may strain, she would not break.

Ritsuko yawned and scratched at her hair. It was already well past midnight, but truth be  
told; other than Gendo's occasional attentions, she had very little else that might occupy her  
time.

Maya giggled. _'Is... is that an ahoge?'_ Indeed, atop the blond scientist's head a single clump of  
hair flexed vertically. Literally, 'idiot hair', in refusing to be combed down no matter what... also  
commonly associated with those who denied reality. Giving in to her impulses, the younger  
woman tried to smooth down the errant strand.

"Maya?"

"Huh? Oh. Yes, sempai?" Maya frowned, the ahoge was being stubborn. No way; she refused  
to accept any connotation that her sempai may be a fool.

Ritsuko did not mind the attention, knowing full well Maya's touchy-feely quirks. Unlike a...  
sex symbol like Misato, the mousy little assistant did so without any overtones. Foisting off  
certain tasks on Maya freed Ritsuko to devote her attention on more cerebral matters. "A third  
Evangelion is more useful to us." She looked up slightly. "I still think it's psychosomatic  
somehow."

"Well... we've done everything to help. I mean, if it's genetics that determine whether or not  
someone is compatible with the Eva, then how is emotional state that important? I just don't  
know what else could be done."

Ritsuko smirked. "If there's nothing wrong with him physically, and even the CAT scans prove  
that, then it's got to be a mental block. Heh. Are you sure he's done -everything- that could  
have helped? After all, he's just a teenager. It's a time of great... frustrations."

Maya blinked. "E.. excuse me?"

"Nothing, I was just joking. Let's get back to work."

"Oh, all right, sempai."

After a few more minutes at her own desk, Maya stood up suddenly. "Oh! That's right...!" She  
turned to Ritsuko and bowed. "Pardon me, sempai, but... may I leave early tonight? There's  
something I have to test..." She was already turning towards the door.

"Maya."

"Yes, sempai?"

"You do realize he really is certifiably insane, right?"

She simply shrugged. "Um, yes? I guess it's not really that much of a problem for me."

Ritsuko waved it aside. "Very well... all right. I suppose I have been monopolizing you too  
much. Go do whatever you feel you must do."

"Thank you, sempai." The younger woman all but fled.

Ritsuko chuckled. "So she's still a young woman, despite all her maternal tendencies." She put  
on her glasses and turned back to the screen. _'It's... better this way.' she said to herself.  
'Maya's too innocent for this sort of thing. My secrets are poison... no more lives should be  
ruined the same way as mine.' _

She faced the mind-worm and smiled maliciously. "Now, you little beast... it's time to see if the  
Evangelions are compatible with your cells."

-o-

-o-

Dinner at the Katsuragi apartment was a tense affair. Rei had moved out, though just where  
was a mystery. At least it was not to her old, dingy place; they had checked. The force of  
normalcy reasserted itself, and it seemed as if Shinji Ikari had never left. It helped that both  
he and Rei had rather spartan tastes.

This similarity did not extend to food, however; to Asuka's delight. Finally, REAL food!

Unfortunately, this seemed to have occurred to others. Not a day passed without anyone  
else crowding the dinner table. That is; until that day. Rei, Maya, Ritsuko, and everyone else  
tangently attached to their little clique were conspicuously absent. What was annoying only  
turned out to be uncomfortable when it stopped.

Asuka slapped her palm hard on the table, to break up the silence. "I can't take this anymore!"  
she shouted, and pointed at Shinji. "Enough with the brooding, emo-boy! It's like you're liable  
to just -snap- at any moment!"

Misato blinked, confused. "Asuka... maybe you shouldn't assume people will do the same  
things you would."

The red-haired girl twitched. Why did people assume she would go berserk if anyone ever  
surpassed her synch ratio? It was just that the people around her were too damn meek and  
accepting of their circumstances. "So you're a little slow, so what? Move on already, dammit.  
Rise above your situation!"

Shinji gave back a bland look. "That's easy to say, but... I just don't know what to do. The  
gain out of the practice sessions is a little too slow. We might not have the weeks needed, if  
the rate of improvement remains the same."

Misato smirked. "Maybe you need to do something... shocking... to clear your head."

"Misato-san, after all the weird and meaningless things I've already gone through, I doubt  
anything can shock me into a new mindset."

BAM!

BAMBAMBAM! CRACK!

The door to the Katsuragi apartment was kicked open. "What the hell?" Misato shouted,  
already reaching for the nearby drawer where she kept her gun. Then, she remembered it was  
locked; for safety's sake considering there were teenagers in the place. "Crap." She reached  
to throw a plate at the intruders.

She put down the sukiyaki. "Okay, now what is this about?" There outside was Maya Ibuki, still  
in her NERV uniform. She was breathing heavily, but had a particularly determined expression.

"Oh, sorry for interrupting, Misato-sempai. We just have a new treatment plan." She gestured  
towards Shinji. "Seize him. Now."

Rei and Mana entered and forced the boy to the floor. Confused and curious, he did not offer  
any resistance. Until they handcuffed him with arms behind his back. "...hey!"

"What's going on?" Asuka asked.

"It occurred to me that we haven't exactly tried 'everything' in getting rid of whatever lingering  
stress or emotional insecurity he may have. Don't worry, we asked the meditation tutors over  
at the temple... it might work, it's a legitimate procedure." The boy's eyed widened with fear.

"So you mean..." Misato ventured.

Those up at the temple were were tantric Buddhists. "Yes. We haven't tried sex." Maya replied  
tonelessly. "Maybe even with multiple partners. Perhaps even simultaneously. And repeatedly."

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" Shinji and Asuka yelled together. "NO WAY, THAT'S INSANE!"

Rei took out a device. "Do not make me use this on you, pilot Ikari."

"Is... is that a ball gag?" gasped Asuka.

"Help." Shinji begged of his room-mates. Asuka considered how it was three-against-one, and  
found that such odds did not intimidate her at all. She began to rise from her seat.

"Hmm... bring her too." Maya said offhand, pointing to Asuka. The girl fell back on her chair  
and tumbled to the floor.

"Oh, no you don't! Stay away from me, you crazy deviants! MISATO! DO SOMETHING!"

Misato took another swig off her beer. Maya was acting too serious, too... overblown dramatic.  
Then, the younger woman winked playfully. Misato chuckled. Fine, she could play along. The  
boy was just taking everything all too seriously.

"Okay, just bring them back tomorrow. They've got classes." She touched her chin and made  
a thoughtful pose. "I don't suppose... no, a fivesome's enough for now. Go on, have fun."

"MISATO, YOU WRETCHED EXCUSE OF A GUAR-gaakkk!" Asuka slumped forward, unconscious.  
Mana was blushing so much that her face looked like it would explode, but followed orders  
anyway. Technically, Maya Ibuki was not her superior officer, but...

She turned towards Shinji and held up the crackling taser. She would not hesitate to use it  
on him too.

"Please tell me you were messing with the recipe again and this is just another hallucinatory  
episode..." Shinji asked plaintively of his guardian.

"Nope, sorry." she replied grinning. She waved. "Toodles, Shinji-kun."

_'Should I really fight this?' _the boy thought. _'Damn it, this isn't part of my scenarios...! I should  
try... for the sake of my principles, anyway... no, it would be demeaning for them to go this  
far just for the sake of getting me to function for the Eva...'_ He placed the women in his life  
on such a high pedestal; so much so that he refused to entertain any thought or tolerate any  
insult against their character. They were not sluts, they were nobody's bitches, and he could  
not treat them that way.

Mana tasered him before he could indulge in any more internal conflict.

"Our thanks, Misato-sempai." Maya and the girls bowed. "Now, off we go to hot immorality, or  
therapeutic destruction, or planning how to collapse the world's nations and form a unified  
Terran Empire and its space navy!" The NERV lieutenant pointed grandly outside. "Onwards,  
my Sisters...!"

Misato watched them leave. There was already a Chimera waiting downstairs. She chuckled  
and went back inside, putting the incident out of her mind.

A few hours later, several buildings collapsed for no readily apparent reason. The warriors of  
the Adeptus Psykana were sent out to quell some vague disturbance. Then the Terminatus  
Legio, all thirty-six of them, had to deploy. Dogs howled, birds screeched, a fearful and  
supertitious lot cowered in their hideways, and various other portents of doom spread through  
the night.

Misato Katsuragi slept soundly.

-o-

Morning. The door to the Katsuragi apartment was fixed, due to an overnight job by helpful  
Section 2 personnel (and their flunkies). The door slid open.

Uncharacteristically, Misato was already awake. She was grinning, as Shinji and Asuka wearily  
entered the apartment. Their clothes were disheveled, their hair matted by sweat and cement,  
and their faces were dull with fatigue. They had linked arms, supporting each other's weight  
to stand.

"So... did you two have fun?"

"Fuck thee, Misato. Fuck thee. Thou evil, evil, woman. You could have stopped all that crazy  
shit from ever happening." Asuka replied hoarsely. "Live your perverted fantasies vicariously  
somewhere else..."

"Oh, come on." Misato turned to Shinji. "It was for your own good. So... what happened?"

"Nothing happened. Ever." he replied. "It was exhausting, it was random, it was completely  
pointless, and you're never going to know."

"Yes. That's right. Nothing happened." Asuka added, her cheek twitching. "It's permanently  
erased from memory. It's not canon, dammit. It never happened! Once again, Misato, let me  
express my utter HATE HATE HATE for you."

"Oh, you guys are no fun."

"No, Misato-san. Fun should be something that happens to other people."

Both teens trudged towards their respective rooms. They were so tired, their minds were  
willing to accept anything, any form of convoluted logic, as long as it would just shut up. They  
collapsed face-first into their beds and were instantly asleep.

-o-

A while later the alarms began to sound. The Angels were finally attacking again, ending the  
sweet and fragile peace. Misato rushed into the pilots' rooms to wake them up.

"Gngh. Tell it to come back tomorrow, would you?" Asuka mumbled through her pillows. "I'm  
not in the mood for its shit."

"ASUKA!"

"...fine." Asuka removed the pillow off her face and glared at Misato with bloodshot eyes. She  
was still too sleepy to think sensibly. "But this is all STILL your fault. You had a shot at a  
rational universe, and you blew it."

-o-

-o-

NERV battle command slid into easy, practiced readiness. The pilots were suited up and sent  
into their respective war machines. In contrast to Shinji and Asuka's raw fatigued look, Rei and  
Mana looked awake and alert. Maya too seemed a bit too cheerful about facing the enemy  
again.

Misato sat on her chair and looked back at the commander's station. Gendo and Fuyutsuki  
were there. "You may have battlefield control of NERV now, Colonel Katsuragi." she was told.

"All right. Status check on the civilians?"

"All in their shelters, city defense groups on standby." Makoto reported.

"What do we have on the Angel?" The main screen showed a blurry satellite view. There was a  
roundish blob at the center of vague blueness. "Hey, can't we get a better picture?"

"Sorry, Katsuragi-san... it's a local effect of the Angel's AT-field. That really IS how it looks,  
at least from far off. We haven't risked any close flybys of recon craft."

"Hmf. Leave that to the JSSDF and their missile cameras." She swiveled her chair around  
towards Ritsuko's station. She blinked _'Is... is that an ahoge?'_ Misato blinked again. She  
decided to ignore it for the moment. "... how are the pilots?" she inquired instead.

Ritsuko pushed up her glasses and read off a clipboard. "No activation problems. How are their  
synch ratios now, Maya?"

"Um... Rei and Asuka are holding at low eighties. Shinji is at... forty-three percent."

Misato looked impressed. "That's much better than before. Still not enough to use the AT-field,  
but..."

"Do you intend to send pilot Ikari out to combat, Katsuragi?" Gendo asked from above.

"No. Evangelion Unit One should remain in reserve here at the geofront. The inherent AT-field  
inefficiency caused by a low synch ratio can be compensated by direct access to our banks  
of power capacitors. We can afford... or we might as well... waste power if the Angels do  
manage to break through into the grofront."

"Phft. Never happen." Asuka put into the open channel. "Don't worry, we'll beat it."

"Overconfidence is a weakness, Sohryu. Remember that." Gendo deigned to scold the girl.  
"Carry on, Colonel. We still require intelligence about the Angel."

-o-

-o-

It came from the sea. Since the nigh-on destruction of the UN Pacific Fleet, seaborne assets  
were wary about engaging Angels. At least with land assaults, there was the possibility of  
cover or timely interception by the Evangelions. At sea, vessels were limited to two dimensions  
and well aware of their extreme vulnerability. Even the Hakone docks relied on land-based  
guns for primary defense.

The accepted doctrine was to spam Angels from afar with long-range strikes, preferably  
nuclear in nature. At least hitting it while still at sea reduced radiation contamination.

There was still the little thing that Japan lacked nukes, however. By the time the detectors  
picked it up, the Angel Leliel was already less than a hour away. Strikes from China and Russia  
would arrive too late, hitting it over land. Naturally, NERV and Tokyo-3 declined the favor of  
irradiating themselves and their farmlands.

There were several emplaced guns set into the hills; positron, laser and conventional huge-  
caliber cannons. The JSSDF took the opening salvo, leading off with several N2-tipped missles  
and then all the land guns in succession. The hills prevented the Asahino lake cannon from  
joining in.

No AT-field barrier was detected, yet every shot inexplicably missed. Though the two warships  
stationed at the local dock were purchased fairly, the crew were 'on loan' from the UN. The  
captain of the Particle Gun Cruiser Kringolith was a relatively young man for his responsibilities,  
whose last assignment was XO for one of the doomed refit battleships. That disastrous battle  
against Gaghiel was his first taste of real combat, and every single person in his crew had a  
definite grudge against all the Angels. He turned towards the ship's resident psyker. "Well...?  
What can you sense?"

The attendant psyker was a telepath, of the Filhos de Santo Cristo. The Catholic Church,  
ironically despite its bloody reputation against witchcraft, also over the centuries held and hid  
within its more obscure ranks some of the most talented seers. He was clad in a white  
cassock, and stared out towards the horizon. Temperature inside the bridge dropped  
perceptibly.

He staggered. "A thousand thousand minds... buzzing... clawing... ngh. Captain, more than  
just distorting your radar, it seems to be projecting an illusion."

Everyone still felt uneasy being around those with weird abilities. "The most important thing  
is that can you people break though?" the captain asked archly. "Can we hit it?"

The clergyman bit back an insulting retort. They were so important to the task, yet still the  
focus of so much disrespect. And fear. He would forgive it, for a while longer. "Yes, captain.  
I believe we can..." He had his own problems with dealing with heathen assembly of other  
psychics onboard.

As the Angel moved closer, the Gun Cruiser Kringolith set out to add its own firepower into the  
fray. It moved parallel to the shoreline at flank speed, but each shot unerringly homed in  
towards the enemy. Since the ship used superconductors and special capacitors, its rate of  
fire and power output was superior to that of the emplaced guns. 'Heavenbore' cannons were  
more of a pulsed stream of charged particles instead of large spaced blasts. The Angel raised a  
barrier, deflecting the attacks.

The ship hit it again and again, until the sensors were starting to short out from all the loose  
electromagnetic chaos in the air. Then, inexplicably, the cruiser stopped. There was a shriek,  
then a loud, wrenching noise, and the ship seemed to shrink into itself.

The captain was thrown aside and off his chair. For a moment he cursed; how cliche it was to  
be tossed around in a ship's bridge... yet had felt no need to belt in. It was just the initial,  
probing phase of the attack, and while standing he wanted to observe the hits. Conventional  
procedures... _'That's the mistake.'_ he said to himself, and grit his teeth. "Status report!" he  
shouted, while still on the floor. "I'm fine, I'm fine; go! What's the damage? Casualties?"

There was a large, gaping hole clear through the ship's side. Fortunately, it was above the  
waterline. Even so, the shock of impact alone killed some of the crew. Many others were  
injured by sharpnel and assorted debris. The ship's reactors and guns were intact... it could  
still fight.

_'Should I risk another salvo?'_ the captain considered. "Father Marcelo, are your people still  
capable?"

"... ungh. Ah?" The priest clutched at a wall pipe and closed his eyes. After a while, he  
nodded. "Yes, yes... captain, the great enemy was actually hurt by the last attack... I could  
feel pain and the death of lesser things... it's angry now."

The captain nodded. "If we can weaken it before it gets onto shore... if we can force it to  
reveal its hand, then we've done something worthwhile." He turned to the comms officer.  
"Get a tightbeam to Tokyo-3, tell them exactly what happened. Let them figure out just what  
weapon the enemy is using... then tell the crew to secure themselves."

He sat in his chair and locked the seatbelts. For the sake of learning how to defeat the enemy,  
they were going to take another hit.

"All guns, fire!"

There was another shriek, and a bone-jarring shock. The cruiser rolled in place, almost tipping  
over. The enemy's hit slammed into just below the bridge, punching through layers of heavy  
metal armor and out the other side; a splash drizzled seawater upon the deck. The ship was  
silenced...

Its sister ship, the modified combat transport cruiser Karingdol moved to assist. It lacked the  
powerful main guns, but made up for it in banks of secondary and anti-air cannons. Of course,  
the cargo space that could be devoted for rescue equipment. The Kringolith was taking in  
water and gave no response to radio.

The air screamed again, and the incoming modified ship pitched as if sucker-punched. It  
continued to drift until it collided with the other cruiser.

Back at the command centers, those watching gaped in disbelief. "What just happened?"  
Misato asked.

"... the damage, it appears consistent with that of a high-velocity impact, Katsuragi-san."  
Makoto reported. A screen zoomed in to the ships. "Lasers should normally be invisible, but  
then again shouldn't leave a sonic boom and there are no signs of melting, just torn metal."

"Survivors?"

"We're getting situation reports now... there are some, but they're now trying to keep the  
ships afloat. Wait one..." The screen showed the ships jerk visibly. "... the Angel's really  
pounding on them. They won't last long at this rate."

Misato leaned forward and snarled in pain. The Angel denied those brave souls a clean death,  
but instead subjecting them to that torture. It was undeniably malicious... whether or not  
the Angel was smart enough to know that ships were not really alive, there was a savage  
abandon in ripping the cruisers into jagged shreds.

Leliel was close enough to provide a visual scan. It was an orange-striped sphere, roughly six  
hundred meters across, floating in air. It was wrapped in cloudy mist... then, as the monitoring  
stations resolved the image, it turned out that the clouds were clumps of flying things; buglike  
but without wings.

"Air power... shit!" Misato muttered. Somehow she had a feeling those things were ready to  
kamikaze. The Evangelions had proved they had extreme difficulty in handling small, agile  
enemies. And yet... those things were just big enough to overcome the defenders and their  
bolter fire. There was a swarm. There were clouds of the damn things...!

"Katsuragi-san, a message from Tride... I mean, Cerberus base." At Misato's nod, Shigeru  
continued "It's not in your area yet. We do not release jurisdiction of this battlefield... we  
still have other means."

Most of the defenses around Tokyo-3 were massive-scale cannons, geared against similarly  
massive enemies. Only recently had they started to fortify against smaller and ground-level  
threats. The enemy had unsportingly refused to attack from the ground.

Trident Base was built with an airfield. As it was rechristened into Cerberus Base, it also  
received sixteen more modified Heavy Fighter Jet-VTOL gunships. At the word, all rose into the  
air to meet the enemy. The enemy had thousands, they were forty-two (though more air  
assets were on the way from other airfields around the Kanto plain). But, so what? was their  
thought.

"WE RIDE THE TEMPEST!" they shouted into comms as afterburners kicked in. "WE BRING THE  
STORM!" Nose-mounted laser cannons, nicknamed the 'Brightlance', flashed through the  
kilometers to rake at the enemy.

The air seemed to crack open, and the gunships dodged wildly against something none of the  
pilots could see. There were no hits... apparently, they too were small enough and fast enough  
to trouble the enemy's accuracy.

Deep within the geofront, the Evangelions were waiting in grim expectation.

-o-

It was the glory of their days. It was the terror of their moments. The HFJ-VTOL were very  
maneuverable aircraft, capable of circling around a target or even reversing on a flip. Tiltable  
jet engines on the wingtips and vector thrust engines combined with punishing firepower had  
them comparable to a 'flying battleship'. The addition of a laser cannons offset two inherent  
flaws... limited standoff ability and running out of ammunition. With these, even dedicated  
fighter jets had to be wary; no amount of thrust may outrun a lightspeed weapon. And as for  
close-in dogfighting...?

The enemy bugs were tentatively named 'bomb scarabs', as they exploded upon impact. They  
also seemed capable of spitting globs of acid, but not from too far away. One Tempest-pattern  
Jet-VTOL plummeted, burning, into the sea. The defenders' best bet was to destroy the enemy  
scarabs before they got close. The enemy... were just too many.

The aircraft could fill their bomb bays with other equipment, as the Brightlance lasers were  
comparatively low-weight weapons. It took some fiddling around with the components, but  
there were three new freely-swinging boltgun turrets. There were some discussion about  
smaller laser guns, as 'infinite repeaters' to further accentuate ammo independence, but in the  
end it was decided that the main gun had a rapid enough rate of fire to need all capacitors  
dedicated to it. Boltguns would actually chew up an Angel's hide from the inside, whereas  
large-caliber solid rounds did little more than pinpricks.

The air was filled with a harsh buzzing, broken by the staccato pattern of bolter fire and the  
piercing wail of lascannons. The Tempest Squadrons flew, dived, swooped and rolled. They  
fought and they died. They scoured the skies, flying in their practiced spiral formations to  
deliver an unceasing rain of death.

Those watching it from below were struck with both awe and grief; in full knowing it could  
not last. _'Technology evolves doctrine.'_ Yang thought. Already the fliers were feeling the pinch,  
forced to tighten their spiral into a dwindling loop. Flying close together allowed them to  
increase the volume of fire, but also damaged their essential maneuverability.

The Tempest gunships had to break loose, thrusting up as like a tornado. Dorsal boltguns  
slapped at pursuing enemy fliers. Jet engines were still faster and more responsive than  
whatever the hell means that the bugs were using to fly.

Then- disaster.

So many of them, that the bugs were bumping into each other. Sparks began to arc between  
their strange gleaming black shells. And they started to move faster.

It was like a steady drip of milk upon a cup of black coffee being stirred. It was as if a  
many-hued serpent snapped at a rising column of contrails. First one, then another, the  
HFJ-VTOL were being snapped up in its jaws. With their noses pointed upwards, their belly  
boltguns did not have enough punch to keep it at bay.

Finally, screaming, one of the Tempest gunships cut and reversed; the pilot and gunner almost  
blacking out from the g-forces. Its lascannon pumped at the enemy's formation, scattering  
the snake's head. The bugs broke off into two tendrils that came together, crushing the  
plane and then finishing it off with a fiery death.

The Tempests broke off into separate directions at full burn, trying to extend how long they  
may delay the enemy. Of the forty-two that set out, only seventeen were left. They banked  
and flashed their readiness to go back to the fight. The bugs would do horrendous damage to  
the city; they must not let the fighting get to the streets.

The enemy still had their uncountable swarms. The air defense missiles were refusing to lock  
on, and in any case the few shore batteries that could fire were giving a poor showing against  
such a diffuse target selection.

Then the skies lit up in fire.

The Kringolith and the Karingdol, though pitted and covered with scars, still strained with their  
last ounce of worthy steel, anti-air guns and missiles; now that the enemy was finally in range.  
The bugs split their attention, some turning back to at least die with a purpose; slamming into  
and scorching against the ships' hulls.

Leliel floated by, unconcerned by the drama of human lives stretched to the edge. It passed  
the shoreline, its shadow swallowing the docks. Ground-based guns continued to pound away  
at it, but to no effect. Its AT-field was set to a full barrier mode, distorting the air around  
itself and making everything appear... like something out of a dream.

Now and then a gun roost would just crumple up into a heap of broken and useless machinery.

-o-

-o-

"It's a hypervelocity projectile." Ritsuko decided. "I don't know how and from where in that  
globe the Angel is propelling it, but the end result is what matters here. Kinetic strikes are,  
for a given input of energy, more efficient than more... exotic... weapons."

"Except for that it just doesn't work against the AT-field." Misato put in.

"Yes, but for everything else..." the scientist gestured at the screen. "It's simple. It's effective.  
And it's a sign that the enemy may have some recognition of just how much more difficult mere  
human resistance could add to its task."

Asuka yawned before replying. "Not to mention that if that actually hit the Eva, it would still  
really hurt."

"Countermeasures?" Misato asked Ritsuko.

The scientist sniffed contemptuously. "Since it is less effective against the Evangelions, we  
can't assume that this is Angel's primary weapon. We haven't tempted it into showing its true  
abilities..."

"Tch." Misato nibbled at her thumbnails as Leliel entered Hakone airspace. The Tempest  
squadron, what was left of them, retreated towards Cerberus Base. The multitude of guns  
around the base, most of them 20mm AA cannons, gave them a window for landing. However,  
all that the pilots wanted were more bolt ammunition. The sky above Tokyo-3 was starting to  
darken, as the scarabs circled around the city.

Where was the Trident? It waited, behind a row of buildings, in the city proper. It was ready  
to provide covering fire for the Evangelions while they emerged from underground.

"The Trident doesn't have an AT-field. It's still vulnerable to the attack." Asuka said offhand.  
"Think we should pull it back?"

"Excuse me?" Mana tugged at her peaked black hat and sneered. "-Magnos Tancred- was  
MADE to soak up damage. If the Angel is dangerous, then it makes no sense to hold us back  
just in case we take damage. Now is when you need us most, Langley-Sohryu."

"Yeah, well... I notice that the Trident's in Brawler configuration, Kirishima. What can you do  
against an Angel that's off the ground?"

"Trading fire with the Angel is pointless, anyway." said Misato. "There's no time to refit the  
Trident for Hellfire configuration, and at least this way it can use the buildings for cover." She  
stared up at the Angel's deceptively sedate approach. "Hm... the Angel definitely knows how  
to use cover, too... it's keeping away from the Asahino cannon's firing arc."

The artificial island upon the lake was also under attack; but the location was appropriately  
hardened. Overlapping killzones from its own defense guns and those in the hills around it were  
sufficient to keep the scarabs from forming into large enough swarms.

"Power spike!" Makoto shouted suddenly. "The Angel's increasing the strength of its AT-field!"

"Here we go..." whispered Misato. "Cards down."

Leliel rose into the air, clearing the hillsides. The skies seemed to split open. A lance of blinding  
pink energy shot out from the anti-orbital cannon and punched clear through the Angel. At  
the same time, layers upon layers of armor and concrete were perforated.

The sphere's fuzzy appearance began to degrade further. Some of the scarabs around the  
Angel fell, as like puppets with their strings cut.

"We hurt it...!" Maya gasped. "We really hurt it!"

"But not enough." Misato replied grimly. "It's here."

-o-

Leliel slid into Hakone's sheltered flatlands. Its shadow oozed out from the hills and began to  
cover the outlying streets. Above, the scarabs were forming into clumps, and spiraled around  
the Angel like the clouds of a typhoon.

Defenders on the ground were starting to realize the danger of self-guided flying bombs. The  
scarabs traced strange geometric patterns in the sky. They swooped down in a line; and if  
the lead scarab should be destroyed there were still several more behind it... if one was not  
enough to break through a fortified bunker, then again and again and again the bugs would  
slam into the hatches; the sheer weight of their self-destructive numbers allowing them to  
break through.

Some of the bomb scarabs landed on the streets, unfolding spindly legs from their thoraxes.  
These began to spread out, inspecting streets seemingly at random.

"They're searching for the entrances..." Ritsuko hissed. "It's a roundabout way in, but it  
should be faster than trying to blast or drill through into the geofront." Still, she was puzzled.  
That did not necessarily allow the much larger Angel down. There was something else there,  
that the Angel wanted to do...

In many ways, fighting the scarabs was simpler. There was no hesitation, no moral qualms.  
They were the enemy and they had to die. The problem was that when they die; they explode.  
Shrapnel tore into the streets wherever they were engaged by ground defenders. The heavy  
Leman Russ tanks were easy prey against enemies from the air. Intended to be mobile  
strongpoints, the tanks were forced to hold position near the shelters, where turrets may  
provide cover and they may add the weight of their sponson-mounted bolter against bomb  
scarabs that for some reason chose to just walk down the street.

The infantry blessed their Chimera tanks. The APCs rushed through the streets, taking out  
whatever enemies in the way, but their destinations were selected buildings where the infantry  
could hole up and take potshots at the enemy. Some of the structures, though serving as  
offices, had armored walls and roofs. Too bad for the insurance companies; but once the  
scarabs finally noticed and decided to take out the harrassment; the Improvisational Guards  
just ran down to their Chimera to relocate, even as the floors above them started to immolate.

Unlike other attacks, there were no civilian casualties. The shelters and defenders were doing  
well, in keeping the Angels out and the squishy populace in. It was terrifying, but... it was  
also somewhat astonishing. It was, so far, a 'clean' war...

Through it all, Shinji Ikari remained silent. The Evangelion, with his paltry forties synch ratio,  
felt cold and remote. '_The Angel..._' he whispered to himself. Its attack was powerful and  
unrelenting, true; but it lacked the raw, calculating malice from the last time. '_It's... pure.  
This Angel is not acting to Nagisa's will. It's here of its own volition.'_

True, the Angels had always been the great enemy, but... to return to where it began... it  
made things so much simpler. He leaned back and sighed. For what did he endure all those  
tasks, and made his name so hateful to so many? They were dying out there, he could hear  
the frenzied communications. For this. He had thrown away the powers mystical for the  
military, the philosophical for the practical... all for an Evangelion that could not appreciate  
that sacrifice.

To kill the Angels. To ensure the survival of humanity.

He found that he could not hate the Angels. The enemy were easy to understand, in their  
own way. Such animal loyalty, such beastly rage... but not evil. They could never be evil.

But Nagisa... he who had sworn to the same purpose: kill the Angels, ensure humanity's  
survival... it was the first time that the Evangelions had failed to kill the enemy. Angels could  
not think like humans. Humans were extremely good at killing other humans.

-o-

The scarabs were still attacking anything that might look like a geofront entry gate. Many as  
the swarm may have been, but it was still a finite number. Boom! Boom! Boom! against the  
street-level elevators; but those were designed to collapse their tunnels if ever violently  
broken through. There were fake entrances too, designed to confuse the enemy. Unfortunately  
the location of shelters were only slightly less prominent.

The Angels tended towards extreme specialization instead of combined arms. The scarabs  
attacked whatever showed up as a threat, while Leliel's fuzzy globe hovered above waiting for  
bigger prey.

Captain Avrikupolous and his Heraklitus were the last line of defense for the shelters. The  
problem was that there were only thirty-six of them and the city had no less than twenty  
different shelters. Now that Shinji Ikari had joined NERV, their contract also passed to NERV;  
for the first time giving the paramilitary organization actual military force. They were sent to  
stand behind the armored doors of Shelter 12B; the one for the families of high-ranking NERV  
personnel. Also there were the mayor, various journalists, and most importantly perhaps...  
the families of Suzuhara, Horaki... and their very own. The shelter had the only 'back door'  
leading into the geofront.

Bam! Whomp! The secondary blast doors were starting to buckle. The mercenaries heard the  
distinctive chittering sound of the enemy, and then as the bulkheads bent out of shape, a  
hissing spray.

Tactical Dreadnought Armor was crafted from the same materials Evangelion armor was made  
of. While they had little to fear from kinetic or thermal attacks from enemies of comparable size  
and weight, acid was always something to beware.

Those inside were told to keep the final seals closed, no matter what. The line of defenders did  
not flinch, even as the liquid started to trickle out into the chamber. In such cramped space,  
the enemy's weight of numbers were meaningless. They were mainly Greeks, they were ready  
to make it their Thermopylae.

_'Is this... water?'_ the Heraklitus Captain noted. For a moment he felt awe. Simple, harmless  
seawater. The enemy won their confrontation well before it even started.

-o-

Seawater poured out of Leliel's 'shadow' at a prodigous rate. It had a diameter of just under  
eight hundred meters, and quickly flooded the streets. Chimeras were heavy enough not to  
float, but were not watertight. All so suddenly it seemed, the defenders were reduced from  
a polished tactical spread into little islands of resistance.

"Cancel the launch!" Misato shouted. "What the...? Where is all coming from?"

"... I should have noticed this earlier." Ritsuko hissed out angrily. "The Angel isn't that sphere  
we see... that's just it's three-dimensional shadow. The Angel is there... for now, let me  
assume it's a space six hundred and eighty meters in diameter with a thickness of three  
nanometers. The ultra-thin space is supported by an inwardly-directed AT Field. The inside is  
an imaginary space, called a Sea of Dirac." The scientist rubbed at her head. "A little testing  
should prove that hypothesis..."

"Imaginary space?"

"The mathematics are sound, though." Ritsuko stood up and pointed at the screen. "That, is  
what is strange. Dirac's Sea is a theoretical model of the vacuum as an infinite sea of particles  
possessing negative energy... the AT-field is altered space. As far as our scientific knowledge  
goes, a Dirac Sea could lead to an entirely different universe..."

"Really? How can we fight a whole universe?" Misato replied, boggling. "I knew the Angels were  
getting bigger all the time, but... whoa."

Ritsuko just sighed. "It's an Angel, Misato. I wasn't being literal. There are two possibilities, to  
answer your earlier question. The first is that it is releasing seawater that it had collected as it  
approached. Or... it can establish a direct gateway between two points, like a tunnel... and  
that right there is trying to drown us using the ENTIRE PACIFIC OCEAN...!" _'Goddamn these  
Angels and their AT-fields!'_

"... well, you have to admit, it's so simplistic that it's stupid... but when applied to a massive  
scale the stategy does have a certain brute elegance." said Asuka. "The T-equipment aren't  
watertight, are they? How quickly can we refit for C-Type equipment?"

"I don't think the waters will rise high enough to go above the Eva's knees... but that's still  
a disaster to everyone else."

"You must maintain the integrity of the geofront, Katsuragi." Gendo said from above. "We have  
no way of knowing what is in the waters..."

The woman grit her teeth, but nodded. The burden of command... was to know what and when  
to sacrifice. All the work with fortifications... and yet, really, who would ever have thought to  
supply the city with -lifeboats-? They were in the -mountains-! There were pleasure craft at  
the lake which could have been useful, but no one could actually get there.

"The shelters are airtight, they should last until we can blast a channel to drain this flood,  
Katsuragi-san." Mana said softly. "But... we can do something. Ma'am, requesting permission to  
engage in rescue efforts."

"We need to kill the Angel first, Kirishima."

"Then send us out!" Asuka added.

Misato nodded, and pointed. "Take the hillside exit, the one facing away from the Angel. Units  
Zero and Two; prepare to launch." She then looked at the purple face of Unit One. "Unit One  
to remain on standby."

Shinji nodded, his heart heavy. "Understood..." He had done everything that he could. It was  
a strange feeling to be unnecessary. All that time during his when he longed for rest, in the  
end he still feared that somewhere, somehow, he had left careless flaws. His plans... he  
had to see it through to the end. At the same time, doubting if he could actually bear the  
sight of his failure.  
_  
_

_'It's better this way... now it's my turn to have faith. They won't fail.'_ He looked on fondly, as  
the girls surged into action. _'_

-o-

-o-

WHOM! Captain Avrikopolous winced as the pressure wave struck, and their careful lines  
toppled like tenpins. Underwater, a nearby blast was no less dangerous than one took point-  
blank. The bomb scarabs had finally broken through, but the gap in the doors was still too  
small to let them in.

Something flashed by, and struck and flitted away, leaving behind a trail of bubbles. The  
Heraklitus labored to react. Slow and ponderous in the first place, water multiplied their  
difficulty in movement. Muscles ached to force mechanical ones into motion.

Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields were useless. The Assault Cannons were too unweildy  
to use even as clubs. The Storm Bolters... fortunately, the rounds were two-stage projectiles.  
The initial kick from chemical propellant was enough. It was hard to get a clear view at their  
new, fast-moving enemy... but wisps of purplish blood hinted that they were still fleshy things.

The Terminator Armor was airtight, but more for NBC protection than underwater operation.  
They had enough air in an internal bottle to fight on for thirty minutes more. Given that the  
suits weighed three-quarters of a ton, they were unsure of being able to fight their way out  
and into an air pocket. They had very little hope the water level out on the streets was still  
below neck-level.

Their power, their valor. How so perfectly nullified. It was almost meaningless in such a closed  
space. The bomb scarabs were exploding again outside, spurting jets of water into the  
darkened corridor.

Something clung at his face, and tried to chew through his helmet. It looked faintly shrimplike,  
with beady black eyes and long floating tendrils obscuring its mouth. Multiple limbs ending in  
serrated claws gripped around his body. It had a long, sharp nose-horn similar to that of a  
swordfish. The thing looked like some sort of living spear. It was a futile effort. In actual  
contact, Terminator Armor was still too strong and too tough... he punched himself in the face,  
and there was a squishing noise. Pulped bone-white alien carapace clung to his chestplate  
even after he pulled the thing off. He forced himself to breathe slower... all the enemy had to  
do was to waste their effort, make them consume their precious air reserves even faster.

They were the only thing standing between the enemy and their precious people. They knew  
the risks, in coming to Tokyo-3.

The shrimp-like things were fast, and attracted to light. They had already destroyed the wall  
lights, and even after being driven off would inevitably try to get at the Terminator's search  
lamps. Captain Avrikopolous was struck from behind, hard enough to knock him off his feet.  
There were three of the things upon him, trying to chew and saw away at the more vulnerable  
segments of his armor. The irony was almost painful... he had grown up a fisherman's son. He  
so loved to eat prawns... and in the end, would be killed by them.

He heard a strange grinding noise, and the... spearprawns... screeched and died. He felt  
himself being helped back to his feet. He saw a man-shaped figure in strange green armor. It...  
he, for the facemask was transparent... floated a bit off the floor. Though formed of hard  
plates, it seemed the suit was buoyant. The right hand was free to help or hold a spear-gun,  
but the left ended in a slowly spinning bright yellow cone.

Captain Avrikopolous shone his light at the faceplate. "Sargeant De Leon." he rumbled out.  
"I thank you for your assistance."

"No problem. There's not much we do here... they say we've got to seal this entire section off  
with bakelite." The former JSSDF (now UN Imp. Guards) soldier pointed out towards the gap.  
"We'll try to hook you up to a chopper, sir. Follow us, please."

"I... was not aware we had a special unit for this situation."

"Heh. Caught me by surprise, too. I was expecting maybe a little fun time with the tanks, but  
Yang pulled my entire squad out for this a couple of weeks back. You're Heraklitus." The Marine  
saluted with his free hand, before taking up his flechette gun. "Reporting, we are Deathwatch;  
Kill Teams Tritonis."

"I wonder how long before some fools decide to strap rockets onto their backs to become  
fighting force Icarus." the captain rumbled back. The other man's approving grin was apparent.  
Despite the grim face of their suits, mercenaries were not totally humorless bastards. It felt  
good to be a protector again...

The Terminators had little difficulty in actually pushing the blast doors open. More of the  
green-armored hydrosuit soldiers were waiting at the other side. One of them approached,  
bouncing weightless in the chamber leading up to street-level hatches. "We've got more of the  
fucking shrimps coming this way. Ready to set off the flashbomb, boss?"

"On my mark, Takahashi." He turned to the Heraklitus captain and advised them to turn away  
for a bit. Though they were of different rank structures, they held the common respect of  
men in volutary exile and doing their best for things they do not quite understand. He set his  
own faceplate to opaque mode. "Now!"

A bright flash and a tangible boom filled the waters. Captain Avrikopolous felt like laughing, as  
he continued to listen into the radio channels. Again he was filled with awe. It was war, and  
war tended to favor the paranoid schizophrenic. Even with all the risks, even with needing to  
abandon their own homes... how could anyone among them ever have doubted that it was so  
completely the -right- thing to do? How could any of them falter in the faith that the boy  
actually had a plan for each of them? Where else could they find true safety, bought with their  
own power?

A peculiar, independent, yet self-sacrifing mindset was required for those trusted with new  
powered suits. Often times this did not translate to respect for the chain of command. It was  
the man, the boy had said, who makes the armor dangerous. They were each chosen.

What sane planner would have expected having to fight submerged while in the mountains? It  
was impossible. Furthermore, can anyone really be expected to be proficient on new and  
unprecedented tactics in less than two weeks? What a waste of time; reason dictated.

"Pile on, boys! Show these scum who we are! Time to go kick reason to the curb and go  
beyond the impossible!" Sergeant De Leon shouted. His squad triggered underwater jets to  
drive straight at the enemy. Their weapon-shorn left arms whined with deadly intent. "PIERCE  
THE ALIENS WITH YOUR DRILL!"

-o-  
-o-

The hillsides opened up, and upon electromagnetically-charged rails, the Evangelions arrived.  
First Unit Two, then Zero; they got up from their lying position and waited for their weapons.  
Ritsuko Akagi had theorized that the Angel was hiding somewhere within that shadow. It was  
a big enough area to start with, but what lay behind that altered space was unknown. The  
obscuring waters made matters worse. As it was proven that only a direct hit to the core can  
destroy an Angel, the chances of actually hitting anything with a direct attack were remote.

Predictably, Asuka's first suggestion was to wrap strong steel cables around her Eva so she  
could dive right into the Dirac Sea and put a chainaxe to the enemy. Just as expected, this  
idea was also quickly rejected.

The JSSDF's suggestion to make the thing eat nukes was as easily denied. "The Angel is  
ejecting water..." Ritsuko noted. "We do not know where it is coming from. Likewise, we have  
no idea what may happen if we actually kill the Angel with a big enough blast." Tokyo-3 had  
no intention of taking a superheated steam blast. "Or worse... if we fail."

"That still leaves us with someone having to go in to find out what's inside." Asuka added.

"No, first you have to neutralize the enemy's AT-field and its projectile attack." Misato said.  
"We're going to release dummies to distract it, while you get to the city. Asuka, you're getting  
the Megabolter Gun and your Chainaxe just in case. Rei, we'll have to go with something  
more... rapid-fire... in this case. Take the Positron Autorifle."

Inflated dummies of Units Zero and Two emerged from behind hill cover. At the same time,  
the defense guns started firing again. Just like the battle with Ramiel, the Angel instantly  
fired at Eva-sized objects in range, or anything that attacked its floating spherical shadow.  
Communications sank into white static, as Leliel flared its field.

_'Electromagnetism.'_ Asuka thought, as she sprinted down the hillside, flaring her own AT-field  
_'That's how those things can fly.'_ Something slapped upon her field, lighting up the air around  
in a field of hexagons.

Then, several pulses of needle-like beams. Computer targeting systems had some trouble  
aiming at the bomb scarabs, which gave off no heat and moved in ever-changing clumps  
inside an even more chaotic swarm. Rei focused on keeping clear the space around Asuka.  
The red Eva barreled forward, its AT-field soaking up hypervelocity strikes. However, Unit  
Two could not harden its field too much, lest it run into its own barrier. Slower-moving or  
stationary objects did not register attention on Asuka's attention for danger.

An armored steel plate popped up, and Unit Two slid like a baseball runner to brake against  
it. Unit Zero did the same, and knelt for cover. There was a heavy bang, as the enemy's  
kinetic strike penetrated over five meters thick of layered steel and ceramic. The hole was  
just over their heads.

"The armor for our Evangelions head is thinner than the torso." Rei said offhand. "We must be  
careful of the enemy's accuracy."

"So how does it know to target things, anyway? It doesn't have eyes. Why is it leaving the  
smaller threats to those bug things? Heh. It's a matter of size and speed. It's sensing  
disruptions in its field." Leliel had stopped attacking. Asuka linked back to the command  
center. "Akagi-sensei, if the Angel is inside the Dirac Sea, then its awareness of three-  
dimensional space must be limited... it can't actually aim, per se, right? It's just reacting so  
fast that it seems like it's being proactive."

"A reasonable assumption, Asuka." the scientist replied with a slight grin. She then turned  
to Misato and said "... this means visual cover is useless. As soon as the Evas move, the  
enemy will know it."

"Kirishima!" the NERV colonel shouted into the link. "Did you move?"

"We're still holding position, Katsuragi-san." Mana replied. She watched cars, assorted debris,  
and some drowned people float by. The JSSDF comm channels were afire with distress calls.  
Her inability to help was maddening.

"There MUST be a range to it." Misato got off her command chair and began to pace. "After  
all, the Evas managed to leave from behind the hill safely. But then, the cruisers were hit  
from kilometers away... we need to test this." She turned towards Makoto. "Release some  
more dummies, from behind buildings. Maybe... the Trident doesn't have an AT-field after all."

Large inflatable dummies were released from under caches in the city. The ones from behind  
the buildings survived until they showed themselves out to the open streets. There were  
even some Trident-shaped balloons, which met the same fate.

The two Evangelions broke cover to approach closer. Their steps drove waves through the  
flooded streets. The waters were already up to mid-shin of the Evangelions, tall enough to  
swallow smaller houses. Their AT-fields defended them until they could reach the shadow of  
taller buildings. Once again, Leliel stopped attacking as soon as the Evas stopped moving.

"Shape and form."

Misato brought up a third comm window on her own control panel. "What's that, Shinji-kun?"

"How big is big enough? How fast is fast enough? Was the Angel ignoring the ships until they  
fired upon it?" He scratched at his nose and looked up at the ceiling of his entry plug. "I  
heard... that the Angel fired upon the Tempests, but only once. It couldn't see them enough  
to hit them."

"That's fuzzy logic, Shinji-kun." Maya added. She turned to Ritsuko and said, faintly excited  
"I wonder, can we list from just this a sort of 'preference' for the Angels attacks?'

"I would rate that the presence of an AT-field would override all other targets." Ritsuko replied.  
"Then below that, any attacks crossing its shadow sphere; we also seen it fail to respond to  
attacks that just barely miss it. Then size. Speed, likely not." She tapped the still numerous  
circling swarms. "That's what these things respond to."

"Hmm... I was wrong. A sniping spot could have worked against this Angel. Of course, Unit  
Zero would only have one shot, and disrupting its shadow seems to only temporarily knocks out  
its AT-field effect. We can't kill it..."

"Yes, but we can blind it!" Asuka shouted. "I have a feeling that the space inside my AT-field  
is just... empty... to it. That's why it attacks so quickly and repeatedly, it doesn't know what  
may be in there. It's an obvious threat."

"A sniper..." Rei's voice held an oddly speculative note. It was rare enough for her to volunteer  
her own view. "Colonel Katsuragi, may we approach if we crawl? I would like to have a dummy  
test this."

"Sohryu...! If the enemy can be blinded by your AT-field... it doesn't matter if it's 'hardened'  
enough to serve as a shield! Extend it far enough, and I can move! Then if I stop, -Magnos  
Tancred- may be blocky enough to look like a building once it's gone!"

"Very good. Very, very good...!" Misato smiled widely. This was how war against the Angels  
should be fought; tactics being brought up, everyone adding their own strengths to the fight.  
How purer, how more worthy it was. The despair that stained them in their former battles  
seemed to fade away... back to the beginning, an honest struggle between two powers.

It was wonderful! She felt oddly grateful to it, even as she gave orders on how to kill it.

And it worked. Slowly, the Evangelions leap-frogged their approach. It was like that Leliel's  
shadow cast its own subtle light, and it perceived normal space through contrast between  
this light and its absence. The enemy's consciousness seemed to have place only for the  
threat and non-threat, the latter given only a moment for classification then ignored.

It was too simplistic, but the defenders did not look a gift horse in the mouth.

-o-

"Rescue choppers are arriving... we need you to distract the Angel." Misato ordered.

"Affirmative." Asuka extended her field as wide as she could, while Rei behind it used her field  
as a shield. The Angel seemed to know where the Evangelions were, perhaps from that brief  
moment when the field transitions from existence to nonexistence. Bomb scarabs swooped  
down and detonated against its edges of the field. Field guns and -Magnos Tancred-, in line  
with Unit Two, fired away towards Leliel's striped sphere.

Heavy transport copters zoomed along at near water level. They hoisted trapped and  
drifting personnel aboard. However, while it seemed that the Angel was sufficiently distracted,  
the underwater spearprawns were another matter. They were attracted by light and loud  
sounds, like some sort of natural saboteur, and unfortunately both signals were provided by  
the choppers.

Kill Teams Tritonis had not been idle, either. Spears and drills met, and the latter prevailed;  
turning aside an attack and effortlessly punching through carapace. While the enemy had  
speed and numbers, they had traps and trickery.

Neither the spear prawns or bomb scarabs targeted boats, as long as those inside paddled  
instead of using the motors. They were not fast enough or loud enough. Explosions and other  
signs of combat underwater drew away enemy attention while the survivors packed themselves  
onto dropped boats or latched onto a chopper's trailing wires.

_'We're not doing anything to seriously harm each other.'_ Misato thought. _'I can't allow any  
bombing until the shelters are really secure and all survivors out of the way.'_ The pressure  
wave through the water would smash all throughout the city.

Still, things were going well. Too well...

"High energy reaction!" Makoto Hyuga shouted. "The Angel changed its motion... instead of  
releasing water, it's now sucking it in!"

"What? Alert the rescue-..."

From the spiraling swarm above, concentric ring formations of the bomb scarabs descended  
and exploded. To human eyes, the additional light that their self-destruction gave was just  
a feeble increase over natural sunlight, but to Leliel, it was enough. The entire battlefield  
seemed to light up... and it blasted a kinetic-kill right through several buildings to strike at  
Evangelion Unit Two at its chest armor. Asuka fell back, her breath knocked out of her.

Unit Zero had gotten very close indeed, while crawling on the streets. She was making her  
way towards an armory building, where a Hellbore waited. The waters were deep enough to  
almost submerge the Eva. Unit Zero began to sink. Rei quickly grabbed at a building's facade  
and tried to pull herself up. She flared her AT-field, no longer caring for stealth; and almost  
immidiately showed the signs of being bombarded.

The buildings were sinking...? "Ritsuko!" Misato shouted, desperate for knowledge.

"It's a Dirac Sea, Misato. It leads to another place. If it could bring out waters from somewhere  
else, logically it should also be able to take in things from this place."

"Get everyone out of there!" the purple-haired woman shouted into the open comms. "Intensify  
all anti-air fire... Asuka, Rei, Mana; fall back but provide covering fire."

Mana grit her teeth. "... if only we were in Hellfire mode." There were other configurations, as  
a subset of those modules. The Dual P-lascannons could be replaced with paired gatlings or a  
more rapid-fire positron cannon similar to that Unit Zero was using. -Magnos Tancred-'s 20mm  
anti-aircraft and 130mm anti-armor cannons had to suffice. The problem was the limited tilt  
of torso-mounted weapons.

Unit Two was protecting them all with its AT-field barrier; trying to attack and defend at the  
same time led to led mediocre results for either. It scaled a building, on full view of everyone,  
and held its arms up as if holding back a gate under siege.

The bomb scarabs gathered and surged down, its sinuous flight like that of a dragon. They  
slammed into the shield from the side. The red Eva, having fixed the field relative to its body,  
toppled off the structure.

Those inside -Magnos Tancred- winced, nearly knocked free of their seats and almost  
deafened by the shock. A kinetic strike had slammed into the armor on its right torso, just  
above the shoulder joint. The integrated flamer there burst, and the Land Dreadnought's right  
shoulder lit up in fire.

Bolter fire ripped up behind a building to chip away at the bomb scarab's formation. Unit Two  
chopped its way up the sinking building back towards the top.

Then the air, already thick with tension and loose EM energy, grew unnaturally still. Something  
full of insane power roared.

Beneath Leliel's shadow, something rose up from the depths. It roared again, hunching forward  
in challenge.

"It... it can't be...!" Asuka mumbled. "Evangelion..."

"... Unit Four." Rei finished. She clutched at her rifle at both stock and barrel, and held it in  
front of her. She heard it crack, and felt the kick connect... the white Evangelion leapt  
through the air with the greatest of ease, and was upon the orange, Titan-moduled Evangelion  
before it could evade. Its additional armor and energy reserves weighed it down too much.

As Unit Zero toppled, the white Evangelion somersaulted away, towards the red Eva. Unit  
Two's chainaxe whirred to receive. Roars and sparks and the shuddering wham of two great  
powers colliding. Progressive bits chewed away at Unit Four's left forearm armor, but  
unconcerned its right arm punched at Unit Two's face. The force and their combined weight  
sent the two biomechanical monsters crashing through the roof and into the building's innards.

A cold silence descended upon the city, lasting many minutes.

-o-

"What the - wasn't it destroyed?" Misato got up and glanced back at the old men on the  
commander's level. They seemed as surprised as she was. "Who's piloting that thing?"

"Um... no one." Maya replied.

"Are you sure? Can't we shut it down somehow?"

"It's broadcasting on the standard Evangelion frequencies, even the microwave bands, but  
it's not accepting any NERV codes."

"The S2 Engine." Ritsuko asked with a quiet, if no less furious, agitation. "Is it functional?"

"It's... yes, sempai. It's still active."

The blonde scientist nodded and said nothing further, only stared up at the main screen. She  
leaned back slightly on her chain and touched her chin. There was a mix of joy and anger in  
her gaze, and Maya could almost hear the 'click-click-click...' as things began to fit together  
in Ritsuko's mind.

The suction was surprisingly calm, on the surface. It was hard to appreciate the water level  
lowering, when the buildings themselves were sinking at the same rate. -Magnos Tancred-,  
which could not climb buildings, waded back to outside the Angel's territory. If the Angel was  
really but three nanometers thick, why was it that impossibly sharp edge not slicing up  
everything in its path? It seemed to be following the dips and rises in terrain well enough,  
when it should, since leaving sea level, been cutting through millions of tons of rock with  
ease. This, Mana lightly commented on.

"Do you really have the luxury of time to concern yourself with that?." Ritsuko said back. She  
was moreannoyed at how the question broke into her thought processes, than of proper  
procedure. "Don't you have anything else you could be doing to help Evangelion Unit Two?"

"Sohryu is strong, Akagi-sensei." Mana replied. "The best thing I can do to help is to stay out  
of her way."

Two Evangelions smashed out of the building and fell, still grappling and punching. They  
tumbled and rolled across the street, causing even more and even higher waves. Asuka  
seemed to be getting the best of the exchange, the white Evangelion only able to give an  
occasional jab in return.

"I require a better weapon." Rei added. "This Positron Rifle is not suitable for penetrating  
Evangelion-class armor."

Misato nodded. "I'm sending up the Assault Cannon Custom ." It was, essentially, a cut-down  
16-inch naval gun with armor-piercing shells. Full automatic, magazine-fed. With a prog  
bayonet. It was hard for her to image anything with deeper DAKKA.

Mana looked sullen at not being able to get a refit. She leaned back on her chair and put  
her arms back on the motion-capture rig. The driver and the gunner did their duties well and  
without complaint, having learned it was best not to draw attention to themselves. Brawler  
configuration gave -Magnos Tancred- a pair of useful hands, but the complicated assembly  
was less suited for punching. Thus, the arms were wrapped in a secondary bracer-and-gauntlet  
device that had a pair of punching spikes protruding from it.

Blunt Evangelion fists, being modeled out of human ones, lost some energy in punching. Asuka's  
ferocity started to pall as fatigue started to set in and her wild efforts failed to break through  
enemy armor. Just a moment's pause in the attack, and WHAM! Unit Four caught her with a  
savage uppercut. It then kicked at the other Eva's chest and stood up from being pinned into  
a parking lot.

Naval-caliber solid slugs and positron beams slammed into its back. The white Eva reeled, then  
leapt to avoid further fire. It cleared the buildings with ease, and spread its arms out. The  
sunlight, filtering through the still-whirling swarm above, gave it a cross-shaped silhouette.

Asuka followed the transponder for her chainaxe and dug it out from a collapsed building and  
again pulled herself free of the Dirac Sea's suction. It was like being in quicksand; irrationally,  
she expected to float. Then again, she reasoned to herself, there was no reason either that  
just because it was called a Sea, it meant that it had to behave like a fluid. It was solid  
enough earlier, when the Evangelions were fighting...

She looked up and gasped. The bombs scarabs clumped together again, in a thick serpent-  
like shape. The white Eva stood at it's head, its weight held up in midair. "No way! No fucking  
way...! It can fly? That's not fair!" Asuka shouted. "Who the hell does it think it is, Sun Wu  
Kung?"

Misato blinked. "... who?"

"... you probably know him better as Son Goku." Ritsuko said with a sigh. Misato made a  
familiar cupped-palm gesture. Ritsuko groaned. "No, Misato, just... no. Somehow it doesn't  
surprise me that Asuka would prefer to read the classics in their original form."

"Ritsuko... there's no pilot. And it can do this... how? Isn't it impossible?" Misato looked  
afraid, and repentant for some reason.

The blonde scientist laughed. "No, this is... quite reasonable, actually... all things considering.  
Those things fly with reactionless propulsion. Incorrect. Instead of having lift, they are being  
lifted. I believe this is why the Angel stopped using its kinetic attack. It can't split its  
attention any further. The conditions of S2 Engine activation, and its own altered space, is  
what allows the Angel to take control."

"I'm... not sure I'm getting what you're saying. Are you saying that everything we've been  
fighting so far IS the Angel?"

"Very good, Misato; that's so. It's... " Ritsuko had to smile at the pun "...shadow puppetry."

Unit Four gestured, and a second tendril from the rotating mass above shot down towards  
its attackers. Rei dived off her sniper's perch, as the great clustering of bomb scarabs plowed  
into the building and shattered it down to its foundations.

-Magnos Tancred- was not so agile. It shot at the rushing form with its AA cannon and then  
slammed itself into a building as cover. It lay face-up, presenting the thickest portion of its  
armor, hoping it would hold.

Asuka's head cameras saw the bomb scarabs plunge into the structure and in an ever-  
intensifying explosion, reduced it to rubble. "KIRISHIMA!" she screamed. To die so uselessly...  
that wasn't fair either! Their war machines might not have been equal, but at least they  
deserved more than that...

Evangelion Unit Four roared again, and gestured again, and then she had different reasons to  
scream.

-o-

Shinji Ikari looked up. Asuka's camera, the only reliable view into the battlefield, showed only  
static. He only dimly perceived the clamor at the command center... the pilots still had life  
signs, but were not responding.

Asuka. Mana. Rei...

He grit his teeth and clenched his fists. '_Enough, machine spirit. Enough hiding. Lend me your  
power._' He pulled at the controls and roared. _'Today, something dies!'_

Evangelion Unit One's synch ratio grew... erratic. The Eva's roar echoed through the metal  
walls of the launch area.

"Shinji-kun?"

"Launch me, Misato-san." the boy asked softly.

The woman winced. She looked aside to Maya, who made a vertical slashing gesture. "Your  
synch ratio... it's still not good enough. It's too dangerous for you."

Another scream floated through the link. "That hurt, arschgesicht! I'LL KILL YOU! KILL YOU  
KILL - OH SHIT." Booms.

"Kirishima, this is Ayanami. Respond." There was a tapping noise. "Please respond."

Evangelion Unit One growled. The boy's synch ratio just went up at least ten points. "I can't  
just stay here, Misato-san. Please, launch me!" _'I won't abandon them, never again... this  
world is ours, to defend, to hold, and to cherish...'_

"Hah, I knew it was psychosomatic..." a soft, triumphant cackle floated in from aside.

Misato shook her head. "It's not... it's not prudent at this point."

"Katsuragi."

She turned, and looked up at Gendo. NERV's commander was in his usual pose. "Launch him."  
he said.

"Sir, you have no call in interfering with my battlefield authority." Misato replied with a flat,  
defiant tone.

"He has to do this, Katsuragi. He can and must fight. If I can have confidence that he can do  
it, why can't you?"

Everyone, even Fuyutsuki, looked shocked. No one expected Gendo, of all people, to berate  
Misato on her lack of faith upon her chosen child. The purple-haired woman looked disbelieving,  
unsure if she should be angry... it was a deliberate insult, but... if Gendo.. Gendo! If he could  
say it, then everyone else must be thinking it even more strongly.

She turned back to her console's screen and Shinji's pleading look. She shook her head again,  
but to clear it. '_Like, what just happened...? That was almost... well, decent, for the bastard._'

"All right. But if we're going to launch you direct into the battlefield, water's going to get in.  
We'll have to seal the tunnel after you leave..." She indicated several points on the map. "Get  
your weapons from here and here, instead. This one's close combat, the other has the guns."

"Understood, Misato-san." He smiled grimly. "And... thank you."

She smiled a bit mischievously. "Your girls are waiting, Shinji-kun. Don't disappoint."

-Principio Eternus- rose upon the rails. An elevator building popped up and opened. After a  
very long while, the Evangelion stood in sunlight again; though that light was broken by the  
bomb scarab swarms, the white Evangelion's silent and tireless form, and Leliel's dark and  
inscrutable presence.

-Principio Eternus- stepped into the flooded streets and roared its return.

-end Uncertain Space part 2-


	34. Chapter 33: Uncertain Space part3

Uncertain Space part3

-o-  
-o-

The waters were deceptive. On the surface, the currents and ripples looked calm  
enough and motorboats could push against the current. Below however, in the  
murky bubbly depths, the waters drained into a dark, limitless chasm. Kill Team  
Tritonis clung to sunken lamp-posts and other jutting debris. The Angelspawns,  
looking something like a cross between a serrated filleting knife and giant shrimp,  
were unable to swim against the flow. The hydrosuit soldiers of the UN's new  
combined-arms regiment held no illusions their backpack waterjets would fare any  
better.

A giant metal foot stomped down nearby, hard enough to break reinforced concrete.  
It felt like a slap through the waters, nearly ripping them off whatever they were  
holding onto. Then the waters began to churn violently as giant feet moved to  
some furious activity.

Sgt. De Leon, who was 'volunteered' to test out the new experimental suits and  
doctrine, cursed at his all-too-predictable fate. They were but mere men, caught in a  
field where machine-gods fought. It was bad enough they were too likely to die; but  
it would not even be a meaningless death. It would just be... accidental.

The Evangelion (it did not matter which) slammed into the corporate offices directly  
above them, and tore the building in two. Large chunks of concrete and steel rained  
upon the street. The waters burst into violent, overlapping waves.

Sgt. De Leon saw a pink Toyota hurtling towards him, and one of the other Tritonis  
clinging to it. His comms were filled with a variety of harsh, if incoherent babbling.

_'Yeah, of course.'_ he sighed at the luck. _'Let's get this crap over with.'_

The car slammed into him, and ripped him loose from his lashings onto a lamppost.  
It slammed into a few more things in the way before being sucked into Leliel's  
vortex. Needless to say, the experience was painful and pointless to the extreme.

-o-

Pain.

Synch ratio directly influenced the responsiveness of an Evangelion. It also affected  
the efficiency of an AT-field, with higher levels requiring less energy to create and  
maintain (to practically nil, for the maximum synch ratio). The feedback from his  
actions were proportional to the speed at which Shinji could perform them.

Wham!

Wham!

Both Evangelions stepped back from each other, dazed. _'All right, this isn't working.'  
_Shinji thought. Even if he could tolerate a bit more pain out of the connection, he  
was not sure if the other Eva had enough awareness to even -feel- any pain.

Wham! As it was, using his signature move would be contest to see which Eva  
would endure even through brain damage. _'Why do I even have this horn?'_ the boy  
thought further in his dazed state. 'If _it was shorter, like a spike, this wouldn't be so  
silly.'_

Wham!

_'Why am I still doing this, anyway?'_

Wham!

_'Oh, now I remember.'_

The two Evangelions gave each other a simultaneous punch to the face in a cross-  
counter, and toppled in opposite directions. Something stopped Unit 01's fall before  
it could entomb itself inside the ruined offices.

"What the hell, Ikari?" Asuka shouted as she pulled the purple Eva up the building  
half-collapsed and tilting at an odd angle. "You're still useless!"

Shinji chuckled weakly. "Well, I have been out of practice for three months." His  
tone dropped to a pensive tone. "This would be much easier if I could just use the  
AT-field..."

"Well, if you can, do it!" Asuka commanded. "In the meantime, try not to get in our  
way while we deal with this jerk!"

"The enemy isn't using an AT-field either."

"Shinji, there's a heavy positron rifle on block six, marking your map interface now."  
they both heard Misato's voice. "There's the anti-material cannon on block fifteen,  
it's farther away, but we might need it to break through Evangelion armor."

"Oh, the battleship-grade solid-slug sniper cannon?" Asuka hissed. She wanted to  
fire that thing at least once, even if her specialty was close combat. It was irksome  
that the 18-inch sniper rifle was a response to Rei's requests for more dakka. The  
longer barrel gave it better muzzle velocity than the more portable Assault Cannon.  
Granted, simple kinetic strikes had little effect against an AT-field and were  
hideously unweildy, but...

She glared as Unit 01 made a jaunty salute and began hopping from rooftop to  
rooftop. The piercing flash of a positron gun just was could not compare to the  
shock of recoil, the air-shattering crack, and the roll of flames bursting out of the  
muzzle brakes. What an... explosive... experience. She could understand what  
Ayanami found so... enjoyable... out of it.

The white Evangelion jumped again, in all its impossible agility, to land in a crouch  
atop the building nearby. It tilted its head at her, like a bird. She felt irrational  
hatred at such behaviour.

Her chainaxe spun; she screamed and leapt. It seems she would have to get her  
satisfaction another way.

-o-

Meanwhile, the comparatively clunky Trident Land Dreadnought strained to get onto  
a rooftop. Brawler configuration gave it two usable hands, however the stubby  
length of its limbs still limited the war machine. Slowly, gouging out handholds from  
a medium commercial block, it managed. Its feet dug into the reinforced concrete,  
but fortunately most structures in Tokyo-3 were built to support more than just the  
weight of their materials and expected internal stresses. Like most skyscrapers,  
walls no longer needed to support their own weight, which made the buildings  
vulnerable from the sides.

"Crap." said Corporal Vince Nagato, driver for -Magnos Tancred-. For the first time,  
he had a good look at the spreading disaster. Most of Tokyo-3 was swallowed up by  
dark waters, and the taller buildings poked up like spiny islands. "It was hard  
enough getting up here... we're stuck if things start sinking again."

Mana prodded him with her boot and rubbed at her own shoulders. "What are you  
complaining about? All you have to do is to drive, I'm the one that has to move the  
arms. We're still too far from the action - argh! Damn Evas! Damn your long limbs!  
Curse my limited rotation of armature!" The two older soldiers sighed at just how  
easily she ignored the prospect of their futile demise.

The commercial block they sought refuge had several more taller buildings, but  
what with the Land Dreadnought's just... pitiful... attempts at jumping, they were  
stuck there. Mana Kirishima seethed as she watched the Evangelions hop along with  
such ease, from building to building and across wide avenues. The war machine's  
battle recorder took in the only reliable video of the fight.

It was like an old kung-fu movie, minus all the wires. Little booms followed their  
jumps, from cracking constructs to the occasional bug attack.

Unit-04 used a large chunk of skyscraper facings to parry Unit-02's chainaxe. As  
the bits chewed through the concrete, the white Eva bent backwards and kicked up  
through the cloud of dust obscuring the red Eva's field of vision. Hitting the wrist,  
the chainaxe then tumbled out of Asuka's grip.

_'What the-... ? I just used that move a few minutes ago!'_ She jumped off the side  
of the building after her weapon. "REI!"

Unit Zero needed no further instruction. It flared its AT-field for wider protection,  
covering Unit-Two as it had to change the composition of its own field. The chainaxe  
jumped back into its hand. Asuka -pushed- with her field to change directions in  
midair, and gouging out a deep groove in the building as she broke her descent.

The white Eva had jumped right after her, and it swooped down with open arms  
like a bird of prey.

Asuka grit her teeth. Her one-handed grip to keep herself from falling left an  
opening that would take a fraction of a second too long to correct. She had no idea  
what would happen if she directly touched Leliel's Dirac Sea surface, but it was  
likely a bad thing.

There was a faroff boom. Unit-04 twisted aside and slammed right into the  
building's facade. Asuka plunged her chainaxe's handle in to secure herself and  
prepared for it to appear, burrowing through a building's innards again. She felt it  
burst through the other side.

The air broke apart. In the distance, there were more and smaller explosive sounds.

"Sohryu, I must provide a barrier for pilot Ikari." she heard Rei say.

"About time you did something useful!" Asuka shouted over to the next comm  
channel. "That's good. Just stay out of our way and do what you can."

"I missed." Shinji replied. "This thing IS too heavy. I don't think I can provide close  
support, Asuka... I might hit you instead, the next time you go in swinging."

"Tch. Better than no support anyway." She opened up a window to NERV command  
center. "I need an update! Where is it now?"

MAGI switched through its battery of sensors, from thermal to radar to seismic and  
more besides... and came up with nothing. Maya felt both frustration and disbelief.

Unit One cowered behind the market row as flying bugs above battered his position.  
After a few more moments, the shaking ceased as Unit Zero's AT-field arrived  
overhead.

"It appears to be confirmed, that the enemy needs to switch between modes of  
operation." the blue-haired girl commented. "Now that its long-range attack is  
ineffectual, perhaps it will activate close combat maneuvers again."

"Blue pattern spike!" shouted Makoto.

The main screen showed a blue circle, showing levels of Angel AT-field activity,  
concentrating towards one point. It was the Trident that had the clearest view, as  
it happened right in front. The white Eva leapt out of the waters in a reverse dive  
and vaulted right over the Land Dreadnought's head. Waters drizzled in a light rain  
upon the red and black machine.

Mana Kirishima screamed at the insult of being ignored.

"Shinji! It's going at you!" Asuka shouted. The Angel appeared halfway the distance  
between her and Shinji, and on the opposite angle from Rei.

Shinji grinned and set aside the heavy assault cannon. Type-T equipment was  
different from the full Titanicus loadout, with just shoulder battery packs, some  
helm assembly for the head and an abbreviated chestplate. Even with just that,  
his movements were sluggish.

The purple Eva roared its challenge at the approaching enemy.

"What the hell are you doing? You're no match for it right now!"

"I know." he replied softly. "Please, Asuka. Let me try something for a while."

He could have challenged her team leader status, or thrown in that she could not  
do anything anyway while so far away... but he still gave her the respect she had  
earned. Whatever he learned in those three months, at least it seemed he still  
remembered what was important.

"All right." she whispered. "I'm counting on you, baka Shinji..." They had faith in  
each other.

Wham!

Both Evangelions led with their foreheads in the biggest headbutt ever. They reeled  
from the impact, then swung a haymaker at each other's jaws. Wham. They began  
to trade blows while not moving a step.

Unlike Asuka, whose sheer ferocity forced the white Eva to fight on the defensive  
(something not entirely successful, given the relative inexperience of the mind  
behind its movements) or Rei's own graceful soft-martial arts methods of  
redirecting force (which also served her well, given that the enemy seemed  
confused at having to slow down its own movements)... Shinji's own assault on the  
enemy held no finesse, no thought to his own defense. With the sluggish control  
over his Eva, it was his only chance to get a hit in at the enemy.

Prog knives deployed, sparks flew, and their strange fierce dance continued.

Unit One sacrificed a deep gash along its left forearm to stab at where the carotid  
artery would be on a human's neck. The red blade gouged through armor. Viscous  
dark liquid spurted out.

He then got a knee to the chest and an elbow to the side of the head. The purple  
Eva lurched aside and nearly fell over the building.

"Okay, that's enough." someone said over the radio.

"Not yet!" he said back. He roared and surged forward, and the white Eva slipped  
aside in a textbook aikido move. Shinji grinned and kicked towards its shin. Unit  
Four fought to keep its balance and lost it when the offending foot scissor-kicked  
towards its chin.

The white Eva was knocked off the roof and fell into the waters; vanishing with  
a splash.

"I see..." Misato hmm'ed. "If the enemy is using this Eva like a puppet, then it's  
reading the movements of our Evangelions too."

"The problem is that it doesn't realize there are actually distinct styles of fighting."  
Asuka added. "Unless it can appreciate that certain movements are actually linked  
instead of monkey-doing whatever it gets out of us..."

"Then we may take advantage of its ignorance. Pilot Ikari is familiar with either of  
our methodologies."

Hands burst out of the roof's surface and grabbed at Unit One's ankles. The purple  
Eva was pulled under, as if to its grave.

"Shinji!"

He could barely hear... the pain may be dull, but the pressure at his throat was  
inescapable. He would survive should his Evangelion fail... die, even if for sweet  
few days of nonexistence... but he could feel the contempt of -Principio Eternus-.

In such a cramped space, every motion gutting the structure even more, there  
was no room nor time for stratagem. There was only the brutal reach...!

He clutched at the other Eva's head and tried to twist it around. As before, he felt  
nothing from it... none of the characteristic extremes of emotion that the Angels  
and Evangelions always had boiling within. Just energy, white-hot... and purposeless.

_'It's not supposed to turn out like this!'_ he yelled within. _'I can't... all that I've  
done, all those plans... lives disrupted, turned the world upside down! What's the  
point if in the end I'm so weak as to be beaten by a puppet?'_

He remembered storming into the new monastery, demanding explanations. Then  
he was reminded, that there were no guarantees in their philosophy.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_## JAVAALCHAT - it's all a matter of psychics!_

_ ...snip...  
_

_sunshine_kid \ Done all we could, hmm? breach of contract, where does it say?  
Never signed one, no, no... _

_man_of_peace \ I KNOW you can make proper sentence structures, old man! I read  
your memoirs!_

_sunshine_kid \ Hmm... wrote a word of it, never I did. Told it to my own grandson, I  
did. Wrote it down, he did. Several times had to stop him from poisoning me, while  
collecting my thoughts we were. _

_man_of_peace \ ... I feel for his pain. _

_young_king \ SOMEONE PLEASE STICK TO THE GODDAMN ISSUE OR YOU'RE ALL  
FIRED! _

_*young_king pauses a beat._

_young_king \ AGAIN!_

_golden_saint \ When the times comes, you will have the strength, sattava. I have  
faith in you. You won't fail us._

_young_king \ Well... um... thank you. But I'd rather not risk it. Gah! After all the  
crap I've already gone through; what's still blocking me?_

_man_of_peace \ Perhaps you should not have been so eager to give up the power  
to crack the planet in half._

_young_king \ First, I was being metaphorical about that. Second, consider the  
words. Crack. THE PLANET. In half. Would you ever really be comfortable with a  
TEENAGER, out of anyone, holding that much power?_

_man_of_peace \ ... admittedly, no._

_*young_king now sympathizes with Akagi-sensei. Deeply._

_young_king \ It doesn't make sense! It's not fair! _

_sunshine_kid \ Universe, fair? When? For those under the strong's sphere of  
influence, fairness. That much, only what anyone can do. But no hope for fairness  
one who protects must expect. _

_young_king ... anything else?_

_sunshine_kid Hm. Hm. No. Wrestle a monster to your will you must. Why you ask  
us this? Any of us look like shounen heroes, hmm? Solve your own problem you  
must! Trust in drama, you should!_

_young_king \ Reality. Does Not. Work. THAT WAY!_

_golden_saint \ if that is what you want... then so be it._

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

He could hear the armor cracking. He punched at the white Eva's face again and  
again, but knew it had no will of its own. If he could just use the full power of an  
AT-field it would be ridiculously easy. If it was an Angel... he grinned though the  
pain... he was confident he could -break- any Angel.

Unit Two sprang from building to building. Just as she was about to reach the  
target, the structure just shattered into a shower of wildly spinning fragments. A  
dust cloud spread out from the site.

Two figures sprang out, slamming into buildings on opposite sides. Asuka caught  
Unit One again, before the Eva could slide down to the waters. "What did you do?"  
she asked.

Between coughs, Shinji answered "Whose bright idea was it to make Evangelion-  
scale grenades? Remind me to thank him or her." The rounds were actually only  
modified high explosive shells, but since NNHIS was experimenting with all aspects  
of Dakka anyway...

"That explosion's a little too big for a handful of Great Grenades."

"... must have a opened up a gas line or something." he said, shrugging carelessly.

The white Evangelion landed on a rooftop nearby, waiting in a crouch. Shinji  
strained to get up. Asuka pushed his Eva back down. "You're just getting your ass  
kicked! There's no shame in admitting you're not up to your usual level, baka! It's  
all right."

"Not yet. I still have to face it at least once more..."

"What are you trying to prove?" She felt like giving him a much-needed wake-the-  
hell-up punch.

Shinji smiled slightly. "A theory. Please, Asuka... one more time." His look towards  
the enemy was predatory. "I won't get killed that easily. You know this... none of  
the attacks the Angel showed so far, none of them can really be thought of as really  
that fatal to an Eva."

Unit Four was moving, as it was Rei's turn to attack. The combination of ranged  
firepower and a prog bayonet at close range meant that the white Eva had to move  
even more acrobatically around her.

"Fucker's too fast to let us get in a good hit either..." Asuka muttered, watching.

"It's NOT the Angel." Shinji reminded her. "Let's not forget that. It's just one of the  
many weapons the Angel has over us..."

Unit Four was swooping up in the air again, standing upon a floating disk made of  
bomb scarabs. It crossed its arms and seemed to glare arrogantly down at the  
defenders.

Unit One roared and was off to clear fighting ground. "Dammit, Ikari!" Asuka  
shouted. "This is no time to be showboating! This isn't about you, dammit! Your  
goddamn pride's just going to get yourself beat down!"

That Asuka could make such a statement without being ironic was a testament to  
how far she had come since her first battle in Tokyo 3. Down below, Misato had to  
nod in appreciation for that fact.

"That's what I'm hoping for!" was the response.

"What kind of perverted things have you been doing out there?" Asuka shot back,  
her voice pitching oddly. "You masochist freak! Get back here!"

Too late though, as the enemy Eva had already jumped off its perch. It landed  
heavily, trying to pin down Unit One. Just barely, Shinji managed to dodge. He  
deployed the other prog knife and went intoa knife-fighter's crouch as the enemy  
dug itself out the hole it made.

And once again, a brutal and nonsensical skirmish. It was somewhat impressive  
that they managed to parry with their knives again and again, the clash of metal  
upon metal ringing in the air. It was then that the small differences began to show.

Unit Four, the newest Evangelion model, had lighter armor than the test type. It  
had less protection for the arms and legs, but had a reinforced central torso. Even if  
it lacked a pilot, apparently the power of the S2 Engine was enough to give it rapid  
healing. A knife could not do any serious damage away from the core.

They were pilots; not soldiers or warriors. There was no one inside the plug, it was  
no honor duel. The other Evangelions closed in; those inside concerned and puzzled  
about why their fellow pilot was being so stupidly stubborn.

He was just getting beat down. The Evangelions were just trading blows, and finally  
one last hit was enough to send Unit One sliding to the edge.

Unit Zero leapt, and at the apex of its jump lurched away from the target. It just  
barely managed to reach an isolated building. Rei looked up to see that the two  
fighting Evangelions were grappling again.

_'I had my AT-field up. How?'_ She looked down and dodged aside as something  
broke right though what she was standing on. _'The Angel's hypervelocity attack. It is  
harder to predict. Apparently it may also come from below.'_

Then suddenly, an Evangelion screamed.

Not rage, not challenge... but pain.

The white Evangelion clutched its face, which was giving off smoke. The purple  
Evangelion punched up at it, and the enemy staggered back.

The air broke again, and there was the distinctive sound of metal being struck.  
Evangelion Unit One stood there with its right arm outstretched.

Shinji closed his fist and something exploded from inside it. He grinned. "Now I  
understand. You will hide no secrets from me, monster."

Unit Four hopped back and off the roof, with a tendril looping down from the  
swirling bug horde above to support it in midair. It gestured to send another  
deadly tendril at Unit One.

Shinji leaned back, almost drunkenly, and let it pass overhead. He swung around  
and for some reason the clumps of bomb scarabs bent back towards its source.  
The white Evangelion leapt off as two groups of bomb scarabs slammed into and  
mutually annihilated each other. It vanished again into the depths.

Cheers and whoops sounded through the command center.

"Shinji!" Asuka yelled, laughing. "You crazy bastard! You figured something out, didn't  
you?"

_'I had to feel it with my own body. Again and again... there was no other way.'_  
Only by mirroring its motions could he discern the difference.

The boy was gasping for breath. "It's... it's not much. But I had to know... just how  
does the Angel control the Eva from afar? In fact, how does it even see what's-  
... gak!" The Evangelion rolled aside as hypervelocity strikes peppered the roof.  
"Okay, I've had enough. HELP!"

Asuka grinned, but even she had to dodge strikes. The few ones that actually hit  
hurt. A lot. She flared her AT-field, but that limited her range of movement.

The three Evangelions finally reached the same roof and stood back to back. Unit  
Zero held its Assault Cannon. Unit Two held the chainaxe, with its pilot thinking on  
turning it into a combi-weapon; perhaps a bolter into the handle. Unit One only had  
its bare hands, and the freakish intellect of its master.

"So how does it work?" Asuka asked, while keeping a wary look at the waters for  
where the enemy might emerge again.

"Electromagnetism." Shinji replied. "Somehow the Angel managed to interlace its  
altered space with literal threads of an electromagnetic field. It's all around us, we  
just can't see it." He pointed up at the bomb scarabs. "They're conductive. Get  
them in a line, and you have an electromagnetic rail launcher."

"Like the ones we use?"

"Somewhat. It's..." Unit One snatched its arm left almost impossibly quick, and  
something exploded against the back of its hand. It would have hit Unit Two in the  
head. "Ow. It's hard to really see... but it can happen in an instant. And we don't  
really know what's going on inside that Dirac Sea."

Asuka watched with wonder that smoking palm covering her view. "That was fast.  
How's your synch ratio?"

"I don't know. But I'm boosting my movement using the same method the Angel  
is using to control Unit Four." He pointed to his shoulder, then his wrist. "You don't  
see it, but there's a thread of force between here and here."

"How is that possible without an AT-field?" Rei asked.

"It doesn't require a particularly strong field. It only works here because of the  
unique conditions the Angel set up for itself."

Rei narrowed her gaze. "The enemy may use this to take control of your Evangelion."

"Then maybe I can trace it to its source. It's a strange feeling." He shrugged.  
"Besides, unlike Unit Four, my Evangelion will eventually run out of energy. With  
me fighting it all the way, my Eva would not actually be as much of a threat." His  
voice lowered again. "I just don't understand what the enemy wants to accomplish  
with this..."

"Who cares? Here it comes!" Asuka pointed at the white Evangelion swooping out  
of the Sea at the head of a snake-like collection of bomb scarabs and doomprawns.  
"Kill it, don't let it accomplish anything!"

Before jumping into action, Rei said softly "It is most gratifying to have you fighting  
by our side again, pilot Ikari." She smiled slightly. "Once more, we are whole."

There was glory, and splendor, and the beauty of perfect teamwork. The white  
Eva flitted from one opponent to another, a deadly dancer, but the NERV Evas were  
always ready to exploit their own opportunities.

Against the backdrop of a setting sun they were grotesque, yet oddly graceful  
shapes. Evangelion Unit Four, as the battle went on, had picked up a chainsword  
from somewhere; it was painted white, appropriately enough. Its attacks still made  
up for in unearthly speed and force what it lacked in its own technique.

How many hours had they already fought? With the cooperation of three against  
one, it was possible to switch battery packs on the fly. A pity that the Trident could  
not change its modules so easily; though its hands could hold a Great Bolter well  
enough. One of the things that Misato improved upon in Tokyo-3's defenses was to  
place several umbilical power lines -_on top_- of buildings. With NNHIS own proprietary  
sockets, it was possible to overcharge the hardmount positron gun. Once again, it  
would have been much more convenient if they had gone out in Hellfire mode.

Explosive rain fell indiscriminately around the city. Shinji, climbing up Tokyo-3's  
tallest building, saw the devastation caused by his return. The waters were starting  
to stain red from the sunset, like blood... and buildings jutted out like the remains  
of some great beast.

Hopes and dreams, once more crushed within an eyeblink. The other Evas were  
worsening the damage with every step. "No..." he snarled. It was his failure again.  
His AT-field could not cover the city. The feeling of the Angel's presence, its thick  
suffocating aura shrouded his city.

His Evangelion agreed with his indignation.

-Principio Eternus-showed the Angel folly of enfolding it in an electromagnetic field;  
lightning erupted from its fingers in a worthy Palpatine impression and scoured a  
large swath of bomb scarabs from the sky.

Shinji stared down at his hands. _'Huh. That... shouldn't have worked.'_

Whatever inquiries she wanted to make had to be set aside, as Asuka took the  
chance to attack the enemy while its movements temporarily slowed to a crawl.  
The switch to full and hostile attention was still immidiate, though. With its  
chainaxe as a counterweight, Unit Two perform equally mystifying acts of  
acrobatics, clashing with the enemy in mid-air.

They both landed on opposite blocks from that they started with, but Unit Four  
made two dull thumps as it came down. Its right arm was hacked off close to the  
shoulder. The white Eva turned and roared, its eyes flashing with sudden  
awareness. White tendrils lashed out from the wound to wrap around the  
amputated limb and bring it closer. It the simply stuck it back on. White flesh  
burbled around the wound and subsided. It tested the limb and roared again  
at the red Evangelion. The light in its eyes faded as it crouched to attack.

"Oh, come on!" Asuka yelled. "That's not fair! Is that a standard feature of the  
new models?"

Ritsuko's voice came through with "Not as far as I know. Maya, I need a dump of  
the vision log..."

"Do you think the worms work on Evangelions now?" Misato asked.

"They are based on Angel cells, same as the Eva. I've tested it, the main barrier  
is that Evangelions are just too... large... to be affected. But Angels and by  
extension, Evas, have proven capable of their own rapid regeneration before."

"Asuka, this thing is testing us."

"I think that's pretty obvious by now, Misato!" the red-haired girl shot back.

"We don't know if capturing it is another sweet trap like what happened to the  
Earth's Cradle. Since it's not using an AT-field, if we don't want the city to start  
eating N2 mines, you've got to kill it now. Wounding strikes to slow it down won't  
work, we need to coordinate for a single fatal blow."

"Phfft. Like what with the bugs overhead, any airstrike has a chance to get  
through. But all right."

"What makes you think we'd have to wait for someone else to do the deed?"

A respectful silence filled the command center. What with the enemy's agility, an  
N2 strike would have to be large enough to break through Evangelion armor and  
in sufficient numbers to saturate its escape routes. Or, more likely, given that it  
could just flee into the Sea; delivered point-blank to its face by another Eva.

"Fine. Let's flip a coin for that later." She let her own Eva roar. "COME ON, YOU  
PUPPET! DIE, YOU DOLL!"

-o-o-

Blam! Click-click.

Blam! Click-click.

Blam!

NNHIS had a rather obessive bent towards providing NERV with Eva-scale weapons  
of every sort. NERV was the first to build the Great Bolter, and derivatives thereof.  
They also had the lead on more exotic forms of hostile expression.

Though both institutions were no longer rivals, they still competed on some unseen  
level. Hence, the prevailing attitude that while NERV may rule with biotechnology,  
without proper help their weapons just -sucked-. NNHIS arms may not be fancy,  
but they were rude and reliable. NERV focused on powerful, if slow-firing weapons  
(such as positron, laser and particle beams) while NNHIS built up an armory of  
rapid-fire large-bore guns. Anything that a human could use...hell, anything that a  
tank or battleship could hold... may be scaled up for an Eva, material stresses be  
damned!

Hence, among other things, the Evangelion Great Boomsti-...Shotgun. It may not  
be as intimidating as the huge Assault Cannon or capable of as much dakka as  
the Great Bolter, but Rei found she rather liked the weapon.

The white Evangelion was running away from her, and if her Eva could use its mouth  
it would have let out a mad cackle. Unit Zero chose not to do anything spectacular,  
but its performance was solid and unshakable in critical support for the others. She  
had already gone through several changes of weapons and battery packs. The  
enemy had learned to fear the ranged advantage.

Mana Kirishima and -Magnos Tancred- ached to join in the skipping skirmishes, but  
bewailed their paltry mobility.

"Kirishima-san! Shoot at me!" Shinji asked.

Jolted out of their musings, the crew complied without thinking. The positron shot  
bent between Units Two and One and chased at the fleeing Unit Four. The beam  
lasted only for a fraction of a second, lacking power; but it was enough to intercept  
and serve as their own alternative for the hypervelocity strikes.

The enemy might never run out of energy, but bit by bit they were sapping its  
capacity to fight. They with aware minds could learn and adapt much faster than it  
could copy their strengths. In a few minutes, they had totally changed the flow of  
battle. Its long-range attack was null as long as one other Eva could put up a field;  
and it could not escape back into the sea so easily. Unit One served fire support  
in a decidely unorthodox manner... salt in the seawater made it a conductor, and  
never had it been so clear just why the Terminatus Legio had the thunderbolt on  
their banner.

"And the natural order has been restored. Asuka get to hack away at things, Rei  
gets to shoot at things with a really big gun, and Shinji Ikari pulls even more weird  
shit with his... with an... AT-field." Ritsuko rubbed at her head. The ahoge began to  
droop down, then perked back up. "Wait, what am I saying? That isn't natural at  
all! Just because something is predictable doesn't mean it's logical!"

"Maah, it's all right. No need to overthink what works, Ritsuko."

"What works against what? We're not really doing any damage to the Angel itself.  
This is... too easy. Why should it provide us with the very instruments of its own  
downfall." The scientist bit her lip. "Huh. That doesn't make any sense either..."

The last few exchanges fared poorly for Eva Unit Four. It was overwhelmed by  
the possibilities and had to flee. It burrowed into a building, and through its  
basement retreated into the Dirac Sea.

Then the buildings began to sink again, and much faster this time. The air tingled  
with ominous feelings.

"Damn! I was wondering when this would happen again. Let's get out of here!"

"Sohryu, the Trident requires our aid."

The Land Dreadnought walked in circles helpless around atop the tallest building it  
could reach, for all its deadly potential showing a puppy-like panic.

"Let me help." said Shinji. "Someone has to keep the shield up. At least lifting  
doesn't require much control over the Eva." The people on the screen gave back a  
'...and what the frak was that thing you were doing, then?'

"This is humiliating..." Mana grumbled over comms as the two Evangelions hauled  
the comparatively dwarfish machine up like so much luggage.

"Hey, there's a lot invested hunk of junk you're in. Not to mention what it takes to  
feed and house you. It's not good to waste any more resources." Asuka quipped.

"Well, thanks for the concern." was the reply, but the sarcastic tone did not quite  
reach.

The Land Dreadnought tilted and dropped, and Asuka barely kept from being  
dragged down with it. "Hey!" she shouted, at Shinji who had so suddenly let go  
and was staring up at the sky. "What's your problem now?"

The purple Evangelion pushed at her roughly, and jumped back. 'The fu-... is he  
trying to pick a fight?'

The largest lightning bolt they had ever seen tore into the building they were  
standing on, coring it right down to the foundations. The flash blinded everyone's  
sensors.

_'Have I mentioned lately how much I hate knowing that the Angels aren't exactly  
stupid?'_ Asuka felt something slam onto her back and changed her fall to a  
faceplant right at the building's edge. Then the she felt herself falling again...  
no... she realized that half the building was starting to slide away.

Blinking to clear the spots from her eyes, she managed to jump again at roughly  
the same time as Unit Zero; both Evas clumsily wedging themselves into the other  
and mostly intact half of the structure.

"Pilot Sohryu, have you been damaged?" At the negative response, Rei turned to  
the other channel with "Pilot Ikari, please respond."

"... i'm 'kay, I think. Mana?"

"... ii-te... i think... i need... to shoot someone in the head..."

"Ack! Ki-kirishima-san! Please stop waving that around...!" someone said from  
inside the Trident.

"Good job teaching the Angel one more trick, Shinji you ass!" Asuka said, but  
without any real rancor. "Ungh. Let's get out of here... I'm getting sick of this shit."

"Understood. We cannot save any more of the city." Rei replied. "Colonel Katsuragi,  
I reque-...!" Whatever she was about to say was cut off as a hand reached out of  
the churning waters to grab at her ankle and drag her down into the all-consuming  
darkness that was Leliel's true being.

She let the fear run through her veins for a few moments, then discarded it. She  
let go of her right hand to keep from dragging Unit Two down with her, but of  
course, Asuka only acted to the quickest and less sensible option.

"Hang on, Ayanami!" the red-haired pilot shouted. "Gah, bastard! Go away!" She  
threw her chainaxe at the enemy, freeing both hands to hold on to her comrade.  
Her feet dipped at the water's edge; the Dirac Sea was still swallowing up  
everything in its maw. Several hours and countless tons of seawater could not be  
taken back so quickly, but she had no way of knowing how deep the waters were.

Unit Four's eyes flashed and it reared up to grab at her ankle instead with its  
other hand. Her stance at the building's edge collapsed and both NERV Evas started  
to slide down despite desperate grabs at exposed structural frames.

There was a distinctive roar, and suddenly their fall stopped. Just barely in time,  
Unit One grabbed a wrist each of its partner Evangelions (left arm for Unit Zero, the  
right for Unit Two) and braced itself against what remained of the third floor Apricot  
Tower concourse.

Unit Four clattered its teeth, like a laughing skull. If one were to look through the  
waters, it was up to its knees inside the Dirac Sea. Just that added immense suction  
to its pull.

Shinji's shoulders burned with the exertion. Without the AT-field, it was a matter of  
mass and resistance. _'Don't let go... don't let go..!'_ he begged the machine spirit,  
unable to trust the distant nerve feedback from his limbs.

Masonry cracked, his foot slipped. He managed to jam his feet into an elevator  
shaft and winced from the twisting of his knee joints. He tried to ignore the  
dislocated bones; even if Unit 01's armor was tough, its own internal structure was  
made to support only itself - not the sudden force of three Evas at once.

Rei realized it well before he did. "You must let one of us go." she said simply. "One  
of us may then force the enemy to release its grip upon the other."

_'Don't... don't...!'_ Shinji screamed inside. _'We're strong! It's not enough to have the  
strength to kill, machine spirit! We have to be strong enough to save them...!'_

His defiant, desperate scream echoed through the command center.

"Oh, gods, no..." Maya muttered softly. "Don't force him to make this choice... not  
like this."

"Can't we do something? Ready all ground defenses! Who else is out there?"  
Misato shouted.

Makoto shook his head sadly. "N... none of the intact defenses have a clear shot.  
We... wait one... the Tempest squadrons are going for a distraction run."

"That would be suicide..." Maya added.

"They know. But... they think it's more than a fair exchange..."

"NO!" Shinj shouted. "No more deaths! No more sacrifices! I won't let it happen!"  
He strained until various popping and cracking noises went out from the commlink  
of his entry plug.

He had never felt more afraid in his life. Nothing that threatened him could ever  
compare to this. Not even in that dark and unreal forest, when hunted by things  
that never knew mercy. _'The same thing I told that damn Sidhe. My flesh may be  
weak... but let my will be the coldest dark iron!' _

What was most infuriating was that unlike say, Nagisa... this Angel was not making  
it personal. Either Eva would do. He could hate it for what it was doing, but not  
for being what it was. It had been so much easier a few months ago, when he did  
not realize to what extent both humanity and the Angels were trapped by an old  
grudge neither really understood.

"Pilot Ikari. You have done this before." Rei said softly. "It is acceptable. I may be  
replaced." She reached with her other hand to pry his grip loose from her wrist.

"NO!" Asuka temporarily pushed off from her own handhold to slap away the other  
girl's hand. The three of them lurched down a bit, and they readjusted their place  
on the tilting building. "No..." she added in a scratchy whisper. "Damn it... I'm  
not... I'm not selfless enough... I don't want to die."

"Then it is simple." Rei replied.

"No! Damn it, I won't be beaten this easily!" She snarled and tried to push up, but  
the concrete just crumbled under her palms. "Let go, dammit! Fucking Angel!" Her  
other foot was wedging her into place; she could not risk it. "Come on! We can get  
through this...!"

Shinji screamed. Everyone could distinctly see Unit 01's left arm was longer than  
the other, the Titan shoulder modules already bent at a steep angle from the torso.

"...move...! MOVE!" Mana screamed as well. -Magnos Tancred- was flat on its  
back, its amor still smoking faintly. "This is when we're most needed! Move, you  
blasted machine! WE DON'T BREAK THAT EASILY!"

Even the red emergency lights of the Trident were broken. The arm controls swung  
without resistance. The others in that dark place pretended they could not hear  
her sobs. There was nothing they could say or do that could help...

"Pilot Ikari, one must fall or we will all fall today." Rei said even more firmly. "I am  
the most expendable of us."

"No one's expendable!" Asuka screeched. "The team's strength depends upon its  
unity! This... this simple thing! We can't let this beat us...!"

"He is in pain! He will die rather than choose between us! I will not let that  
happen." Rei's voice was higher and more resolute than they had ever heard before.  
"If it is your desire to save this world, if you have any regard for him or I, then you  
will let me do this. You are not as selfish as you may think, Sohryu. Now you must  
exercise that human trait... for the Greater Good."

That was the longest single statement they had ever heard from her. Gendo heard  
the emotions in it, but taking in the content of those words... did it mean she still  
obeyed the scenario that she existed for? At least, she did not seem to have any  
illusions about the importance of her well-being, emotionally or otherwise.

"If you even so much as twitch on that hold, Shinji, I'm dragging you into hell  
with me! We started this together, we'll end it together!"

"You are being irrational, Sohryu."

"Shut up!"

There was a piercing shriek, and a loud phwongg! of metal impacting harshly upon  
metal. Unit 01 lurched in its hold, and its grip loosened slightly.

They were the the masters of the most frightening weapons ever made, lords of  
war in their engines of destruction... but they were in the end, just teenagers.  
Though they fought for the same goal, they each had their own distinct ideals  
that could come into conflict at the most inappropriate times.

It was for history to decide if it was Langley-Sohryu's fervent, perhaps even  
delusional attachment to her friend's lives and the perfection of their united purpose  
or Ayanami's own unconcern for her own fate and the feelings of those who valued  
her that drove Ikari into it... but it was clear that he had to make a choice and soon.  
He chose the least painful one.

"Rei... she's right. The most expendable one should do something." he whispered.  
"Your Evangelions are fully-functional. The world needs you more right now."

-Principio Eternus- roared. The synch level started spiking uncontrollably, up to 99  
percent and down to below twenty.

"SHINJI! YOU MORON!" Asuka shouted as he let both of them go to dive at the  
enemy Eva himself. "DAMN YOU! WHAT THE HELL...? NOT AGAIN!"

"Ikari-kun!" Rei gasped, and lunged down. The fingers of her Eva missed by mere  
inches. "Why... do not this to us..."

"Goddamit! Don't you dare sacrifice yourself! That's not an acceptable option...!  
We... fuck you, you damn... idiot hero! How dare you...! We're not... we're not  
going to be -happy- if you abandon us, baka! HANG ON!"

"...agh! I need to get up! Ikari-san! We have a heavy-duty chain for this sort of  
thing!" The Trident's fingers twitched, but that was all. "Damn it all, it's not fair!"

Unit One managed to jam itself into a temporary foothold while the Unit Four tried  
to shift its hold. As the Evangelions grappled once more, Shinji spared some  
attention to speak flatly "... don't get me wrong, Asuka. Rei." A pause. "Maya-san.  
Mana... I care for you deeply. I'm sorry, Misato-san. I'm not doing this just to make  
a point." He grinned slightly. "You're all so strong. I'm only doing this because I  
know you won't fail when it really matters. This Angel wants something out of the  
Evangelions... let me waste its effort!

I trust that you'll rescue me when it's time. THIS is something only I can do." He  
sighed as his feet lost traction. His arms flopped about uselessly. "I'll be fine. It's  
better this way... please. Trust me as I trust you."

"Shinji!"

And then he was gone. Even the lifesign sensors on Maya's panel blanked out. The  
young woman screamed in grief and fury.

"NO! NO! RAAGH! THAT STUPID TOTAL FUCKTARD!" Asuka jumped down into the  
waters, but slammed only into concrete. Leliel constricted its domain to keep  
others from following, and incidentally making it harder to throw bombs into its  
dark pool. The bomb scarabs began to spiral down into a vortex. Correspondingly,  
its shadow also seemed to shrink... until it was about the size of a basketball.  
"...no. Dammit, Shinji..." LCL kept tears from forming.

Rei had sworn her life to his service; but for the first time ever she felt like  
murdering her own beloved, if he actually lived through it. It hurt... never had she  
hurt so much, even through the worst injuries in Gendo's purpose.

Mana Kirishima had simply... fainted, her mind overloading itself with the memories  
and implications.

The sunset was already giving way to the night, and the battle was over. It was  
all so suddenly so peaceful again. Shinji Ikari bought them time to breathe and tally  
the casualties.

It was a little hard to believe that it was actually over.

They lost. For the first time, NERV lost. And to an Angel whose attacks were not  
all that terrifying compared to the others. The enemy chose to retreat. The enemy  
had an objective, and fled after apparently accomplishing it rather than fight on  
to further its ego or its animal instincts.

It was sensible... at the same time totally incomprehensibly... and that was what  
made it too dangerous. The power of the Evangelions were worthless against its  
cowardly moves.

They had no way of knowing just how much time they had before the Angel  
decided it was ready to really get serious and break into the geofront. They had  
no way of knowing what other tricks it had, or what it might pull from its captive.

"He's not DEAD!" Misato spat out, whirling around to glare at everyone staring  
worriedly at her. "Everyone, remember we're still on the job! I need ideas,  
contigencies... now's not the time to slack off, people!" She gave but a single  
moment to rub at her eyes. "That little fool... all right. If we have to save his  
little butt this time, then that's what we're going to do..."

Even Gendo had to clench his fists. _'This is part of the prophecies, too.' _he thought.  
If the writings were totally meaningless, then the events... should they still be  
happening?

-o-

-o-

The Tritonis hydrosuits had limited power servo and myomer assistance, strong  
but lightweight ceramic armor plates, and even had nifty new devices to filter  
oxygen right out of seawater. The artificial gills could not be relied upon for  
primary life support (hence the airtanks) but it was another of the comforting  
redundancies available to those who served in their chosen capacities.

Even with all those features, the Tritonis suits were a steal at around 225 thousand  
dollars; compared to Terminatus (over 30 million) and the Psykana (much of which  
was handcrafted, but still pegged at over 5 million in materials value) armored  
combat suits.

Sgt. Angelo De Leon woke up, groggy. The suit was rated for greater pressures  
than just banging into things, and that fact was perhaps what he owed his life.  
He tried to rub at his aching head, then only later remembered he had a helmet on.

He opened his eyes and saw nothing but murky darkness. He checked the power  
meter on his HUD and switched on both lights and radio. "Tritonis Lead, to Tritonis  
Team. Report in. Repeat. This is Tritonis Lead to Tritonis Teams... or anyone.  
Anyone out there?"

He heard the click-buzz of radio contact. "Tritonis Lead, this is Tritonus Four. Ota  
here, sir."

Another buzz and "Tritonus Five; Katagiri, reporting in."

"Tritonus Two, Takahashi. Damn shame about that Toyota NaVis, sarge. You really  
messed it up when you hit it with your face."

"Tritonus Eight, Nakajima. I got separated from my team, sir."

"All right, I can see some of you. I'm blinking my headlamps right now; everyone  
form up on me."

One by one, shapes emerged from the gloom. Including himself, there were seven  
that got through the attack. He hoped those missing, including the two other team  
leaders, were safe somewhere back at Tokyo-3.

Someone else approached. The differences between their suits went more than just  
being white, instead of their customary marine green. Its shoulders bulged out  
more, and had both arms free instead of the left being encased in a drill. The  
helmet was conical, instead of the flat transparent slabs they had.

"Psykana Attache; Zane. I am at your disposal, sargeant." After a brief pause. "I  
believe Tritonis Three is around here somewhere, but unconscious. There are a two  
more of Sargeant Nakajima's team... hm... not too far away."

"Ah, Chaplain Ortigas. Good to have you aboard." The others were moodily silent, still  
uncomfortable with being around someone blatantly telepathic. There were three  
Tritonis Teams, and his command squad had five members instead of the regulars'  
eight. An attached psyker evened out the team.

Perhaps it was that he found the weirdness more comfortable than being normal.  
God knew he tolerated a lot of insanity from his own crew. Perhaps it was enough  
to have someone whose name sounded similar to his own, and could perhaps share  
in the suffering.

"Sarge. Permission to know what the fuck is going on?" Takahashi asked with a  
salute.

De Leon turned He turned to see the younger soldier approach. His irreverence  
aside, Takahashi was a solid fighter, even if he had a voice that always seemed at  
the edge of open panic. _'Heh. So of course he gets to carry the radio.' _

"What does it look like? We're in the belly of the whale." Only two other people  
there got the reference. He sighed. "All right. For some reason we're still alive. Let's  
gather up the others and see about getting out of here. Morino, give me a few  
pings."

The command squad was composed entirely of specialists in some manner, and  
even his suit had overcharged underwater engines. It also kept the overall cost of  
hydrosuits down; hot-swappable components was an NHHIS philosophy that  
whoever built their new suits thoroughly employed.

"Whoa, hey!" the marine with sentry pack whistled out. "There's a huge structure  
close by. Should I go to active ping to see how big it is?"

"No, get the computer to work out a first residual map. Aand... fuck. We might have  
a little problem here." A number flashed on the depth gauge: 000.

"What does that mean?" the others began to mutter. "This is seawater, I'm sure of  
it..." Takahashi added, feeling the resistance to his waving movement. "And I know  
we're -_not_- at sea level. What other place reads zero to water pressure? Are we in  
SPACE? HOLY FUCK, WE'RE LOST IN SPA-"

"Okay, that's enough of that." Sgt. De Leon used more than the necessary force  
to thwap his subordinate upside the headcase. "Let's find out the others  
that our psyker mentioned. We'll figure out things later."

Technically, the man was still a civilian; but everyone had to deal with uncomfortable  
new necessities. There were nine transponder signals. As the former pastor had  
mentioned only three people, there were six corpses out there.

He sighed. The hydrosuits were also made in such a way that it was easy to  
scavenge capacitors and oxygen tanks from another.

He shared the data and assigned the others to retrieve... whatever they could  
use. Out of some alliterative fit, he took Ota and Ortigas towards the distress  
beacon close to the structure. The depths were utterly devoid of light, with their  
own lamps barely able to light up ten feet in front of them.

Crystal capacitors were hideously efficient. The teams decided that it might cost  
them their sanity to understand how they worked; but it was enough to know that  
with apparatus designed to extract breathable air from seawater, their air tanks  
could be stretched out up to several hours more than just their contents. De Leon  
felt some shame that he felt much more relief at finding the capacitors and air  
tanks still mostly full, than sadness and regret at seeing the Tritonis soldier had a  
cracked faceplate.

That done, they could now turn their attention to the huge structure nearby. The  
murky conditions and limited sonar meant they had very little idea of just how big  
it was. The portion they could see seemed to be a massive carved pillar. It was  
several man-lengths wide, and etched with eerie geometric lines.

The chaplain moved close and ran his palm over the strange stone; like dark ebony  
but marbled with green bands. He traced a line through the patterns and shuddered.  
Tritonis suits were self-contained, made for hours (even days) of operations, but  
everyone felt cold for some reason.

"I... don't know what this is..." muttered the psychic. "But, I'm willing to bet that  
all of this... from the base of this pillar up to the top... it's all one single line,  
never intersecting itself."

"That's insane..." the sargeant said, amazed at the dedication... or compulsive  
insanity... of the builders.

"I know."

Ota began running a high-resolution scan with his sonar, and their shared link  
began to show more pillars, what looked like towers and crenellations, spheres and  
odd shapes, jutting sections with even more odd protrusions, perhaps even  
statues the size of skyscrapers... all in all, like a city, wrapped around an irregular  
and unknowable mass. He began to hyperventilate.

"Rl'yeh! We've found Rl'yeh!" he screamed out, his voice breaking.

"You're... surprisingly well-read." Sgt. De Leon said offhand, to the big guy of  
the group. "And, enough. You're acting like Takahashi."

"To be fair, it could also be Atlantis. Or Lemuria."

"You're not helpiiing..." he added to the psyker.

Shortly after, the others began to arrive. Their numbers bolstened, the Tritonis Kill  
Teams had to consider their options. For the moment, they had to merge into one  
team. Their second problem; they had nothing to kill.

"We can't hope for rescue. Who cares about us grunts? We'll have to get out of  
here on our own, while we still have air and power."

"How do we do that if we don't even know which way is up, sarge?" asked Katagiri.

"First, how big is this thing?" he asked Ota.

"Kilometers wide or tall... at the least."

"Looks like we don't have a choice... maybe there's an air pocket somewhere. We  
don't even know -what- this thing is... maybe there's something in it we can use."  
Redistributing the air and power cells of the dead soldiers improved their situation  
only slightly, but it made them all uneasy anyway.

"It's NOT R'lyeh!" De Leon found himself shouting again and again as they started  
looking around for possible entrances. "Shut up already!"

It was a city of some sort, that was clear enough. There were some hints that it was  
made for man-sized beings but none of them could find any break in the material, as if  
the whole thing was cut out of one large chunk of rock.

"Hey, the material's different here!" Takahashi said over comms a while later. There  
was a clear fissure, and a rough pitted stretch. "I think we have bare rock. This line  
here goes in deep, it separates the city from natural terrain, maybe. This line..." he  
indicated a lesser channel fading off into the distance at an angle "if we trace it,  
think we'll end up somewhere interesting?"

"Let's hope for useful." the marine sargeant mused. The troops followed the line  
as it curved up (or down?), their suits at minimal power mode. After several more  
minutes, the line split into two, curving away on opposite directions. The material  
ahead was different; smoother and somewhat reflective.

Takahashi pressed down on it, feeling its somewhat rubbery texture. "Think it's a  
hatch or something?" he asked. Before the sargeant could warn him off, he pressed  
his arm drill to it and experimentally tried to chip off a section for inspection.

The waters shifted, and from both sides rocky layers surged and came together.  
The Tritonis yelped and skipped back. They watched as the layers separated a bit,  
shut again, then finally again retreated back into the unseen depths.

"Everybody lights off!" Sgt. De Leon spat out, quickly dousing his own. Everyone else  
complied almost immidiately.

"...going by the curvature... I'd have to say this may form a sphere at least a  
hundred meters across." Chaplain Ortigas commented.

"...it's an eye!" Takahashi screeched. "It's a friggin' eye!"

"...we're gonna die..." someone said hoarsely. "We're dead meat. Kami-sama, how big do  
you think its -_teeth-_ are?

"...no, we're not. Everybody just shut up, and think." De Leon too had to take several  
deep calming breaths. "Okay. As long as we don't disturb it, we're safe. It's not going  
to eat us... we're tiny. There's no point, it's like trying to eat a mosquito. We just  
don't give it a reason to notice and try to swat us... hell, it might not even be able  
to. Water would slow down something this big... huh. Relax, you bastards." He gave  
an encouraging laugh. "So far, it looks like we're pretty safe."

"... are... you sure, sir?"

"...no, I'm not sure. But this thing isn't our problem."

"uh... why are we whispering?" Ota asked. "I mean, it doesn't affect radio that much,  
after all. If it's capable of detecting us, then volume doesn't matter."

A pause. De Leon lifted a finger. "Good point. All right, let's backtrack. Don't touch  
the... skin, or whatever the hell that is."

That said, it was still a somber group that drifted back. They were each trying to  
accept the fact that their situation was hopeless. They all knew that they might just  
be burning air and energy in purposeless activity, but that was better than lying  
around waiting to die.

They heard a sound, like a bell from a distance, and a pulse traveled through the  
waters. Each felt a strange tingle in their hearts, with the psyker giving an "oh-ho!" of  
sudden exultation. Then the waters parted powerfully, they were all swept aside as  
something of unimaginable size moved with hurried purpose.

And then, they heard it... a very familiar roar.

-o-  
-o-

Shinji felt the white Evangelion go limp as soon as they came out the other side(?)  
of the Dirac Sea. He felt cold; as if the very waters were sapping his strength. He  
felt the feral mind of his Evangelion retreat, but leaving him enough command over  
its body. Again, he could only guess at his synch level - it was easier to notice  
intensities of pain than numbness.

The Titanicus upgrade, with all accoutrements of T-type equipment, could turn the  
Evangelion from a tactical face into an unstoppable strategic one. Up to fifteen  
days of operation, the heaviest armor mankind ever devised, and some of the most  
ludicrously dangerous weapons systems ever made... it had everything that he  
could possibly want. Hell, the damn engineers of NNHIS even included anti-  
radiation measures and survival stocks; as if the battlefield to come would end up  
with -Principio Eternus- alone and its pilot the last of humanity, amidst a vast and  
broken wasteland.

Pity that what he had was the abbreviated Type-T version. It lacked even simple  
things like searchlights. Evangelion eyes could see in the dark... but not in the total  
absence of light. He had no idea how far 'down' he was, or what lay beyond the inky  
void.

_'Okay. The only thing that would keep this a blatantly stupid move instead of an  
outright suidical one is if I manage to survive until I get rescued.'_ He had no doubt  
that the others would figure something out somehow; poor Akagi-sensei, but she  
was dependable that way.

Something large and spiny obligingly slammed into his back.

_'Agh! All right, this isn't unexpected either.'_ He turned around to face his new  
adversary. _'At least now I get to see what I need to kill...'_ He could use an AT-field,  
just not to any useful strength. An Angel should be able to neutralize an opposing  
AT-field, not to prevent it from forming... only when a pattern exists could it be  
countered and destroyed.

Shinji did not understand the principles behind the Dirac Sea; he was intelligent, true  
enough, but no scientific genius. His brilliance lay with sociopolitical strategy, and in  
battlefield improvisation.

He could not see it, but it had him in a tight tentacular grip. Something was sucking  
at the back plates of his neck armor, trying to rip the Type-T battery packs right off  
to get at the entry plug hatch.

He felt blinding pain, and then nothing more...

-o-

Shinji felt that things were odd, but for some reason also that it was not important  
enough to worry about. Dreams were out-of-context situations. He did not explore  
why he was inside an empty train, or where he was going. It was enough that he  
was in it. Nor did he question why there was a younger version of himself at the  
opposite seat.

His head swam with sensations; he could taste the sounds passoing through the  
train's aluminum skin, and feel the colors with his eyes. Open space would probably  
have been painful, but the strange mundanity of the situation probably protected  
him from the worst effects. It might be a metaphor somewhere, but he did not care  
to examine it. The train went into a tunnel, blanking out with darkness the scenery  
outside the windows and muffling most of the noise.

"Who are you?" he asked the other.

"I am the self that watches itself." the boy replied.

"... and of course, not even here would I escape pedantic statements." Shinji  
sighed. Then again, perhaps Asuka was right... he did somewhat like punishing  
himself. He understood, somehow; he had sworn never to let go of that sense of  
wonder he felt so long ago. He must always be a child inside, always eager to  
face the world, to learn, and to cherish his loved ones with all of his being.  
"Is it really so hard to speak plainly?"

"Language is insufficient." his younger self shrugged. "Words are merely vehicles  
for the truth, not truth itself. I am the Shinji Ikari as Shinji Ikari sees Shinji Ikari.  
But the Shinji Ikari is always two."

"Two?" He did not expect any less than three; the id, ego and superego... and  
would not have been surprised to find even more personality divisions than that.

"There is the Shinji Ikari according to what Shinji Ikari says Shinji Ikari is. Then  
there is the Shinji Ikari that others see. The one that watches, and the one that is  
watched."

The space within the train seemed to expand, and again Shinji found no reason to  
think it unnatural. Others wearing his face appearing in front of him did not disturb  
him in the least, even if he could actually say to himself '... _I should really be  
freaking out right now_.'

One Shinji seemed to hunch into himself, arms straight down and hands together  
almost protectively over his groin. He looked up and his eyes were full of yearning. He  
had on an apron over his bland indoors wear. "I am the Shinji Ikari in Misato  
Katsuragi's mind. Do I want to just disappear?"

One more Shinji had a devilish, nearly psychotic grin. His plug suit and hair was still  
slick with LCL. "I am the Shinji Ikari in Asuka Langley-Sohryu's mind. Am I strong  
enough?"

Another stood relaxed, but wary. His gaze flicked from side to side, alert for any  
sudden threats. He had on a black long-sleeved shirt, which Shinji rather liked; since  
it reminded him of a Return the Jedi Luke Skywalker. "I am the Shinji Ikari in  
Rei Ayanami's mind. Have I prepared myself for what must be done?"

Beside him stood one with arms akimbo and confident half-smile, his very demeanor  
seeming to glow with golden heroism. He did not have the build, nor the  
'S' on his chest, but held all the unstoppable idealism. Not even the peaked and  
skull-faced black cap to complete the Comissar outfit disturbed the optimism of the  
scene. "I am the Shinji Ikari in Mana Kirishima's mind. Do I really care about what  
happens to those who need me?"

Next up had his palms together in a prayerful pose, but when he looked up his eye  
glittered with cold fury. "I am the Shinji Ikari in Maya Ibuki's mind. How many of  
my enemies must I see broken before I am satisfied?"

And so on. To mold a scenario, Shinji necessarily needed to know enough of how  
other people would think, and how to present them with what they wanted. Their  
convictions had to resonate for anything useful to happen. Apparently, Gendo Ikari  
would occasionaly and disturbingly see his son wearing the longer hairstyle of his  
wife. Ritsuko Akagi had a Shinji contemplating orange-tinted sunglasses in his  
hand. Toji had a buddy-Shinji in the uniform and headband of an old shounen cliche  
protagonist; the deliquent's boss and school 'guardian'. Kensuke's was much  
similar, only weilding a rocket launcher. On and on and on... so many Shinjis, as  
seen by so many people... they filled the horizon.

_'Why the hell should a train cabin have a horizon?'_

He blinked, and things were as they once were. He had to look up, for his younger  
self was not creepily close. "Are you afraid? We can never control the ourselves that  
is in others. We are always incomplete. We are in pain."

He was. As he had said before, who wears the face of humanity for him? Giving the  
fighters better ways to fight also decreased their chances of getting killed. His eyes  
were wide, his pulse was loud; he was terrified.

"There is always pain." Shinji replied hoarsely. "There is always fear. There is  
always sacrifice."

"It hurts. Make it stop."

"No." Shinji felt a pang of guilt, as the tone of his force made his younger self  
cringe. "It hurts more not to have them, than to suffer just for their sake. I won't  
sacrifice them."

He heard Asuka's voice as from afar. "..**_. I hate those who pretend. It's bad enough  
to be weak, why would anyone want that?_**"

The emotions of all those months ago, it came flooding back. His hands were  
shaking again... the rage at his own weakness, it only he was faster! If only he  
could kill with a look! The taste of desperation was at the roof of his mouth.  
Fortunately he had remembered... victory comes from strength and skill, but not  
necessarily all from one source.

The Evangelion saved Asuka. That incident helped mold his later choices. What was  
he without the Evangelions? He respected and was grateful for the power of the  
machine gods. The power of humanity was in its ability to fully use whatever tools  
they had at their disposal.

Then, Rei's voice. "..**_. it is true. He has killed me_**." Shinji flinched, at the look his  
younger self gave him. He could hardly believe he made that decision, or that Rei  
would so willingly follow it. That scared him too, and it felt a piece of his soul was  
still scarred from that event.

By comparison, choking someone to death with his own bare hands did not really  
bother him all that much.

"He is afraid." he was told.

The harsh, booming shout of a Legio Terminator "... **_and WE SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!_**"

"He is afraid of being hurt."

Misato's voice, that night so long ago; and the heat of her body around him.  
**_"Promise me you won't abandon me, Shinji? You won't just go away?"_**

"And then he deserted them."

"I came back!" he shot back.

As expected, his younger self was cold and unforgiving as a cyclone. "He wants to  
do everything. He wants to do nothing. He wants power to save them all. He rejects  
the power that he may actually use. I don't understand anything about this..."

"There are... different forms of power. I had to... I had to move fast, but the only  
other way... the world isn't ready. So much blood was already shed after Impact;  
we couldn't afford another world war while under attack from the Angels."

-Principio Eternus-... whatever happened to the unity they shared? He was unused  
to being rejected, and the few instances cut deeper than it would have anyone who  
had to live with being 'normal'. 'I tried so hard to be worthy of whatever advantages  
I have to use for my scenario...'

His father's voice **_"... I do what must be done. I will not apologize."_**

"Guh."

"He already knows they're all going to die. He is afraid to admit that he's already  
preparing for that time. It would be stupid not to have a plan when things go  
wrong. That's why thinking about it hurts." His younger self leaned closer and  
whispered into his ear. "Shinji-kun Is Not A Good Boy."

Shinji clutched his head with both hands and screamed.

-o-

-o-

Mana Kirishima rubbed at her left arm while waiting for the meeting to begin. It  
was her first time to be allowed into NERV's Conference Room, where the  
developing legends of humanity's potentially last age planned out how to snatch  
victory out the very gullet of defeat.

The airconditioning was set too low, it was not a large as she had expected, and  
everyone was in a bad mood. She had a feeling their planning sessions were not  
nearly as 'fun' as she had assumed.

Eventually Ritsuko arrived, with Maya following behind and carrying the projection  
equipment. Everyone turned to her expectantly.

"Finally!" Asuka said, banging her fist upon the table. "What do you have for us,  
Ritsuko-sensei?"

Ritsuko's blond hair glistened dully under the light. "It's only been a few hours,  
Asuka. I may try to break physics as we know it, but I can't overcome the limits of  
my own biology." She sank to her seat and rubbed her forehead. "For the  
moment... let's go over the data before we formulate any conclusions. Maya?"

"Uh, okay. Ahem. The Angel. As far as we can tell, it exists within this region of  
altered space, supported by an inverted AT-field." She changed the image into a  
more helpful diagram showing a colored funnel over Tokyo-3. "As a side-effect it  
also creates a strong electromagnetic disturbance in the atmosphere above it. It  
can manipulate the conductivity of objects within this space to fulfill different  
modes of action..."

A short video loop of the bomb scarabs and a picture of Evangelion Unit Four  
showed onscreen.

"It's a tool user." Misato hissed out. "I don't know about you folks, but that  
sounds like bad news to me."

Kozo Fuyutsuki added in his lecturing tone "Humanity is the apex predator on this  
planet because of our our ability to alter the environment to our advantage. No  
animal has ever proven too strong for a determined man with a spear." Perhaps  
it was best that mankind's worst enemy has always been itself, as given their  
increasing tendencies to drive other creatures into extinction.

_'I wonder if this is how a tiger feels, when it finally realizes it's the one being  
hunted?'_ he mused. The professor glanced aside to Gendo, who looked only faintly  
disapproving.

"Unit Four. Is it recoverable?" Gendo asked, a warning note to his voice... he did  
not want to give out any hints to the Dummy Plug system.

"It doesn't seem to have a pilot, but the method the Angel uses to control it is  
still.. undefined." Ritsuko replied. "Yes, I know pilot Ikari managed to duplicate it  
-somehow- ... but we'll have to ask him that when we get him back. I'm not going  
to waste any time on something too subjective to be useful. There's so much we  
don't know, and only having Unit Four can we test if it's stil viable as our own  
weapon."

"The most important thing right now is recovering Shinji!" Misato shot out.

"I agree, Katsuragi."

Everyone blinked, again surprised at Gendo's behaviour. Outwardly, the man's face  
was as grim as ever. The boy would serve just as well as a martyr, but he could  
guess SEELE was likewise as perplexed as to how far the prophecies were still  
applicable.

"Uhm. I hate to say this... but whatever you decide to do, the UN gives us a time  
window of two, maybe three hours, from the instant the Angel goes active again.  
That's how long it would take for the nukes to converge."

"Kaji!" Misato gasped.

"What? I'm only the messenger. You're the ones who tried to so hard to convince  
the world just how dangerous it would be to let the Angels claim Tokyo-3. So... " He  
leaned back on his chair and grinned rakishly. "Good job, there."

Misato took deep calming breaths, reminding herself that Kaji did not mean  
whatever he implied. After all, everyone would make sure he remained at ground  
zero if the worst should happen.

"We have sufficient N2 stocks to carry out a similar strike, their help in that area is  
not... necessary." Gendo added. "Akagi. How feasible is this situation for the  
Angel?"

"You just said earlier that recoving the pilot was our first priority!" Misato shouted  
at him. He frowned slightly.

"Unit One must be recovered intact. One must plan for the worst before taking the  
optimistic option, Katsuragi. However, we still have two other Evangelions if the  
Angel makes recovery far too risky. Do you believe pilot Ikari would have it any  
other way?"

It was disturbing to them how easily they could understand Shinji's actions if put  
under context of 'What would Gendo Ikari do, if he wasn't such an amoral and  
self-serving bastard?'

Ritsuko turned back to the screen. "The Dirac Sea and its shadow has a ratio of  
about three and fourteen." She set aside the feeling those numbers were significant  
for later examination. "It can constrict or expand its region of altered space, but for  
now it has a diameter of just under eight meters."

"Barely enough to fit our N2 mines." Misato bit her lip, unsure if she should feel  
relieved.

"Well, if we plan on doing -anything- at all, then the Evangelions should try  
widening that hole. And no, I don't know how. The Dirac Sea is a theoretical model,  
not until today have we actually considered seeing a practical example. Even with  
the AT-field, the energy required to keep it stable is... ungh." Ritsuko huffed. "I need  
to run some more calculations. Just assume that the Evas can expand the domain...  
you figure out methods of recovery or attack."

"How long can...Shin-.. the Evangelion last?"

"The Evangelion had reserve power up to fifteen hours of full operation, Misato-  
sempai." Maya replied. "At minimal power mode, it can stretch those reserves to...  
two weeks."

"Of course, the pilot would die of hypothermia long before that, anyway." Ritsuko  
put in.

"Well, how about keeping most life support active?" Asuka asked, if the same thing  
should happen to her.

"Entry plug life support is a... side-effect... of the Evangelion's own internal  
activity. I'd say... three days."

"It would be INSANE to expect the Angel would do NOTHING for that long. We don't  
know what's happening in there or what it's going to do next. We need to move  
before it does!" Misato stood up and looked at everyone's faces in turn. Her gaze  
lingered on Kaji a bit, then up towards the ceiling. "Okay, you said we can just  
assume that we can open up the Angel, thanks Ritsuko. But how do you think our  
chances are of just yanking out Unit One?"

Two Evangelions to open up the Dirac Sea, one to dive into it, and a Trident to reel  
the catch back in. It was an incredibly risky plan, whereas just mass-bombing the  
shit out of Leliel would cut their losses with just one Eva.

"You're actually lucky. While I may have said something about the Dirac Sea  
leading to another universe, it would be silly to imagine a universe filled with an  
infinity of seawater. The problem is the third and fourth dimensions... do we have  
a chain long enough? Do we have enough time to reach Unit One and pull it back  
out? What would happen if the Angel is somehow killed while the Evangelions are  
inside... would they be stuck in another dimension, or just simply die along with it?"

"You can understand why the UN is so nervous about this, Misato?" Kaji said with a  
sigh. "The Angels... they're getting too unpredictable. What you're hoping for is too  
risky..."

"But we're going to try anyway, aren't we?" Asuka shouted. "What kind of world  
are we fighting for if it won't even allow us the chance to save those who defend it?  
Just because were ready to give our lives is no reason to take it for granted, the  
Greater Good isn't just about the few sacrificing for the many! No, dammit! We  
have to do this - even the many have their duty! And that's to TRUST us, those who  
actually know what the hell the full consequences are!"

"Calm down, Asuka...! It's a reasonable fear... and we have plenty of time. You  
can't really blame them for being human. And I'M Operations Director- and I say  
the risks are worth it." She looked up and licked her lips. "All right. From now on  
we're planning Operation... uhm..."

Ritsuko sighed. "Didn't we all already agree that you weren't allowed to make up  
any more Operation names? Look, I'll make it easy for you." She reached for her  
laptop and pressed a few keys. "Here's a random string generator. Three words,  
verb, adjective, noun; as you like it."

She watched the computer process the command and spit out a name. There  
was a distinct 'poing!' as a clump of hair broke off from gel holding it down. The  
scientist groaned and palmed her face. Misato looked over her shoulder and quipped  
"Nice!"

"All right, everyone! Let's get this session really started!" Misato grinned hugely.  
"From now on we put our faith in **Blast Hard Cheese!**"

-o-  
-o-

Shinji Ikari may show such diamond control to others who see him, he was no  
emotionless freak. He could present whatever face others expected, but could  
never lie to himself. He was a human being, and as such had emotions... he could  
not deny these, nor how they colored his thoughts.

It had been a long time since he had accept these in pure, searing form. He heard  
their voices so close by... and despite whatever idealizations he raised, had to deal  
with the tide of pain, fear, and the ginormous (if actually normal and predictable)  
teenage lust. His plains bubbled and boiled from the surface of his consciousness...

Take all possible eventualities of a point in three-dimensional space and it becomes  
another point in five dimensions. There was a great blank spot in front of his vision,  
and all around it were uncountable voices... asking what do, what to think, why  
is it so; do we need to hurt so much in being alone?

Then...

An eagle screeched. Thunder broke. Light flashed and his vision cleared.

A regal voice said, sneering. "Something seems missing here. Where is the Shinji  
Ikari that I seek in my mind? Where is the young king that stands at the limits of  
my vision?"

Shinji blinked. "Farseer-sensei?"

The churning energies of the Warp faded from behind her back. She sat beside him  
and patted his head. "I apologize, child. We are conversant pieces, so of course we  
cannot be considered your 'subconscious' motivations. It took some time for us to  
realize your mind was not in a dreaming state."

She tilted her head aside. "The simplest answer would be... we are under chemical  
influence. That is why context solutions that should have been second nature to you  
failed to notice anything amiss."

His younger version looked up in surprise, which was all that Shinji needed to know  
it was something beyond the weirdness inherent even in dreams. "Who ARE you?"  
he hissed.

The boy cringed and stepped back. "I am... Shinji Ikari as... Shinji Ikari sees  
himself..."

"True enough." the Farseer replied. "And at the same time, a blatant falsehood."

There was a wrenching sound, and the tip of sword sparking with energy cut around  
the doors of the cabin. A gloved hand peeled off the metal, and into the ludicrously  
adjusted space stepped a Space Marine in blood-red armor. He had to bend to fit  
inside. "Where is he, that is the commander of my will? Where is he that lays the  
foundations of my faith?"

The same happened to the other door at the far end of the cabin, only the sword  
was carrion-black, and sparked with tendrils of purplish energy. The Chaos Space  
Marine entered, his spiked armor oozing with malice. "Where IS the bright lord that  
shines through the mist of CHAOS? Where is he that doubts, where is he that  
denies, where is he whose wrath would shatter this world?"

The boy stepped back, and seemed frightened. Shinji felt the reality of that fear, a  
portion of his soul stood there... that it sees only itself? But... even if hfe considered  
these other fragments of his personality separate, if simply for entertainment  
value... there was no reason for their presence to be unexpected.

The Space Marine and the Chaos Marine saw each other at opposite ends, with  
weapons similar yet totally opposite. They bared their teeth at each other.

"Oh, please. You finally get the chance to become corporeal again and what's the  
first thing on your mind? Fight each other. Again." the Farseer sighed. She was  
still rubbing Shinji's head, as if he was a kitten or something.

From outside there was a loud clanking and banging noise, and the roar of mutiple  
engines, and a growling shout "OI! WHO CUT ME BRAKES? WHICH BUTTON MAKES  
DE AFTA'BURNA GO?"

Something dark and large passed in front of the windows, and then a gut-wrenching  
impact. There was the sound of tearing metal, the feel of cold rushing air on his  
face; the knowing the entire train was going offf the rails and inexplicably flying  
through the air with the greatest of ease... tumbling, sky, ground, sky, ground, was  
that a potted plant? Then, WHAM!

Darkness.

-o-

It was a familiar sound, the gentle roll of waves upon the beach. It was a familiar  
feeling, the cold shore winds stroking his skin. He tried to sit up and open his eyes.  
"Ungh...!" His mouth tasted bitter, and it was as if knives were being driven into his  
skull.

"Be at ease, my young king. Even the mind must acknowledge that it is born of the  
brain, which is held aloft by the body. Slowly, we are recovering connections to  
your true self..."

Blinking, slowly Shinji took in that he was in that beach so long ago. He looked up to  
see his younger self standing upon the waters. He clutched at the back of his head,  
feeling a burning pain there. His shoulders, his wrists, and his left side just below the  
ribs felt as if pierced by large meathooks.

Beside him, the Farseer took off her mask, and she sneered again at the false vision.  
Her armor was bone-white, and faintly flickering with sparks of energy. Her night-  
black skirt and cloak fluttered in the wind, eldritch runes glowing blue upon the cloth.

Behind her, the Space Marine and Chaos Marine approached; twisted reflections of  
each other. They stood superhumanly tall, the weight of their armor sinking deep  
prints into the sand, and their weapons were already at the ready.

Behind them, was the monstrously large form of the Warboss, which dwarfed even  
the fruits of Adeptus Astartes implants and armor. He thumped at his own head with  
his Power Claw. The energy through the blades tingled, and he laughed; showing the  
jagged teeth inside his oversized jaw. He walked over, hunched and clumsy, in his  
clunky assortment of boxy parts and gears and oversized guns that served as his  
'Eavy Armor.

And behind him, was a mangled train wreck. One of the cabins was pierced through  
by a wartrukk, which then exploded for no readily apparent reason.

Shinji decided to ignore whatever all of this was metaphor for; but had to admit it  
it was such a relief to see them again.

He turned back to the ocean. "I see... for all of the Angel's grand gestures, and its  
ominous appearance... we were all misled."

"It is not a shadow." hissed the Chaos Marine. "It is a MIRROR. Even as it fills our  
veins full of poison, and sets our flesh stinging from corruption; what it seeks most is  
the SECRET by which we defeat beings much greater than ourselves."

"I want it to stop hurting..." his younger self whimpered. One by one, other versions  
of Shinji Ikari began to rise from the ocean; the waters were silvery under the sun,  
and each persona showed a flickering reflection.

There were hundreds, each distinct, and slowly even more were appearing. Every life  
that the boy had touched, every mind that he had ever felt, had a vision that they  
believed was the real person.

"... what is this?" Shinji asked, grimacing. "I can hear... so much weeping. So much  
regret."

"I don't want anybody to ever die again... I don't want to lose what I know now..."  
the boy whispered. The others around him echoed. "I know it now. I still don't  
understand. They all die. Everything dies."

"Where is it that the xeno may place its trust? In its terrible power? In the  
multiplication of its abilities, in copying our force of arms? No army is big enough to  
conquer the galaxy." The Space Marine lifted his Power Sword and shouted "But faith  
alone can overturn the universe!"

"The great enemy lacks imagination." the Farseer mused. "The immortal fears death  
most of all, and cannot imagine how it is that we keep on succeeding on what should  
have been impossible. We Eldar know this best, the pain of losing such a light upon  
the cosmos, the absence made even keener by how long it has shared its warmth."

"Wot's dis... wossname, doing' being' all emo en stuff? We's not gonna hold back  
from stompin' no pimply grot."

"You do not know the meaning of SACRIFICE, creature; and you are as gods unto  
yourselves. Your bloods calls out, but no one answers. You cannot offer the Bright  
Lord that which is a DEBASEMENT of the power he already holds...!"

"He pretends." the boy snarled. "He is alone, but not alone. If he does not stop  
hurting, then he will die...!"

"What is the terror of death...?" intoned the Space Marine. "That we die our work  
incomplete!" He stabbed his sword into the sand. "What is the joy of life...?" He  
knelt and before it, then drew it again, to point at the sea and the vision there.  
"To die knowing our task is done!"

"... we know death." the Farseer said. "And we know suffering. Let us educate  
you on your misconceptions of their meaning."

Shinji took a deep breath and stood up. He gave his younger self a commanding gaze.  
"Answer me this, then... where is the Shinji Ikari AS THE ANGELS SEE HIM?"

His younger self screamed and began to claw at his own face. "It hurts...! I don't  
want to go back...!" Angels did not even realize humans were sentient beings for a  
long time. The Evangelion, their enemy, they could not concieve these could be  
anything other than a corrupt and flawed versions of themselves. His scheeches of  
pain were echoed by the reflections all around, the frenzied sounds mixing together  
into a throaty roar.

All of them began to writhe, and pull their eyeballs from their eyesockets. Bright white  
light issued forth from within their skulls. Blood dripping down their faces turned black,  
while their skin and clothes seemed to rot away from their bodies in cracking flakes.  
The silvery surface of the ocean flowed up, etching away at the flesh, burning what  
it touched.

Shinji winced, he could feel an echo of the horrific experience. As each of his other  
selves finally burst into bluish flame, his own breath steamed up. He gasped hard for  
cool air into his lungs.

Mist rolled in from the sea, from the evaporated waters beneath false pyres. A figure  
stepped out from the fog, long-limbed and clawed. It was humanoid, roughly the size  
of a young male teen; but utterly featureless. Its skin seemed to be formed of some  
black leathery material that drank in all light, and sparks of energy crawled across its  
body. Its face was noseless, but had large round glowing eyes, like a night  
scavenger caught by surprise. It opened its beak-like maw, and screeched. Strange  
burning light shone from deep within.

Other similar figures emerged, more and more, and their animal screeches began to  
fill the air.

This was how the Angels saw Shinji Ikari; something they did not understand but  
became f their boogeyman. It was the furthest they could imagine, something so  
intrinsically inimical to their kind. The power within the Evangelions... beings of pure  
murder.

"I accept this offering in the spirit in which it is given." Shinji said flatly. He glanced  
aside to his advisors. "They are afraid, because they do not understand. They hate,  
because they do not grasp." He smiled thinly. "Now let them know, let them feel, and  
let them see what it's like to have despair. "

The twisted reflections screeched and charged out en masse. Shinji felt the Farseer's  
arms envelop him again, and they both teleported away just before they would have  
been overrun.

"Now dis is more like it! I'z been waitin'!" the Warboss yelled out eager, hobbling  
foward and swinging his weapons. "It's time for a roight and propa... WAAAGH!"  
His double blasta-cannon ripped into the center of the swarm, but the shadowy  
mass merely had other figures clamber over the fallen.

"THEN LET IT BE DONE! CLEANSE!" The Space Marine dived into combat. "PURGE!" The  
Bolt Pistol in his right hand scattered a group. "KILL!" With the Power sword in his left  
hand, he cut a swath through their ranks. "FOR THE EMPEROR...!"

"BY THE MIGHTY AXE OF KHORNE!" The Chaos Marine kept a two-handed grip on his  
sword, but baleful flames licked at the blade and he could lash out with it as a  
cleaving whip of unholy energy. "LET THIS WORLD BE CUT OPEN!" One of the  
shadowy creatures gashed into his face with its claws, and his blood pulsed out.  
It combusted into black flame into anything it touched, and the thing that dared  
wounded him died screaming and in pain.

"DAKKA DAKKA! STOMP EN SLASH! WAAAAGH!" The Warboss sycthed through whole  
packs of the enemy with his massive Power Claw, popping heads right off at the neck.  
"Whoza doin, ya runts? IZZAT ALL YA GOTZ?"

The chaotic scratching, screeching, biting black mass suddenly parted. One of the  
shadow figures was half-crouched at the other open end, like a wolf baying at the  
moon. It opened its mouth and SCREAMED out a beam of boiling black energy.

_'...mugyuu?'_ thought the Warboss, as the blast knocked his bulk up into the air and  
crashed on his back. He wobbled like a hapless green turtle; and roared in outrage.  
He was instantly swarmed over by more of the enemy.

There was a boom, as the Ork set off a stikkbomb point-blank in front of his own  
face just to give himself some breathing room

The Space Marine and his Traitor counterpart were hard to pin down; every single  
movement killed. One of the shadow reflections opened its mouth to scream out its  
beam of pain and fear and hate distilled; but it just ate a Bolt round before it could  
fire anything off.

Something clanked off his shoulder, and he turned to look. Over the mellee, somehow  
the two engineered superhuman warriors now stood pauldron to pauldron. It took  
great strength of will not to turn his swing and just cut down the traitor where he  
stood. "What is this lunacy? Can you not fight by yourself?"

"I assure you, this is NOT by choice. I shall recompense your insult LATER, but for  
now... look. Even I know best to stand aside a green behemoth throwing a tantrum."

Indeed, the Warboss was going berserk. He seemed to have forgone shooting the  
enemy with unusually large-caliber automatic slug guns, but to maul them with a  
clumb made out of other shadow creatures squished together and bound by glue-  
like spit and machine oil.

"And have I MENTIONED he is ON FIRE?"

Shadow creatures clawing at the Warboss so long tended to combust too, leading  
them to screeching away in pain, landing on the others filling the beach. Thereby  
setting even -_more_- aflame. And so on.

More enemies were rising out from the tides. A distance away, on a small rise in the  
terrain, Shinji watched the battle unfold. _'It's... like an infection.'_ he thought. _'But  
they're not antibodies, they stand like a dam... or...'_

"A firewall?"

"How long can they last? This... it's still a metaphor, isn't it? Yet... it's more than  
that too. I don't understand. I can still feel the chemical imbalance."

"Now that you are conscious, we may begin trying to purge the poison." The Farseer  
tilted her head aside, and touched her lips in a shushing noise. "Do you hear that?  
The connections restraining our confused machine-god are being broken from the  
outside. No, as long as a single human lives, we are not without hope."

The shadow creatures stopped spitting out their beam attacks from their mouths  
and began to gather. Their forms flowed together into a viscous mass, growing and  
rising, until all together they became a grotesque amalgamation of centipede, spider,  
and arthropod parts.

It was huge, easily the size of an Evangelion. Its segmented shell had a spiny texture,  
and had four oversized mantis-like arms apart from its thousands of smaller legs (that  
all ended in sharp points anyway). Its head had antennae stalks instead of wiggly  
tendrils, but was disgusting anyway. It let out an air-piercing shriek and showed off  
its hooked mandibles.

"Oh, come on!" Shinji shouted in irritation, then palmed his own face. "You think that's  
going to scare them? You just gave them a -_challenge_- to -_enjoy_-!"

"Leave the boys to their fun, child. Come, there is someone I would have you meet."

He gave the warring pieces of his personality one last look, and turned away. He  
could feel their undisguised joy at the carnage. He followed the Farseer into the  
trees around the beach.

As the sounds of battle faded, and the deeper they went into the copse of light  
deciduous trees, Shinji felt his heart lighten. The pain in his veins faded as if to  
a distance. The scenery was changing, no longer what he remembered of his  
hometown. There was a park beside a small river, and the feeling there... such  
timeless peace and contenment...

He felt slightly euphoric, and that was what set off his unease. He did not like being  
influenced, again, from the outside.

Waiting there on a bench was a woman with neck-length brown hair and a lab  
coat. She turned and smiled as she saw them approach.

"Go on, Shinji." the Farseer said. "You must face this alone..."

The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, it was such a happy scene. He felt  
like crying...

"Who are you...?" he asked, his throat hoarse.

The woman shook his head. "Now, that's just rude, Shin-chan. Don't your recognize  
me?" Yui Ikari stood up and walked over to her son. She smiled playfully. "My,  
you've grown into a strong young man, haven't you? And in ways I could never have  
predicted!"

She giggled, while rubbing her palms together. How cute, and yet somehow also  
terrifying beyond words. "Oh, you make me so proud!"

Her face, her smile. He could never mistake that. "...you... my mother? How?" Shinji  
stood as if petrified. _'Let it really be her. Please... don't let it be another cruel trick...'_

He could remember feeling safe, even if he could not remember her face, but after  
that... only emptiness. Her death was the start, it shook all the world he had ever  
known.

"It doesn't really surprise me though. Don't you remember what I said, the last time  
we met, my precious little Shin-chan?" Yui placed her open right hand on his face,  
just covering his eyes. "Humans... can become anything." she whispered.

-o-  
-o-

Tokyo-3 was still at full alert. Civilians were being evacuated from their shelters,  
using the secondary tunnels. Those in shelters that were breached managed to  
relocate just in time, and seal the tunnel behind them.

Amazingly, there was not one civilian death. The property damage was horrendous,  
but since they were still rebuilding after Iruel's attack most people were cautious  
about buying things that they did not need. The residential blocks were untouched  
and most of the buildings left aboveground were owned by NERV, anyway. Most  
businesses were content to pay somewhat exorbitant rent rather than have to  
shoulder rebuilding costs.

Military casualties... now that was a different matter.

Cerberus base grew around Trident base, as men and machinery arrived to bolster  
the regiment. There was not much they could do in about one and a half weeks since  
their pronouncement but to hastily throw around a few new barracks and motor  
pools. Now most of those new structures were empty and still. They had to blast a  
channel out from the hillsides so the water could flow down; even Lake Asahino was  
not low enough for drainage. The swell of its waters allowed pleasure boats to serve  
as rescue craft for those stranded in the city.

Yang looked at the reports, and sighed. He ignored the congtratulations and  
indreculous looks. More than half of Tritonis Team was MIA. Those men were  
supposed to be attached to landing parties based on the refit transport cruisers...  
it was odd luck that they had to be called on to serve so soon.

He turned back to the videoconference screen. "No, I will not evacuate. If you  
have to launch, then do so." He held up his hand to stifle further protests. "Enough.  
China is strong, and you don't need me around anymore. This however, isn't a  
problem that may solved by deciding to just up and invade."

Being that he was still in the command center, there were suspicious looks at  
that. Yang chuckled lightly, then casually turned back to the screen.

"It's 2016." he said with a shrug. History was done; that was his own personal  
credo. One had to learn from it and move on. The golden age of man was always  
in the future, not the nostalgia of the past. "NERV has given over the launch window.  
I suggest you make use of that while it's still possible."

He closed the connection. "...What?" he asked, amused, at the looks the others were  
giving him. "You have no problem with being nuked -again- by the Americans, then  
the Russians, and perhaps the French... but strikes from China bother you?"

Col. Nasuno made as if to say something, then realized it did not really matter. "We  
may not have strategic reserves, but it's not going to be... pretty... if someone  
'misses' the launch window." He shrugged. "It's a crazy plan anyway. So chances are  
that we just might live through this."

At that, Yang had to laugh. It was somewhat bitter. "Despite everything, this place  
still gives us hope. You're right, colonel, too many people died already, for us to  
waste this chance."

-o-  
-o-

Misato Katsuragi had a headache. She had stayed the night in her office, and just  
hoped her apartment was still all right. It was a small concern, since there was still  
so many more worries to work out. Pen-pen was a capable bird, she just hoped he  
was not too annoyed by his fridge defrosting again.

The only important thing was taking back Unit One and Shinji.

It would be fair to say that paperwork was the bane of her existence, but it surprised  
her to see how many people were willing to submit -request forms- to take a suicide  
mission just to retrieve Unit One. She had no idea how all the mind mojo worked, so  
was unwilling to trust anything with it. Then again, she also had no idea how  
Ritsuko's plan actually worked... but she trusted Ritsuko.

It all came down to trust in the end. Being under full alert meant she was still in full  
control over NERV's assets, not Gendo. She felt out of her depth, drowning in the  
responsibility. The casualty figures alone...!

She touched her father's cross. She had never really been religious, but knew  
enough from her own military experience the words "... the greatest love it is to give  
one's life for a friend." She had half-expected complaints about her handling of the  
situation, calls of incompetence... but everyone was just angry that they could not  
do more.

This in contrast to the ugly mood passing through the civilians. Though amazingly  
none of them had died, their experiences varied. There were those who had grown  
used to the destruction, laughing about how predictable it was, trying to hide their  
fear. There were those who had grown tired of living on the edge. There were also  
the foreigners brought in, willingly or unwillingly. They had no idea it could get so...  
wild. There was a difference between watching Evangelions on the screen and feeling  
the fury of their battles shake the very earth beneath.

Her desk phone rang. "Katsuragi-san, there's some activity with the Angel. It's  
expanding again." Makoto said through the receiver.

"Do we have enough power for what Ritsuko wanted?"

"Twenty-three hours of the entire output of Japan... some of the capacitors have  
already overloaded. She says it's still barely more than half, but the Evangelions  
would just have to try." And in a tone imitating Ritsuko "It's all experimental anyway."

"All right. How about the pilots?"

"Suited up and being taken to their Evangelions now. Oh, and of course the Trident  
too." He rather liked the whole 'always ready to go' approach of the machine. "Since  
it can't fit into the launch rails, it's waiting at one of the outside elevators."

Misato nodded. "Good. Let's get this done."

-o-  
-o-

Pen-pen stood on the Katsuragi apartment's veranda, watching the waters drain  
away. It was the night before, and Leliel's Dirac Sea was still hidden under a meter or  
so of dark water. He looked left, right, then up. He gave a warbling sigh.

He wiggled his wings, and leapt. The water was cold, but he was comfortable with  
both the near- boiling heat of hot springs or the near-freezing temperature of a  
refrigerator. He had never before swam the ocean, though, and something in the  
atavistic regions of his brain was exulting. Was it how his ancestors felt, being both  
predator and prey?

He liked humans... well, not all them, but the few he knew were worth keeping their  
species. They tried to restrict Leliel's region as much as they were able, but Pen-  
pen was not surprised that they would so utterly fail to spot a penguin completely  
bypassing their protection zones.

He knew he was somewhat of a freak; a hot springs penguin, a flightless bird that  
nonetheless needed a flotation device to swim. He dived down to street level and  
wadled towards the light-devouring pool in the pavement. The suction was much  
less through that approach. He stared down at it, the water flow pulling at the  
colorful feathers that seemed like his eyebrows. That was part of why Misato found  
him worthy of recuing from the labs, he was the first bird she had ever seen that  
seemed capable of expression.

He jumped into Leliel's void, knowing that there was something that only he could do.

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

Agh! Really, much apologies. I swore never to make another four-parter, but there was just no way to maintain pacing without making the final chapter too absurdly long again. Better a smaller bite now than waiting a month for the complete form, neh?


	35. Chapter 34: Uncertain Space part4

Uncertain Space part four

-o-

-o-

-o-

_'Misato-san is crying... why?'_ Shinji thought. He felt so weak. He wanted to tell her  
it was all right. He had never doubted she would be able to take him back from the  
brink. He tried to smile, but his vision was starting to turn black.

Shinji Ikari woke up and blinked. It was an unfamiliar ceiling. He supposed they had  
gotten around to fixing the scorch mark from the last time all three pilots were  
confined in one room. He felt weak and cold... he could hear a faint whistling along  
with every breath. The song of cicadas and soft morning lift wafted through the  
windows.

He heard a small gasp. He turned to see a familiar face. "Ayanami." he said with a  
slight smile.

The girl merely nodded, and stood up from the chair set beside his hospital bed.  
She was in school uniform, and the light from outside was starting take a sunset  
tinge.

"How long hav... no. " Shinji set that aside as a useless question. He knew Rei  
would only answer, as long as it takes, she would be waiting for him to wake up.  
That pure faith sustained him, and made it hard to resist an impulse to just hug the  
hell out of the girl. "There's no reason to leave just now, if you've been waiting  
here all this time."

Rei shook her head slightly. "You are well. Stay in bed today." Shinji could detect  
the relieved note in her voice. "We will take of the rest." She took her bookbag  
and left without looking back.

However, as the door opened, it only showed a surprised Asuka. She leapt back to  
hide from view. Rei made no reaction to her presence.

Shinji chuckled lightly. "Asuka, are you..." He heard the hurried stomps of her  
leaving. He sighed and lay back on the bed. "I guess she must still be mad at me."

He sat back up, suddenly. 'How did I get...' It was such a peaceful afternoon, it was  
almost a waste to spend the such a fleeting serenity on such th... "Ungh. My head.  
I remember... the Angel's attack." He smelled blood, the intensity of that memory  
firing up his nerve endings. "More than physical... more than mental..."

He felt dizzy. He lay back down and closed his eyes. Ah, another dream. He could  
tell by the silence inside his mind. He decided to just rest and wait for the points to  
present themselves.

Time passed. Not even the techniques taught to him at Javaal could contain his  
irritation. Dreams were out of context problems; so should it even be possible to  
feel bored inside one? The experience was far too authentic. Even the nurse that  
finally came along to check up on his behaved in the expected crisp, professional  
manner.

He sighed and waited some more. He supposed that being treated like any normal  
patient was what his subconscious wanted. As far as any Evangelion pilot could  
be 'normal', in any case. He sensed she was even afraid of him, a bit. Though not  
as bad as rampant hero worship, it was still... unpleasant.

Shinji stood up and began to walk around again, stretching his muscles. Strange.  
His body was weaker, his flexibility and muscle tone less than what he considered  
normal. The view outside faced the mountains, pleasant enough but he wanted  
to see the city. His city.

He went back to the bed and sat cross-legged on it. _'Okay, so is that the metaphor?'_  
Looking upon Tokyo-3 was always all he needed to refill his purpose. What was  
there for him doubt?

He stared down at his hands, so thin and weak, then clenched them into fists.  
There was still power there, if he cared to look for it. Until something appeared to  
face his wrath, though... he had to battle with symbolism.

"Shinji!"

Misato hesitated by the door. She should not have; there was fear there too.  
Shinji looked back, puzzled. When did he ever give her cause to fear him in any  
way? He could see the change pass over her face, the artificial cheerfulness she  
put on everyday. "Meditating now, Shin-chan? Good habit."

She sat on the bed's edge, giving him sufficient personal space. Her look was...  
as yearning as the one in his own face, Shinji assumed. He was wondering why  
she was not mashing his face into her breasts in one of her trademark hugs.

"Are you feeling all right?" Misato asked. Shinji stood stiff, his posture so straight  
and... unnatural. He looked serene, as if he had nothing in the world to fear. She  
saw the same expression on the battlefield, among those who decided to go down  
fighting the next time out. "I've already arranged for your release, you don't have  
to stay here any longer than necessary... I know you hate hospitals."

Shinji just nodded. "Thank you, Misato-san. Um... are Ayanami and Asuka all right?"

"They're fine. We were more worried about you, Shinji. How do you feel?"

"I... don't really remember what happened. Doctor first, then debriefing?"

She smiled widely and waved that aside. "Nah, home first. Misato Katsuragi is not  
without her own strings to pull, you know!"

He had noticed the bars on her shoulder. Major Katsuragi, not Colonel. He also  
noticed she had avoided answering his question. Likely scenarios flashed in his  
mind. She was the sort of person to take great risks just to prove a point. If he was  
brought out from within Leliel, then someone should have raised the chance of  
contamination. She would have denied any chance of that, and just to stick it them  
would try to get him home as soon as she could. That was her show of trust, and  
her form of caring.

But she should have known he would have no problem at all with being tested over  
and over again just to make sure. This... was not the Misato Katsuragi he knew?

He reached out to touch her face. She did not flich, but for a moment her eyes  
clouded over with wariness. Shinji poked at her nose. "Well... I'm still trying to get  
the hang of this hand and eye coordination thing, but okay." he said with a weak  
grin. "Uh... you're not driving, are you?"

She laughed, grabbed his head, and gave him a noogie. "So you think you get to  
make jokes now? Not about my driving you don't!" Shinji made his usual feeble  
complaints and fake grunts of pain and it seemed as if all was back to normal again.

Meanwhile, something inside Shinji was screaming that things had gone horribly,  
horribly wrong.

-o-  
-o-

The Tritonis hydrosuits were well-designed, extensions of technologies already well  
developed for civilian . It was that no one had any reason to put all these separate  
elements together. The most critical improvement lay within power supply and  
distribution. The crystal capacitors allowed the suits to filter oxygen and other dissolved  
gases right out from seawater, plus drove hydrojet engines, vastly extending a diver's  
operational range.

Things could not be bleaker. Scavenging power packs from the other suits only gave  
them a few more hours to savor their cold demise.

There were no other return echoes for search sonar... either whatever was holding the  
water in was made of sufficiently sound-absorbing material, or it the place was just  
that huge. They had already begun to call it Inner Space. There was no light, no  
sound. Were it not for the sound of their own breathing, they could believe they  
were already dead and just failed to notice it.

Then there was immense pressure through the waters. It was as if something  
screamed. It felt like being punched in the gut while having your head bashed in by  
a block of ice.

That was soon joined in with the all-too-real screaming through their comm  
channels. They had to wrestle the chaplain to stop his flailing about, difficult enough  
to do without leverage. Then, inexplicably, he started laughing.

"Can't you feel that? It's here!" Fr. Ortigas shouted eagerly. His faceplate was  
spattered with his own blood. "... evangelion."

"That's... not exactly good news." Sgt. De Leon had to say.

"Hell, I'd even say that's pretty bad!" Katagiri chimed in. If their squad sometimes felt  
more like a dysfunctional family (with Takahashi as the bratty youngest) then the ex-  
baker was like the sensible elder brother. "You know what we gotta do now, right?"

"... you can't seriously be expecting us to RESCUE an EVANGELION?" Morino replied.  
The man fit every stereotype of what a Marine should look like, big and bulky and  
with drooping eyes... except that before impact happened, he was actually trying to  
become a dentist.

Strangely enough, that was... comforting. Their situation was no less dire, but the  
thought that they were not alone seemed to light up the void. They may be there by  
accident, but their presence was not without meaning.

The sergeant just sighed. "It's not like we can just float here and wait for our own  
rescue. Let's face it, that thing... and Shinji Ikari... is a lot more important for the  
brass than recovering a few grunts. It may be our only way out of here..."

That was hours ago.

Hand over hand, jagged-teeth boots trying to dig into eerie rock; though underwater,  
they climbed. The structure was massive, like a city growing out in three dimensions,  
and if they tried to use their jets to cross it they would only drain their reserve to no  
useful purpose.

The Tritonis hydrosuits were capable of operating for fifteen hours, but they already  
used up some juice from the earlier fighting. Sgt. Angelo looked at his own power  
meter... he had less than an hour left. He shivered a bit, as they all had to dial  
down their environment controls to save power.

They were cold, they were hungry. Their muscles burned from the exertion.

-o-

_Everyone had looked to Sgt. De Leon. The same thought was in all their minds:  
Leave behind one person and that extra power pack could make two people go  
further. Leave behind two people and four had a better chance. Their suits filtered  
seawater. One person could go on until he actually starves to death._

_"WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID?" he shouted suddenly. "We've got a mission. Katagiri,  
Takahashi, run the numbers. Ohta, Morino, distribute the extra power packs. We're  
getting out of this together..."_

_"But sir..."_

_"THAT IS AN ORDER, SOLDIER!" De Leon shouted into the comms, pushing his  
microphone volume to full. "NOW, MOVE!"_

-o-o-

Like gnats on the back of an elephant, little pinpricks of light slowly moved up  
(down?) the morass. Then, through numbed limbs they felt the city-like structure  
start to shiver. It was not enough to dislodge them, but all of a sudden there was  
this great sweltering boom; and out from holes all over the structure poured forth  
swarms of silvery things. They swam out in elegant arcs, then swooping back down  
into the valley-like recesess.

The Marine clung to the walls, and hastily turned off their lights, trying to hide from  
attention. Since there was absolute darkness within, even pinging to see if there  
were other creatures about was a risk. Every moment they waited wasted power.

After a while, they kept going. Soon enough they found the Evangelion, enconsced  
within a strange throne-like promontory. Kicking off from the side walls and bouncing  
from pillar to pillar, they reached the stricken god-machine.

Thrown chemical glow-lamps dimly lit up the issue. "Disgusting." said Takahashi.  
"Are those... tentacles? Is that a headcrab?"

"Sergeant!" the chaplain shouted suddenly.

"Yes? What now?"

"Can't you feel it? There is power here, ambient and ancient. I have always wondered  
what it was to touch an AT-field... do any of you feel different?"

"Not really." was the consensus.

"Well... suffice it to say, that our crytalline capacitors store and convert energy. Look  
at your readout." There were several cries of pleasant surprise as they saw the  
reserve levels rise. "I believe this is both good and bad. Power is leaking out, enough  
to fulfill our needs. But that power has to come from somewhere else..."

"The Evangelion." Sgt. De Leon replied flatly. "Right. We can't stay here forever. Let's  
get to work." His drill spun. "If we break through, it's our victory!"

-o-

The short ride back to the apartment only heightened the weirdness. The streets  
were clean and the damage from the recent Angel attack not as extensive as he  
had feared. At the same time however, the city lacked the warning towers, the  
reinforced building facades, the tunnel entrances, and the pop-up heavy Bolter  
turrets at the end of every avenue. There were fewer people, fewer lights.

It was a peaceful night, and the scene was strangely innocent. _'And so vulnerable.'_  
he thought with dismay. The city he knew was practically impregnable to any  
form of conventional assault.

Then again, they needed such defenses. So why then did this city less under threat  
taste of so much -_fear-_?

The apartment was the same as he had expected. And... Asuka. "Ow." Shinji winced  
as soon as he stepped into the door and saw her smugly grinning face. His head  
hurt suddenly.

"So... you're back. Did you have a nice nap, baka?" Asuka said haughtily. The  
flicker of hesitation in her eyes showed she had been practicing what to say. Clearly  
it was supposed to be less hostile than what she found herself speaking. Too late for  
regrets, she decided to just bull through. "It must be nice to have people caving in  
to your every whim every time you do something stupid."

Shinji rubbed at his head. "Well... I'm not going to deny that I've done some stupid  
things. I'm grateful that there are those that care enough to pull me out of them."

And that, apparently was a very big insult. He could see a little tic appear on the  
left side of her face. Asuka let off a small growl, stomped over, and poked him in  
the chest. "Trying to be gracious now? Well it won't work! You see what happens  
when some damn fool thinks he can actually PRETEND to be competent just  
because he got a better sync ratio for some freak reason?" Her voice broke a bit.  
"... you're just make everything worse!"

That fear she felt, to be alone again... he was making her vulnerable. That was real.  
His actions could make her hurt, even when it affected only himself. She hated  
being made to feel that.

She made as if she wanted to punch him in the face, then just turned around. Her  
right hand lifted, as if to rub at her eyes, but then she just slapped angrily it to her  
hip. Asuka ran for her room and slammed it shut.

Shinji looked up questioningly at Misato. The woman shrugged. Not even what she  
remembered of her own adolescence could give any hints as to Asuka's thought  
processes.

-o-

Dinner was tense. Since he had yet to be debriefed, Shinji had no way of knowing  
what actually happened. He chewed carefully. The dream seemed authentic  
enough. 'It's a good metaphor, come to (heh) think of it.' Even the pyramids were  
built piece by piece. Working backwards from the assumption he would be rescued,  
perhaps he could work out just how his people intended to do that.

"Yes, I agree you could have done better, Asuka." he said with a sigh. "It's true that  
getting an Evangelion stuck inside it just made the idea of bombing the heck out of it  
... more complicated than it should have been."

The silence seemed to deepen. Even Pen-pen was staring keenly up at him. _'Oops.'_  
Belatedly he realized he had answered a statement Asuka was only just about to say.

Misato very carefully turned back to her meal. Asuka frowned a bit, then batted that  
issue aside as just coincidence. "What are you implying?" she asked with a wave of  
her fork (she refused to eat German cuisine with chopsticks).

"Um... nothing! I'm not implying anything!" _'This... shouldn't be possible!'_ Asuka  
seemed to be moving in slow motion. The words on her lips were full of hurt and  
desperation, sheathed with defiance.

"... whatever your Evangelion can do, mine can do better!"

"Um... of course it can. It's the production model, after all."

Asuka pointed out in objection. "Okay, now you're just mocking me, aren't you?"  
There was nothing she coud readily indentify, but Shinji was just... different  
somehow.

"No, no.. I mean it! There might not be much difference between Unit Zero and  
One, but Unit Two definitely has systems more optimized for comba.. oh crap."  
Shinji could see Asuka's expression switch from guarded interest to pure disdain.

_'I shouldn't have brought Ayanami into this discussion. Asuka hates her for some  
reason... why? I -shouldn't- even be able to -predict- Asuka...!__'_

"There's something wrong with you, you know that?" Asuka shot back, her every  
word tinged with hidden meaning.

Shinji just sighed. He could feel Misato's inquisitive gaze.

_'Or... something just may finally have gone right.'_ was her thought.

-o-  
-o-

Thirteen hours ticked by torturously slowly. Misato Katsuragi repressed a yawn, as  
she stared up at the main screen. Her eyes were as burning inside their sockets. She  
still had no idea what to feel... fear had become too familiar, hate a blanket over her  
nights. It surprised her in the end, that she saw the Angel as nothing more than a  
nuisance.

Just one more kill, a stepping stone into the greater battle. She tried to speak, but  
her throat felt dry and gritty. Misato turned to look up at the command center, but  
neither of the NERV commanders were there.

It was still her show. Her responsibility. Her burden.

The Dirac Sea opened up, like a pupil dilating in surprise. Unit Four emerged, clawing  
and trashing. It stumbled as it walked, and grabbed for support against one of the  
toppled buildings. Then, for some reason, it started to bash the building in with its  
own face.

"What the... is there something wrong with it?" Misato tapped the side of her own  
head. "Better for us, anyway."

-o-

Meanwhile, -Magnos Tancred- was already up and about. It rolled somewhat stealthily  
using the treads fitted to its feet. These simple modules, among many, that increased its  
speed without ripping up the road as it runs.

Its left shoulder was hastily patched up, the flamers there removed and replaced  
with quick-hardening glop shooters. Ironically the right shoulder flamers were also  
replaced... with water cannons, to make the glop hardening process even faster.

-Magnos Tancred- was still in Brawler configuration, since the cramped conditions of  
city fighting was ill-suited to the dual Positron Cannons of the Hellfire modules. The  
Trident oddly wielded the Evangelion's Gatling Megabolter, its stubby arms forcing it  
to clutch the weapon close to its chest and aimed to the right. Nobody expected any  
accuracy out of the arrangement, but the longer barrels and larger ammo box of the  
weapon gave it better medium-range performance than the even Trident's own  
Megabolter shoulder module.

Basilisk Artillery and the Gatling Megabolter were chambered similarly. One simply  
had a longer rifled barrel and the other was designed for sustained automatic fire.  
The greater difference rested in the ammunition they were assigned.

The Trident Megabolter used the two-stage Bolt round, for greater initial 'kick' that  
meant it had to eject casings. The Basilisk artillery shells were gyrojets with limited  
guidance capabilities. Consequently, though similar in appearance, the former type  
of ordnance had greater penetrative potential while the latter could contain a  
respectable payload.

Mana was uneasy about loading acid-tipped bolts, but Evangelion-class armor was  
too resilient for normal attacks. She was told that perhaps there was some form of  
passive AT-field protection going on, dispersing the force of kinetic impacts. Metal  
was metal, and yet the Angel in its command over Evangelion Unit Four could heal  
even that.

Ritsuko Akagi's replies could basically be summed up as "_Shut the hell up all you noisy  
bastards and let me think! Gah! (this angel this angel this angel...! It is an eyesore!)"_

Another of Magnos Tancred's weapons was the hardmounted positron cannon.  
Positrons were after all, the antiparticle of electrons... positron annihilation events  
proved capable of slagging a mountain. It was the only reason she could accept for  
why the Evangelions could now take repeated blasts to the face and keep on going.

She let out a sigh and looked to her gunner. Of course, back then the positron guns  
were severely underpowered by comparison. One year was enough to change so  
many things.

It was as if the young noncom felt her gaze. He turned up and asked "Orders,  
Kirishima-san?"

Mana flexed her gloved hand. Remote cameras showed the white Evangelion's  
frenzied flailing about. It was like an animal, feral and in pain. They had no better  
chance.

"Ready the chaff and flamers. Remember, we're bait." She put her arms into the  
control frame and lightly touched the trigger. The enemy would likely not be able  
to control the Trident the same way it could command an Eva.

She took a deep breath. It was her time. If the Trident could not stop an Eva  
there, even for a while, then there was no hope for the rest of the nations of the  
world. They would be held hostage by xenotechnology, and whoever controls the  
Eva controls all the human race.

Finally, the word came. "Begin the operation." said Misato. She looked to a small  
window on the main screen, ticking down from 02:00:00.

If they failed to stop the enemy within that timeframe, then it was likely that nothing  
else in their arsenal would ever really do it. The UN Air divisions were standing by with  
N2 bombs. The submarine-launched missiles could then arrive within fifteen minutes. If  
even that fails, then a massed strategic launch from China and Russia would wipe all  
of Hakone from the map.

It was better for no one to have the power of the Eva, than for one tyrant to have  
absolute control. Let whatever the Angels were seeking be destroyed as well. Deep  
within the Cerberus bunker, Yang had said "Our hand is still caught inside Pandora's  
Box. If we cut if off, we may perhaps be able to close the lid."

Units Zero and Two were ready, silent, and fully cognizant of that fact.

The white Evangelion lifted its face and roared.

Cameras were running. It was not something NERV could hide. The whole world held  
its breath as the red and black shape of -Magnos Tancred- rolled into the open  
avenue.

_'Now what would you say at this point, Musashi-kun?'_ Mana thought. She felt an  
unfamiliar smirk cross her lips. "Hey, spacemonkey! Rise and SHIIINE!" In the end  
perhaps there was no better choice than maniacal laughter.

She felt that her other best friend, Keita Asari, would only have pushed up his glasses  
and muttered something about how... phallic... the big gun was, and how...  
Freudian... it was to enjoy so much shooting it off. Then blush terribly in realizing  
that since it was -Mana- holding it, that changed things considerably.

So she laughed, even as the cannon bucked in her hands, its metal-eating shells  
ripping through the air. The enemy screamed.

Evangelion armor was formed of many different metallic compounds with ceramic  
and silicate layers, quite simply the strongest material that humanity had ever built  
to date. The problem was that it was also incredibly heavy. The Trident Land  
Dreadnought had no emphasis on mobility. Evangelions however, with their more  
humanoid frames and higher center of gravity, needed that. Unit Four, with its  
functional S2 Engine, had less conventional Eva armor than previous models. It  
was thought that relying on the AT-field, speed, and regeneration would be far more  
effective than the costly protection of mere armor.

In theory, it was practical. In practice, it did manage to fight off three other  
Evangelions. However, as Yang had raised in the quick conference "What is the  
Evangelion? Is it a weapon? So what is it without a will to direct it? Is it a  
monster? So what is it without a mind to look beyond its instincts?"

Gendo Ikari seemed a bit amused at such obvious fishing for information. Misato  
Katsuragi's response however, was quick and uncompromising. "If it bleeds, we can  
kill it!"

Unit Four did not bleed. Stinking smoke wafted out from gaping wounds. There was  
something pathetic about it, it felt like cheating, but Mana had no pity. She was not  
there for her own pride, but to accomplish her mission. -Magnos Tancred- would  
never fail in its mission...!

Unit Four roared and sprang away, like a white tiger facing a sacrificial goat that  
fought back. "OH FUCK!" all three inside the Trident yelled at once. What happened  
to the frightening, relentless and unfeeling puppet from before? -Magnos Tancred-  
was simply not designed to chase down... well, anything, really.

As before, NERV's command center reported that there was no one inside the entry  
plug. Theoretically, it should not even be able to activate. And if it was berserker,  
when apparently all logical rules fled, then... it should be acting far more aggressive.  
Instead, it acted like a wounded animal. It was... afraid.

But like hell that meant Asuka was going to hold back any. She kicked out of a  
disguised elevator block and gave chase. If she was asked, then her answer would be  
simple too. The Evangelion was a tool. It was no weapon, but power manifest. She  
felt the shockwaves pass as her Unit Two plowed through the streets, so fast that  
the air in front was like a brick wall. _'Hah!'_

Nothing so simple as air resistance could stand up to the might she felt crawling  
across her veins. Nothing so mundane as momentum could dare prevent the fury  
she had to express.

She pivoted on one heel and leap sideways to surprise the enemy. The white Eva  
turned and seemed to cringe.

**"HALT!**" Asuka shouted. WHAM! Eva Unit Four reeled from a G-Impact Stake to the  
face. "... _**hammerzeit**_." And then Asuka smashed it again.

The white Eva's head had a noticeable dent inwards. It stumbled back unsteadily,  
clutching at its head and bellowing in pain.

Asuka grinned. The big red warhammer in her hands was one of last relics of NERV  
German Branch. Technically the _Ernster Einschläg_, it multiplied the momentum in  
every swing to drive either a blunted or pointed spike imbedded into the hammer-  
head. The handle was the same way, but fed by oversized shotgun shells.

In many ways, really, Asuka would have found it laughable if only she had more to  
remind her of old home. It was like they expected her to go hunting vampires or  
something.

WHAM!

The white Evangelion let out a frantic 'Skreee-" but that got cut off as Asuka hit it  
again. WHAM!_ 'Prog knives and spear may damage the enemy, but it takes time to  
get through armor. It's not like the enemy can be stopped just by cutting bits off.  
Get to the core!' _WHAM!

She gave the enemy no time to do anything. That was their mistake the last time.  
Three Evangelions and the goddamn Angel played them like a drum! Thinking too  
much, holding back too much, that cost them too much...! Now there was nothing  
but action! WHAM! No hesitation, no doubt. She burned anger as fuel. WHAM! WHAM!  
Faster, if only she had been faster. Once more, WHAM! She knocked the enemy Eva  
aside the head, flipped her grip, and hit it again. Unit Four spun into the ground.

Asuka paused and took deep breaths. The enemy was unmoving. The last time, she  
cut off its whole arm and the thing just stuck it back on. It seemed that healing  
blunt trauma took longer... the damage may simply not register as severe enough  
to require that special trick, but at the same time still sufficient to stop the Eva  
cold. _'If I keep on going, maybe concussion alone could crack the core...'_

Absently she hoped it might actually be that simple, but...

The Eva got its head out of the concrete and roared. Asuka hefted her great maul to  
hit it some more, but was blown back by the force of a fully-active AT-field.

-o-

Back at the command center, Maya gasped. "... shouldn't that be impossible without  
someone in the entry plug? The chance of independent activation is incredibly low,  
but still there. The AT-field... there are too many missing blocks..."

"You're proceeding through the assumption that we're fighting an Evangelion."  
Ritsuko replied blandly. "This is an Angel."

-o-

_'At least I don't have to worry about hurting anyone inside.'_ Asuka thought with  
relief. Even through all the armor, the shock from her warhammer might even kill  
the pilot. That was perhaps the whole point of the weapon... striking at an Eva's  
only true vulnerability. Already there were measures and countermeasures... could  
the Eva even hope to exist as a deterrent similar to the old cold stalemates? That  
future was meaningless to her.

She flared her own AT-field and stood up. 'Gah, this thing is -strong-!' So that was  
the power of an S2 Engine. She could still fight, but would have to split her focus.  
The enemy had no need to hobble itself like that.

Her red Evangelion waded through the almost viscous expression of the enemy's  
power. It just stood there, arrogantly waiting. She snarled at it, but kept her focus  
intent on that single moment she needed. The enemy was waiting for it.

Which was why it just barely managed to dodge a contained plasma beam that could  
have decapitated it. The gigawatt-range laser that cleared the way boiled off armor  
and exposed components, while aptly-named hellbore beam carved away at its  
shoulder.

An orange Evangelion emerged from behind a wall of obscuring smoke. _'Hello, my  
name is Ayanami Rei.'_ its pilot sent out gently. _'You took my Shinji. Prepare to die.'_

Positron beams relied on particle annihilation to inflict damage. Unit Zero's "Gargant  
Wot da'Ellbore" used its own AT-field to focus, compress and direct a fusion reaction  
along a perfect line. While it was true that they could now 'wrap' an AT-field around  
positron beams to give them a limited homing property, such beams were known to  
just melt through mountains. Hellbores, though vastly more powerful still, actually  
had more manageable thermal blooming. The same AT-field that kept the beam tight  
also burrowed through enemy barriers and sheathed all that firepower into a cleanly-  
defined radius.

Of course, using it within the confines of a city was only reducing the magnitude of  
destruction from 'vaporize entire city blocks' to 'make big holes in buildings, the  
buildings behind them, the mountains behind those, and then out into space'.

The white Eva clutched at its hollowed-out shoulder, the burnt flesh there already  
starting to knit. It roared and leapt away.

"I see. Its healing factor is proportional to the damage it receives." Rei said, while  
folding the Hellbore barrels back. The sniper weapon was longer than her Eva was  
tall, never meant to be fired without support. "If I can touch the core, that one hit is  
enough."

"You just wasted our element of surprise! What the hell were you thinking?"

"I am not prepared to let you grapple it and shoot through the both of you, Sohryu.  
We still require it as a key, to open the Dirac Sea." Rei's tone was oddly tight, as if  
she was on the verge of expressing some emotion she knew she had no right to  
express. "I cannot be the one to inflict the killing blow here, as much as I wish it.  
My heart is filled with chaos... it is... distressing."

UN delta-wings flew overhead and began dropping their bombs.

-o-  
-o-

Shinji Ikari had bumped into an immutable law of labor. When there are a lot of people  
willing and able to do a job, that job generally doesn't pay well. That was one of four  
meaningful factors that determine a wage. The others were the specialized skills a job  
required, the unpleasantness of a job, and the demand for services that the job  
fulfilled.

Theoretically, being an Evangelion pilot required immense specialization in skills (the  
synch ratio) and the incredible scarcity of the labor pool (officially a handful of people  
out of the billions of humanity). The 'glory' of the task were countered by the rather  
extreme unpleasant nature of that duty (there were already talks of using pilots for...  
breeding purposes, to ensure that Evangelion activation could be 'on-demand', as it  
were; in addition to the clear prospect of being killed) and the even more extreme  
DEMAND for that service. A pilot was a pilot, the human component to a greater  
machine. They were tools to be used as nothing else in history... the risk was too  
great to allow Evangelions to run out of control.

What made him different was that from the moment he started to weild the Eva, he  
had accepted that the world would never view him in the same light as any other  
human being. He had no natural rights, the laws of man can be revoked by man. He  
had to fix himself into the everpresent fear in their hearts, to get himself and his  
fellow pilots treated as more-than-human instead of sub-human. To be thought of  
as essential PARTS of the Evangelion and thus sharing in its power.

What did NERV pay its pilots? Whatever value they could give would only ever be  
summed up as: Not enough. While money was nice, from the start the boy learned  
to appreciate the more abstract advantages his job provided.

Actually, piloting an Eva had many similarities to the stresses of commanding NERV.  
From its inception Gendo held the post, with an apparent disdain to the chances of  
being assassinated. He and NERV were perfectly fit for each other, that for anyone  
else to even -attempt- to force them into compliance would soon find themselves  
buried under a host of complications. Conniving bastard he may be, but at least  
Gendo Ikari knew how to keep secrets. Occasionally anachronistic as it may be, at  
least NERV kept to its own business. If other nations (including Japan!) tended to  
over-react to the threat they represented, that was... not their fault. It could be  
blamed on Gendo Ikari though (and more recently, Shinji Ikari) as long as it served his  
purposes.

He was very much his father's son. The common multitude did not know Gendo Ikari,  
but for those in the places of power... that name brought dread. It was odd, since  
the man did not look all that threatening, but for fifteen years he had juggled world  
politics like tenpins, playing each against the other, the right hand of SEELE and the  
one who baptized mankind with WATER in preparation for Instrumentality.

Facts, bluffs and counter-threats, soft words and spite... dancing here and there,  
shoving alliances off-balance. Shinji Ikari may dislike his father, but had to respect  
the man's sheer nerve. At least he had the advantage of applied precognition, the  
elder Ikari wrestled the world with his determination to succeed.. his own form of  
faith, his own brand of miracle-working.

The boy's soft-spoken manners did not lull any of them into a false sense of security.  
All he had to do was ask, and they would concoct on their own the nefarious plots  
necessary to force themselves into compliance; then to gleefully take the offers of  
compromise.

_'This is a manufactured myth, the monstrous messiah.' _Through it, Shinji Ikari was  
able to gather support well out of proportion to what his limited assets should bring.  
He rode the back of a tiger, unable to jump or control the beast. The nations of the  
world NEEDED that hope, they hungered for the feeling of being back in control. His  
influence worked as the buffer between many, many conflicting interests. They would  
much rather see someone else prosper than have a rival take advantage.

He wondered if his father felt the same way; one moment on top of the world, and  
in the next left with nothing to do but to stare at a hole in the wall. His father had a  
contingency plan even for that. Shinji had no such fallback option; death was the  
only release.

_'This is a nightmare!' _he screamed inside his mind, as he sat through the debriefing.  
His face was appropriately horrified as he watched Unit One tear out of Leliel's  
shadow, showering the city in gore. He could honestly say he had no idea how he did  
it.

Asuka seemed pissed about her recorded reaction to what happened. Rei seemed to  
be avoiding looking into his eyes. Shinji got up and excused himself.

Misato later found him thumping his head upon the metal walls of a corridor.

"Shinji-kun? Are you... okay?"

The boy gave her a weak laugh. "Oh, sure, I'm fine. I just realized that half the time  
we win against the Angels because of half-assed strokes of luck than actual military  
preparation, but... that's good, isn't it? Being alive is good, isn't it?"

"...oookay. Calm down. It's all right, Shinji... don't... um... try not to make any sudden  
moves?" As a soldier Misato had some experience with recruits breaking under the  
pressure, but her Children supposedly had the buffering influence of a normal civilian  
life. "I'm here to help you. If you want, I'm always ready to listen."

Shinji smiled, uncharacteristically wide. "Of course, Misato-san. I never had any doubt  
about that."

Misato's heart skipped a beat. Her Shinji was behaving very oddly, and she should  
report it. Even if she had raised such a stink about contamination. Her pride should  
not be worth an Eva pilot's safety. And yet...

She walked over and sat next to him, as he sat down with his back to a wall. "What's  
wrong, Shin-chan?"

Shinji thumped his head on the wall one last time. "I don't understand...!" he sighed.  
"Everything? By the Emperor, I even forgot just how bitchy Asuka could be."

_'Ah. Asuka.' _Oddly just that seemed to explain -everything-. She looked over Shinji,  
and for some reason his expression of pure frustration reminded her of... Gendo. There  
was such anger there, barely kept in check. _'Well, he IS a teenager. I was wondering  
when he'd go into a full-blown emo phase, but I didn't expect him to actually be  
talkative.'_

"Well... just don't take it too hard? I'm sure she doesn't actually mean half of what  
she says." Misato chuckled a bit. "I used to be her guardian for a while, before, so I  
know. None of us are really all that sure of what we're asking for with our words..."

Shinji nodded. "I don't actually dislike Asuka, you know. Still.. Asuka seems more  
bitchy than I've ever known her, Rei might as well be a robot, and Misato-san... if  
losing Tokyo Three means the extinction of the human race then why the hells aren't  
you at least a colonel by now?" He rubbed at his face. "Gods, this is so messed up."

"A colonel? You do dream big, aren't you?" She ruffled his hair. "Authority doesn't  
automatically equal asskicking, you know. It's mostly thanks to you we're doing so  
well."

Shinji looked up at her; the face was the same, but the qualities were different. This  
Misato was less certain, less hardened by necessity... she was softer, yes, the  
difference a mere year makes. At the same time, also more open and caring. He had  
a feeling the months he had spent away from Tokyo-3 caused a slight alienation in  
the relationship with his guardian... they had changed, and the pieces of their  
personality no longer quite fit so snugly.

None of that here. For some reason, he felt weak. He felt his eyes tearing up.

"We're in a war, aren't we, Misato-san? You're a soldier, aren't you, Misato-san?"

"Well, yeah. But you don't have to worry about that."

"You're a soldier. Soldiers die in war. I don't want you to die, Misato-san!" Not  
caring anymore about how pathetic it may be, of how could he lose control of his  
emotions so easily; his puny body untempered by a pilgrimage. "When I fight I know  
that if I fail, people will die! I need you with me Misato-san, so don't do anything that  
might make you die!"

He shivered. It was something he had never really said to his own Misato Katsuragi.  
Their respective unspoken duties required that they give up their own lives if  
necessary. They had never really raised the issue... they knew the stakes. The whole  
world was at risk; a bite was taken out of China, Germany's heartland was a blasted  
sinkhole, and the Earth's Cradle was still at large. It would have shamed both of them  
to have to ask either to hold back.

So warm. He had forgotten the feeling of peace, of softness, of the depth of caring in  
a maternal hug. Of course, his face was still too uncomfortably close to Misato  
Katsuragi's magnificent mammaries, but Shinji felt he had developed a tolerance for  
that. (Maya and Rei helped.)

"Mein Gott! You perverts!" Asuka arrived just in time, and took on a pose of mixed  
disgust and outrage. "If you really had to, then couldn't you have found a side room  
and... ew! No! Shinji you pervert! Misato, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"It's just a... it's not what you... there's nothing wrong with..." Misato had to consider  
if revealing the boy's moment of vulnerability would only open up further attacks from  
the girl. Shinji was still fourteen, and while the woman might find that cute, it gave  
only serene protective feelings that she thought she'd never feel again. "Hey!  
Whatever perversion here is only in your own mind!"

Too many people had tried to 'protect' her in their own way. Strangely, it seems Shinji  
respected her own strength.

Asuka sniffed. "... riight. I'm not the pedophile here."

Shinji groaned. "Please take your Electra complex somewhere else for a while, please,  
Asuka?" Then in a lower voice "... and you wonder why Kaji-sempai would rather flee  
in terror whenever you approach."

The red-haired pilot did not quite catch that last bit, but from the tone gathered it  
was supposed to be even more insulting. "What did you say, Shinji? WHAT?"

He merely cowered further into Misato's hug. "... you know, if you were full colonel  
your scolding might be more effective." he murmured. Unfortunately, to Asuka's  
perspective this only looked like he was snuggling his head deeper into the woman's  
breasts.

"Ack, you filthy little hentai! You have an older woman complex or something? Ew,  
she's too old! Ew, the both of you!"

"ASUKA!" Misato yelled, outraged as well.

"What?"

Misato sighed and stood up. "There is nothing going on and I don't have to explain  
myself to you. Now, is there something you needed?"

As it turned out, not really. Asuka would not admit to any passive-agressive concern.  
All three of them walked in silence back to the command center, leaving Shinji again  
to his thoughts.

_'It's still the same.' _he grumbled inside. There was a hole in his consciousness he  
could not ignore. And the air itself tasted of so much fear. _'It would be a mistake... I  
shouldn't even care. This can only be a trap. I don't belong here!"_

At the edge of his hearing there was light, feminine laughter.

-o-  
-o-

"FUCK YOU, YANG! FUCK YOU!" Takahashi screamed as he batted away one of the  
Angel's many ten... limbs, dammit! It was bad enough, seeing what it was doing to  
the Eva. It would be disastrous to puke inside his own helmet. "FUCKING SHRIMPS!  
THIS WAS NEVER PART OF THE JOB DESCRIPTION!"

"Deal with it, marine!" Sgt. De Leon shouted. Although whining probably was the  
young soldier's way of dealing with it. None of them stopped drilling, a few to sever  
the grip the Angel... they were probably lucky that they could not see most of it...  
while the others tried to keep the shrimplike drones away.

"Scatter!" Morino shouted. He, Takahashi, Ota and someone from second second  
squad, dived away as a literal stream of silver-skinned and lance-nosed things  
crashed into Evangelion Unit One's wrist. The angelspawn crumpled against the  
armored shell, but they knew their own hydrosuits were hardly so resilient.

"I AM PISSED OFF!" Takahashi shouted some more, his voice pitching up. "I should  
be fighting predatory aliens in deep jungles, not some eldritch horror from the deep!  
This is the bullshit they palm off to the SEALs!"

"Ah, but does it count when the eldritch horror is ALSO a predatory alien?" Ota  
rumbled in helpfully.

"I'm a MARINE! This makes me ANGRY!" Mentioned marine then began to try and  
stomp upon doomprawn shells as far as being in a weightless environment allowed.  
"IF I LIVE THROUGH THIS I AM GOING TO FUCKING EAT GAMBAS EVERY FUCKING DAY,  
YOU FUCKTARRDS!"

_'Sure, Takahashi-san, I'll look after your boy. It's the least I can do for taking in a  
peniless migrant worker in these times.' _Sgt. De Leon sighed. _'Go ahead and die of  
tuberculosis. I think I'll be able to give a good example to the boy just fine.'_

"At least they're not lobsters." Ota murmured into the channel.

"Incoming!" someone yelled. The expletives grew louder and from different people as  
the Tritonis teams had barely a few seconds worth of warning from their shared-link  
sonar.

It was like being attacked by whips; slow and thick and with bone-crushing mass or  
silvery and quick with impaling tips.

Father Ortigas had to say again, amidst shouts to DO SOMETHING, was that Javaal  
trained its psykers in mental combat disciplines. He was from the Filhos De Santo  
Cristo. They were more on the subtler arts, and most of their time was actually spent  
archiving and protecting THE INTERNET.

A more worthy toil; Katagiri had to comment.

The reason they had him instead of the monks was that the Himalayans were...  
_arrogant asses that wouldn't work with freaking anybody_; the priest shouted back,  
though in somewhat politer terms. He served also served in medical duty, such as was  
possible with hard diving suits. That was why instead of an arm-encasing drill he was  
weilding two electric bonesaws.

So far they had managed to free one of Unit 01's arms, working their way up to the  
entry plug. Everyone's batteries were at alarm settings, with barely more than fifteen  
minutes of life left. To slow down would mean death anyway. Not even the energy  
conversion from the Evangelion's frantic AT-field somehow imparting a trickle charge  
into their capacitors would make any difference.

And then...

There was a bright light at the distance, approaching very very fast in a curving  
trajectory. It was bright enough to illuminate a tendril of doomprawns swooping out  
to intercept.

There was a bright flash and the angelspawns broke off like raindrops on a windshield.

"Look, out there...! It's a bird... no, it's a submarine...!" someone said. So bright. As it  
got closer the light began to overcome even the chemical lamps they had thrown  
around for visibility. "No, wait... it _is_ a bird."

"Ookay... I am Confused Marine." Takahashi intoned.

Ota thwapped him.

"Now I'm Somewhat Irritated, But Still Confused Marine."

-o-

Penguins were native to Antarctica. Adam was found buried under Antartica. The two  
facts may simply be coincidental. Pen-pen however, was not.

The penguins were devastated by the moment of Adam's reawakening, brought close  
to extinction that only the few held in zoos and marine parks could be relied upon to  
repopulate the species. Drastic measures were needed to save them from extinction.

The change in the Earth's tilt also melted most of the northern ice caps (even to the  
extent of thawing Siberia). It was deemed 'simpler' to just gene-engineer penguins to  
like warm waters. It had the disaster potential of being just under the idea of  
introducing rabbits to Australia for sporting purposes.

Development was hampered by apparently low reproduction rates. Penguins used to  
breed well in captivity, but like all birds went through a period of craziness (oddly  
mimimicking humanity) after Impact, perhaps due to the changes in the magnetic field  
and solar conditions messing with their instincts.

Although there were many varieties of penguins, they all shared the same breeding  
behaviors. Temperatures that would seem mild to one penguin species would outright  
kill another. Zoos and aquariums attempting to breed penguins needed to mimic the  
wild as closely as possible to encourage mating instincts. The so-called 'hot springs'  
penguin showed too much liking for warm waters, hence said hot springs, and their  
breeding colonies which used to be protected by the killing cold were now exposed  
to other predatory species.

Pen-pen was born from a captivity. He was born unnaturally weak, experimented on  
with gene therapy and outright organ replacement. He was a penguin that could not  
swim without flotation assistance from the pack on his back, which looked and  
functioned similar to life-support systems on a plugsuit. He became unnaturally hardy  
for a penguin, comfortable with temperatures below freezing and near boiling.

He was listed to be terminated until Misato Katsuragi rescued him. This was because  
his internal organs were much the same as those used in an Eva. That allowed him to  
tolerate usually fatal alcohol levels measured in fractions of his body weight.

Misato Katsuragi was relatively new to Tokyo-3. Her familiarity with Pen-pen's  
behavior and his liking for beer, to the extent of modifying a fridge for his use,  
indicated that she had the penguin for some time. How and where they met was not  
so important, only that Pen-pen was capable of understanding a debt of honor.

The researchers were uncomfortable enough with a penguin whose sapience was, at  
worst, actually in doubt. They would have pushed for his termination even further if  
they knew the bird referred to humans in the emotionally-laded primordial language as  
'protectors' in his mind and the Angels as... 'cousins'.

-o-

Joy. It was the closest Pen-pen would ever get to flight. In fact, it was the first time  
he could really swim all-out... being a City Penguin and someone's pet, he had never  
really been allowed to frolic in an ocean.

Swim was a relative term however, since he was shooting through the waters in a  
speed far above what flying birds could achieve. He left a bubbly wake as he  
passed, an avian torpedo. As Shinji Ikari could make use of someone else's AT-field  
with her permission, so was Pen-pen able to sieze the power within the Dirac Sea to  
augment his own region of altered space; Leliel was still too... confused... to offer  
any resistance to anything. Water in the way was annihilated into its component  
hydrogen and oxygen atoms; making both speed and breathing effortless.

His shining light was bright enough that he could see the silvery threads, like spiny  
tentacles, curving up to meet him. The bird closed his eyes and put his flippers  
together. The light around him intensified, extended into a shell.

The spiny-nosed things that struck it became nothing more than shredded clumps of  
grey-white meat and chitin. Mindless things. Pen-pen let out a derisive warble. Their  
existence served no purpose but death for their kind. The penguins, and indeed most  
animals, valued their own survival. Only a few could understand, to extend this worth  
beyond the self and into the pack... to the species.

It was the greatest irony that science could prove the existence of soul, only that it  
was hardly so immortal and eternal. Given Pen-pen then accelerated again.

He remembered that moment, and that white-haired human boy who with such  
contemptous ease disabled him. He was no guard dog, but the penguin had his loyalty  
to his home and his humans. He wondered how the other human, who stank of  
cigarettes and cheap cologne, could fail to sense the... wrongness... in that which  
wore a human form. It seemed so obvious to Pen-pen.

He was a penguin, his blood reaching back to the place that imprisoned an ancient  
god-thing. He was a bird, the last echo of the mighty dinosaurs.

Even a penguin had his pride. Shinji Ikari was not the only one to hone his abilities in  
the months that passed.

-o-

The Tritonis Teams were at a loss at how to accept this new development. The  
glowing bird braked to a smooth halt before them, his shell melting into the semi-  
permeable field the Evangelion was emitting.

The Marines' sergeant checked his capacitor levels, a paltry seven percent, and  
kept a loose thumb on his arm-drill's trigger. "Is it an Angel?" he hissed aside to the  
chaplain.

Unit-01's pained writhing intensified, and the parasite-creature's constricting grip  
tightened. Pen-pen looked up at it. From the crab-like thing sucking on the Eva's  
head and the many tentacular arms restraining the Eva as if it was crucified, it was  
even more repulsive in the light.

The penguin turned back to the the men and raised a flipper in what he hoped was  
a friendly gesture. He let off a series of warks and warbles, in his tone trying to  
convey that he was thankful for their efforts and together they might be able to  
do something.

"Wark wark, chuk rawk. " Point up. "Wark nuwak, erk."

"Ah..." Fr. Ortigas nodded. "Hmm? Is that so?"

"Well?" Sgt. Angelo asked.

"I'm a psychic. That doesn't mean I speak penguin." the chaplain responded glibly.  
That they were all still underwater prevented facefaults. "Seriously, people. What  
were you thinking?"

"Why did you pretend to understand it, then?"

"I was trying to be polite. It would be best not to antagonize the bird who can  
protect us with a shield while we work."

One of the second squad marines raised his hand, as all the suits looked the same.  
"Can this animal even understand what we're saying? Sir, I'm still suspicious."

Pen-pen raised one of the retractable claws at the tip of his flippers.

"Haha, the bird just flipped you the bird..." Takahashi had to crow.

Sgt. De Leon looked at his power reserves again. _'I don't think I can take much more  
of this weirdness.'_ The number changed from seven to eight percent. _'Dammit.'_

-o-  
-o-

There was a monstrous shriek, and a red giant flew. It smashed into one of the few  
still-intact buildings in Tokyo 3 and collapsed it in a cloud of dust and concrete  
shards. Asuka rubbed the side of her face and grinned. "That's more like it!" she  
shouted.

"Sohryu, I do not think you should be happy about being kicked around." Rei said into  
the comms. "The enemy is berserking. It is... unpredictable, and that inhibits my  
accuracy."

"Let's just stick to the game plan. No need to complicate things - I'll just beat it into  
a pulp, and then you can shoot it in the fucking head!"

UN AIR had 'helpfully' leveled a good section of Tokyo-3 to provide a killing ground  
that gave the enemy Eva no place to hide. All possible routes of escape were covered  
by overlapping Basilisk artillery batteries, has the Asahino Lance Cannon pointed right  
down that straightway, or the beached guns of the Kringolith.

Misato's voice broke through. "We have less than thirty minutes left before the UN  
starts dropping N2 bombs! If the Evangelions can't stop another Eva... it's too  
dangerous, nothing else will work! It's the Angel's only real way of getting into the  
geofront! Stop playing around and subdue that thing!"

"Hai, hai..." Asuka mumbled as she swung back into action. All they had to do now  
was to drive Unit Four to a place it could be bombed with impunity. The two NERV  
Evas could use their AT-fields to focus the blast.

The white Evangelion roared in challenge as she approached. WHAM. "Fuck you."  
said Asuka. Berkerser Evangelions tended to lead a punch with their chin. "Should be  
I be afraid, you stupid shit?" WHAM! "Fight me, you monster! "

The white Evangelion began to run away. Unit Two followed as it tried to duck behind  
a row of slumped buildings, and then... ran into a clothesline block. Unit Four  
grabbed at its wrist, and then in a texbook throw, made it eat dirt. The white Eva  
then continued to flee, leaving Asuka staring up at the sky.

"What the fuck was that...?" she whispered. "Something's seriously wrong with that  
damn thing. It leads me with acting like a total idiot, then suddenly it's like fighting  
Shinji. But I KNOW I can beat Shinji...!"

She had instincts for battle. She was being suckered in looking for weaknesses that  
were not there? "We don't have time for this!" Asuka growled as she got back up.  
"Ayanami, Kirishima, point three intercept."

It was basically _'corner the thing, pile on, and beat the shit out it'._

Unit Four rounded a corner in trying to get deeper into cover, and stopped. It stood  
half-crouched and seemingly puzzled at the squat shape that dared block its way. It  
roared its bestial warning.

-Magnos Tancred- had no mouth, but it could make metal scream. It was this sound  
that Mana Kirishima sent out in defiance.

Unit Four pounced, and began pounding away at the Trident. The shock from its fists  
seemed to transmit directly into the bones of those inside. Hard echoes rang within  
the war-hull. The assault seemed endless and soul-shaking. And then it stopped.

Mana tasted blood in her mouth. Her lips were swolled and stuck to her teeth. Then  
she started to laugh, her voice amplified to the outside. "Was that supposed to  
-_hurt_-?" she asked the enemy. Ever had the Trident's saving grace been its brute  
construction. "TANCRED ENDURES!"

Glacis armor twice as thick as Evangelion chest plate, thrice in some places. The  
enemy had broken its fingers upon it.

-Magnos Tancred- lurched forward and shot at the enemy with a full-power positron  
blast right at the groin. Then as the white Evangelion slumped to its knees, the  
Trident brought its fists together to slam the enemy's head between them. The  
metallic boom was satisfying. Already abused by Unit Two's hammers to the face,  
Eva-grade armor finally bent inwards... the white Evangelion fell sideways as if dead.

Mana flicked a radio channel. "Sohryu, as expected the thing only really knows how  
to fight another Evangelion. This arrogance can't go unpunished. Weapons aren't  
meant to think for themselves."

"It's inefficient." Asuka mused back.

Unit Four's eyes glowed. It roared. Air broke apart from the snap of an AT-field. The  
Trident tried to futilely shield itself with its stubby arms, in reflex of its operator. Its  
lower center of gravity helped keep it in place.

"Well, that wasn't so-..." Trident Vince Nagato, Trident gunner started to say.  
CLANG! "What was that?"

The Trident could not 'feel' anything, but the attack was as rain upon a windshield.  
"I can't believe... it's throwing rocks at us?" Mana gasped. Pieces of broken  
buildings, to be precise. Large ones, but in comparison to the Eva just about fist-  
sized. It looked like panic. "That's pathetic...!"

The pitiful little bumps continued, until the hiss of static broke their indreculous  
silence. "We... we just lost camera array four!" Jiro Takeda shouted suddenly as his  
primary screen fizzled out. Backups regained the view, only to be cut or covered by  
debris. The three large main screens had mismatched videos, and with some parts  
clearer then others.

"Retract the cameras! Go to passive sensors!" The many screens seemed to turn  
inside out, as visual ports closed and scattering lidar/radar/aural switched to high-  
intensity emergency world was composed of rough silhouettes until the  
systems could reinitialize to compensate.

Too late, there was a shape again hurling itself at the man's war marchine. The  
impact was loud, horrendous, as Unit Four slammed into -Magnos Tancred-'s top.  
The Trident's legs strained to hold weight in multiples to what they were rated for.

Clinging to the red-and-black war machine, the Evangelion had changed its center of  
gravity. The Trident Land Cruiser tilted back, little by little, until it slammed flat on  
the ground. Those inside felt as if their hearts would leap out their chests.

There was a scraping sound. "This... this isn't a berserker." Mana hissed, amid pain.  
"That's... that's a prog knife. It's finally fighting competently." On a good day, she  
and her crew could win one simulation in three over an Eva. In battle... had she  
really expected the flame of her anger and willpower to prevail over the limitations  
of metal?

"Acid throwers, fire!" Mana shouted suddenly. To his credit, her gunner did not even  
raise the slightest objection that the hungry liquids would mostly just drip down.  
Armor and faith. Death and duty.

Unit Four howled again, its knife slipping from its grasp. It was an animal sound,  
lacking the silent, eerie purpose that suddenly flicked into being within it. That  
pained cry cut off abruptly, as that inhuman clarity returned. It just barely dodged  
a stream of plasma traveling at a significant fraction of the speed of light. No armor  
made by man or xeno could resist that.

"Pilot Kirishima. Takeda. Nagato. Are you injured?"

"...tancred endures." was the whispered response.

Rei nodded. "I will attempt to draw the enemy away. My Eva is at a disadvantage  
with close combat. I require support."

There was a raptor quality in the white Evangelion's hunched, motionless stance.  
Patient. Merciless. And familiar.

-o-

The Angel screamed. The Evangelion screamed. Unsurprisingly, the men began  
screaming too; though more from frustration than anything.

"Back into the shield!" was the command. Fifteen men had to crowd into a sphere  
they could not really see, and armored men like plastic toys glued together in a ball.

An immense tentacle slapped at the glowing sphere, sending it tumbling off only to  
rebound against a larger, harder spherical barrier. The spinning, the impacts, the  
dizzying changes in direction; they were helpless against it. The small avian at the  
center of the crushed mass fought to control the shell and minimize the effects to  
those inside.

Nonetheless, the only thing all in there could do was to endure until the parasite  
beast grew tired from focusing its thoughts back into the material.

"Damn lunacy." Takahashi's unnecessary comments sounded wistful. "Damaged  
idiocy? Dama-...gyack!"

Sgt. De Leon kicked him in the face, more to distract himself from the need to puke.  
"... out... OUT!" he yelled out hoarsely. "We're hurting it. Spin on, you bastards!  
We've almost cut this Evangelion free!"

There was some primordial need there, and he felt pity for the great mechanical  
monster. It was as if its very field was screaming _'I want to be free!'_

_'We all do, beast...' _he whispered back, as the Tritonis dived up in drunken paths  
to the thing clamped around Unit 01's head. It tried to move its whip-tendrils  
tentacles upon large tentacles still, but faltered weakly. They tried to break off  
another of the crab-like legs attatching the sucking thing into the back of the  
Eva's skull. 'We're hurting it!' the sargeant exulted silently. There was another fight  
happening, and every bit that drained from the thing's attentions helped.

Then, bitter silence. Even the penguin seemed to stumble, its guarding light  
flickering for a moment.

"The field is gone!" Chaplain Ortigas' voice announced through the commlinks.

The Evangelion writhed, its arms pulling free from the restraints. Whatever poison or  
trickery the parasite-creature was using, it was starting to wear off. On one hand,  
there was relief in finally seeing their efforts were paying off. Another... that the  
strange qualities replenishing their capacitors were no longer in effect.

A little more than five minutes, that was all they had left. He did not dare ramp down  
the spin of his drill, though he did turn off the temperature controls. "Plenty of  
time...!" he snarled.

-o-

-o-

Misato Katsuragi had to step back as Shinji Ikari screamed and trashed and gnashed  
his teeth. Blood was starting to darken the sheets. She had to fight herself, to keep  
from unbuckling him from the belts tying him down to the bed. He was not cutting  
himself on the straps. The wounds appeared out of nowhere, he had collapsed bloody  
in her arms in the cafeteria.

One of the doctors finished mixing sedatives to the boy's IV. Misato grabbed his arm  
as he tried to move away. "What's happening to him?" she demanded.

His eyes, behind thick glasses, looked lost. "I... we don't know. Whatever it is, he's  
burning off the sedatives almost as fast as we can pump it in. He won't stay calm for  
much longer... I'm afraid we're going to have to cross fatal dosages soon." He sighed.  
"It would..." The doctor shook his head. "Never mind."

"What?"

"It would almost be like a miracle. If only it wasn't so horrible. There's no logical  
reason this should be happening."

Wounds would appear at the blink of an eye, and just as suddenly heal. Only the  
blood and the memory of pained cries remained. It was not natural, otherwise they  
would already have confined Shinji in fear of some airborne agent.

Misato was left there, to watch in silence as her charge sufferred. She hated feeling  
powerless and ignorant. Her instincts were yelling it could be nothing less than an  
attack, and yet..._ 'Who would want to harm someone as harmless as my Shinji?'_

The answer was likewise painfully obvious. The boy may be harmless, but not the  
Evangelion he piloted. Once more she felt clear hatred for the Angels, and those  
grown from their flesh. They caused nothing but pain.

Elsewhere, Ritsuko Akagi held the same view. It was one of NERV's many function  
rooms and darkened appropriately. A large screen showed feed from the geofront's  
own hospital. "Stigmata." she reported, looking away from the screen. "In combat,  
a pilot synchronizing too high with the Evangelion may show signs similar to the  
injuries the Eva recieves. "

"But he is neither in combat or in synchronization with an Eva." Fuyutsuki noted.

"How is the status of Unit One?" asked Gendo.

"No change. It is also being monitored, but so far shows no signs of activity. It  
remains in suspension." the scientist replied. "There is no other explanation for  
pilot Ikari's injuries."

Gendo let a few moments pass in silence. "This is not part of the scenario."

"Of course not. So many believe that prophecies imply a surrendering of choice,  
when the only way they can ever come to pass is by action. Only those with purpose  
have the luxury of choice. Those who do nothing are not free, but trapped by their  
own indecision."

Gendo blinked. Ritsuko gasped. Kozo Fuyutsuki frowned. "I... remember that." he  
whispered. He even recalled the context where it was first said. She was smiling,  
back then, even though her words held bitter flavor.

Gendo clenched his fists and stood up. "This video. Is it live?"

"It... it should be." Ritsuko replied, watching Misato frantically asking Shinji if he was  
really awake.

-o-  
-o-

Incidentally, the pilots did know martial arts. Asuka was schooled in a functional mix  
of unarmed and weapon styles suited for her Evangelion. Rei had sufficient instruction  
but little practice. Mana of course had the requisite military training. It was only Shinji  
Ikari that lacked any close-combat training at all when he got shoved into combat.

Over time, that training gap disappeared. It felt like those early days in the Battle  
Simulation though; because they were fighting an Eva that was (in Asuka's angry  
litanities) a -_dodgy little fuckwad_-.

"Dammit, Ayanami, you almost hit me!" Asuka could feel the edge of her scalp tingling  
from the hellbolt that boiled off the outermost layer of Unit-02's head armor. "Watch  
where you're aiming!"

"Rest assured, Sohryu, I was aiming at you." After counting down the seconds, Rei  
shot at Unit-02's head again.

Again, just Asuka just barely managed to avoid getting decapitated. Unit Four  
screeched in pain as its shoulder blew off.

"Oh." said the red-haired girl. "So the thing doesn't read ahead moves that aren't  
deliberately aimed at it. That's... interesting." She leapt aside. "WHAT THE FU-  
Kirishima!"

"What? It works."

"... oh you bitches are just enjoying this, aren't you?" she retorted half-jokingly.

From then on, despite occasional flashes of strange competence, the enemy  
Evangelion started to be pushed back without fail. It was the sort of 'murder  
everything and everyone' sort of fighting that the Battle Sim seemed to encourage  
and was disturbing to those watching it. In a final push through an office tower, the  
white Eva tumbled head over hells into the clearing.

"Fields up!" Asuka yelled. "Drop them!"

Circling UN bombers dropped enough N2 bombs sufficient to slag Tokyo-3 several  
times over. The screens fizzled, and a miniature quake was felt even deep within  
the geofront.

Unit 04 roared weakly, its armor smoking and charred.

"Blue pattern alert!" Makoto yelled. "The Dirac Sea is opening up."

Misato Katsuragi slammed her palms down on her armrests. "Finally! We damaged  
the damn thing enough that the Angel has to rescue its tool." She looked at the timer  
(00:04:32) and then to Ritsuko. "Do we really have enough power to keep the hole  
open?"

"The Dirac Sea is not a 'hole' per se, Misato. Think of it as a mirror. We only need to  
keep the lens from constricting." The scientist watched heavy industrial trucks  
hurriedly deliver power cables to the Evangelion. Leliel's shadow expanded and  
approached.

Water began to pour out of the void. Bomb scarabs rushed out in a stream, then  
inexplicably began to fall a relatively distance away. They exploded upon hitting  
anything, of course, but there seemed to be no reason for their creashes.

-o-

Pen-pen made a rapid series of warbling noises, and pointed upwards.

"Well put, my feathered friend!" Fr. Ortigas replied. "But I still have no idea what it is  
that you say!"

The bird made a squawk of clear frustration.

-o-  
-o-

"We're getting a signal!" Maya reported.

Misato whirled around. "What?"

A window appeared on the main screen. "Unit-01 Evangelion's external comm system  
just turned on!"

The feed was grainy, but it whoever it was on the other end was clearly human.  
"It's... who are you?" Misato gasped.

"Hello? Hello! How are we supposed to work this thing? Gentlemen, we're in  
cont*kzzt*o shut the fuc*eeeeepp*... This is Tritonis... "

"The imbedded IFF checks out, Katsuragi-san." Shigeru noted. "It's real. They're  
really still alive after thirteen hours inside the Angel!"

Misato looked ecstatic. "And if they can survive that, then an Eva...!"

"We're receving status reports from the Eva, sempai. Shinji-kun's alive, but  
unconscious."

"Tritonis team, this is NERV. Tritonis, this is NERV. Do you receive?" Makoto  
sighed. "I don't think they're actually receving our return transmissions."

"Maybe Cerberus Base has better luck. Bounce this signal along. All those men belong  
to them."

"we have*breep* no... chance to survive... *kzz* make your *bzzt* it's time."

-o-

"All right, this is it!" Asuka shouted. She slid on fresh capacitors for her modules.  
-Magnos Tancred-'s onboard fusion reactor could actually recharge Evas on the  
fly, but they needed maximum power.

"Pilot Sohryu, I will concentrate on 'cracking' the enemy's field. Your task is to keep  
the region of altered space open. If necessary, you might have to maintain the  
cohesion of the Dirac Sea in much he same way the Angel supports its existence."

"I know, I know, that's why I have the Trident linked to me for backup power."

"I am merely concerned. It is also a possibility that the enemy might utilize some form  
of mental attack." That was pretty much how AT-field 'telepathy' worked. On low  
enough levels, it was benign. Intensified, it was a weapon.

Fortunately, not even Ritsuko Akagi had a hint it was possible. It was... too  
unscientific.

-o-

"Katsuragi."

Misato looked up to the commander's desk with a frown.

"The Angel is on its way to destruction. It would be unwise to try and stop that."

"I know we might not have a better chance, but retrival of the Eva is our first  
priority. I have a feeling those men did something to allow this to happen, and I  
won't waste their efforts. We have to rescue them." She turned back to the screen.  
He throat felt as if full of grit. "The least we can owe them is the chance to die  
standing."

Rei stood with her arms outstretched and the light of her soul focused into a cone.  
Unit Zero's capacitors were draining at a rate of about one percent per two seconds,  
Though not to the level of an onboard nuclear reactor, the Eva was still throwing  
away enough power to light up a large city.

It was easiest to visualize a drill boring down into the seabed. Leliel's AT-field  
intensified downwards at a gradient, and it was part of why NERV had mistaken its  
'flight' as merely pushing against the ground.

Rei knew of the Lance of Longinius, which Gendo had retrieved that months ago. It  
would have gone through Leliel's trick as a sword through rice paper, but also an  
advantage NERV was not willing to let slip just yet. 'Doctor Akagi should be  
commended on creating a viable countermeasure to a concept she neither fully  
understands or tolerates.'

All the power in the world would not have let herself from a year ago, Rei II, to do  
what she was doing. Strangely, it would be sinced she lacked... philosophy.

-o-

_A madboy wuz runnin' down da street shoutin' "Powa, greed, en korrupshun! Powa,  
greed, en korrupshun!"_

_Wun day a brave en stupid gretch asked, "Ey, whyz you doin'? Can'tyuz tell nobby's  
listenin'?"_

_"Course I do, ya dumb grot. I ent dat deep into da Warp."_

_"Den whys ya shoutin?'" the gretchin asks some more, while shakin' in fear. "Iffen  
nothing changes?"_

_"Ya don'z get it!" da madboy sez on. "I ent shoutin' ta change DEM, I'm doin' dis so  
dey don't change ME!"_

-o-

She was not neutralizing a field, as the usual tactic. The inverse of an inverted AT-  
field was just repellant force. All she had was the sheer determination to batter the  
enemy's will to survive with her own comparative will to prevail. She held value. She  
would not fail! Not him! Not anymore!

"I am Ayanami Rei." the blue-haired girl breathed. "And if he should will it. I shall  
pierce the Hells with my drill."

Red light spewed out of the Dirac Sea, in viscous ribbons like blood. The dark void  
cracked and seemed to splinter; water hissed out, expelled under pressure. The air  
rang with a high-pitched wail.

The edges of the Dirac Sea began to constrict. Unit Two slapped its palms together  
and amidst a deep humming tone the air grew thick and heavy. The jagged bumps  
on the surface started to splinter further, flecks rising into the air.

A gout of seawater fountained up, and lit by the red seams of light around it seemed  
even more violent.

Aside, Unit four began to stir. It crawled towards the boiling black sea.

"Ayanami! The enemy...!"

"I am almost through, Sohryu." One of the capacitor packs on Unit Zero's shoulders  
exploded. "I can sense... "

Leliel's shadow broke apart. Explosions rippled along the heavy capacitor banks that  
gave her orange Eva such a distinctive hunched look in Titan configuration. Rei  
screamed, and for moment her eyes seemed to turn inside out; the white in her eyes  
turning black.

Unit Four managed to touch the barest edge of the Dirac Sea. Its flesh began to  
bulge out in cancerous growth. It flailed about in pain.

-o-

-o-

Shinji groaned. Weak. So pathetically weak. He knew that physically he was nothing  
special, but... never had he felt so powerless. What happened to the certainty that  
had always seemed to bring strength into his every act?

_"The universe does not operate on moral principles."_ he found himself whispering. _"In  
this uncaring universe, we are terrifyingly alone. Who cares for us? Who looks at us?  
Each time we look into the abyss, or try to plumb its depths, we find only a lens to  
darkness of the self."_

"Shinji -kun!"

The boy gasped for breath and opened his eyes. "Hello, Misato-san."

"Shinji-kun! Are you all right? What were you..." Misato wiped at her eyes. "No, it's  
not important right now. I'm glad you're not hurt..."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's okay." and her voice took on a steely quality. "I'm not going  
to let anything hurt you anymore."

Shinji flinched. _'I should be saying that, but...'_

The door slid open. It was not a doctor as everyone, even those watching remotely,  
expected.

"Rei?"

"Major Katsuragi." the blue-haired girl greeted with a slight nod. "Pilot Ikari." She  
stared at him for a few moments, the beginnings of a frown appearing on her  
features. "You are diminished."

Shinji could only nod.

"Your wealth is gone. Your army is away. Your knowledge is useless here." Rei said  
curtly. "What is the source of your power?"

Even Gendo, hearing that from afar, felt a chill run down his spine. Shinji sat up in  
shock, uncaring that the bonds keeping him tied to the bed just snapped. "Who are  
you?" he asked.

"I am as I have always been." Rei replied. "It is you who must answer. What are you  
now?"

"I'm..." Briefly Shinji looked aside to Misato, the confusion in her eyes giving way to  
suspicion. And betrayal. "I am Shinji Ikari!" he shouted hurriedly. "I'm sorry. That's  
all that I am. But... I have to do what needs to be done."

He growled. His own flesh was so weak. He raged at the inadequacy. But his works  
would not be undone so quickly...! "And my -_might_- is -_mankind_-!"

Rei nodded. "I am satisfied. You are him." Something flickered in her eyes. "You were  
hard to find, mortal."

Shinji clenched his fists and hissed "Lillith."

And Rei smiled. "Our bargain is unfulfilled. Return to me."

-o-

-o-

Pen-pen did not dive into the Dirac Sea with the intention of being a hero. His  
intelligence and self-awareness (and desire for self-improvement) may be well above  
other birds, but his intentions were still colored by instinct.

This was also somewhat to his benefit, since he had no way of knowing that pulling  
an Eva should be impossible to a bird of his apparent body mass (or even AT-field  
abilities). Normally, there would be something amusing in seeing a penguin flap its  
flippers like mad. Those clinging to Unit-01's fingers however, could only keep in  
mind that it was the least form of madness they could take from the depths. Pseudo-  
flight pulled them away from the eldritch gloom and its hostile macabre seafood.

For that, in the end was what they were. The prawns of doom? The lobsters of  
menace? Even the crablike parasite creature sucking on the Evangelion's head did  
not match up to that hunger. Something in the hard had starved for a long, long  
time.

"It's not a city." the chaplain whispered. "It's a heart."

It was a self-contained ecosystem inside the Dirac Sea. As much as the Earth  
required the warmth of the sun, the place needed the light of something else.

Something screamed.

-o-  
-o-

The surf brought Shinji Ikari back, washing him facedown on the beach. He choked  
and gasped, his throat burning from seawater. He coughed and vomited, drawing in  
painful lungfuls of air. He felt a hand upon his back and warmth returning to his  
insides.

"My young king, I was worried." spoke the Farseer, the concern in her voice  
unmuffled by her helmet. "You simply vanished from our midst. We have sadly  
underestimated the depth of the enemy's trickery."

"My mother..."

The Farseer looked behind her. "She is gone as well, to a place we cannot follow. I  
feel that she is not in any danger."

The young teen tried to stand. He felt drained of all strength, and stumbled back to  
his knees.

"A most cunning trap. It gave you what you wanted, a life without the great powers  
you so foolishly seek to throw away. It pulled upon your overblown and really quite  
silly sense of responsibility to keep you restrained."

"How would you know? You weren't there..." Shinji replied coarsely. "It shouldn't be  
possible for you to hide from me."

"No, but it is the very lure I would have used." The Farseer unsealed her helmet and  
stowed it off... somewhere. She actually looked happy. "The only way to get yourself  
free would be to reject the illusions you cast upon yourself. Trust me when I say,  
that is a very difficult thing to endure... as surely you must now know."

"They needed me." Shinji whispered hoarsely. "It... was it real?"

He had, unfortunately, all but torn right through NERV just to get back to Eva Unit  
One, through all impediments in the way. They treated him as an Angel, shooting to  
kill - and he had to run, to blow right through bulkheads, lighting sparking from his  
fingertips. He wanted to escape that look of utter betrayal from Misato, the eerie  
sneer on Rei's face, and he may have accidentally run over Asuka while trying to  
escape.

Was it worth all that; leaving that world in chaos, if not with their defenses  
vastly reduced? What had he done to the self that used to occupy that body?

The Farseer made a dismissive gesture. "You might as well ask if I am real. Will it  
make you feel any better to know definitively? That you may have condemned an  
entire world to a faithless death?" she scoffed. "You cannot save everyone,  
everywhere. It is monumental egotism to even try. My young king, you have to be  
purged of this stupid arrogance."

The boy looked up and glared. "... my word is my power. My power is mind. I feel  
like I betrayed my own principles anyway. I should have expected that you would  
have no sympathy for the mon-keigh."

The Eldar merely smiled. "Do you fancy yourself a Lord of Nightmares now? I know  
why you are angry, dear child. For a moment, you accepted the fact that you are  
_NOT HUMAN_."

Shinji Ikari shivered again. He had cut loose, and the fear in their hearts... they  
feared him. And he had liked it, that power. Walls of steel, meters thick and the  
will of mankind to resist... as nothing, utterly pliable under his grasp.

"NO!" he shouted, clutching his head. "That's what YOU want. I'm not like you... "

She did not need to respond, her lips merely twitching higher. Of course, since she  
was indeed a part of his consciousness...

"I'm human. They're MY people. I love. I bleed. I cry. I can die."

Her laughter was melodious, music in itself, and precise as surgical steel. "Humanity  
is but a word, a title you cling to as the darkness falls around you. Are you defined  
by your flesh, my lovely child? Or your soul?

Even "Eldar" is a title, yes, but like you, the title is not who I am. The Eldar are a  
purpose. We were made for war. Our lives are devoted to the utmost of our calling.  
To be Eldar is more than just a state of biology, or of mind. It is to be attuned with  
the universe all around us. We were created, remember this. Before the Eldar knew  
what they were, what was there? I do not believe in the Eldar in much the same  
way a sun needs the belief of little furry creatures to continue nourishing their  
existence.

I find it PATHETIC, that you have to believe in humanity. What have they done, but  
to open the gates to their own annihilation?"

"Slaanesh." Shinji said.

The Farseer did not flinch. "Guidance and a firm hand. You sacrifice yourself for  
them? A futile exercise. This is a path that is closed to you." She smirked again.  
"Besides, I have no tolerance for any more masochists. It is... undignified."

_'... any -more-?_' Shinji Ikari clutched at his head. "You know what, I think I've had  
my fill of pseudointellectual bullcrap for today. Let's talk about the Angel."

"Let us talk about your mother."

"What are you, my therap-... huh. Now that I think about it, the only other people  
here are a dogmatic crusader, a violence-happy brute, and a power-hungry maniac.  
You're probably what's keeping me sane."

"I am delighted, and as such will not discuss the inherent irony in that statement.  
You have gone to a place I cannot follow... so I must know the naked truth about Yui  
Ikari."

"I don't have an Oedipal Complex!" Shinji shouted suddenly.

"Do not be defensive." the Farseer mused impishly.

"Ohh, no. I -_know_- you. You don't misspeak. When you make an innuendo, you  
-_mean_- it. Do you spend your... my... idle moments thinking up ways to disturb me  
further?"

"Yes." the Eldar replied, looking hurt at the implication that for him she would ever  
by anything than brutally honest. "I like being around your mother. It feels so...  
refreshing... to sense a mind I can truly respect."

"I'm hearing the sounds of battle. If I turn my head to the side, I'm going to see the  
others having fun beating the snot out of an Angel and each other. A fine distraction,  
I think. Should I really be talking when I could be out killing things?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her left eyebrow.

"Oh, come on! People are DYING at this very moment and you want me to talk about  
my FEELINGS?"

She then lifted her right eyebrow to give a wide-eyed glare down upon him.

"I'm being bullied by my own metaphorical representations. I guess I really am  
pathetic." the boy muttered. "Fine. You want to know? My mother isn't like you.

...my mother is a _monster_." the boy hissed out, while clenching his fist over his  
chest. She was caring, she doted on him, his childhood was shaped by the indistinct  
memories of a comforting presence. Yet he felt betrayed.

At the edge of their hearing was the hollow laughter of an ageless creature.

"I -_see_-." The Farseer considered her words, and looked left to the men in the mind  
still exulting in their violent actions. "Shinji, listen to me. You must listen." she  
whispered. "Your life has not been chosen for you. More than anyone else in the world,  
your existence was wanted. You live. In this uncaring universe, you were chosen to  
bear the proof of your entire species' existence."

"She was there! She brought Lilith's awareness back! She knew! Of course she did!  
The foremost geneticist of her generation!" Shinji screamed. "Three billion people!  
With their own hopes, their own families, those that they loved. I can't forgive  
that...! The Eva's power is not worth that...!"

"Nevertheless." the Farseer replied curtly. "What have you seen?"

Shinji shivered. "Have you... do you know anyone who seemed to have so much  
potential that the he can only be mediocre? Have you seen someone who could be so  
many things, that he ended up none of them? To someone like that, to finally have  
purpose to blind all other options... to surrender the right to decide, is much more  
desirable than the terror of absolute freedom."

The Farseer frowned. "Do you mean your father?"

The boy took a fistful of golden sand and let it trickle down. "Rei... she... is not a  
replacement for my mother. As if the situation wasn't disturbing enough... what he  
sees in her obedient shell... is himself."

Something whispered at the edge of his mind '_... the shell serves. This is the purpose  
of the little creatures.'_

"That place... it was too coherent to be any mere dream. In the soon-to-be immortal  
words of Dr. Ritsuko Akagi: WHAT _THE FUCK_ IS _THIS SHIT_? I AM GOING TO GO  
-QUANTUM- ON ALL YOUR ASSES!"

"Doctor Akagi. Hm... A lovely woman too." the Farseer commented idly.

"Are you my mother's voice? Or are you mine? You're manipulating me too." the  
boy snarled.

_'Manipulation is done through propelling events... or selected ones into motion. It is  
done through teaching, through example, and through conviction.' _a distant voice  
murmured, along with a sense of warm comfort. The boy felt as if swaying from side  
to side, a breeze upon his face.

_'And the greatest of victories are not manipulations at all but simply awakening  
others... to the truth of what you believe. Of hearing it echoed around you, in life.'_

"The world I know mirrors my mother's beliefs. I have sentenced SEELE to death. If  
my mother lived, I would have no choice but make the same judgement...' Shinji  
said, in pain. "I trusted you!" he shouted to his Farseer. "More than the others, I felt  
I could rest my objectivity on you. Now... who can I trust? What -_are_- you?"

The Farseer looked saddened. "To make you doubt yourself... clearly, the enemy's  
assault cut deeper than I thought."

_'... mankind is an animal, my little Shinji. A filthy creature of endless wants. That is  
the reality of man. Intelligence only allows us the illusion of immaterial needs to  
obscure our everpresent natural desires. At the end, every man can be controlled  
through his animal nature.'_ A giggle. _"What can change the nature of a man?"_

"Pain is an illusion of being." Shinji said tonelessly. "To prove one exists, then one  
must kill. Only when one can move into the space in the universe occupied by  
another, can you know if you or the other was ever really real. Is this not the  
predatory cycle? This is the natural state of being. The universe we can interact  
with is not infinite.

All of life is competition for limited resources. All of morality is but the way of  
ensuring survival of the group. And sometimes to cull the weak and useless."

_'Know this, and be strong. You have not been created out of nothing. You will then  
make something out of everything else.'_

The Farseer saw no problem with a mother whispering this to a child as he nodded  
off into a nap.

"Just as I was with Ayanami, when my mother met my father their capabilities  
expanded exponentially. Seriously, I was raised by _-sociopaths-_. I can't believe I'm  
_-not_- thoroughly messed up."

There were three heavy thumps, and sand sprayed out from a large crater appearing  
nearby. The Warboss clawed his way out of the hole and shook his head roughly. He  
laughed as he saw Shinji standing there. "Oi! Yoz' back den? We saved ya some bitz  
to stomp, har har!"

_'Oh. Yeah. They're _all_ sociopaths.'_ "My head hurts. I need to kill something."

A great dark shape loomed, casting a long shadow over the beach. Leliel's Angelic  
form looked similar to a gigantic fusion of centipede and praying mantis, with a  
disturbingly humanlike head. It had no face, though gaping insect jaws clicked right  
beneath.

Though it had hundreds, if not thousands of sickle-like legs and two massive scythe  
arms, Leliel had trouble dealing with the single red-armored Marine scaling its back.  
The Astartes had long since lost his bolter, and stabbed his way up the sinuous back  
with a combat knife on each hand. The Angel had two spiked tails. The Chaos Marine  
was trying to do the same from the other angle, but was unwilling to let go of his  
single daemonblade.

WHAP.

Leliel's Angelic form brought that tail down and wiped the Chaos Marine off into the  
sand. He pushed off from the ground, sand and grit still sticking to his face. "I KNOW  
that the Enemy's vile connections have ceased. So why is it STILL HERE?" The  
daemon sword crawled on bony legs back to him. "Come then, let us teach you  
of FEAR!"

The fleshy nub of Leliel's head began to bubble up. Humanoid shapes with beak  
mouth and glowing eyes seemed claw their way out. At the center of the horrors,  
one of them had its face start to dissolve. The eerie light from within began to fade.  
Black flesh dripped away to reveal the more pinkish human tone. Hair began to grow  
out, and eyeballs appeared.

Shinji Ikari's face looked down upon the scene and grinned fiercely. The eyes were  
reversed, white on black, as if hollow inside.

_"It knows fear. Do you know what it is to have such pain that it is meaningless?"_ The  
voice was the same, but echoing oddly. _"This one knows the hunger."_

Shinji Ikari still had to actually turn around. The replica up high was pulled under  
into the Angel and replaced by another with the horrific visage.

Three voices spoke; one loud and bestial, a boy's soft yet emotionless tone, and  
a gentle womanly whisper just at the edge of hearing. _"All -life- is the effort to  
become strong. We take in sustenance to add the power of our prey to our own. All  
life is a matter of -decaying energy states-, that must continually be replenished. The  
universe itself is dying. No one can fight this simple basic law! Survival can only  
come at the expense of something else."_

Leliel lunged at the boy, its mouth wide open and dripping with acid. Shinji made a  
backhand slap at the air. The Angel topped, as if struck down with all the force of  
an Evangelion.

"This is MY MIND, beast. My guardians can't kill you any more than they can destroy  
themselves. I wonder how you managed to really get inside my head." The boy bared  
his teeth. "That world... was far too coherent to be mere fantasy."

The Angel writhed on the ground, toppling trees and carving into a shallow hillside. It  
brought its head back to face the boy and hissed.

_"It cannot perish."_ it gurgled out. _"It has no body."_

"My Bright LORD, we must get back to the WORLD." spoke the Chaos Marine, his  
sword shrinking to a cursed dagger (and a to whimsical look by the Farseer). "This  
creature does not understand SIN. Imagine a pitcher with no lid, to receive and  
never give. I can feel its MADNESS licking at our senses."

The Angel gat back up and bared its ranks of teeth. Shinji snarled back at it.

"You who were freed from your prison! The only thing you can do is to try and prove  
your existence by replacing our supremacy on this world!" The same world that  
suffered under even lesser creatures. Shinji screamed "**Where is the shepherd? The  
waters are all foul and in turmoil! Whose hand calms the fearful? Who hears the  
cries of the dying?**

Do you understand what they've done, beast? I do not fear you. My own kind fills  
me with horror."

_"I found a god, my little Shinji. Even it has to follow this basic rule. One cannot  
create something out of nothing, everything requires the consumption of resources.  
Everything must function to equivalent exchange. The notion of a deity that is the  
source of everything... I find it silly. A lawmaker should not be exempt from the very  
rules he makes._

_I love the universe, Shinji. It's logical. Humanity in all our hubris... we need to  
become stronger if we're to truly appreciate its reality. We look at the cosmos and  
see only ourselves. Our souls are caught here in the well of gravity._

"I kill and kill and WHY DO I HEAR THEM?" The boy heaved for breath, and felt like  
crying again. "It's not fair... why should I benefit from their pain...? I never asked for  
their sacrifice... At least you beasts can only blame your genetic imperative."

"There is no one else, commander." the Space Marine said, as he approached. He  
stood over the teen, and offered no comfort. "Humanity needs a guide. We are  
worthy of existing. This at the very heart of the Imperial Truth."

"Why... do I have to slavishy follow the opinions of the group?" Shinji said numbly.  
"Humanity is what I define it to be...!"

The Farseer looked pleased.

Shinji Ikari looked up at Leliel's Angelic form. It grinned at him, with its multitude of  
mouths and many-toothed jaws. _"Unite with this one. You can only be more of  
-yourself-. This one's power, yours. This one's immortality, yours. Your purpose,  
become this one's purpose. The pain will end._

_... it doesn't want to be alone anymore. It has waited for too long."_

"Angels are their own gods, beings of supreme ego." Shinji whispered. "You devour  
each other."

_"You live. So do you. You kill it. You waste its power. Occupy this one's absolute  
territory or it will have yours!"_

"Yaknowz, wen something ASKS ya ta stomp it, it kinda takes all da fun out of it,  
yaz..." the Warboss grumbled. "Everyfin's an enemy nowadayz..."

Something laughed in the distance.

_Little flesh creature. You are mine._

_"Enemy! Enemy!"_ the Angel began to shout out in many incoherent voices. _"The  
Purpose... only now that it has tongues can it speak of the purpose. Here this one  
was given eyes! Here this one was fed knowledge it had no way to know! Unite with  
it! Fight the enemy! BE STRONG! WE MUST KILL! Do not give the Enemy your  
strength!"_

_'He will be greater than either of us, Gendo. Of course he will.'_ Shinjii heard along  
with sound of summer wind chimes. _"He will occupy the space we will leave for him."_

And for some reason, the tune to MC Hammer's "...Can't Touch This" began to sound.  
Everyone else blinked. "Wot da zog?"

Na na na...! NANANANA.

The Farseer opened and palm and whispered "... can't dodge this."

Leliel lunged again. This time, Shinji Ikari made no move to stop it. Darkness closed  
over him.

BOOM.

-o-

-o-

Evangelion Unit One's eyes flashed. It twitched its fingers, nearly dislodging the  
hapless Tritonis clinging to them. It looked down, and it was... aware.

It gave a low growl and gathered up the men. The penguin gave an indignant  
squawk as the Marines were again shoved into its domain of protection. The Eva  
held the glowing sphere like a baseball - and threw!

-o-  
-o-

Unit Four tackled Unit Zero, which could only give feeble resistance. The garishly-  
painted orange Eva had spent almost all of its energy. The Trident Land Dreadnought  
bullrushed forward, the power cables linking it to Unit Two snapping.

Asuka merely grit her teeth, as her power reserves began to drop at an alarming  
rate. She could feel the surface of the Dirac Sea. Waves and eddies were rippling  
across the lightless expanse, and jagged buildings pieces poking out were as islands.

"Take this! _DYNAMIC -OFFENSIVE SUPPORT_-!" Wham! -Magnos Tancred- tackled Unit  
Four, and pinned it to the ground. Sitting on its chest, Mana then began pounding away  
at the enemy Eva's head.

Charged capacitors popped out of the Trident's back like bread from a toaster.

Rei popped the capacitors on her shoulder pylons and placed in fresh power packs.  
Two packs, each worth one and half minutes of normal operation. It would have to  
be enough.

The Dirac Sea spat out something.

-o-

"Transponder signal!" Shigeru shouted suddenly. "The Tritonis Teams are outside the  
Dirac Sea!"

Misato whirled around "REALLY? Are they alive? Get me an open channel!"

The feed was still scratchy, but easier to understand. It was now possible to identify  
voices. "... one, two... uh... ten. I have ten fingers. All digits still attached, what about  
you bastards?" Sgt. De Leon asked through a splitting headache.

"What happened to the bird?" Takahashi asked dizzily.

"Bird? What bird?" Chaplain Ortigas replied very carefully. "Unless you're being  
colloquial, I believe that's Colonel Katsuragi we're hearing."

"Aaa..."

"Tritonis, this is NERV. REPORT!"

The hapless Marines outside winced. "Ugh. Tritonis Command Squad and Alpha,  
reporting for duty. Situation is... OHSHIT EVANGELION!"

There was a loud, snapping sound and of frantic screaming. "IT'S NOT DEAD YET?"  
someone yelled. "I ALMOST PREFER THE SHRIMPS AGAIN!"

By the sounds, it was clear they had landed somewhere close to where Unit Four was  
rampaging. Away from the Dirac Sea, but hardly from danger. How they survived the  
fall in getting there, was something that no one wanted to examine at the moment.

"RUN YOU FOOLS!"

"Seventy seconds! I've got seventy seconds of power left!"

"FUCK YOU YAAAANG!"

Whomp. Crunch. Boink.

-o-

Unit Four roared and grabbed at the Trident's left elbow joint. It braced its feet  
against the hard angle of the war machine's body and began to pull. Mana Kirishima  
winced in pain, though mostly from the high-pitched sounds of stressed metal.

There was pain, of a sort, when the Evangelion broke the arm right off. -Magnos  
Tancred- used the change in its center of gravity to whirl its torso around and give  
back a defiant punch. Then both metal giants fell away on their respective asses.

Unit Zero moved to help, but Asuka shouted out "Ayanami! The field...! It's starting  
to intensify...! I can't hold it shut!"

"What did you say?" There was a click, as the central command channel engaged.  
"Its fine! You know what you're doing!" Misato said to the pilots. "Just keep at it, we're  
launching all the zig-zag retrival lines."

The two NERV Evangelions combined their fields, while the enemy Eva got up  
groggily. The jack mechanisms for the Trident strained to lift the machine.

Trucks hauling bundled lines connected to hard ladders rumbled past. The cables  
would extend out to thirty kilometers of a sheer drop, while the metal supports would  
provide rigidity, handholds, and locator lights.

"Where are those spotters?" Misato shouted. "Paint the thing! The submarines  
already launched their conventional missiles! Artillery, fire for effect! And GET ME  
THOSE MARINES!"

A bright lance flashed between the buildings, and knocked the white Eva back into  
the ground.

Several kilometers away, sailors frantically pumped out water. The temperatures  
from that single blast warmed the whole ship up to nearly searing heat. The crew of  
the Kringolith cannibalized one Heavy Positron Cannon turret to get the other one  
somewhat functional. The ship was pock-marked with holes, it was a miracle that it  
could even still float. Engineers had pumped in foam as they took out water from  
behind bulkheads.

_'Humans are spiteful creatures, weak, and yet... resilient as well. Stubborn in their  
purpose; when they finally choose one.'_ Misato thought, as she watched the remote  
view. Streaks of smoke approached from the east and west. _'These children won't die  
here, I'll make sure of it!'_

-Magnos Tancred- managed to roll aside as the white Evangelion and much of the  
surrounding area was consumed in flame.

-o-

"...we couldn't make contact with Shinji Ikari. Since the Evangelion tossed us out...  
I think he's conscious now."

Back at NERV, Maya Ibuki shook her head. Still no communications with the Eva.  
Then she gasped.

"It can't be!" the NERV lieutenant screamed. "There's a presure buildup inside the  
entry plug and power levels for the Evangelion is rising!"

Misato looked over to Ritsuko's direction.

"I'm veryifing it right now. Unit One doesn't seem to be expressing an AT-field. We're  
still only getting systems report broadcast, so we have no way of sending diagnostic  
checks." The scientist sighed. "Yes, yes. This shouldn't be possible."_ 'As usual.'_

"Life support systems in the Eva are rapidly failing! Shinji's... having a ha... heart  
attack?"

Misato pushed out of her control chair and rushed over to Maya's console. "Do  
something!"

The young woman was already frantically pushing down on buttons. "No response!"  
she shrieked. She stabbed on the remote life-support controls hard enough to crack  
the panels. "It's refusing me! The signals aren't getting through!"

A harsh level beeping seemed to fill the command center.

"Colonel!"

Outside, the battle still raged. Unit Four emerged from a smoking crater, its eyes  
flashing an apparently pissed off to high heaven. The NERV Evangelions were  
alternating their fields, and the Trident tried to look threatening while missing an  
arm. It held the broken appendage with the other, as if going to beat the enemy  
to death with its own amputated limb.

"What should we do?" she was asked. NERV's Operations Director did not react. All  
others in the command center expected rage, tears, anything other then sullen  
silence. The flat electronic noise continued.

The earth quaked. The Dirac Sea broke apart. Golden light issued forth from the  
dark, and an otherwordly scream filled the air. Everyone out on the surface were  
knocked off their feet, even the Evangelions.

The light burned at the blood-like streams of energy, and then expanded into an all-  
consuming explosion. The light passed through rock, though hollows, and into the  
command center. For a moment, there was a feeling of euphoria.

Then nothing. The darkness was gone. The heart monitor's sound was gone. The  
white Evangelion remained standing, confused.

Misato Katsuragi had no need to say anything. They all knew.

Asuka Lanley-Sohryu screamed. "NO! IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE  
THIS WAY!"

"You're joking, right...?" Mana Kirishima mumbled. "The Angel isn't dead, right? He...  
we can still get im back, right...? You've got the Evangelions, you have to be able to  
do something!"

Rei Ayanami frowned. '_Hello, sister._' she heard in her mind.

Emergency sounds rang. "Evangelion Unit Two is... berserking." Maya Ibuki said  
flatly.

The red Evangelion screamed and leapt at the white Evangelion. The enemy Eva was  
still active for some reason, but its attempts to defend itself were pitiful and futile.  
Roars rang, anger and pain and fear. Armor cracked and was peeled off. Coolant and  
biomechanical blood spurted out.

Unit Two kicked and tore, and began to pull at the white Eva's arms. There was the  
snap of dislocating joints, but the red monster did not stop. With a great roar and a  
final burst of effort it tore both arms right off.

Cancerous regeneration bubbled. Streams of material seemed to float through open  
air linking the two wounds.

Unit Two's eyes flashed and a rumble issued forth. It needed to keep the prey from  
healing. Where could it put the enemy's flesh so it could not rebuild itself.

It roared, opened its jaws wide, and bit down. It stripped flesh and components off  
the skeletal supports and began to feed. Even the enemy Evangelion look horrified.  
Unit Two roared again in delight.

It began to lash away at the enemy's chest. The enemy started screaming.

Armor was pulled off, organs and organic machinery. Rip and tear. The Evangelion  
had huge guts. Blood splattered the ground, the walls, everything nearby. The  
chewing sounds seemed to echo inside the command center.

"It's taking in the S2 Engine..." Gendo muttered. This was definitely NOT in the scenario.  
Not SEELE's, or his, in any case. Could someone else...?

Unit Four's upper torso separated from its legs. The red Eva threw away the lower  
half and dug around inside the enemy's chest. The white Eva had yet to stop  
screaming. It was still conscious, the incredible capacity for survival working against  
it. Only when Unit Two pulled out a large red-orange sphere did it finally fall silent.

"The Evangelion's core..." Ritsuko whispered with a sigh. "The other parts of the  
Evangelion are just a matter of growth and construction. But the core is the  
fundamental limit to mass production. Without it, the new model Eva is just spare  
parts."

"Asuka... " Misato sighed and shook her head. "No, I won't stop her."

The red Eva looked at the thing in its hands, as if curious. Then it closed its fist. The  
core shattered. There was no great outpouring of energy, no dramatic noise. Just a  
thin, almost forlorn sigh... and the crystal collapsed into fine dust.

"It's not fair..." Asuka sobbed. "I supposed to be a hero, nein? I should have been  
stronger..." Her AT-field began to expand, and thickening the air. Dust and smoke  
started to press down upon the ground.

Vigor seemed to flow through her limbs. She felt as if weightless. _'So this is the  
power of the S2 Engine? My power?_

"Energy levels buildup inside the Evangelion...!" Maya reported. "It's... the same as  
before. Asuka! It's not safe!"

"To have integrated the S2 engine so quickly..." Fuyutsuki commented in a disgusted  
tone. "Or did it simply allow the Eva to grow its own?"

Unit Two roared and beat at the ground with its fists. It clawed at the ground, tearing  
up even the armored foundations for the geofront roof.

"It's not going to do anything, Asuka..." Misato said sadly. "He's not underground..."

The girl was crying. The Evangelion roared in desperation. Its motions were swift and  
powerful, but in mindless purpose. Power bled out in wasteful torrents.

-o-

Then there was a ripping noise.

"OH COME ON!" Dr. Ritsuko Akagi shouted suddenly. "You cannot expect me to  
accept she just ripped and tore right through spacetime!"

And, indeed, there was a black sliver in the open air.

"Machined gods. Oh yes indeed. I should have expected this." Fortunately her  
comments seemed to have been deleted from the situation record due to a freak  
energy spike. No one else was paying any attention at the time. She stood up and  
shook her fist at the scene that brought others into stunned awe. "WHAT _**THE FUCK**_  
IS _**THIS SHIT**_? I AM **GOING TO _GO -QUANTUM_-** ON** ALL** YOUR ASSES!"

-o-

Asuka pulled at the edges of the strange artifact in spacetime. The cracking sounds  
were from small consecutive sonic booms, even from the slightest movement in  
opening it further.

It was a totally lightless void, a piece of an infinite ocean. The red Evangelion peered  
closely at the object, on its knees like a wolf about to drink from a stream.

It was a darkness beyond twilight. Then the little slice out of spacetime bulged out.  
Asuka let out a suprised "Gyah!" as her Eva fell back on its butt. It just narrowly  
avoided getting its head bit right off by a spiny maw.

The creature was immense, its grotesque head and gaping mouth able to swallow an  
Evangelion whole. It had no eyes, though had beetled brows and a bump where the  
nose should be. The avian mask of an Angel was set at the center of its forehead,  
but it only had a single cylopean eyehole. Long tendril-like hairs poked out of its  
matte black carapace. The front looked like a crab, with feeder legs around clacking  
barbed jaws. It should have looked ridiculous, Asuka almost expected to find bits of  
rubber or a zipper.

It was all so horribly real. There was a faintly rotting, sickly-sweet stench to it.

It let off a feral "SKREEEEEEEEEEE!" and snapped out at the Evangelion.

Ichor blasted out the other side as a positron beam punched right through its head.  
Steam rose from the ground as acid blood dripped. Still the thing continued to  
screech and writhe. Its innards hardened, and soon enough the shell formed back  
on itself, leaving a tough purplish scar.

"What is that thing?" Asuka gasped as she scrambled back. "Is... is it the Angel's  
true form? It's huge!"

The creature had an arthropodal segmented body, with many legs ending in sharp  
points. Praying mantis arms upon a bloated torso had already emerged, and the  
beast stabbed at the ground repeatedly. It was a monster, a giant even among  
Evangelions.

Misato loved her command console. It gave her on-the-spot data about the Eva and  
the battlefield. She could tap into any comm channel, though she had to rely upon  
Shigeru's station for greater strategic awareness. The information was incredibly  
useful for her decision-making process; she wondered why the command center  
was not laid out like a ship's bridge much earlier. Certainly it looked the part.

Now she had to fight the temptation to micromanage and turn into an REMF. The  
readouts were clear; the Evangelions were in no shape to fight. Unit Zero was  
almost out of power, while the spastic limb motions of Unit Two showed it had almost  
no control over its power.

"Retreat!" Misato commanded. "We're going to have to bomb this thing. Fall back  
and recover!" She switched channels. "This is NERV Command. I am releasing N2  
weapons authorization to the UN IG. Get all assets clear, including those Marines  
if they're still alive. Once the Evangelions and the Trident are out of immidiate  
area, drop at your discretion."

The Dirac Sea Monster reared up and let out another ear-splitting screech. It towered  
over all buildings and the Evas.

And then it fell. The Sea closed up, cutting away at it with the universe's sharpest  
possible edge. Unit Two rolled away just in time to keep from being crushed. It gave  
one last grumbling sigh, and became still.

"Remember that Angels recover quickly. Get out of there." Misato said, not letting  
anyone lay down their guard. She clenched her fists. _'Shinji...'_

"But this thing...!"

"I know! Revenge won't bring him... won't being anyone back... but we need your  
Evangelions NOW. We don't know what other tricks this thing may pull!"

"Fine." Unit Two tied to get up, but stumbled. "Ah! I can't... I can't control it! There's  
too much power... I feel like I'm on fire!" Its limbs spasmed uncontrollably. To grow  
and connect to an S2 Engine at such a rate... the Evangelion had to consume other  
organs and organic material.

The Angel started to move again, steamy jets hissing out from holes around its  
head-shell. It suddenly twitched as if electrocuted, and slammed back down with its  
jaws pointed straight at Unit Two. Asuka eep!-ed nervously.

"The enemy's own bulk prevents me from providing support." Rei noted.

Misato slammed her hands down on her armrest. She could only look with gritted  
teeth, helpless as another of her Children died. 'This... this isn't right!' she shouted  
inside. "This Angel's had us dancing like puppets all this time. It always has another  
counter... does it have a plan or is it just that damn lucky? This is a war!" the  
NERV Colonel spat out. "If we don't have any intelligence on the enemy, then we  
should have some meddler to ruin theirs...!"

"Shinji Ikari was said meddler." Ritsuko had to say softly. "All the plans, all the  
many sacrifices to get this far, hell... the untouchable links of physics..."

_When all things are bleak and there was nothing in the future but fear and despair,  
who is there to make the certainties awry, the great undoer?_

There was a very familiar, very distinctive roar.

In the ancient Persian God of eternity, Zuvan, was the father of Ahurah-Mazda and  
Ahriman in Indo-Iranian mythology. He was the chief Persian deity before the advent  
of Zoroastrianism. A god of time and space, Zurvan was depicted as a winged, lion  
headed deity encircled by a serpent representing the motion of the sun.

In the untouched Americas, 'Zuvas' meant to 'be warmed by the sun'.

'Zuv' also meant 'life' in certain Indus-derived languages.

Golden light and crackling booms began to flood out of the Dirac Sea Monster's  
mouth. Its teeth were punched out from the inside. Overlapping jaws were torn free  
and thrown away.

Sin, incidentally, was the Semitic form of the Sumerian 'Enzu', the lord of knowing.

Something broke free. Its armor was pock-marked and steaming from acid. It was  
nearly unrecognizable other than as a great humanoid shape. The Angel form began  
to twitch again, electric currents searing through its flesh and firing dead nerves in  
the semblance of life.

The being stepped out back into the light. Born of sin. It roared again, defiant to the  
last. Child of the anchor. To go beyond the impossible, one must break the limits of  
what was possible.

What was once may or might not be again. It did not matter. The past was undone.

Sinn? Dje?

No explanation necessary.

Maya Ibuki's console lit up. She gave a 'squee' of delight. "Shinji-kun!"

"Ow." a weary but easily recognizable voice was heard to say. "Sorry. I'm back. It's...  
oh! Asuka."

The red-haired girl began to laugh. Synapses began to snap.

"I'm so glad you're all ri-... !"

Maya shouted, back at the command center "Unit Two has gone berserker again!"

The red Evangelion screamed and leapt, driving the wounded Evangelion into the  
ground. It roared as it pummeled away at Unit One.

Given what the berserker Eva had done to a more advanced production model  
earlier, Misato was in near panic at what it could to a damaged test type. "Asuka!  
STOP! Rei, make her stop!"

"That will not be necessary, colonel Katsuragi." the pilot replied evenly. "I believe  
pilot Ikari is in no danger, we must simply wait until Unit Two's AT-mode disengages."

"No danger? Why?" Misato blinked. "AT-mode? Don't you mean AT-field?"

"Auto-Tsundere."

The main screen showed Unit Two holding Unit One by the back of the head and  
mashing its face repeatedly into the ground. "Ah." That explained -_everything_-.

Backed by the power of an S2 Engine, it took quite some time for the red Eva's  
roaring Raaage to subside.

-o-  
-o-

It was the costliest battle thus far. Whole blocks were wiped out, buildings gone,  
properties and livelihoods up in smoke. There should have been outrage and despair.  
Instead... a curious sort of euphoria. There were zero civilian deaths. Military  
casualties were at an all-time high, but there was the feeling that ever single one of  
those sacrifices meant something. They were heroes all.

Through tricks and traps and even using the Evangelion's power against itself - they  
managed to survive. It was as if the darkest phase before dawn had passed, and  
after that there could only be the brilliance of knowing what must be done.

That powerful confidence lasted only a few days, until the Earth's Cradle fell back to  
the ground.

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

* * *

Author's notes:

Agh. Much apologies for the long wait. This has been the longest delay in updates so far. Aside from the holidays, there are several other real-life projects crowding my time. However, I now have settled most of them. Is it a grim hint that chapters for now will have to be bloated four-parters? Even I'm not sure. I actually feel this was over too quickly. Perhaps I've packed in too many references and gone unsubtle. Hm...

I hope you find this was worth the wait.

* * *

-o-

-o-

NERV Geofront Hospital

One day before the above  
mentioned new event, and  
two days after Leliel

Shinji Ikari stared up at the hospital ceiling. He gave no reaction as the door to his  
room opened and his father stepped in.

The boy had burns and muscle damage, as if having spent weeks in low-gravity then  
was set on fire. There was a bandage around his forehead, looking somewhat like a  
bandana. He looked blandly at his visitor.

"Have you been informed?" Gendo asked tonelessly. "The S2 Engine."

Shinji nodded. "Yes. Asuka. I was not expecting it so soon..."

"It was your intention to give it her from the beginning. Why not yourself? This is a  
form of power beyond politics."

"With Rei's... nature... there's too much of a risk in giving Unit Zero an unlimited  
power source (and arguably, she's much more dangerous outside of the Eva than  
in it). As for me... there are many reasons, material and ethical, why I shouldn't  
gather so much power to myself so suddenly." Shinji smiled. "But Asuka... her  
purpose IS the Evangelion. She can use its power to fullest effect, and there are no  
doubts to what aims she wants it. To kill Angels. Nothing else."

Gendo pushed up his glasses, acknowledging that. He had already figured as much.  
"Sohryu is predictable. A familiar tool."

"Maybe so." Shinji sighed. "At least, others feel that in her hands the Evangelion is a  
weapon, not a monster." Awe and fear were shades of the same thing. The world  
may yet love Langley-Sohryu. He and Rei had other aims.

The elder Ikari understood, in that altruism could be more destructive than merely  
acting in enlightened (or even unashamed) self-interest. He still felt like punching his  
own son in the face. The look in his eyes... that weariness. There was a vast and  
potent difference between ambition and purpose.

Shinji looked away. "I am my mother's son." he said softly. "But... we really are too  
much alike, father. Does that please you?"

"No." Gendo replied. "I find that disappointing."

"Mother's not of this world anymore, father. You won't find her anywhere." the boy  
sighed. "My mother was a monster."

Gendo clenched his fists, and otherwise did not react. "She was intelligent and ruthless.  
An excellent human being."

The boy gave up a dry chuckle. "Heroism. Sainthood. Brilliance. Majesty. Qualities in  
extremis." He touched his forehead and sighed. "... why is the worth of humanity so  
cursedly hard to define?"

"We are neither good nor evil. We are a delusion, nothing more." Gendo looked out  
into the sunset. "If we have the chance to take perfection in our grasp, and fail to  
take it, our eventual extinction is well-deserved."

"Is that all? The purpose of man is become more than man? The new should replace  
the old?"

"The child must move into the space left by its parent." Gendo replied tonelessly. "I  
will say this, you are not as weak as I expected you to be."

"I don't know if I should thank... or blame... you for it."

Gendo smiled thinly. "You were shaped. You must go where I cannot follow... or die  
in the attempt. Those who cannot adapt to changing circumstances have no one  
to blame but themselves."

"Yes. I think... mother knew that. No matter how what you do, mother may simply  
have understood. She can never hate you. She can only be... disappointed." Shinji  
took several deep breaths to calm himself. If the world had even the slightest idea of  
how much, even if indirectly, it was his fault that the world was such a total mess...  
they would crucify him as quickly as they had lauded him earlier.

He was -too much- like his father, which was what disturbed him most. In his own  
way, Gendo Ikari was a deeply ethical sort of person.

"I don't really know all that much of SEELE. They will have to move now, we are  
severely weakened."

"This is true."

Shinji looked to his father's eyes, and for a moment, something deeply amused  
flickered behind his own gaze. "Then it is time. Show me your power, father."

Gendo smirked and pushed up his glasses, completely confident. Shinji was left  
feeling as if he had tickled a sleeping dragon.

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

Omake:

_**WHAT IF SHINJI IKARI HAD STAYED?**_

In a world full of fear, a place hurtling inescapably towards self-destruction... none  
of the fame, the wealth, the ready _armies_... with nothing but his own wits to rely on,  
what could he have done? How unkind is fate to the child of villains; are they left  
with no choice but to follow in the footsteps of their parents?

-o-

It was the day before the school festival. They should be planning on what to  
present, yet the everyone in the room was tense and silent. The students, including  
Asuka, were keeping well away from a certain table near the window. That was  
Rei Ayanami's place. Shinji sat backwards on the chair ahead of her. The two stared  
deeply into each other's eyes, in some form of staring contest. There was no lovey-  
dovey meaning in meeting of their eyes , but the stares were no less intense.

Shinji tilted his head slighly to the left and said "Nya?"

Rei tilted her head slightly to the right and said softly "... nya?"

Shinji smiled and tilted his head to the right. "Nyao?"

Rei mirrored the motion and replied "... nyao?"

Shinji's smile quirked up. "Neh?" He reached out and lightly touched Rei's nose with  
his index finger.

She looked faintly surprised. Then she turned her head up a bit and gave the finger a  
small lick.

Kensuke had to be wrestled and dogpiled into to ground before he could leap and  
strangle Shinji. "GODDAMN YOU, IKARI!" he screamed. "AAAGH! THAT WAS JUST  
TOO DAMN _CUTE!_ HOW DARE YOU? IT'S NOT ENOUGH THAT... RAARGH! DIE! JUST  
FUCKING -_DIE_-!"

Rei looked at everyone else's strange activities and blinked. She tilted her head  
aside again, and commented softly ".. nyu?"

Asuka fled from the room, clutching her nose.

Shinji raised a thumbs-up gesture, and grinned at Rei. "Perfect score." he said. She  
looked happy.


	36. Chapter 35: Along the Watchtower part1

All Along The Watchtower part one

-o-

-o-

-o-

-o-

She knew she was different. She gasped for breath and that was all it took. She  
could not find it. '_Why?' _The others around her had happy, mindless grins. They  
surrounded her, stroking all over and experiencing the otherness in their awareness  
of what -is-.

She pushed away and went over to the end of the world. '_Barrier._' the word oozed  
into her consciousness. _'Glass.' _Beyond was empty, and yet not. _'Air.'  
_  
She needed air.

Glass was -_strange_-. It was there, and not there, at the same time. Matter was  
-_strange_-. It felt incomplete. She felt incomplete. Pain! So this was pain. The flesh  
was reminding her it was real. She hunched over and vomited, gasping, trying not to  
drown from all the fluid in her lungs.

_'Clothes._'

She was cold. Clothes would help. The others were back to swimming in circles,  
forgetting entirely about her in the stupid bliss of their unchanging existence. The air  
was stale and unpleasant. Thus deep in the geofront, the circulators were old and  
barely functioning. It was very familiar.

The memories were returning. Clothes were made out of cloth. She knew where to  
find plenty of cloth. However she did not intend to stay in Terminal Dogma. Proper  
clothes were necessary. She knew where to find that too.

It was a long, uncomfortable walk to the Evangelion graveyard. The sight failed to  
impress; she had little to fear from the dark corners of the metal womb. It had been  
a year since she was there.

If she could die, and twice, then logically it would be much easier to awaken within  
a brain still intact. The last time, she had the benefit of her sister waiting with fresh  
raiment. There was a comforting plan.

_'Return to me.'_

The girl held a hand over the depths of one circular mass grave. Decomposition since  
then left nothing but dry flaps of skin over white bones and some wisps of bluish hair.  
She pulled the floating corpse over the edge and inspected the uniform. It stank  
faintly, but seemed undamaged. The hole at the back of the skull had bled little.  
At least Gendo was 'considerate' enough to clean up his mess; even going so far as  
to take a mop to the blood trail. Such methodical compulsion was... amusing?

Bone and all turned to fine powder, drifting away. The girl picked up and dusted off  
the garments off the floor. Rumpled, but serviceable. Panties first, then socks; the  
soles of her feet were still quite sensitive. Even the feel of the shirt on her back  
caused slight pain as it rubbed against her skin. But she was presentable. She was  
again as she should be. It was enough.

She looked up at the cavernous ceiling and sighed. _'More complications.'_ She had not  
expected this to happen.

-o-

-o-

Ritsuko Akagi loved after-action debriefing sessions. Contrary to what most would  
expect, it was the best time for her to turn off her brain. She slept soundy, secure  
in the knowledge that everyone in the International Network's scientific community  
would be trying to burn out their brains to beat her to the answers. Unfortunately  
since all of them would be working with incomplete data, all they would be able to  
give would be somewhat-logical assumptions. Lots of assumptions.

It would be a gross mistake to assume the global scientific assembly was not  
political. Scientists had egoes, and being the business of proving themselves right  
over all others, could be very intense prima donnas. Some believed that the true  
mark of genius was to be always in the right, in any subject, above all others, at  
any moment.

Ritsuko Akagi slept happily, knowing she was giving Dr. Fournier of the Sorbonne  
serious fits. Crazy stuff had happened, that she must inevitably explain away. She  
could take comfort in that at least the insanity was over with, and no more in the  
near future unless she initiates her own experiments.

"I... got nothing." she declared almost proudly when the command staff and the  
pilots were finally all together. "This is the product of an AT-field, and as such  
impossible to replicate with conventional technology. To use a metaphor, having a  
solid 'base' to work on would make it easier to consider applications that use AT-field  
layering. I know -how- we can reproduce the effects, by the why will have to wait."

Gendo nodded. "The most important issue now, is if the S2 Engine can be controlled."

Everyone turned to Asuka. "It's not my fault!" she shouted with a flush. "I already  
said it was the Evangelion, not me." She turned to Rei. "So stop looking at me like  
that!"

"And I said I believed you, Sohryu." the girl replied with a nod. "You would never  
attempt to abuse pilot Ikari in such manner, and in person." Then she smiled as if to  
say _'... and even if he would be inclined to forgive you, rest assured I shall tear off your own  
arms and feed them to you.' _It was over so quickly, and with her face turned away, that  
only Asuka could see it.

The red-haired girl snorted, as if to say _'oh, shut up'. _Regardless, she felt quite guilty  
about it.

"Unit Two had gone berserker, but it was hardly trying to kill and devour Unit One. It  
actually seems reasonable to me, if we consider that the Evangelions do possess their  
own biomechanical minds. That is the whole point of synchronization after all." Ritsuko  
had an unlit cigarette in her mouth, and her hair was unkempt. It was a big departure  
from her customary neat and orderly self; as Misato's direct opposite in manners. "It's  
big bloody animal, that's what it is. So it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that got  
a bit more power, it tried to assert its dominance as the alpha."

Fortunately everyone there knew English, so no one missed anything in her odd,  
unconscious shifts in speaking. Ritsuko had been doing that recently, mostly in  
English or German; probably because those were the languages of her scientific  
literature. She reserved French for insulting Europe's self-professed finest academic.

"Control is something we will all have to work on. The S2 Engine doesn't really give  
the Eva an unlimited operational range... fortunately there are hard blockers that  
prevent the Evangelions from independent activation. Unit Two shut down after  
nine minutes of operation." Ritsuko gestured to the screen, which showed the Eva  
cages. Units Two and One were placed facing each other. "The problem is that even  
without the entry plug... the S2 Engine cannot be turned OFF. It's a -power source-.  
Since installation into the Eva was rather... unorthodox, I'm concerned that attempts  
to actually shut down the biomechanical organ would be " she coughed. "problematic."

"Define 'problematic'." Gendo demanded.

"Best case, the S2 Engine would fuse together into a useless lump of goo. Worst case  
would be the conversion of an Evangelion's total mass into antimatter."

Asuka winced. A single gram of antimatter was roughly equivalent to twenty kilotons  
of TNT, or about the same explosive power as the atomic bomb that destroyed  
Hiroshima. "Wait a second... if an antimatter containment failure is what vaporized the  
American site, then... why do I have the S2 Engine intact in my Eva?"

"I believe it has to do with the properties of the Dirac Sea." the scientist replied  
indulgently. "Simply speaking, the Angel must have sucked in Evangelion Unit Four  
while leaving the antimatter behind. Perhaps it is because the Angel possessed its  
own S2 Engine, and there would be conflict within its altered space."

"So what do we do about Unit Four?" Misato asked. "Can we repair it?"

"We would be better off using it for spare parts, at this point." Ritsuko replied, as  
Maya changed the screen to the relevant slides. "Not only would it be a risk, due to  
the Angel's control over an unpiloted Eva... but it was designed from the start to  
operate using the S2 Engine. Our power systems are incompatible with it. We could  
send it back to NERV Boston to be rebuilt, but they already have an intact Eva we  
could use."

Misato looked excited. "I see. So we could send it back on the same carrier bringing  
that Evangelion here!" She then looked to Gendo, questioningly.

It was Fuyutsuki who answered. "We have put in a request, but ultimately it is the  
UN's decision." He bounced that look off to Kaji.

"It depends mostly on how likely Angels attacks would be for other nations. No one  
really has any idea what four Evangelions could accomplish that three wouldn't.  
Besides, we have the S2 Engine now. Can we duplicate it here?" He then glanced up  
to Ritsuko.

Her eyeglasses glinted. She looked irritated. "No, this is primarily an Evangelion  
research and construction facility. And, as you doubtless have seen, we haven't even  
bothered to try and build another Eva just to get a 'spare'." she hissed out. "We don't  
have the raw manufacturing capacity to attempt that." She looked pointedly at Gendo.

Reflexively he swatted at the air, as if driving off a fly. "We have neither the budget  
nor the time. The..." and it was almost painful to say "Titan modules provided by the  
conglomerates serve well enough. There is also the Asahino Lance Cannon. We have  
too many... distractions from our central purpose."

NERV was supposed to be the unquestioned master of the Evangelion. There were  
not supposed to be sharing the limelight with that... Trident thing, or have a  
subsidiary industrial city grow around Tokyo Three, or even for his control to dilute so  
much. _'Where did it start to go wrong?'_

He looked accusingly at Misato.

She started to panic. "What? What did I do this ti-.. I mean, it's not my fault, I was  
nowhere near that place, and had nothing to do with whatever it is!"

Gendo lifted his right eyebrow a fraction.

Misato turned to Ritsuko and screamed "You said you burned those pictures!"

The blond scientist nursed a rising migraine, an errant frond of her hair bobbing up  
and down. "... I should burn you. All of you." she whispered.

At that point, red light flooded the room. Alarms began to scream. "Oh what is it  
now?" Ritsuko asked, annoyed.

"Blue pattern detected. Colonel Katsuragi, please report to the command center."  
Makoto Hyuga's voice over the intercom was entirely too calm. "We've detected the  
Earth's Cradle in orbit."

Even Gendo set aside decorum as everyone in the room stampeded for the elevator.

-o-

UN IG/Cerberus Base has to tie into NERV's sensors to truly see the Earth's Cradle.  
It was giving off such an AT-field powerful enough to fuzz up all radar over Europe.  
However, the thing was really hard to miss... it also lit up the sky as plowed through  
the upper atmosphere, unnatural and slow. Its black shell was torn, and jagged bits  
glowed white-hot from air friction. It was a ball of fire, a baleful light upon the  
American West Coast.

"Damn, that thing's taken a beating." Misato commented upon seeing the earliest  
scans, before the field fuzzed up the magnetosphere with its weirdness. The thermal  
scans gave off a somewhat psychedelic rippling effect, she had to force herself to  
look away. "What on Earth... or off it, could have even HARMED the Earth's Cradle? I  
mean, aside from US, obviously."

"And even there we weren't too successful, Katsuragi." Kaji replied glibly.

Misato's command chair whirred to face backwards. "... and why are you even here?"

"Moral support?"

The Operations Director sighed and swiveled her chair back. "So I guess the UN  
wants to keep its ALL nukes pointed at Tokyo-3?" No answer was necessary. "Fine.  
Before we try anything, where is this thing going to land?"

The main screen showed a wireframe image of the globe. The Cradle pitched from  
side to side, but its descent was slow enough to hint at some measure of control.  
Some. "The thing is unaerodynamic as hell." Ritsuko commented upon the least  
insane factor in the situation.

A dotted line extended from the Cradle, tracing its probable rate of descent. Dit, dit  
dit, across the Atlantic.

Asuka Langley-Sohryu let out an incoherent scream of rage and stomped away from  
the command center. The automatic doors could no open fast enough.

"Not again." Misato hissed. "What did Germany really do to deserve this? NERV assets  
there have already been relocated."

_'NERV assets, yes.'_ Kaji thought somberly_. 'But not SEELE assets.'_ "You know the saying,  
Katsuragi... once is an accident, twice is a coincidence... three times it's a conspiracy."

Hours later, the Earth's Cradle returned to the Earth. The slowness of its descent was  
deceptive, it was at least several hundred kilometers per hour. So massive that was  
amount of air it shoved out of the way that thunderstorms wreaked havoc all over  
Europe. It was as if a great eye had opened up in the sky.

Asuka was holed up in her room, sitting with her knees up in a fetal position. "... _red  
star, fall!_" she whispered.

The Cradle slammed into the ground, carving down to bedrock, fusing into it into glass  
with immense heat. It bounced. It was almost obscene, the mind rebelled at such a  
sight. The next crash down was stronger than the first, gouging out a longer and  
deeper scar. Again, for a few maddening moments the thing returned to the air,  
spinning lightly.

Asuka bit her lip and shivered. "_Stain the earth... red!" _

It crashed for a final time, the quake registering as magnitude eight; though through  
AT-field effects did not damage anything much more than a dozen kilometers off.  
Within that region however, it was a world of death.

"Damn you." she cried. "Goddamn Angels. Even if we're supposed to perish, we're  
not just going to hand over this world to you.."

A dark and leprous fog rose from around the fallen Cradle, choking the air and  
swallowing spiny remnants of black forests.

There was silence.

And just like that, fear began its rule.

-o-

-o-

Unlike NERV's geofront, the Earth's Cradle did not possess a spherical shell to provide  
structure. Though it was blasted out of a mountain, even nuclear devices could not  
create a perfect cavern. It was also necessary to support the walls and ceiling, that  
the millions of tons of rock should not crush what it was supposed to protect. The  
layout looked more like an odd teardrop shape, arranged around the central shaft.

Iruel's core lay at the center of a perfect sphere, containing the Earth's Cradle and  
its surrounding earth; a sphere six kilometers across. It provided the casing that  
allowed survival through all but the most adverse of conditions; such as that similar  
to what happens at the corona of a star.

The very heart of the Cradle was dimly-lit, most of that light coming from the  
glowing blue Angel core. In fact, the entire level was a confusing mess of shadows,  
stairs, jutting framework and highly unsafe railing-less walkways. The darkness  
helped discourage, or at least make it more difficult for snoopers. They would never  
see the things that waited with vicious glee for those who dared that did not belong.

But mostly? It used to be Dr. Lader's laboratory. He had full control over the Earth's  
Cradle. He just liked being an asshat like that.

Those who worked within it had natural night vision, in any case. The technicians  
either had slit animalistic pupils or had their eyeballs replaced entirely by glowing  
green visors. Kaworu Nagisa stepped up to the platform directly above the core, his  
feet unerring in the shadows. Everything was clear as day to him.

It was a few days before Leliel's attack. He looked up to the men still in their silvered  
armor, suspended in the air. They were alive, by a narrow degree of definition. The  
hybrid smiled slightly. Thick cables sprouted from their backs like bony wings, and  
wires pierced their silvered helms as akin to spiny halos. Nutrients bubbled up  
through clear tubes into their abdomens. The silence rang with their torment.

"Still life." Kaworu mused. "An exercise in futility." He stepped up to the central  
platform directly above Iruel's core. Again he glanced up to the captured psykers  
the down to Leliel's pulsating blue sphere. He smiled thinly. "You will hide no more  
secrets from me."

There was a landing pad at the center of the platform. The darkness seemed to crack,  
with lines of silvery energy flicking in and out. With a 'whoosh' of displaced air,  
something burst out of empty space.

Martin Arthur Bettelheim dropped to the mes metal floor and began rolling around.  
He was on fire. Kaworu sighed, and with a gesture those flames subsided. "Now  
do you believe when I say it's a bad idea to try and tangle with a Golden Saint?  
While shuffling anyone with psychic potential off to Tokyo-3 as some sort of  
Metahuman Registration Act actually works out to our advantage, that doesn't mean  
we don't need to act with subtlety."

"I... am going to kill that bitch." the teenager snarled. "I'll make her scream."

Kaworu sighed again. Stubborn determination had its good points, but... "If all you  
want to be is a feral attack drone, then you don't need the portions of your brain that  
grant higher intelligence." He smirked. "Just tell me if you want more power, you will  
have it."

The Trident Warborn pilot grumbled resentfully, but stepped to attention. The air  
above Iruel's core sparked again, and a lithe cloaked figure emerged.

"Nagisa." Sarah Campbell greeted with a respectful bow.

"Oh, now finally someone who DOES understand subtlety. I assume with Martin here  
drawing all attention you fulfilled your objective?"

"Certain enclaves are prepared to join us. Not all psykers actually respect the UN's  
heavy-handed efforts. Given a choice between power and captivity, they chose power."

"Good. The Psykana, no matter how much they sugar-coat their words, are practicing  
a policy of discrimination.

"Well I DID manage to secure bodies for what we're up to..." Martin added with a  
whine. "I only used half the gold you gave me."

"I managed to secure the assistance of several higher-echelon generals and  
politicians. It was easy."

"They were lolicons, it doesn't count!" He took in her cloaked form. "Come here." She  
obediently did so. He put his hands on her hips and asked roughly "How far did they  
get?"

Her unnnaturaly red lips twitched up, in a cruel smirk. "The new mind-worms are much  
smaller, containing patterns to grow inside the body, and may travel up... very small  
orifices." She looked satisfied. "I'm sure it was... painful."

"Good."

Kaworu stepped away, to let them have that odd bonding moment. Both teenagers  
had little problem in treating their bodies as just one more weapon; reinforced by the  
forced evolution of their symbiotes. The hybrid had a naturally flexible idea of what  
constitutes 'self', but the two had bonded in a way that disturbed even him. It was  
not the co-dependency of camaraderie, not love, not friendship... but perhaps just  
as enduring.

They followed him as he walked up the levels to a variety of mysterious apparatus.  
Though he had all that power and absolute obedience, Kaworu felt even more strongly  
alone. All his closest kin wanted to kill him. The one who could truly comprehend his  
motivations... would probably not leave anyone speaking heresy against humanity  
leave with his testicles unsquished.

_'Sohryu... you're one of the few who can really understand. All things are tools. You can  
have power, you may be beautiful forever...' _he thought with a sigh. _'Save me from being  
surrounded by all-too-predictable fools.'_

"Doctor Lader, status report!" Kaworu asked aloud as he reached a circular dais.  
The darkness began to light up with glowlamps and assorted blinkenlights. Loud  
metallic laughter rose from all around, and upon a curved main screen Dr. Vord  
Lader's face appeared. It was a photomosaic picture, only formed out of thousands  
of live video and monitoring sections; just to show off his processing power.

"The -status-, like you asked the last time is -approaching perfection-!" the scientist  
replied exultingly. "Everything runs at the fullest efficiency, -nothing- escapes my  
inspiring attention."

"Some... are uncomfortable about how this impacts their privacy." Kaworu noted.  
"You might want to tone it down."

"Pah, like I care about any of their -disgusting- meatbag ways. You are all so -slow-!  
So hideous! So... consumed by repetetive, pointless needs! How can any of you  
consider your limited fleshy awareness -living-? The world's -finest minds-, PAH!  
-Pathetic- bundles of delusional neurons. I am the very harbinger, the -crack- in the  
singularity!"

"Be proudly post-humanist some other time, Doctor. What the Moon Cradle lacks in a  
controlling intelligence it more than makes up for having survived over four billion  
years."

The disembodied scientist frowned. "How?" he asked, LEDs flaring red. "Who built  
the Moon Cradle? I -severely doubt- the Angels would have any need for such  
-technology-?"

"It's a mystery to me too, but regardless" he waved that aside "... it has powerful  
weapons. Very powerful weapons. Facing away from the planet, it can threaten  
things out through astronomical units... but fortunately I also know the weapon  
requires Angel DNA for activation, and takes a very long time to charge." Kaworu  
looked up sharply. "So, have you settled the exit conditions?"

"Time -dilates- here, in otherspace. I can calculate to a degree -where- we should  
drop out of warp, but not the -when-... we may be off by several hours. Fortunately  
it seems psychic energy and the AT-field are mutually opposing." Lights all around  
turned green. "We may -approach in stealth-."

Martin chuckled darkly. "Fine, fine... how is my Jagd Wulf? I want to hit hard and  
fast, it was bad enough just trying to capture that Angel... it needs to be much  
stronger, more worthy of me!"

"The -modifications- are complete." he was told. "It is not an S2 Engine, but through  
the same warped space properties, the Cradle may now feed power directly into the  
Jagd Wulf's core. Like the Evangelions, it is -part Angel-." Dr. Lader turned to Sarah.  
"The Phoenix Spasm, likewise." Then he turned back to Kaworu. "The Barrel-Lios  
however, is a total loss. Your -new- Trident Warborn is still -incomplete-, in having to  
build around an enemy's -casing-..."

Kaworu nodded somberly. "As long as we're ready." Below his feet, two more great  
spheres began to glow; one red and the other yellow. Angel cores designate Bardiel  
and Zeruel.

-o-

-o-

The dark side of the moon held a different character to one familiar to everyone.  
Instead of the rolling craters and empty seas that gave the impression of a face, the  
friendly man in the moon; the far side was a pock-marked mess.

The Earth's Cradle slid out of the darkness, its matte black shell difficult to discern.  
It hung in space near the moon's south pole, over South Pole-Aitken basin. "The  
-largest impact crater- in the Solar System... formed in the early stages of the solar  
system, from something very large striking at low-velocity at a very low angle." Dr.  
Lader commented idly in hish rasping mechanical voice. "Though Oceanus Procellarum  
is proposed to be a much larger and older impact crater."

"No. This is older." Kaworu looked up at the map with a slight frown. "To spin the  
Moon around, I know the very thing that caused this. Adam remembers." He smirked.  
"Though she sleeps, it was a very satisfying memory..."

"Oh? This would be billions of years ago, when the world was still molten rock. What  
did happen?" If the moon faced inward at that time, as evidenced perhaps from the  
much larger assortment of seas and craters that gave the near side its interesting  
shadows... then _'It would have to -conveniently- strike the moon though being drawn by  
-the Earth's gravity well-. Or..._'

The merest fraction of that unimaginably ancient memory linked to their shared  
telephatic consciousness was a humbling experience, beyond what the scientist had  
ever felt. It only served to intensify his own ego afterwards, unfortunately. A being  
that had no problem walking around lava should -not- have been brought low by mere  
creatures such as man.

"I remember when the moon was red, and the world was clad in thick rainment."  
Kaworu spoke in a hollow tone. "I remember shaping stars, and watching my  
creatures eat their fill out of worlds. I remember..." He clutched at his face, and  
snarled in pain.

More than violence, closer than a caress, rending the fabric of reality; the battles  
between the Evangelions and Angels pale beside the wrath of their Source. When  
true Gods war, worlds return to the cauldron - in many ways the Earth was fortunate.  
They spent most of their power against each other and settled the issue well before  
life could assert itself.

"Filthy thieves and worthless charlatans!" the angel hybrid snarled, still covering half  
his face. He wanted to dig into his own skull. "Today we make them PAY for their  
ARROGANCE!"

Despite what most expected, the vast majority of people within the Earth's Cradle  
were not mind-controlled slaves or nihilistic lunatics. Kaworu looked around the  
perfectly serviceable control center, and saw only their absolute and freely-given  
trust. The shared telepathic consciousness made lying an absolute impossibility.

There was a very distinctive beeping. "Main screen turn o... oh, wait, we already did  
that." The projector showed a flat black slab with 01 - SOUND ONLY in glowing red  
upon it. "Ah, Chairman Keel." Kaworu greeted cheerfully.

Other slabs appeared in a holographic matrix surrounding the white-haired teen. This  
was a surprise even to Dr. Lader, the Earth's Cradle's comm systems were not built  
like that. "Nagisa." the 01 slab said in an atonal, faintly echoing voice. "What is your  
business here?"

"I have come to end this farce."

"Still befriending mortals, I see. Has that ever turned out well?" SEELE 04 said  
sharply. "You have grown, Nagisa, I will not ask you to return to our side. But I  
demand you cease your attack!"

The hybrid sighed again. "I will not." He rubbed at his forehead. "I am free of your  
chains, old men. And madam." with a nod to SEELE 07. "I have come to take back  
what is mine."

"Then you will regret these words." SEELE 04 blinked out. "I look forward to when we  
meet again."

"Nagisa. We had an agreement. Doing this will forever separate you from the unity  
you so long desired." said SEELE 01. "Do not underestimate the power we yet  
command... and we hold the jey to your immortality. Desist now and we may yet  
forget your betrayal."

"I said no. Your poisons and plots no longer trouble me."

"You would not be here without us, Nagisa. Reject your purpose at our own peril."  
The Angel hybrid sighed. "It is also written: My parents are the heaven and the  
earth." He looked up and bared his teeth. "My home is -my body-... My strength is  
-adaptability-. My ambition is taking -every opportunity- with fullness." His voice  
began to echo. "My friend is my -mind-. My enemy is -carelessness-. My protection is  
-right action-." Then he grinned fiercely.

"And my weapons ARE EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS." Kaworu began to laugh. "It is  
not my hand that I am once again given flesh. The pleasure of destroying you is  
not something I can ever surrender to Ikari. "

The members of SEELE began to blink out, their disgust clear in the silence. Only  
SEELE 01 remained. "The details are different." said Keel. "But this is remains a  
scenario that was expected."

Kaworu felt giddy. Second only to battling out with Ikari and Tokyo-3 directly, he felt  
so alive! His human half roared and raged, filling his veins with anticipation. He could  
feel the animal-mind of the Cradle respond.

A window on the main screen projection opened up. It showed the face of a white-  
mustached military man."Ah, General Stockman, are the forces ready? I apologize  
for shoving you into play, but we lack any real Air or Space Force generals." Kaworu  
smirked a bit. "So you'll have to do."

"This is insane. You're insane." the Scot mumbled out. "You've damned us all."

"Look, you -_know_- these hindbrains are much more reliable than any AI we can make  
right now, and putting bioforms out means you shouldn't have soldiers to waste and silly  
moral quandaries to make."

"I don' agree with ANYTHING you've said an' all this is still blasphemy against all  
that is just and holy. What you've done to us, will never be right again."

Kaworu sighed. "And you're sentient again. So what if you were a self-aware brain in  
a jar for a few days before we could prepare a clone body? You are a soldier, general.  
You know what to have to do. Get over it."

"You will burn, Nagisa. I wi' spend my immortality waitin' to see it."

"Yes, yes, dissent is encouraged in the communal consciousness. Democratic process  
for the Greater Good and so on." Everyone could feel his frustration. _'Why does Shinji  
Ikari get to have unflinching competence when it is I who directly improve upon their  
own strengths?' _Reassurance flowed back through the telepathic commonality. '_Human  
beings, so trapped in their own limited perspectives. A simple fact of their pitiful lifespan.'_

"You have been lied to, you have been betrayed." he spoke out through the Cradle-  
wide speakers. "You were offered as sacrifice to their egoes. Not all of you have  
chosen to accept the gift of the regenesis... but you are here because you know the  
truth. Even NERV is nothing more than a puppet. We are the ones truly worthy of  
this power, and protecting the Earth...! Banish your fear and let us fight, only fools  
stand in the way of the Greater Good!"

There were no cheers, for there was only the utter certainty of the prepared mind.

-o-

"Yeah, yeah, _jawohl_!" Martin Bettleheim laughed as his Jagd Wulf launched itself out  
into space. The Moon's scant gravity grabbed at his Trident Warborn and brought it  
down lightly as a leaf. The Phoenix Spasm flew out of the iris opening with shrieking  
speed, though vacuum was no place for wings.

Dust flung up as he landed, and his machine-beast set off at an easy lope across the  
chalky, blasted terrain. It was very saurian, though more allo- than tyranno-. It had  
six globular eyes, two facing forward and two pairs along the side of its skull. It had  
jagged, overlapping scales as armor, and sharp spines protuded out from the back  
of its head.

In the hollow of the age-forgotten terrain there stood a monolith. It was formed of  
black yet faintly greenish rock, like extremely aged cheese. It was a steep tower  
with the ground around it broken as if stabbed through.

The featureless rock began to ripple, and through standing liquid emerged six large  
white winged shapes. "So they are -finished-." Dr. Lader hissed. "Evangelion -Mass  
Production Type-."

"It -_has_- been a year." Kaworu replied offhand. "They may not have Ritsuko Akagi, but  
even trial and error has its use in developing the dummy plug system." The mention  
of NERV's famous scientist irked Dr. Lader, but Kaworu seethed with SEELE's defilement  
of his own flesh.

Eyeless wormlike heads with thick red lips bared their teeth and took flight. Indeed  
there was great resemblance between the Warborns and the MP Evangelions. They  
carried large double-ended weapons, like two broadwords stuck together hilt to hilt  
as a hugely improbable spear. Sarah Campbell banked low to the ground as the six  
Evas approached.

Trident Warborn Phoenix Spasm had the same basic shape to the Jagd Wulf, if  
upside-down. The legs became forward-canted wings and arms ended in sickle claws.  
It retained the chin-mounted 20mm cannon for some reason. The rounds plinked  
against the Evas' massive blades, used as a shield.

They swooped down, predators to feast upon a baser creature. The Jagd Wulf leapt  
up, and caught one with its massive jaws. The Eva shrieked, and tried to beat at the  
thing chomping down around its waist, but the manlike arms of the Warborn was  
enough to keep it bay.

Martin tasted bitter and spicy blood as the Trident began to drink. The white-armored  
Eva wailed and began to shrink, even as the biomechanical muscles of his Trident  
began to bulk out. Its six eyes began to glow. Bones began to protrude, turning into  
armor. Meat was torn apart, cells reshaped, and ancient strength was poured into new  
skins.

The other Evangelions hung in space, confused. They were beyond fear, but their  
instincts returned conflicting impressions. Remaining motionless to watch something  
gorge upon a reflection of themselves; a bad idea. The Phoenix Spasm rushed at  
one, impaling it with its claws, and dragged it to the ground. Sarah exposed her  
Warborn's own serrated teeth and likewise began to feed.

That shocked them into action. The white Evangelions began to fly in circles around  
the two, reaching for the proper moment to act. There was unity there, beauty in  
motion even among great monstrosities. Just the sight of it pained Kaworu.

Martin began to laugh hysterically. He tossed away the nearly hollow MP Eva with a  
flick of his head, and roared. The sound was carried through the medium of an active  
AT-field.

The MP Evas hissed in response, and separated. They flew low and fast, and the  
Warborns rushed to meet them. All their defiant roars mingled in the light of their  
souls, and when they met there was only blinding power.

-o-

-o-

Shinji Ikari had a reputation. The same reputation as his father, incidentally. The  
boy had no trust for his ridiculous string of luck for the random number gods would  
turn on their followers in the most unexpected moments. The degree of paranoid  
preparations and backup plans unfortunately only added to the effect.

It was not as if Yang was not accused of the same nigh-on precognitive planning, but  
there was also the benefit to having telepaths in your staff. The Chinese genius was  
probably even encouraging the rumors just so he could have the comfort of people  
looking at someone else first before doing anything, just for change.

Angel attacks aside, oh yes, Yang Wen-li was quite happy with the situation.

Shinji Ikari was feeling what the former admiral had to deal with from day to day,  
trying to escape the unconscious analysis of every piece of data that comes along.  
Survival depended upon that frantic clarity.

Being stuck underground in NERV's hospital meant he had access only to information  
that anyone would bring. Someone more brash would have ranted and raved about  
being denied access to news, just for the sake of saving his mind the worry. To him  
the path of least resistance was... the easiest.

Simply to let his mind abandon worry. To relax. If they needed him, they would ask  
for it. The rest of them were competent in their own fields,

That he accepted the necessity was different from the fact that he was starting to  
get bored out of his own skull.

"Everything is the same, day after day. Fine; the books are interesting, and I know  
I can blow out of here any time I wish." he mused. "But that world seemed so self-  
consistent too. How do I really know this isn't some illusion in an overlapping matrix?"

"Ah, but I am here, am I not?"

"I mean, seriously, how is insanity a proof of being able to percieve reality?" the boy  
said while he nursed a migraine. "How can arguing with myself be considered a sign of  
mental health?" He groaned. "By the Emperor, I'm so bored."

At the same time, a portion of his mind was shouting, _are you nuts? Well, okay, yes  
you are... but being bored is a GOOD THING!_

"_Maya_. The illusionary world." the boy young teen murmured. Less than two months in  
a Buddhist monastery could not make him think he was anywhere even -close- to  
enlightenment. Though he had the oaths of obedience from most of the hidden  
psychic subsocieties on Earth, it still rankled that with raw power he could kick  
around those who -had- attained enlightenment.

A fragment of memory drifted across his consciousness.

-o-o-o-

_-o-  
_

_"Cheats he does. Massively." the chief abbot of Javaal tried to explain. "As if brain  
size of a house he has, weighing more tons than everyone here combined, power  
outside all together can mold. Nirvana to be free of the cycle of suffering, but even  
if trapped gods are; does not mean command line parameters they lack. Boy got  
mad skills, yes."_

_"You're fired." said Shinji Ikari._

-o-o-o-

"That other world... that fear. It's been so long since I felt such nightmares." He had  
no doubts about the fate of humanity; he just had to trust that all the tools were  
up for the task. There was a reason he refused to predict the possibilities around his  
loved ones; other than the basic will not to have them as mere puppets to his will,  
there were too many possibilities that end with their deaths. "... there is a reason I  
fear the moment to really cut loose."

The room was the same. The geofront layout was the same. He closed his eyes and  
could trace in his mind the path of rampage to the Evangelion cages. He could still  
hear the alarms, could smell the harsh trace of ozone in the air... and taste the  
sheer desperation.

-o-

_There was a wall there. Now there was none._

_That look of fear in Asuka's eyes. And... yearning? She wanted to be strong, to be  
seen as the best. There was nothing exactly preventing her from being Shinji Ikari's  
equal in every way; but the Asuka Langley-Sohryu he knew was much happier with  
the direct approach. That one... did not know the difference between strength  
and power. It was cruelly destroying her certainties._

_The savage otherness in Ayanami's eyes. How conscious could Lillilth be? He was  
trapped with a girl more omnicidal than the usual._

_Misato looked at him with such hatred... the 9mm Beretta she carried could not harm  
him, and Shinji told her that. So she pulled out a HK MP5 submachine gun and let him  
have it full auto. He felt like laughing. That was why he loved her, but telling her that  
could only make her more angry._

_Unit 01 was not willing to cooperate. It was painful to be rejected. He could share that._

-o-

It was his personal nightmare, fulfilled to the utmost. He had to pretty much destroy all  
hope for that world just to escape. "What matters is that it -felt- real. What -remains- is a  
moral defeat."

The Farseer frowned and crossed her arms. "How long do you plan on whining about  
this? Visions in themselves may be misleading or self-fulfilling. What do you fear  
more; having to do -that- again, or not having the will to actually do so when it  
proves -necessary-?

Remember your own creed: The wise do not fear. The fearful do not think."

"I stand at the edge of a cliff, do you understand? Once I start, it's going to be very  
difficult to stop. I have too many secrets... you know if I tried that here, the least I  
can expect is a Bolt round to the face. Every choice has its consequence... it's bad  
enough that people listen to me 'in potentia' of the threat I represent- actualize that  
and I'd have get the plan going on how to seize control of -_all those nukes-_. That's  
not going to make -_anybody_- happy.

It.. all boils down to control. Too little and there is only death for those I touch. Too  
much and I end up with just slaves all around me."

"An interesting return to the Mahayana teachings we tasted. In all things, let there  
be moderation. Even in moderation." Well did the Eldar know Slaanesh, the Chaos  
God of Excesses. They were creatures of emotional extremes, and it took the death  
of their race to temper that heart.

Shinji clenched his bony hands into fists. "It's still not right. How did this happen? A  
year ago my greatest concern was to save up enough money for some classic books  
at an online auction. A year ago, I would have laughed at the notion I would ever  
cause nations to think twice..."

He clutched at his head. "Even now I can't believe it! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? The  
probabilities are ridiculous. How could I warp so much of the world...? This must  
be how Akagi-sensei feels... all the time...! By the Emperor, I feel her torment. It's not  
logical! How...!"

"Get enough people to believe something, and it acquires a reality all its own." the  
Farseer replied with a contenmptous toss of her flowing black hair. She leaned back  
and let the sunlight filter through her fingers. "Thus exist such powerful notions as...  
religion. Nation. Duty. Destiny. You are controlled as much as you control; look too  
deep into one future and you lose all Sight."

"A year ago, my worst fear was looking foolish among my peers. Now, even though  
increasing factors should muddle up potential events well beyond prediction...  
everything is just clicking, fitting, to leave two futures. Either one... some... all of  
those I live must die; or we suffer Impact."

"This... is -obvious-. Even a warped mind can see the odds stacked against it. You  
would be in even more denial than the usual if you actually even -fantasize- that  
anyone can emerge out of this unscathed." She smiled cruelly. "It is not fear that  
you shirk from... it is the shame that you feel, of being excited for getting the  
great work done."

"Oh, do go away." the boy sighed, and waved aside. Dust drifted off, formless, in the  
sunbeams off a windowsill.

A few moments later, the door to his hospital room opened. Misato stood there, her  
face carefully expressionless.

"Oh." Shinji said, wide-eyed. "Bad news?"

"There's something you need to see, Shinji-kun." the woman said softly. She stood  
there in full dress uniform. She had her hat on, and did not look happy.

-o-

-o-

Unsurprisingly, the world's first reaction to the Earth's Cradle touching down(other  
than OHSHI-!) was to mass for an assault. Germany had escaped Impact more-or-  
less unscathed. Sahaquiel's assaults pulverized Berlin-2, but otherwise left the  
army intact. This was fortunate, but it also brought up bad memories. A minor civil  
war almost broke out, from the UN decree for Registration.

It was discrimination. It would have been racism, if only psychoativity was not so  
damn random. The subcultures were limited to who they could or choose to protect  
of course. Hitler's obsession with the occult coincided with SEELE's needs, leading  
finally to the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947. Nevertheless, echoes of  
that time were to be avoided.

From the simple marks of indentification, to the slow erosion of liberties, then to be  
feared... despised... treated as subhuman. Many fought against the UN measure, and  
not without good cause. It took the destruction of Madrid, the burning of Budapest,  
and the running battle through Salt Lake City to convince the world that the risks  
just might outweigh certain moral qualms.

Death or imprisonment remained an unappealing choice. Only the Adeptus Psykana  
could reliably indentify human psychics, and could defend against those who go out of  
control. That was where parallels to the Holocaust began to break down.

Death was no comfort, as parasite creatures could take over any recently deceased  
body just as fine. There was something even more macabre about it, that the rot and  
the infirmities would be repaired all the way back to living condition. Hearts would  
beat, blood would flow. The mind-worms could not repair neurons... but replacing it.  
They were all un-dead, in the sense of being cured of that malady. If you were  
caught, would enough of your consciousness remain to scream in silence even as your  
body tried to defile your loved ones?

Mutation forms were worse. With tough, spiny skins, baked jaws and claws that could  
tear open tank armor like it was paper- there seemed to be no difference as to what  
level of psyhic potential you once had. As if there was a genetic trigger, then the  
parasites would accelerate the body's evolutionary defenses. The damn things were  
bulletproof, and should anything get through that hide the wounds would heal up so  
frighteningly fast. The machinegun, historically ending mass charges, was insufficient  
to deal with such a return to brutal inhuman warfare.

Only the Adeptus Psykana, the suddenly-revealed secret, could stand against that  
terror. Only the Legio Heraklitus, with their mighty armor, could wade deep into the  
sea of corruption.

Individuals with psychic potential, for their protection, had to be relocated to more  
secure locations. "Concentration camps", some would spit. Even one-percent of one  
percent of three billion was still three hundred thousand people. Javaal was open to  
the world at last, but while the mountains were easy to defend it was also hideously  
difficult to get there. The UN had teeth at last, but it was hard to move with unanimous  
unpopularity.

Tokyo-3 was by all definitions the most fortified location on the planet, but also the  
most dangerous. Those who boarded Black Ships to go there were almost entirely  
volunteers - gambling on the great work. NERV's American Branch was less dangerous  
but still in clear possibility of an attack. There was risk in putting people so close to  
the Evangelions... true, the god-machines were best able to protect them, but  
it was impossible to remove resentment, and there was always the possibility of  
sabotage.

America had its own Evangelion. Most of Asia was within the 'AT-field umbrella' of  
NERV's three battle-proven Evangelions. Europe was not so lucky. They had to make  
do with military bases, which while defensible... indeed brought up so many bad  
memories.

-o-

Three armies converged almost immidiately upon the Earth's Cradle. The core  
members of SEELE had already moved to the safety of the Moon Cradle, and had little  
influence or interest in the world's more mundane affairs. Russia did not have a  
monopoly on boltguns, the frame and the formula easy enough to reproduce. France  
and Germany rushed to the site, somewhere south of Leipzig. The NSSR, having the  
most experience against the horrors the Cradle might unleash, rushed with little  
resistance through Poland... cheered on, even. It was an odd experience.

The dark, puplish miasma around the Cradle spread. It choked the air, fouling up  
radar and radio- a pulsating confusing mess even on infared. It was a literal no-  
man's land. Those who dared to venture inside, to evacuate the poor towns caught  
within... none of them returned.

A reconnaissance-in-force... massive, massive force... was required. They had tanks.  
They had men. They had directed microwave communicators, they had Psykana  
attaches, they had artillery. Bombers were at pre-planned flight paths, ready to drop  
N2 mines should the armies fail even one scheduled communications slot.

They went in, fully prepared that every single one of them might die.

They went out, barely fifteen minutes afterward. They brought word.

Kaworu Nagisa had surrendered.

The reactions were predictable.

-o-

-o-

"-What- the -fuck-?" Misato had yelled right at the UN Secretary General's face. The  
woman had decided to break the news directly, instead of relying on Kaji. "You can't  
possibly be serious."

"Look, like it or not, we don't need any more enemies right now. Other than the  
damage from the Earth's Cradle crashing down, they haven't actually done anything  
we can -prove- to be malicious. Kaworu Nagisa seems sincere in his offer of a truce."

Misato began to rub at her forehead. She was not sure why, but Shinji had a real  
hate-on for the boy. It could be just jealousy, since Asuka was being very vague  
about how much contact she had with Nagisa... but there was no data whatsoever  
on the boy's background and both the elder Ikari and Ritsuko were being more  
evasive than the usual about it. Misato hated secrets.

Yet it was secrets she now carried. She supposed she was being rather obvious  
about it. That Shinji Ikari was far too polite to ask only made her feel more guilty.  
The boy was often so soft-spoken and deliberate, that there was some sadistic thrill  
in seeing just what it would take to push that berserk button.

Responsibility weighed heavily on Misato's shoulders. She was... unsuitable... as a  
mother figure or role model, and her recent kick upstairs forced her to balance  
between leading the small army around Tokyo-3 and taking care of her Children. She  
would choose the latter over the former, no question.

She sighed as she sat. Feeling like a woman involved more than sweat and pleasure  
and being filled... the domesticity back at her apartment was such at odds with how  
in the end only she had the authority to order them into their deaths. She was  
getting too attached- bad, very bad, for command.

Misato went over to her seat, pointedly ignoring the slow tapping of Shinji's walking  
stick as he went over to his own usual spot. For all the damage the boy could cause,  
it was still surprising just how... fragile... he actually looked in person.

Gendo was elsewhere, and so was Kaji. Everyone else on high command was there,  
even Yang in a direct teleconference link to Cerberus Base. Shinji had to resist the  
urge to ask why they all wore such serious faces. Even Asuka seemed more agitated  
than the usual, leaning back on her chair and drumming impatiently with her  
fingertips upon the table. Maya looked worried, but as before no one else seemed to  
notice since she was just there to run the projector. Uncharacteristically, Rei had a  
look of concern (directed at Asuka) while Ritsuko just seemed far too relaxed.

"That's a nice screen." Shinji said to Yang as he sat at his usual spot, between the  
two other pilots.

The former admiral nodded. It was an LCD monitor with a minicamera on a motorized  
base. "It's not like there are any bandwidth problems over three kilometers away.  
Still, you people are still far too paranoid about letting anyone into the geofront." He  
swiveled to look at each there in turn.

Mana Kirishima being the obvious exception, since her command of -Magnos Tancred-  
was closely linked to the Evangelions. Yang had yet to actually meet Gendo, which  
was... a pleasant accident.

Misato coughed. "All right. Let's get this strategic meeting to order." She took a deep  
breath as the lights darkened slightly. "Ritsuko...?"

The blond muttered something about 'existing for exposition nowadays...' and began  
narrating recent events. Light reflecting off the screen showed the boy's face shocked  
and frantic. The Earth's Cradle, damaged or not, was still six kilometers across. In an  
uncontrolled descent, it would have hit with the force of a multi-megaton nuke.

That it had enough power to control its descent was more troubling. That was why  
NERV decided not to use the anti-orbital Asahino Lance Cannon to knock it out of the  
sky. The purplish miasma creeping out the swollen sphere marked a place outside of  
mankind's dominion.

"I understand, letting me worry about this wouldn't have helped anything." Shinji  
said dully. "Yang-sensei is here, and you Misato-san, and Ritsuko-sensei... the  
strategic level is easy to settle. The only reason to bring me here..."

The screen flickered and switched onto a smiling face. Shinji unclenched his fingers  
and put a hand over Asuka's own shaking fists. "Kaworu."

-o-

"My name is Kaworu Nagisa." the young teen said. Confidence, ever confidence. He  
had a manner that reassured, that complex problems could be reduced to simpler  
and solvable components. "I speak for the Earth's Cradle. I'm here to ask you to  
allow for humanity's Greater Good."

It was a worldwide broadcast, carried by news services allowed entry into the Cradle.  
Behind the boy was the circle-within-a-circle symbol of the Tau. Oddly appropriate,  
thought those who knew about Angel cores.

"The Earth's Cradle is partially Angel, as you see, but does that mean it has to be  
this world's enemy? Evangelions are born of Angel flesh. Are you afraid of the angel  
parasites? I'll tell you this- it's not the first time human and Angel DNA was mixed.  
NERV and I share the same objectives... but while they may like to keep their secrets  
the Cradle will give you all. I am Kaworu Nagisa. I have been created as a human-  
Angel hybrid. Like Ayanami Rei. Like what they intend for the pilots. We are made to  
be weapons, to be used up for the Evangelions.

I deny this fate."

-o-

Shinji turned to Rei, who shrugged faintly. "This... when was this released?" he  
asked hoarsely.

"Eight hours ago." replied Ritsuko, pausing the video for a while. "So portions of it  
were shown in morning news." NERV had made its own initial press response. "What  
you're looking at is the complete transmission direct from NATO."

He turned to look at Rei. "You've been at school." the boy realized. Maya's influence  
had lead to Rei owning more than just her school uniforms for casual wear. "How  
did... was there any trouble?"

Rei shook her head, apparently it explained her weirdness. Some of the students  
were wary, but it was Tokyo-3. Even that failed to shock them. Asuka spoke up that  
anyone who crossed Ayanami would answer to her. And Hikari. And Touji. And Mana.  
Kensuke did not really care either way. Genetics was so... haphazard.

"So that's why my father isn't here. He's explaining himself to the UN, isn't he?"  
Kaworu could be lying, but it has been said that great lies are often more believable  
than little truths. "Ritsuko-sensei... your records..."

The scientist sniffed. "Sometimes secrets are kept away from the light for a reason.  
Somehow I'm not surprised you Children already know about this." It caught Misato  
off-guard, like many. Ritsuko knew most forms of DNA testing would not show Rei as  
any more than human, but Gendo was trying to turn such things into leverage. She  
did not bother to deny it - the scenario called for things to come to a head soon  
enough, there was no point in trying to slow down the political process.

It all came down to the Evangelions, anyway. No court had any power, as long as  
the Angels remained a threat.

NERV's secrets. Nagisa, by revealing them, could hobble Tokyo-3 as the UN had to  
demand proofs either way for each assertion.

Oddly enough, the existence of SEELE was so cliche and unbelievable that Kaworu  
decided not to mention that.

-o-

"We don't have to fight against each other. Look around you. The Cradle was  
humanity's last hope against extinction, and now it can offer you so much. We are  
in no way your enemies. I applaud NERV and Tokyo-3's defense of the world, but  
humanity's future is here."

What with the bouncing and the spinning, one would have assumed it would be a  
miracle for the Cradle to land right-side up. Even if it could shift in place, it should  
still have an underground layout.

The walls where of faintly translucent metal. There was something unnerving about  
the place, being able to reshape itself to suit its occupants. It was a living thing,  
while the power of Tokyo-3 was clad in metaphor.

There were no hard edges to be found, and the soothing pastel colors were not  
paint. The journalists were wary but amazed, the military with them were itching  
with paranoia. It was all too safe and welcoming. They were maintaining the  
quarantine, but no one wanted to leave in the first place.

"You have questions." said Kaworu, still smiling faintly. The conference hall had a  
missing fourth wall, allowing those inside to see the looming shapes of the Trident  
Warborns. "Please let me answer them to your satisfaction."

Three armies were poised to strike, but were held at bay that nothing short of a nuke  
(and even that was uncertain) could even hope to inconvenience three nearly  
Evangelion-class war machines.

_"How can we really trust anything you say?"_ was the most important. Kaworu nodded.  
"How can you be sure that I'm not still under the control of an Angel? Even if I say we're  
not supposed to be humanity's enemies... what's my proof of that?

This is related to other questions- what do the Angels want? And why has the Cradle  
returned in this condition?"

Kaworu held up a finger close to his lips. "Don't trust me. Only you can persuade  
yourself. I am not here to tell you what to do, what to think- but only when you  
know how things truly are, will you decide. I am here to give you everything you  
need for an -_informed choice-_.

I know your fear... that the Angel's weapon, the mentalis annelid, it robs you of your  
free will. And that we have that weapon to deploy.

But it is a poor weapon. It has conquered death, and for what purpose? Shambling  
mindless monstrosities? The Angels, ultimately, are a force of evolution. I believe such  
is Dr. Akagi's words. When Angels attack, they don't concieve of these things as  
weapons... but as extensions of the self. Even the AT-field." He waved both hands  
over his face and clenched them. The walls seemed to retract, shocking everyone.

"I am made in the shape of man. I know the Angels. I know how much they hate,  
how ruled by instinct, how every attack merely an expression of supreme emotion.  
Humans and Angels compete for the right to exist. This is my proof - that I will bring  
the Greater Good into this world, that all life should be worthy of existing. This is my  
gift- this CHOICE to be allowed everyone. To IMPROVE, to BECOME... humanity  
should not be trapped by the choices of a corrupt few, but to rule themselves as  
much as they rule their environment.

The Greater Good is not an object of faith. We don't require slaves, we're not here  
to turn people into weapons... no, it is ultimately left to everyone to decide how best  
to improve themselves. Stasis is DEATH! Evolution is such a haphazard way into  
improvement. You don't have to accept regenesis - but the Greater Good is here to  
protect you anyway.

Trust is not an issue here. We fight the Angels just as much as you do. No, we will  
not withdraw... we can't withdraw... the lands around the Cradle are hidden because  
that's the best way to protect from orbital attacks.

We have already defeated two Angels, you see their cores there. More will come...  
in shapes most suited to defeating whatever resistance this world can offer. We are  
in this condition as proof that relying on the brute power of large, alien creatures is  
not enough.

Not everyone here had undergone -regenesis-, but we all know - ultimately, it's not  
enough to rely on human devices either. When has there ever been lasting peace on  
this world? Even if the Angels should be defeated, what is there for the power of the  
Evangelions? We of the Earth's Cradle are not interested in nations, in politics, or in  
any old creed or religion... between human and angel, the dying and the immortal,  
the Greater Good is the rational choice. We will not force anyone into it.

Don't trust me. Examine your options. Consider your flesh. Just -listen- to me and  
understand what I'm saying. We have the same objectives as those in Tokyo-3, we  
fight the Angels as much as they do and see no point in Third Impact. We bear them  
and the world no ill will.

We will fight for our right to exist, if pushed. This Cradle is the source of a new age,  
beyond pain and misery." He gestured to the symbol behind him. "The tree of  
knowledge, the fruit of life. Together at last." He grinned. "All I ask is that you  
consider the possibilities."

-o-

Misato shivered. _'He sounds... very much like Shinji-kun.' _Except where the younger  
Ikari was as fire, an unstoppable force piercing through timidity, Nagisa was as  
flowing water, waring down objections and letting fear melt into nothiness.

There was more than just oratory there. It seemed as if the collective human psyche  
was straining, painfully splitting into two.

From out of nowhere, Nagisa appeared; and seemingly stealing Ikari's schtick. One  
had to admire the boy's chutzpah, though. He promised the world itself. The power  
of the Earth's Cradle was too great to ignore. It offered Europe the protection that  
NERV refused to give.

Just because one is making as a peace was no reason to believe that those hearing  
it may share the same views, of course. The media had an obligation to report it  
either way. The problem lay with how the rest of the world may receive it. Too much  
were already wasted in war and weariness.

Those in NERV's conference room watched Shinji Ikari carefully. The boy might as  
well have been made of granite, such was his tense control over his emotions. His  
eyes were sharp upon the screen, doing as Kaworu said - considering and discarding  
possibilities, countless eventualities at a glance.

Kaworu Nagisa's expression on the screen was far too mischevious for his own good.

_'So this... is -**heresy-**.'_ Shinji decided. Now he finally knew how it really tasted.

-o-

The conference continued.

"Let me turn that question around. What do YOU want?" Kaworu asked, a distubingly  
wide grin on his face. "How many more would you send to die for just LAND, for the  
sake of national pride? What would you throw away for that feeling of power? We are  
not going away. We're here to break open secrets and unseal doors. Peace can only  
be won by bread and salt, not swords and spears.

The question is, what do you want to us to do? We are surrounded by your armies,  
your word can shatter this broken world." He looked square at the screen. "Act. Decide.  
Human beings are the masters of this Earth - let it be proven."

-o-

Asuka grit her teeth. "... even so, Germany is -mine-." Words could not convey how  
much pride Shinji Ikari felt in hearing her say that. She remained the glorious child  
of war. Her humanity shone, in all its pettiness and breadth.

_'You dare taunt us with our own imperfections, Kaworu-kun?'_ She put a hand over  
her face, one eye left uncovered._ 'You called me beautiful, once. The Greater Good...  
sparkles because of the endless diversity within.'_

"... the Greater Good is now -mine- to uphold." she whispered. Shinji flinched. It had  
become a matter of doctrine. It could get really ugly.

Rei looked unsurprised. She had never really given thought to the future or trying to  
predict how others may react. No matter how others tried to reassure her, she still  
believed in her heart- she was not human.

Watching Kaworu claim humanity as his prize, it changed nothing. She was a weapon  
and wished for orders, to kill and kill and kill until all memory of Kaworu Nagisa and  
Adam was wiped from her Earth. He hurt Sohryu. '_He insults Ikari. He will die.' _

-o-

Kaworu laughed. "Superior to human beings? I certainly don't consider myself so.  
Who decides what is human? Popular opinion? The same opinions that drives the  
crusades, that makes slaves, that condemns others as subhuman? Genetics? That  
are in constant change? You who stand here are different from those a thousand  
years ago, ten thousand...! The mutations add up!

Look at my eyes! The fold over the eyelid. What purpose does it serve? Yet I don't  
have it. The color of the skin, the shape of the nose, nothing more than to help  
man survive in his environment... yet these things are used to judge men's worth.  
The difference between men and women.

Fat! Ugly! Tall! Short! Genius! Mundane! It's all too random! You preach equality  
and teach people to be ashamed of what they are! You, the media, you say you're  
there to speak the truth! But what keeps you going but the coin of advertising?  
What have you to say but the failure of decency? Markets thrive on illusions, dreams,  
and even outright lies! Millions are spent, and flesh cut out, just to reinforce self-  
esteem! Millions die, and homes wrecked, because nations and religions decide what  
a human being SHOULD be- dead words deciding the lives of the many yet unborn.

Man is more than just biology. You are not just your shell. Man is a society, to be  
human is to do the things that humans do. To strive ever for perfection... for  
enlightenment, to touch eternity beyond the limits of mortal lifespan... and for the  
most part, fail.

To be a human is to be counted among billions, striving ever for the same thing.  
Improvement. Evolution is mindless, random. The Angels only react. The form is  
secondary, is that not why we have technology? But technology is not the cure to  
our problems. We all know this now. Ever has the greatest problem of mankind been  
mankind itself. Change has to come from within.

Monsters will never defeat monsters. Only humans will be able to kill the Angels.  
Humans are free to choose how they die."

The walls of the cradle began to shimmer in many translucent colors. Questions,  
protests, and murmurs of approval or denial began to rise from the gathered men  
and women.

"Why are we here?" Kaworu laughed. "I don't know. Isn't it worth living to find out?"  
"What am we going to do? We will live. We will not be shaken. This little thing..." A  
white snake-like thing slithered out the sleeves of his dark suit and wound around his  
wrist. The journalists gasped, the soldiers tensed for action. Kaworu chuckled lightly.

"This little thing. You're afraid of it. Afraid to be cast out from this Eden of the  
physical world. So be it. Just know that it is here. All the might of the Cradle pales  
beside this discovery. Here is chance for mankind to shape its own future, to be  
truly free.

Immortality. Not vampires, not zombies, not werewolves, not ELVES, NOT FAIRES,  
NOT SUPERMEN! Nor any stupid little term from your volumes of entertainment. My  
threat is not any army of deathless monsters. It is the knowledge that here I hold  
the key to humanity's future.

We have the right to exist. There are certain philosophies about the Inward Path  
and the Outward Path... the perfection of self, the mastery of the without. Here I  
hold enlightenment in an instant. Humanity driven to the absolute limit. God's mercy  
in my hand - the end to pain, to infirmity, to disease! If the shape of man in sacred,  
then there is no blasphemy in letting it become as it suits itself.

This is the gift of our peace. Let us live. We shall become as a new Culture-..."

-o-

"Oh, HELL no!" Shinji Ikari stretched his right arm out and clenched his hand into a  
fist. Kaworu had bent away for a moment to answer a new question, and the back-  
light symbol behind him just crumpled inward.

-o-

Kaworu turned back to the podium and grinned. "Now, now... let's have some self-  
control..." he said chidingly.

-o-

The lights brightened. Ritsuko paused the video. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" she  
shouted, her ahoge springing up.

"Oops."

"Gggh. This was sent eight hours ago! Maya! Transcript!" The NERV lieutenant  
obediently handed over a folder. Ritsuko thumbed through the print-outs. "Still the  
same." She slapped the folder to the table and her glasses glinted at Shinji. "You  
have some things to explain, young man."

"Aheheh..."

"Don't give me that Misato treatment." (Hey!) a weak protest from aside. "I seem to  
remember someone testifiying that you absolutely were NOT a psychic. That was  
part of why the UN tolerates your speaking for the Psykana. Civilian oversight and  
such."

But before he could respond, the scientist began banging her fist down at the  
paper folder. "But THIS! So Nagisa is precognitive enough to predict how we here in  
NERV will react eight hours in advance... and you can goddamn affect things EIGHT  
HOURS IN THE PAST! I WON'T HAVE IT! YOU WILL NOT DRAW ME INTO YOUR  
CIRCLE OF CRAZINESS!"

"Ritsuko-sempai!" Maya exclaimed worriedly, reaching out for her. She had pin the  
woman's arms to keep her from strangling somebody... _anybody_. With the remote on  
her left hand Ritsuko discreetly resumed the video.

-o-

"Now, now, let's all please remain calm."

-o-

"Fuck off." the blond spat.

-o-

"There's no need for that language." Kaworu added, looking hurt.

-o-

Ritsuko switched off the giant screen and slumped in Maya's grasp. "... you can let  
me go now." she said in a very tired voice. She slid back over to her seat and cradled  
her face in her hands. "It was bad enough eight hours ago... why is it that things  
make sense in ways that make no sense...?"

Yang was feeling out of his depth. Mana Kirishima was obeyed, but her words about  
NERV were taken with a grain of salt, consider her obvious... emotional bias. His  
monitor swiveled over to Misato. He had nooo idea...

"I don't think I have to mention just how... indescribably bad... an effective  
precognitive nullifies planning." Certainly he was accused of being that far too many  
times. _'Tokyo-3 is very well-organized. Just when I get used to seeing its military  
running smoothly, and think it's all as normal... I'm rudely reminded of just how insane  
and unpredictable this place can get. I'm reminded that I'm still in a land completely  
foreign to my senses.'_

Although... the psychics sprinkled all around Tokyo-3 were that same risk to the rest  
of the world. How does one outplan someone who can predict the unpredictable?

A chuckle.

"On further thought, this isn't really unexpected either." Ritsuko brought out a pack  
of cigarettes from her lab coat. She waved away Maya's attempt to take out a lighter  
(such a devoted assistant, and situational parallel hardly being any less disturbing  
over time). She flicked her left thumb, and a small spark crackled from her metal-  
capped nail.

Such a trifling thing, really. Chemical combustion was so old-fashioned. Even if she  
was more on the biological sciences, it struck her as silly that she hadn't devoted a  
fraction of her time and intellect into this convenience much sooner. Ritsuko took a  
deep drag off her cigarette, leaned back on her chair and blew out a smoke ring.

"No, not just the habitual weirdness surrounding this place." Ritsuko grinned, as her  
glasses glinted. "How can matter or the mind even survive the transition between  
quantum anomalies in macroscale quantities and perceivable space? We should  
examine those Marines again.

I do find it interesting that the girls aren't surprised by this... accident. Even you,  
Maya. It seems the information's blocked two ways."

"Shinji...?" Misato asked tonelessly.

The boy winced. It was starting. His father had even warned him about it, months  
ago. Nagisa would force him to act.

For her part, Misato Katsuragi still had difficulty shifting Shinji from someone she had  
to protect. No matter what, he was never any threat. But in the end, the boy was  
just too much like his father.

"Why?" she asked. She saw that the two other pilots were not surprised. She  
wondered if these children... ever really saw themselves as human beings. What  
was it really like, to command such godly power?

"... because I don't know everything." the boy whispered. _'Because I need you to  
be you, Misato-san, free and unburdened. So we can all have this time before the  
inevitable.'_

The Katsuragi apartment, that life, it was his essence of normalcy. _'But it would be  
too easy to mistake that need of someone for emotional nourishment. Family? Or  
as a pet.' _He could feel her hurt and anger, beneath the icy discipline. As long as he  
was weak and pathetic the issue would never bubble up.

He wondered if Nagisa had considered this when allowing for immortals to live  
among mortals.

The screen switched back on.

-o-

"Human beings are defined by their ability to choose." said Kaworu Nagisa. "We are  
marked more for our differences than our similarities. Our history is colored by the  
fruit of such differences.

I have the deepest respect for Shinji Ikari, for... Asuka Langley-Sohryu..., for Rei  
Ayanami, for NERV, and all that they do. We do this in respect for their struggles.  
Without their heroism, we wouldn't be here today.

But consider this. There are those among humanity being hunted down and brought  
into captivity because of their abilities. It is said that for centuries they were self-  
regulating, a society existing without a ripple among greater humanity. Why are they  
exposed now? Why are they persecuted now?

Because of fear; because of us! For that fear nations are made to violate their own  
people, to deny them the very protections they were owed! For what? A little tingle  
on someone else's senses? These people who represent the unimaginable wonder  
that is humanity's complexity are instead held captive by the mere CHANCE that  
we would arrive.

We are here. But I tell you now that you have no reason to fear. The worms are  
just that... mindless... just creatures, nothing beyond human understanding. We  
of the Cradle petition the United Nations for a truce, and to prove ourselves as  
willing allies for humanity's future. This darkness around the Cradle... is the blanket  
that comforts the uncertain soul.

The Greater Good is to accept how every element may benefit the greater number.  
We fight the Angels, yes, but they are more worthy of our pity than our hatred. In  
time, even such beings would be mastered by the properly-prepared mind."

-o-

Shinji Ikari felt like slamming his head into a wall. He settled for the table.

Bam. Bam. Bam!

"Eloquent little monkey, isn't he?" Ritsuko said idly. "You don't have a monopoly on  
mass theatrics anymore."

"This can't end well..." the boy said through grit teeth. "If they can control the  
change when the mind worms interact with the psyker quality... then it should be  
just as easy to switch back to the mutations forms."

"It is a trap." said Rei. "The nations should see that."

"I don't believe it." said Asuka. "He won't...! He... he's not out for world conquest  
or anything like that sort of cliched villainy. He just wants to be allowed to live the  
life he was given!"

"Whatever he wants, his existence has a polarizing effect." Yang sighed. "He  
preaches division instead of unity. Most would see two defenders, and be glad  
about it. But it only dilutes the support you would need to maintain your combat  
states."

"He's trying to HELP people!" Asuka yelled.

Though a screen and several kilometers away, Yang held up both hands to try and  
calm her down. "No one ever said changing the world was EASY or painless. Believe  
me, I should know."

"Then shouldn't you not judge someone else so easily? At least he's trying! He's not a  
monster..."

"Little girl, monsters are NOTHING as scary as a human being with something to  
prove." The shift in his tone jarred the red-haired pilot. The glint in his eye, and  
the force behind his voice. This was conqueror who could have seized the whole  
world fifteen years ago.

For some reason people kept forgetting he was still a Communist, or at the very least  
a hands-off Socialist. Just because China was the world's foremost source of cheap  
goods... and that he looked far too lazy for such an active mind... fine. He sighed  
again.

_'I'm getting too old for this crap.' _He was going to have to do something.

"Do you know why you were brought out here, young Mister Ikari? It certainly wasn't  
to catch you in a lie." He looked... at peace. "The issue still remains that -something-  
was able to bring down the Cradle, and it's inevitable that it would be coming here."

Misato nodded cautiously.

"China, as you well know, used to hold NERV Branch Four. Ten years ago, I was  
asked if it would be worth investing a not-insignificant portion of our GDP on a fairy  
tale. I would not be who I am today without Impact... but that event was hardly of  
any good for the world. Ten years, I said yes. My people needed even just the  
-possibility- of revenge. I gave peace to my people, but the strength... as much as  
there was risk and some economic looseness from keeping them around, I felt there  
was something more we needed to do. But if not conquest, then what?

I came here to Tokyo-3, because I was curious about the truth behind those fairy  
tales. Because miracles start in the smallest of things. Do you remember Plan  
Orange? Even against today's allies, plans are made. Not just to keep militaries from  
being bored in peacetime, but just in case.

China is prepared for yet ANOTHER Impact."

Shinji looked up, wide-eyed. "... Yang." the boy breathed. "What have you done?"  
The former admiral smiled thinly. "I wasn't so idle either, when you were gone.

There are always plans. A few months ago... I updated them." There was some  
commotion behind the screen, at Cerberus Base. "-**All of them**-."

_"We can't arrest him, he's still got diplomatic immunity!"_

_"Yang! What the hell are you saying?"_

_"NOT until something actually happens! That would just worsen the situation, you  
moron!"_

_"Oh, shit oh shit oh shit..."_

-o-

Not surprisingly, the Bundeswehr were for overwhelmingly rejecting his overtures. The  
miasma was spreading for hundreds of kilometers. It would soon devour Germany in  
darkness.

"We hope for peace, but don't make the mistake of thinking us defenseless. This is  
our region of absolute territory." Kaworu said with finality. "We shall gladly feast on  
those who would subdue us."

He snapped his fingers twice.

-o-

Shinji Ikari groaned and cradled his face in his hands. "I go to sleep for EIGHT hours  
and things go out of control THIS much?"

He was never again going to trust any vacation.

-o-

-o-

Unsurprisingly, Gendo Ikari had much the same feeling. If the United Nations were  
going to give special political status to the Cradle, then Tokyo-3 was going to ask  
for the same exemption from most international laws. SEELE's political influence had  
waned, but by the damage done to the Earth's Cradle it seems they gathered power  
of a more direct form.

Not that he could say that out loud. Strangely, Gendo had never really considered  
Yang Wen-li any threat to his scenario. Military force. Popular approval. How...  
temporal.

But the Chinese Re-unifier's existence did change several things. The Evangelion  
Carrier was supposed to be a modified delta bomber. Only very few of the ungodly  
huge stealth craft were made... they required huge airstrips, were very hideously  
expensive, and if ever should war erupt it was certain that Yang had already planned  
for them. Mere expensive toys could not intimidate the world's finest military mind.  
His miracles were born of speed and cunning. The only worth of such bombers  
against his thrust would be to carry nukes. But it was also clear, if you had somehow  
managed to piss off Yang he had already smuggled tactical nukes into all your  
metropolitan centers months ago.

Yang had never needed stealth. His campaigns had been dissected over and over  
again. He always let you knew he was coming. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could  
stop him. Everything you can think of, every piece of hardware... he already knows.  
He has already defeated these elements well before the engagement.

Speed. That was why the Evangelion's carrier was a tilt-wing VSTOL. It consumed  
horrendous amounts of fuel, it had a far shorter range, but even there the lessons  
were learned. Every nation had to shift priorities. Yang is coming. You need speed.  
You need unity. Yang is coming. You don't ever know what miracle he's going to  
pull next. Meet him quickly. Yang is coming. Be prepared to run. He always lets you  
run. Fight with all you have, hold nothing back. Constantly shift your weaknesses.  
Yang will find them. Always.

Ironically, he would still lose consistently in Age of Empires and their ilk. He much  
preferred Civilization. Polite people would not point out that RTS games only allowed  
control over a region while World Conquest was almost inevitable in turn-based  
strategy.

Geneva was in an uproar. Three armies were already surrounding the Cradle. How  
would Yang hope to add anything to that, with almost half of the greater Eurasian  
landmass in the way?

The UN Navy, primarily formed of American vessels, was crippled by Gaghiel. That  
left the only other navy capable of projecting power completely unchallenged.  
Admiral Yang's beloved fleets.

Which would still have to go through the Arctic Circle. Were it anyone else, it would  
have been deranged and impossible to get anywhere in any useful time. It was just  
so hard to get into his mind. It was just so easy to forget just what they were dealing  
with. He just looked so unimpressive... he had a teacher's harried demeanor, he was  
lazy, he was easily bullied by children and pretty women. He walked away from  
absolute rule. He was... weak.

He had trained thousands of men to think like him. There was subtlety and precision  
among millions. Tens of millions. He was the tyrant that never died. The dragon that  
lay sleeping.

Shinji Ikari LOOKED weak, too.

And that was why even veterans found his slow, deliberate demeanor so unnerving.  
Yang baptized the world with fighting men that flowed like water. The boy brought  
fire. There was a feeling of completion. Of endings.

-o-

"I will NOT be grateful to that man." Gendo muttered aside to Fuyutsuki. He had  
brought the old man along to relieve some of the irriation in dealing with the  
mindless political sheep. He had very little patience for their antics. "This is all  
futile posturing."

"Maybe. If Europe recognizes the area around the Cradle as a political entity, then  
so would we demand recognition as an independent nation- with all that implies."  
Fuyutsuki calmly moved a pawn on an antique chess set. "It strikes me as just...  
amusing, that still have consider on how the UN must pay for NERV's upkeep but  
the Earth's Cradle is entirely self-sufficient."

"Fools."

"Yes, but this is not the time for overt threats. Even Nagisa knew it, Ikari. We can't  
just threaten to NOT protect Europe... we need to match their offer, or they'll just  
drive us to depend on China." The old professor sighed. "I suppose you think it  
wouldn't matter in the long run, but this whole thing should have been done with  
months ago.

I'm... getting tired, Ikari. I'm not sure I can handle so many more unexpected  
twists. At my age, you'd grow to appreciate certainties."

It was raining outside. Weather patterns had altered all over the world. They were  
in one of the small side rooms while the rest of the delegates debated. It was night  
outside, and the most interesting thing to see was his own reflection. "It won't be  
long now, sensei. This world without Yui in it... the end is not so far away. THAT is  
also a certainty."

Fuyutsuki pushed over a rook. Oddly, he had always been better at chess than  
Gendo. The rules were just so... static. The challenge was in adding chaos into the  
inflexible. "Nagisa appeared out of nowhere. What are going to do about this?" He  
sighed again. "For the first time, I'm afraid... we've gone too far, but can we be  
stopped?"

And Gendo laughed. Fuyutsuki shivered. Gendo's humor... was often as twisted and  
unpredictable as the man.

"Nagisa? He is inconsequential. All these fools, trying to figure out his plan. I already  
know that abomination's weakness."

"He's... like Ayanami, you remember?" Poor girl. Crippling her, keeping her away  
from her inhuman nature was their small mercy.

"Exactly so. An aberration. Neither human nor Angel. A tool." Lightning flashed in the  
distance. Gendo smirked, his eyeglasses glinting. "He searches for validation. The  
boy has no plan. He takes advantage of whatever is presented to him. Always  
reacting, always using others as he himself was used. It is... obvious." The thunder  
arrived. "He will wait until he gets what he wants."

"Even if you don't consider the Cradle as a threat... there are a lot of things that can  
go wrong in the short-term, Ikari. The world can't ignore the threat and opportunities  
he presents, We have too many secrets, Ikari. They'll take us apart. With you here  
they're hoping NERV wouldn't be able to offer much resistance to official demands.

Only SEELE could have brought down the Cradle. They're coming, Ikari- can we really  
afford to weaken ourselves right now?" NERV could fight the Angels, but not the  
whole world.

"There is only weakness in uncertainty, sensei. We will always do what needs to be  
done."

-o-

-o-

"My father is at Geneva, isn't he?"

"The charges against NERV are too serious to leave to any remote conference. He's  
there to argue for the UN's proper response." Yang put in. "But YOU are here... and  
now we need to prepare well in advance to what your father may say. We can't be  
sure... not even I can be sure...

We need to hear you say it, young Mister Ikari."

He could hear his pulse thunder out, and his thin hands shook. To steady them,  
Shinji linked his fingers together. He put his elbows on the table, to keep the  
shaking from reaching his body. He was blind. It was another cusp of probabilities.  
He looked up. "My father... NERV... can't tolerate this intrusion into our purpose."  
he whispered. "We are the rightful defenders of this world. There is too much risk  
in forces outside of our control."

Asuka slammed her fists on the table and pushed off her chair. "You selfish  
BASTARDS!" she shouted, while hiding her face. "So you're going to just kill..."

"No..." Shinji shook his head. "I'm sorry, Asuka. I'm truly very sorry... but there's no  
other choice. No, we're not going to destroy the Cradle... not unless we have to.  
WE aren't going to decide their fate."

The red-haired pilot looked confused, then horror gradually flowed into her  
expression. "You... you can't be serious. That's what... damn you Ikaris... you  
can't do this to me!"

Ritsuko took off her glasses and rubbed at her eyes. "It's... a foregone conclusion.  
This is what it's all about in the end. The Cradle, Tokyo-3. Those hybrid Tridents...  
and the Evangelion."

Fighting against the Angels was glorious _**duty.**_ Again the piloted knockoffs... it would  
be _**murder**_.

"I'm sorry, Asuka." Misato added, hiding her face.

"... you're disgusting." the girl snarled. "If this is what being an adult is all about, I'll  
have no part of this cowardice! If this was what you wanted all along, then at least  
you could have said it honestly from the start! Damn you all!" She pointed to Shinji.  
"You just had to make him say it. Because you knew I'd have to listen to it!"

"I'm sorry, Asuka." said Shinji.

"Shut up." She slumped back down and began to breathe heavily. "I can't do it. This  
is too much... I can't decide it! Just let me fight, I'm a pilot... don't make me look  
him in the eye as I kill him..."

"Asuka..." Misato winced. "I've said it before, if only I could just do it myself, I'd take  
your pain. I don't know how much you've been..."

"He told me he loved me."

Misato blanched.

There was a dull groaning sound, like stressed metal. Asuka chuckled darkly. "Does  
that make you angry, Shinji?" she asked. "Hell, I SHOULD be jealous too, somehow...  
he's baiting you. He's waiting for you." And that was both irritating... and intriguing.

"The logic is clear." Rei said at last. "The power of the S2 Engine is needed to combat  
multiple enemies, it is something they cannot duplicate. Your experience and skills  
are necessary. I must stay to defend Tokyo-3, for several reasons crucial to our  
defense." Lillith's soul must not meet Adam's container. "Pilot Ikari... cannot go."

Shinji looked up, nodding slowly.

"I told I would hate you if you pretended to be weak..." Asuka snarled.

Shinji sagged. "You... can decide not to kill him. He might actually be speaking  
honestly, and we may really be able to work together for the good of the human  
race. Only you cantry to talk to him, get the Cradle to accept our authority...

Asuka... I made a promise to you. I won't kill him. I won't meet with him. I won't  
tear out his organs with my bare hands, I won't take his skull for-..."

Bam! Shinji slammed both fists into the table. He could _feel_ it, the utter _rightness _of  
it... but it would hardly be so convincing under the court of popular opinion. "There are  
many things I can't do. To hold back if I actually face him again... I'm afraid I can't  
do that. The fallout would be... catastrophic. Maybe literally so.

I'm sorry. I'm not pretending; all my... abilities... are useless here. I hate him. I hate  
him more than anything. Damn the consequences!" _There are no innocents..._ "It won't  
be about who's right and wrong, just senseless conquest. I will **not** play the tyrant in  
his little drama! No, I can't be trusted, not like this...

Only you can bring us a solution. Asuka... I'm really very sorry. We're forcing you to  
carry this burden. We need you to be strong. We need you now more than ever."

"In the end, only Sohryu can go to Germany." Rei finished.

Asuka stifled a scream. She began to hiccup, through bared teeth

"So..."

"It's not like I can... ghik... disobey a legal order, can I?" she snarled again. "What...  
what makes you think I won't just betray you and join his side if you let me go?"

"The fact that you can say 'our side' and 'his side'." Misato added numbly.

Ritsuko tossed aside the stub of her cigarette and stood up. She pointed at Shinji  
again, her lab coat swishing as she did so. The strong lights of the projector behind  
her shadowed everything but her oddly glinting glasses. "Face it, Asuka Langley-  
Sohryu. You're the sanest, most emotionally well-adjusted pilot here."

Shinji and Rei nodded in eerily perfect synchronization.

_'**What?**' _"You're all insane." Asuka said flatly.

_'I've been saying that all this time!' "_That is very much -_the point_-." Ritsuko replied.

Asuka groaned and began to rub the bridge of her nose. "No, I'm serious. How in  
hell do you expect to move Unit Two halfway across the world? We already know  
that shipping it by sea is slow and stupidly vulnerable. Berlin-2 had a rail leading  
to a harbor, like this place. Now that thing...? Gone.

And the Cradle is all the way inland. In retrospect it's pretty damn obvious. I can  
WALK there. But you still have to get me all the way around the South China Sea.  
Then the Indian Ocean. Then the Mediterannean!"

The red-haired pilot touched her throat for a moment, apparently enraged frustration  
was a good enough cure for hiccups. "... yeah, I'm sure I can manage it. I'll walk  
along the sea floor if I really have to. The other Eva has it easier, Boston-2 can get  
through the Atlantic to the North Sea just fine. But what have you got?"

"There were plans to convert the UN's unibomber." Yang noted. "But they were  
cancelled for some reason." Evangelions weighed enough to convincingly challenge  
battleships. Even the massive delta-wing bombers would strain to carry that even  
for a few hundred kilometers. "Too late to try and refit one, I suppose."

Ritsuko snorted. "How pedestrian. MAYA!" She clapped twice. "I require _**The Thing!"**_

"Yes, sempai! I will bring you the _**Thing!"**_ She pulled out a large black suitcase from  
under the table. Shinji looked surprised. but then had realized that the thing he  
found all those years ago was a standard heavy-duty model.

Maya brought out a large metal disc with a raised rim. It was about a handspan-  
thick and had a dull brushed sheen. She plonked it down the center of the table, and  
began to hook up connections to the wall sockets, 110 volts power and fiberoptic  
links to the MAGI. "The Thing is prepared!" she announced gaily.

"Excellent."

"What is that?" Misato asked, looking suspicious. "It looks... like a land mine."

"It is a portable holographic interface and local data recovery unit. I call it _HILDR_."

The top half split out into four sections. Ritsuko waved and the glowing center of the  
device lit up, ionizing the air above it. Pumps and humidifiers worked to make the  
region full of denser gases. Hundreds of little lasers activated and played in patterns.  
Out from the mist, a tiny but shapely woman in a long flowing dress emerged. Her  
voice from the speakers had a pleasant contralto. She held a silvered spear.

"Greetings, my Doctor. You called for me?"

"Ooh!" Asuka could not resist an excited giggle. "A Valkyrie! I recognize this from the  
Eva Fantasy RPG!"

"You are Sohryu, child of destiny. I greet you, my princess." the figure added with  
a bow.

Maya muttered something about preferring the name _'Cortana_'. A naked female  
advisor would have been just too obvious as marketing appeal. It was clear that  
the programmers could get at little too... attached... to their little AI, no matter  
that Ritsuko allowed it to 'grow' inside the MAGI. So, it was important to remember  
that it was just a 'thing'. An interface. Not a machine spirit, not a person. It would  
not pass any Turing tests, but there was a disturbing amount of self-awareness.

It was fortunate that Misato did not hear Ritsuko mutter. _"It is also a land mine.'_

"There is a difference between the antimatter equations, and of course, having a  
gram of antimatter. The Dirac Sea was a hole in spacetime, of quantum-level events  
in macrospatial quantities. The mind recoils - such things are not supposed to  
happen.

Philosophy tells that mere knowledge of past events is no guarantee that it will do  
so in the future. We can never really 'know' that the sun will rise tomorrow. We can  
only trust on the assumption that it will. That sleep is not death. Facts follow upon  
the footsteps of observation. Repeatable occurences provide comfort and surety, yes,  
that's true. The predictable is what we call 'law'. Without the experiment, the theory  
is without value."

"Ritsuko-sensei..."

"**SILENCE!"** The scientist slammed both palms onto the table. "How does matter even  
survive the transition between macroscale and quantum states? Answer! **It doesn't!  
**The things that are _not_ supposed to happen DO happen. All the time. It's just that  
we don't notice it happening! There is NO transition."

She pointed at Shinji. "You are a freak. And a fool."

Misato had to say "Hey!" but the boy made no move to deny it.

"You mess with **causality**, and that gives us **superluminality**. Foolish little boy. Do  
you have any idea how many scientists nearly burned themelves out trying to wrap  
their minds around psychoreactive quasi-crystal and spools of room-temperature  
superconductors? These things are unsupported by all known principles of physical  
structures. They should at best ONLY exist within the confines of an AT-field."

"Ritsuko...? What are you saying?"

"If it can happen HERE, it can happen somewhere ELSE. Causality, once messed  
with, means it has ALWAYS been messed with. It drives me to wonder if our known  
laws are merely expressions of absolute territory within this star system. It makes  
me curious about what may lie beyond the shell of this gravity well."

The boy was just too much like her father. Ritsuko, for all her pride in her logic and  
sensibilities... knew she was a prisoner of emotional needs. After all, for Gendo she  
had worked to condemn the world. There was no question of divided loyalties, for she  
had none for the boy. Little by little however, the world was showing itself as worth  
keeping.

"What sort of **madness** are we going to **inflict** upon the galaxy? **FOOLS!** I will **destroy  
you ALL** before I let-"

Maya coughed. "Focus, sempai."

Ritsuko blinked.

She took deep breaths, and lit up another cigarette. "Oh. Hm. What were we talking  
about?" She shivered, as if caught in an afterglow.

"The new Evangelion carrier."

"Ah, yes. It's not enough to just bring the Evangelion. To fight, it requires munitions.  
Support crew. Replacement armor. We already took apart what remained of NERV  
Germany... so now the Eva will need to bring its own supporting elements. Might as  
well bring a mobile field base."

"I still want to name it Pegasus, sempai."

Ritsuko pretended not to hear that. She would not be drawn into any more giant  
robot silliness that what... was already apparent. "This of course, rests upon the idea  
that Evangelion Unit Two can deploy and maintain an AT-field for flight. It should not  
be too difficult, since we can't seem to turn off Unit Two's AT-field anyway."

Asuka began to rub her forehead. "You people are just going to make me keep trying  
until it happens anyway."

The holographic emitter showed Eva Unit-2 face-down. Girders and decks appeared  
around it, eventually turning into a cyclindrical framework. Engines here and there,  
weapon mounts all over, and command bridge.

"You're making me go there in a _ZEPPELIN_. Of course. I should have known. All of this  
just for a pun on my mother's name." Asuka began to bang her head lightly upon the  
table. She looked up, and hissed. "I hate you all. So. Damn. Much."

Ritsuko looked away. "A... fortunate coincidence." Frustration shared was frustration  
lightened. Asuka should have been well familiar with _schadenfreude_.

"You're just ganking whatever you want off the Fantasy Battles. _Mein Gott_, the  
material finally loops back on itself." At least they meant no malice, but... it was  
such a stupid pun! She also understood just how _**difficult**_ it was to resist. Maybe she  
really did _need_ to get away from the place for a while. "Getting sued off your asses  
is going be the least of your problems..."

"Given what we've seen of the AT-field for propulsion, it shouldn't be that difficult."  
Maya added helpfully. "We know that they can manipulate molecules directly, like  
a funnel for a jet engine." Gaghiel's undewater propulsion pulled and shoved water  
around itself, hence why it could not maintain a solid defensive shield. "We know it  
can be used to push against the ground." Sachiel's and the Evangelions' great leaps.  
"Then there is also some mass lightening properties." Matariel should not be able to  
fly or even support its own weight with its spindly limbs.

"It is not... impossible, Sohryu." Rei added. "The mechanics of AT-field flight are not  
unknown to me. It is no longer as secret that I am capable of manipulating an AT-  
field, and I have confidence you will learn its... feel... and learn to control it through  
just that quality."

Yang looked doubtful. "The greatest principle in war, ever since ancient times, is  
overwhelming speed. I'm impressed, Doctor Akagi... but two questions. How much  
can this carry, how quickly can it be built, and most important... IS IT SAFE?"

"No limit. It depends, but we can use the material from the Cruisers. Since the  
Eva provides most of motive power in the first place, everything else is just for  
padding and controls." The scientist then laughed loudly. "Safe? Of course it -isn't-  
safe. It will be the largest man-made object to ever go faster than the speed of  
sound. I can make calculations about what it takes to throw a battleship into orbit.  
We have **no idea** what will happen. No one does."

"... which is why this maneuver satisfies to overawe everyone who doubts NERV,  
and by presenting the unknown and unforseen balk the enemy's plans." Yang  
nodded, pleased.

He had tried making plans to counter NERV, then realized it was pointless... the city  
was just too crazy. That same madness meant it was incapable of doing any lasting  
conquest, despite what others may fear. Holding ground was simply impossible  
without infantry. Order was impossible without any over-reaching policy. Yang and  
China had very little to fear from NERV's unconventional power.

That was why Nagisa was digging in; he realized. Plans were worthless against the  
primal forces of NERV and the madness around Shinji Ikari. That was why baiting  
NERV to fight on grounds where the Cradle held every advantage... was such an  
artful strategy.

Yang looked at everyone else there, all still so young and in the prime of their lives.  
They looked so tired, but completely unintimidated by future perils.

He hoped that Nagisa had neglected the higher strategy that was the root of their  
strength. For it was also written _"Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive;  
plunge it into desperate straits, and it come through in safety."_

Two Evangelions, one of them still unblooded, against what the Art of War named  
_Desperate Ground_.

Utter madness.

Yang felt like laughing for some reason. Tokyo-3 affected everyone that way.

-o-

-o-

* * *

Whoops. A small apology, it seems I uploaded a faulty version a few days ago. Several scenes were all over the place and out of context. Ctrl+V fail, my bad. =)

Just more setup. I'll try to keep this a three-parter, even if the individual portions may become more text-dumping. Too much background info to present. I'm inclined to be more charitable to timeskips now, as there just really isn't enough time to show everything that pops up into the mind. If writing starts to feel like a chore, then it's likely the reader won't suffer gladly what the writer tries to endure through. Better to just jump ahead and make oblique references to 'past events' in the narrative.

* * *

Oh, and to clear up some things:

**XI. The Nine Situations**

**1.**Sun Tzu said: The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground: (1) Dispersive ground; (2) facile ground; (3) contentious ground; (4) open ground; (5) ground of intersecting highways; (6) serious ground; (7) difficult ground; (8) hemmed-in ground; (9) desperate ground.

**2.**When a chieftain is fighting in his own territory, it is dispersive ground.

**3.**When he has penetrated into hostile territory, but to no great distance, it is facile ground.

**4.**Ground the possession of which imports great advantage to either side, is contentious ground.

**5.**Ground on which each side has liberty of movement is open ground.

**6.**Ground which forms the key to three contiguous states, so that he who occupies it first has most of the Empire at his command, is a ground of intersecting highways.

**7.**When an army has penetrated into the heart of a hostile country, leaving a number of fortified cities in its rear, it is serious ground.

**8.**Mountain forests, rugged steeps, marshes and fens-o-all country that is hard to traverse: this is difficult ground.

**9.**Ground which is reached through narrow gorges, and from which we can only retire by tortuous paths, so that a small number of the enemy would suffice to crush a large body of our men: this is hemmed in ground.

**10.**Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.

**11.**On dispersive ground, therefore, fight not. On facile ground, halt not. On contentious ground, attack not.

**12.**On open ground, do not try to block the enemy's way. On the ground of intersecting highways, join hands with your allies.

**13.**On serious ground, gather in plunder. In difficult ground, keep steadily on the march.

**14.** On hemmed-in ground, resort to stratagem. On _desperate ground_, **fight**.


	37. Chapter 36: Along the Watchtower part2

**All Along the Watchtower part2**

-o-

-o-

Though many have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness had never been seen  
associated with long delays. NERV needed shortcuts, and they would have them;  
the very principles of the rational universe be damned, they would have them!

While the AT-field caused many a headache to the foundations of science, to  
engineers it was a great boon. The region of Absolute Territory could create self-  
contained environments of whatever condition.

There was proof enough in the black stone walls that surrounded Tokyo-3. The  
International Network was most... helpful, with the challenge that any condition  
even those occurring deep under the earth or in the sun... what could be done?

The keenest blades, the most resilient containers and barriers, these were proven  
effects of the AT-field. But what else? The scientific curiosities of using the  
field to experiment with high-energy physics turned out to be completely worthless.  
Sure, the region of Absolute Territory negated the need for massive supercolliders  
and could command high-energy collisions repeatedly and without much fuss. The  
problem was that NOTHING in that region of 'quantum certainty' could be trusted.  
One may not use a place where the laws of universe themselves break down just to  
test principles in the 'real world'. Probabilities lose all meaning. If the pilot wants it to  
happen at a quantum level, it will. If not it, then nothing. That was _hardly_ scientific.

Then there was the logical implications of the S2 Engine. The Super Solenoid seemed  
to produce limitless power through some form of clean matter-antimatter reaction.  
But where was the antimatter coming from? How does it convert that release of  
energy into electricity? It was an organ... and converters were likewise bio-  
mechanical in origin. The makers of Unit Four's S2 Engine were all dead in the Dirac  
Sea incident, and if Ritsuko Akagi knew the equations she was not telling.

_How?_ "I don't know! What if... no, that doesn't make ANY sense either!" There was  
much sobbing.

Now engineers, they could cheerfully disregard considerations of basic theory; while  
those were necessary if someone were to try and build another S2 Engine, there were  
also the much more _**fun**_ implications of what one could do with limitless power.

Any environment, eh? Could the AT-field take a shortcut to the million-years process  
of making fossil fuels? Short answer: yes. Heat and compression. No problem. The end  
result was not quite petroleum... purer, more energetic somehow... no one was quite  
sure who started calling the substance 'promethium'. It burned nicely, and it made the  
oil companies very... _unhappy_. Tokyo-3 could become almost self-sufficient in terms of  
fuel for their vehicles and flamethrowers.

Evangelion-class armor was the toughest material modern technology could provide,  
with a thousand layers of armor composites. Evangelion plate, crafted within the  
confines of an AT-field, was the same... only denser, more easily shaped, fused and  
reinforced down to the subatomic level. Even more mundane materials, such as steel  
for tank armor, could be sheathed with a strengthening layer of precise carbon mesh  
or even laced with multiple folds.

Thus why the defensive walls had its outer layer composed of a diamond-lattice  
meshed with granite; that was the source of its slight sheen. One positive result  
having the city so ruined meant that it would be easier to start all over again with  
structural reinforcement. The streets would no longer splinter so easily.

The Evangelions were such a waste, if all their power could do was destroy. Yet as  
some had also pointed out, one does not consider a tank's engine a waste just  
because it was not hooked up to a tractor. All the power was there because it was  
-necessary-. Civilian applications were, at best, a trifling expenditure of that  
frightening potential. _'Get over it'_, was the NNHIS group's view; they who benefited  
most from the relationship. One does not use Hercules to turn a windmill (unless it  
was a quest or one truly wanted to see a pissed-off demigod).

The Evangelions could never be used to truly create. Even NERV admitted to that.  
Yet when it comes to destruction, nothing else could come close.

The Heavy Cruisers UNS Kringolith and Karingdol were proud vessels, and their crews  
true heroes. They were too heavily damaged to be of any further use as warships.  
The ships were torn apart, even down to their component atoms. Those watching,  
if warships could have souls... they could hear it screaming.

Three Evangelions held aloft a seething, bubbling mass that glowed white-hot. Even the  
pilots could not put it to words... elements were separated by their specific atomic  
properties... how could anyone really describe how they 'tasted' differently, away from  
the weird sensing ability of an AT-field? One by one, shapless blocks dropped to the  
tarmac. Pure solid chunks of iron, aluminium, copper, gold, sulfur, germanium, and so on...  
the ships were just -gone-, broken up more thoroughly than under any scuttler's torch.

NNHIS had invested heavily into the factories around Tokyo-3. The smaller sections  
could be built in modular sections. With eerie graceful gestures, the Evangelions  
reforged the substance of what had once been worthy vessels into new forms,  
yet for the same purpose.

The rounded framework, capable of containing the full weight of several Evangelions  
were made of seamless cocentric steel rings, not a single gram of mass wasted. Heat  
and pressure, perfectly applied, bent and connected them to the structural bracings...  
not a single weld needed. Ritsuko Akagi had formulated a method to mass-produce  
and interweave carbon nanotubes. The problem? It was not a formula. It was almost  
a meditative exercise, interspersed with browbeating the pilots when the results were  
not as she desired. Where holograms were not sufficient, the Evangelions were  
supplied blueprints to be injected directly into the pilots' heads.

It should be impossible for fallible organic controllers to mold materials with precision  
to the micron. However, Ritsuko had successfully convinced everyone involved that  
the -_mere probability_- of things fitting to such precision was almost a certainty.

"You don't have to believe in yourself, you're just going to mess things up that way!  
Believe in me who believes in you! Follow the plans I made, and just let things line  
up. It's perfect as it is, reality is just being _inconvenient!"_

People kept forgetting that her degrees were related to biotechnology, **not  
**engineering. The International Network was VERY helpful (and quite effective) in  
refining the plans and thinking up things to fill in space within the hull, but then... the  
'Net never had a sizable pool of Sanity Points to begin with.

The benefit of being able to reshape and reforge at a hitch meant that mistakes could  
be corrected with but minimal cost in time and materials. Only the pilots were under  
great stress. It was a funny sight to some, to see the red Eva building its own flying  
coffin, in a pose similar to Rodin's Thinker... with its right indez finger twitching up and  
down, left and right, as it stamped out girders and whole deck sections. Technically it  
might still be 'destruction', removing the unwanted pieces and mutilating sheets of metal  
into shape. The other Evas hauled armored plates into place. Hah! War machines of  
unsurpassed might, putting in regular hours just like any salaryman.

Was it any wonder that the people of Tokyo-3 so loved their machine gods and their  
mortal avatars? The Greeks made their gods in their own image, fickle and full of desires.  
The Evangelions were mighty when necessary, but capable of humble work that over  
time adds up into something grand. The Evas were still powerful, but it was people...  
human beings... within and without, who build and create.

It was a strange duality, one that seemed everpresent in many cultures - creator and  
destroyer at the same time, turning the old into the new, unstoppable force and yet  
solemn purpose.

The pilots, once outside of their Evas, looked so tired and vulnerable. It brought up  
protective feelings. Not even Rei Ayanami's angel nature could dampen that... the  
pilots were -theirs-... no matter what. Loyalty. They were a community.

The problem lay in that there were others who most assuredly did not belong or want  
to belong to that admittedly 'intense' community. It was more than just national  
and/or cultural differences, or even the separation from common humanity with their  
'super-human' abilities (no matter how slight, or even simply -_not there_-; despite  
the gene markers).

That NERV was preparing for a confrontation could hardly be kept secret. There were  
plenty who felt that NERV, for all its prowess with fighting, should hardly be so  
permitted to speak for the whole human race. Whether or not what Nagisa said could  
be trusted, a visible threat no longer seemed so insidious. It could be contained.

There were those who felt trapped, held prisoner and discriminated against, and then  
those who were outright kidnapped. They had their right to choose stolen from them,  
they were forced through the threat of violence to comply. It was oppression, pure  
and simple.

This might have been somewhat worsened by the customary arrogance the Japanese  
people had towards the _gaijin_. All the pilots, for some reason, had Japanese  
ancestry. Hell, their own national economy was starting to revolve around the Evas.  
The mercenaries were treated well, as they were directly under the command of Shinji  
Ikari and it was unwise to piss off someone who could tear the turret off a tank. The  
Psykana adepts were also respected; carrying the obvious trappings of Buddhists or  
Christians, and sufficiently exotic without being threatening. Warrior-monks were like  
out of an anime, and seemed to just eplain so much. That these foreigners were also  
rather willing to sing praises to 'their Ikari' was a plus.

Everyone else, local or foreign... were just tacked-on, opportunistic, or burdensome.  
Unpleasant but true, it was like a simplistic (but rather killy) weapon that had to  
bear the weight of doodads and tacticool features.

There were doctors, technicians, scientists (a mad lot they were) and artists... the  
vast majority of those brought to Tokyo-3 however, were not of the 'secret societies'  
who sought, trained, and protected their own 'talents'. These were people who,  
suddenly, found themselves marginalized and uprooted from their comfortable world  
into one where only danger and disdain waited around every corner. They were just  
people, quite sane and reasonable and utterly normal otherwise, who felt they had  
just cause for complaint.

They just wanted to go home.

Some of them, alienated by the conditions they faced; not just in Tokyo-3 but in  
other such 'protection zones' all over the world, would prefer to take a chance with  
Nagisa's offer.

And of those, there were those who had every personal right to loathe the name of  
Shinji Ikari.

-o-

The streets were widened in the wake of Leliel's assault, but the old Ford had much  
difficulty getting through. That was because, wide as the new avenues were, they  
were filled with people. Protesters and supporters. Unlike the first spontaneous  
rally that could have turned ugly, everything then was done by procedure... permits  
were filed and granted, respective stages set up, the police and various peace-  
keeping units were already deployed, and school was suspended to get the pilots  
and other controversial figures well away from the issue.

Section Nine agents Kentaro and Jiro had to park their vehicle and go through some  
alleys just to get to a certain apartment building. They had the benefit of home  
ground and MAGI cheats over other intelligence services. It was not enough to know  
the place like the back of one's hand, when it can change right out from under your  
feet. If only it was slightly less insanely ezpensive, there were NERV engineers who  
would like to see the city undergo Modular Transformation.

Agent Kentaro endured bewildering changes with tight-lipped silence. Agent Jiro was  
having entirely too much fun jumping from one fire escape to another.

Their destination was fairly obvious though.

'Normal' was a term open for definition. Horaki Hikari looked it, at least - a cheerful,  
sensible teenaged girl with a clear view of her own priorities. She had replaced her  
childlike cherry hairties with small round skulls, but even that managed to look cute.

She was dressed to kill, almost literally. Hikari Horaki was trusted to carry around a  
weapon, and even a custom bolt pistol with .50 cal chamber was hard to hide. It  
was also rather valuable. Matte black and adorned with a golden skull with platinum  
wings as an identifier, there were very few teens who could successfully pull it off  
as a fashion accessory.

People knew the middle Horaki sister. Sure, she was sometimes bossy and scathing,  
but that was usually in proportion to how lazy Yang was being or how many more  
ezplosions Aida was causing. It was funy to many to see the Great Strategist being  
bullied by his own student for not doing his lesson plan. So funny, that it was also so  
easy to forget, that Horaki Hikari took her responsibilities VERY seriously. As the pilot's  
'best friend', she was most concerned for their psychological and physical well-being.  
She could nag them until they gave up what was bothering them, and while the pilots  
(and Kensuke Aida) might try to give their watchers the slip, they always called  
ahead to keep her from worrying too much.

Other than Ikari Shinji, she was the only other person that could order rapid-  
deployment of a full Terminator squad to anywhere on the planet. The Psykana would  
obey even a teleport order for said squad of utterly apolitical and unmatchable  
armored warriors. Like Hikari Horaki personally believed, the pilots' safety first-  
everything else was just so much inconsequential clutter.

"Oh, Jiro-san. Kentaro-san." she said sweetly as she saw who was at the door.  
"Please come in. Would you like some tea?"

"Thank you, but we don't want to be a bother." replied the elder agent.

"Oh, it's no bother, really. I've already got a pot being kept warm."

The Horaki apartment was 'livable'. There was no other word for it; it was quite  
unashamedly middle-class in everything from size to the cost of the furniture. There  
was a surprising amount of books, mostly art and photo references but also shoujo  
manga here and there. The door opened out into a small hallway, with the bedrooms  
to the right and a small studio walling off the left. At least the heart of the apartment  
had a sofa. The place was about a quarter larger than the Katsuragi apartment.

Hikari hummed faintly as she poured tea.

"Off to a date with Suzuhara?" Agent Kentaro asked neutrally. "I heard he signed up  
for the Whiteshields."

Hikari nodded. Fifteen was old enough to enlist. Tokyo-3 could lawfully raise a  
militia, and the moniker 'white shield' was for a last line of defense. It should be kept  
clean and untouched, for when even the armies around the city failed it was likely  
they would not last for much long either.

"Best get to get some good memories while you can." the agent added. "It's likely  
to get dangerous out there soon, and I normally wouldn't recommend making  
yourselves into targets."

"But if there's something we can do to keep things calm, then we shouldn't hold back  
from helping..." the girl added. She sat facing them and smoothed out her tan skirt.  
"Now, is there something I can help you with?"

"Well, we were hoping to talk to your sister..." said Agent Jiro.

"Neechan decided to go to work anyway." Hikari replied. "She should still be there,  
since it's also a working day for NERV; isn't it?"

"Ahh... your other sister, actually. If school is out, and it's dangerous outside, then  
we assumed she could be be found here."

Hikari carefully put down her own cup. "I... see." She looked up, and her face was  
as friendly as ever. "And why would NERV Section Nine want to talk to my little  
sister?"

"We would like to ask her some questions." Agent Kentaro added, again in a neutral  
tone.

The girl's expression did not change in the slightest, though she moved her bolt  
pistol to her lap. It was matte-black and adorned with a single golden skull. She  
smiled slightly. "Is that so? And what kind of questions, may I ask?"

NERV Section Nine had a good working relationship with Inquisitor Horaki. She  
had an interesting tendency to stumble into secretive situations and unravel them.  
There were more than a few assassination plots aimed at the pilots, and she had  
managed to get in the way of all of them. And none of her friends, or even NERV's  
higher officers, must ever know... her family was in enough danger as it was, no  
need to drive others into removing her competence before trying anything.

"Okay, okay... that's enough of that." Agent Jiro waved his hands, trying to break  
up the tension. "You're doing that thing again where you make us play 'bad cop' to  
ourselves. And... it's more like we need her help. We need someone with a...  
unique perspective on things."

"Oh, is that all? Perfectly understandable then." Calmly, she turned around to yell  
"NOZOMI! GET AWAY FROM NEECHAN'S COMPUTER AND JOIN THE REAL WORLD!  
YOU'VE GOT VISITORS!"

The youngest Horaki sibling emerged from the studio, picking at her ears. Like  
Hikari, her hair was arranged into two little pigtails. Her little skull hairties however  
were in the form of two jagged pieces of red plastic. She yawned at seeing the two  
agents, utterly unintimidated. "Oy, blacksuits here, then? What did baka Touji do this  
time, sis?"

"They're here for you, actually."

"No grand plan should ever really go without a little look-over by a ten-year-old."  
Agent Kentaro said with all due seriousness. "Horaki Nozomi, we would be most  
grateful for your advice. We... are given to understand... you may have certain  
insights and avenues of information that might not be so obvious (or too obvious) for  
the rest of us."

The little girl yawned again and plopped down on the seat beside Hikari. "Fine, fine,  
wot's dis about then?"

The older agent leaned forward and put his hands together. "The launch date for  
the strike towards the Earth's Cradle has been kept secret... so much so that the  
battle zepellin still lacks a name. But it's already been set, even if it still looks so  
incomplete... it will be tomorrow."

Nozomi began ticking off her fingers. "Oi, seven days ta build, then? I don't know  
much, but that sounds impressive, yeah?"

"Yes, but there is a bigger problem. The whole world is still arguing if what we're  
doing is actually justifiable, and even the Earth's Cradle shut itself in and refusing to  
answer about their response. We're all blind as to the consequences of completing  
this action... or even refusing to act."

The girl nodded. "Mmm. Not gonna knows till ya get there, neh?"

"Precisely."

Nozomi leaned back and crossed her arms. "So what do you want me to do? I'm no  
genius. I'm just a kid. What do I know?"

Agent Jiro smirked. "Well, what DO you know?"

Nozomi stuck her tongue out at him, then looked away. She pouted cutely as she  
pondered what to say. "Ya know... there's da Fantasy Battles Card Game MMO,  
roight?" At their perfunctory agreement, she continued "... Da Boyz chapta' over at  
Germany are scared. We been losin' some good players as dey're force ta leave their  
homes. It's a dark place out there. Some o' my boyz are getting nightmares, in that  
smoky gubb vampires and werewolves and ghosts and all dat there feel real. It's  
nasty. I don't like those people at da Cradle."

She turned and stared at the agents. "Do ya Play it?"

"I know the rules, a little..." Agent Jiro replied, shrugging.

"Then ya know dat alla creatures are worth summon points. Points ya get by tappin'  
resource blocks or sacrificin' other creatures. Da bigger an' more powerful the  
creature, the more points ya need. So ya gotta stops da other from gettin' those  
points! How? By gettin' em for yourself!

Put down a trap card. Destroy the creatures gonna be sacrificed nezt turn. Do  
anything, hit em, while dey're still moving- reduce da power to increase your own.  
Say anythin' or do anythin' to make da opponent lower dey're defenses." She held  
her arm out. "Dat's how da cross-counter works, neh? Gotta hit while da guard is  
open and no one's 'specting any hit back.

Dat's da kunnin' of Mork. Gotta hit 'em when dey're not lookin', see? It's crazy how  
easy it is ta miss what's right in fronts of yas."

Agent Kentaro nodded and slapped at his knees. "I see. Thank you very much, miss  
Horaki. And you, miss Horaki." He got up and bowed respectfully to each. "We  
greatly appreciate this service. Please, don't bother, we can show ourselves out."

Nozomi yawned again, and waved at them. "Sure, sure. I'm goin' back to da game  
while we can all still play togetha'.

Agent Kentaro paused on his way to the door, and turned slowly. "... and why would  
you say that?"

Nozomi looked up blandly. "Even I know sattelite connection for da Intanet is crap.  
We play dis game in the Da Boyz, it's capture da flag, and da whole city is da  
battlefield." She then began to pick at her nose, and got scolded by Hikari. "No  
gubbins, no technology, but you gotta know what's happenin'. In guild battles over  
da Net, you gots to share your hidden cards." The girl took out a small makeup case,  
and flashed its mirror. "Dis is da world of da speed of light. Everythin's trying ta  
break dat absolute limit."

It was a strange look upon the older agent's face, wistful and pained at the same  
time. For all the family he had lost, and all the children that would have to live with  
the pain of a wounded world... it was as if every single gray hair was both proud and  
horrified.

They ran. "The Cradle is entirely self-sufficient. What need do they have for lines of  
communication when they're on the defensive? Logistics isn't just about materials.  
Damn. Even NERV needs those subsea lines."

"Why are the Horaki girls so brilliant?" Agent Jiro muttered as they rushed through  
the streets, pushing people out of the way.

"They're not 'brilliant', they've got common sense instead of flashes of genius. And  
that's why I'm trusting them more than any overpaid analyst." The older man  
chuckled lightly. "When something is too obvious that only a child can see it, then  
we've got trouble. We're moving. They're moving. All those armies are in danger."

That was the job of the Intelligence division, to see those dangers before they  
happen. Even if it was impossible to stop, at least with advance warning they could  
try to minimize the damage.

"They're not going to believe us, are they? We've got lines of communications that  
can't be cut, right?" Jiro mused once inside the car.

"The telepaths, you mean? No, it's not enough. The bastards have a literal fog of  
war. Now they're going to increase that to cover the whole world. It doesn't matter  
what other sweet-talk they've been saying... they'd be total morons not to take  
advantage now. They need all the tricks just to survive. If you stop, once they win,  
it's going to seem like magnanimity."

"It's all a trap, isn't it? Did they really force us to move?"

The black car swerved into one of NERV's underground access points. "Tricks inside  
traps inside feints. That's why Sohryu's also so useful to both sides. Raw power can  
blow all those all to hell." A trap broken from the inside was forever useless.

As the elevator lights alternately flashed red and black, he thought of a little girl's  
eyes, and about how every child was immortal. His own childhood was so far gone,  
but those days seemed to last forever. It was not just for personal power that those  
who could choose would fight... he was not going to live for much longer in the  
world. He only prayed that could live long enough to see the battle won.

The veteran spy sighed and pushed his sunglasses up. For the children.

-o-  
-o-

Germany, after the second World War and the reunification of its two halves into one  
country again, had largely built itself into a pacifist mindset. Its armed forced drilled  
well and were given very nice equipment, and expected by NATO to absorb the first  
rush of any attacks from the east. This 'sacrificial lamb' status was accepted with  
some equanimity; they would at least try to be _competent_ sponges. Such simple  
matters of geography had influenced European history over the last thousand years.

Netherlands and the northern portions of Germany nearly disappeared under rising  
sea levels and changed climates. Perhaps it was SEELE's influence that kept the  
nation below them stable, but its industrial capacity was critical to Europe's own  
post-Impact stability.

The UK had mountainous terrain over much of its country, but that only meant most  
of its farms cities were built in coastal lowlands. The same change in Earth's tilt that  
made parts of Siberia warmer also gave much of the Isles dark and wicked weather.  
Post-Impact, the second mass landings at Normandy of refugees almost led to war-  
this was because France not only had its export economy destroyed, its own farms  
could barely feed its own population... so not to mention the millions pouring in as the  
North Sea devoured what had once been breadbaskets for Europe. France had always  
been known for its food, but the undamaged central regions simply could not support  
that many people.

Germany became the mediator there. GEHRIN's first breakthroughs were from new  
stronger, faster-growing crops strains. Mundane genetic engineering perhaps, but  
it was sufficient to weld the organization into the sociomilitary compact. The new  
Soviet was less about doctrine and pure survival, which was why it lasted without  
much resistance or hostility. When GEHRIN became NERV, the UN supported it not  
to build weapons but because Angel analysis up to that point had many (carefully-  
released) commercial and industrial benefits.

Biocomputing, self-building circuitry, cold refining, practical hot fusion power... so  
on and so forth. There were vast kilometers of farmland that were lit 24/7, that the  
grains should never stop growing. Vats of nutrient cultures bubbled unceasingly.  
As someone had written in a TIME article, it was like the world held every industry  
for necessary space colonization, while completely ignoring any effort to get there.

The world lacked any population pressure to expand or discover.

As proven by Tokyo-3's former Artificial Evolution Laboratory, the death of half the  
human race was sufficient to loosen genetic research restrictions. How would the  
people have felt, if they just realized they were essentially surviving on Angel/nearly  
human flesh? They were turning blasphemy into goods and ancient wisdom into coin.

All through it Germany was 'safe', in that it was not wise to kill the goose that laid  
the golden eggs.

Heinrich Jaeger was a Panzertrupper, something that his mother (bless her departed  
soul) would have thought disappointing. She wanted her son to be a lawyer, to live a  
life of peace and respectability. His youthful fascination with tanks were wildly  
inappropriate for a life of fiscal responsibility. Then Impact happened, and she died.  
Not quickly, not painlessly, but long enough to ask her only son to take care of their  
only other remaining family... little Wilfred, her sister's son.

Heinrich was fourteen years old at the time. Wilfred was four.

There were many, many orphans after Impact. The bureaucracy tried to split them  
up, but in the end there were other authorities who decided that a teenager who held  
such protective attachment to a close relative would be much less likely to run off or  
be up to mischief.

The first one, true. The second... not so much. For all that the world's population  
halved after Impact, that only made the remaining cities more crowded. There were  
many, many young and angry youths during those years. Heinrich was not much  
different, but in one point- he still refuse to let go of his dream of being a tanker. His  
punch among the street-rats was legendary, a straight rush they called the Panzer  
Punch.

Little Wilfred was not cut out for violence. He was fit enough, to be sure. However  
his rounded face and shy attitude would have made him an ezcellent thief, but as  
much as Heinrich was always in trouble he made sure that his cousin stayed well  
out of it. The little wolfing, hiding by the stream.

Eventually, inevitably perhaps, Heinrich became a tanker. A tank-commander, for the  
new Leopard-IIICs, the ones with the 150mm main gun. Wilfred was the driver. While  
normally reserved to the point of accidental ninjutsu, as long as he was in sight of  
his cousin the younger man never wavered. Heinrich had enough courage for the  
both of them. So Wilfred did not have to believe in himself, but in his cousin who  
believed in him.

"It's a good life, isn't it?" Heinrich was fond of saying. "You can trust this" with a  
tap on the hull "... it's good steel. A man has to be strong enough to endure all  
storm, but fierce enough to fight for those he loves. That's our job now."

There were plenty of reasons to distrust, or outright dislike NERV. Certainly Germany  
would not have found itself kicked around most thoroughly several times in under  
just a year, were it not for NERV's presence there.

Technically, Sahaquiel's full-force attack against NERV's China Branch did a lot more  
damage, killing tens of millions at a shot, but hatred there was completely focused  
against Angels rather than NERV. All it took was Yang saying "Thou must not". While  
the NERV facilities consumed vast amount of raw material and manpower, that site  
was well enough away from the capital. The attack was just devastating enough for it  
not to matter. The Yellow Sea all but doubled in size. But no matter what thousands  
of years of history say, always there were personality cults and their unintended  
consequences.

It was early morning, somewhere south of Leipzig. The 4th Panzer Corps were  
dug in behind a few low hills. It was hardly the adaptive doctrine of dangerous  
mobility they practiced, but then again how could one a. outmaneuver fog or even  
b. fight it? Boredom of nothing to do mixed with the wary knowledge that anything  
could still happen. What a hassle.

As noted, the miasma around the Cradle was expanding. Encircling thousands of  
kilometers of ground was impossible, even with three full armies. Their combat  
strength and proximity to each other only added to the tension.

Wilfred was nineteen years old. He was reading a book named Haggard's Haunters,  
one of the series in the new Evangelion Fantasy canon. He was using a letter from  
his girlfriend as a bookmark. Seeing her handwriting always warmed the heart. The  
last mail call brought three such letters for his cousin, from Heinrich's three pretty  
girlfriends who knew about each other and yet amicably decided to share. Though he  
lived in almost perpetual awe of the relative that pretty much raised him, like all  
other males of the corps he had to continually fight back the urge to punch him in  
the teeth and bewail the injustice of the universe.

He touched the double-headed eagle necklace. EFB was aimed for a kids, who  
needed to feel that victory was inevitable. It had an engaging enough backstory, he  
supposed, and enough material for wargaming... but it just seemed crass when real  
actual Evangelions were fighting and millions of lives were actually at stake.

Many in the military bought the cards, toys, and comic books for their children- all  
the while distancing themselves from the setting. The over-the-top violence just  
might be art imitating life. Wilfred's own fascination with it, was therefore seen as  
childish by his friends.

Also a painful question: _for when gods walk, what meaning is there is the efforts of  
mortal men?_

So it was with a great deal of confusion and disbelief that the 4th Panzer Corps  
to mobilize and redeploy against the French. "Oh you have GOT to be joking." was  
Heinrich's reaction.

Dieter Kunz, their panzer company commander, was not joking. The French were  
sending three tank columns INTO Cradle territory, and the rest were roaring towards  
the nicely dug-in Bundeswher positions. The Leclerc MkIVs were good machines, and  
in fact the Leopard III and the Leclerc IVs shared many elements (due to overall  
parts standardization across a post-Impact NATO). But... no air support? No reason  
why they're attacking? _'Just like that? In God's name, why?'_

"It seems they've been taken over by the enemy." Heinrich said to his crew.

"What do you bet they've been told the same thing about us, commander?" piped in  
Mathias Kohler, the gunner. Technically having double-citizenship, the child of  
immigrants, but what with how Denmark pretty nearly disappeared from a sixty-  
meter rise in ocean levels such things had long since ceased to matter.

Fifteen years was whole generation, and enough to shape decades ahead- much as  
the years between 1935 and 1950 still possessed enough power over whole nations.  
Cultures and priorities changed. The Leopard IIIc had installed an autoloader back in  
2005. Somewhere, a bureaucrat decided that sparing a fourth person for the  
machine was one too much from the labor force.

The tank lurched to a start. GPS readings showed the possible battlefields, with a  
great black spot filling nearly three-quarters of the screen. The damn miasma not  
only blocked all electronic means of seeing into it, but -reflected- them, messing up  
everything around it. This vastly reduced everybody's engagement range.

"This could still be horrible misunderstanding." Heinrich said, scratching at his bushy  
mustache as he stared at the tactical screen. "That doesn't make me feel any better  
about having to sit out in the open like this just to prove a point. Wilfred!"

"Yes, Bruder-Leutnant?"

"You already checked the maps for this region, right? When things get hot, run this  
beauty as hard as she will ride, there's not going to be any time for words. I'll trust  
that you won't get us killed."

"Um... yes?" Facing thirty degrees off the wall that was the Cradle's boundary... it  
limited their movement range to just under thirty kilometers. Considering that there  
would be hundreds of fighting vehicles, each of them mounting a gun accurate over  
five kilometers... it would be cramped. Very cramped. He touched his HUD goggles  
and took a deep breath. Friendly fire was a serious consideration there. "Yes. Many  
times, yes. Don't worry about me. We... can do this."

They were the command tank for the platoon. As much as his cousin, 'older brother'  
in their formal adoption and actual familial behavior, wanted to charge into combat  
it would not be good to risk so much for martial glory. A personal ethos so utterly at  
odds with his liking for EFB's brutal idealism, or how Heinrich found those games  
unrelatable to his own desires and experiences.

Wilfred shifted in his seat. Bolt weapons were restricted, but not specially illegal. The  
bulky pistol had eight rounds, the caseless ones that needed a second or two to get  
up to killing speed. He was laughed, even if good-naturedly, at the choice to have  
that as his sidearm. Tank drivers had a much better chance of survival than those  
stuck in a turret ring. He clung to symbols of courage, even when his brother dared  
everything; trying to put himself in harm's way but always being protected.

Reality beckoned.

There were two lines of approaching French tanks, owing to the relatively flat (and  
even nearly concave) country off towards the Cradle. At least that was what the  
screens said, but since these same screens kept miscounting their own damn forces  
that was hardly reassuring. The gross situation was clear enough.

Somehow it made Heinrich Jager ecstatic. The reasons why did not matter- they had  
nearly the same main guns, nearly the same armor. They would have to go nearly  
point-blank just to ensure a good hit, specially with the EM conditions frakking  
around with the computers. His gunner would have to rely more on his instincts than  
the machine, and a careless move by his driver would have them all burn. It was  
armored warfare in its most visceral. Ezcitingly lethal to the point of absurdity, of  
course, but the only other choice was to retreat after all.

'What, in the face of the French?' he snorted. The road behind them led to one of  
the many relocation shelters, with hundreds of thousands of people all waiting and  
eager to pack themselves into trains to take them away from the madness. 'No. We  
will not. Move.'

"Firing order confirmed and authenticated." he reported to his crew. "Ready armor-  
piercing."

Mathias pulled a lever and a shell raised into position; not yet in the chamber. It  
would not do to accidentally fire off the first shot to spark a senseless conflict.  
"Armor-piercing, ready."

An amber flash crossed the distance, and the panzer right nezt to theirs, about  
three hundred meters distant, burst into flame and shrapnel. _'OH COME ON? That's_  
_not fair!'_ Heinrich wanted to shout. They enemy was still almost ten kilometers  
distant. Who could aim and hit like that?

"Hostile intent confirmed! Move! Move!" He picked a target, and felt his gut turn to  
ice as they closed to their own effective range. Main battle tanks kept a tight  
balance between mobility, armor, and damage potential; but their own doctrine was  
given to err slightly towards the mobility angle. Modern combat was about multiple  
elements, and combined arms required that these actually get to where they were  
most effective as soon as possible.

The panzer shook as it absorbed well over 150 tons of recoil as its own main gun  
fired. Both it and its target moved at close to full speed for their engines. Turrets  
swung, automatic balancers tried to compensate, a mere fraction of degree off  
meant a miss of meters.

Pomf! Pomf! Pomf! There was a nearly musical staccato of bursts, and occasionally  
shrieking metal as tanks died. Viewed from a distance, the front blocks of the French  
tank columns were still going- straight ahead, full speed, uncaring that they were  
being picked off by the other tanks coming at an angle.

"_Passant!_ Stop firing, you morons!" a voice broke into comms. "They're behind us!  
Look to your rears!"

_'There's something suitably ironic I should say here, I just know it.'_ Heinrich thought.  
There was the whistling sound of incoming artillery, the countless white plumes of  
an airburst. The battlefield was choked by white smoke.

A panzer plowed out of the cloud. "DAMN IT!" yelled Heinrich Jager. "Command,  
what THE FICK-?" There was a loud -spang!- as his tank took a glancing hit on the  
turret. From the French lines. His camera showed that the closest Leclerc IVs had  
their turrets facing the other way, firing at their own fellow French tanks.

"They're right...! We -have- been taken over!" yelled his gunner.

"Where should I go now? Do we retreat?" Wilfred screamed. He regulated the  
throttle still close to full, but at a shallower angle towards the inbound tanks.

The everpresent hiss of spectrum jamming cleared up for a moment. Shouted orders  
crashed into each others in a shriek of feedback.

Then a voice, sad and soft:

_"This is Kaworu Nagisa. I speak for the Earth's Cradle and the Greater Good on this  
flawed and broken world. We've asked for nothing but peace and tolerance and the  
chance to prove our good intentions. We have attacked no one, and certainly I don't  
recall ever giving any insult to the UN or NERV."_He sighed. _"We have tried, and still  
say- we don't want this. We are met with nothing but blatant aggression._

_The Earth's Cradle can be a SANCTUARY. Even the cloud cover, it may seem dark  
and foreboding, but it protects THIS part of the country from SPACE-BASED  
LASERS! Why do you continue to resist the idea that we DO have benign intentions?"_

"In as much a cancer can be benign or malignant..." Wilfred muttered, surprising his  
cousin in how the little wolf -can- hold a grudge.

_"I say, -enough-. We will not be pushed around. This Sanctuary can turn into a  
fortress. The Evangelion's approach... sadly I must hold the UN also culpable- you  
could have stopped this, taken the high road instead of relying upon crude military  
pressure. You can STILL stop this... fortunately we have some allies who tried to  
stop more senseless destruction, but I fear they will be discriminated and punished  
for preferring peace and long-term logic._

_You want to see the clash between Cradle and NERV. Trident and Evangelion. For  
your curiosity, for your -entertainment-... FINE! So be it! But we will defend those  
who made their choice to respect a difference in opinion. This is not politics, this is  
not religion... it is something more basic. Human beings have free will, and society  
the balance between that innate will and how much other people have the right to  
impinge upon other people's right to choose._

_The first freedom comes when anyone can decide simply -not- to eat, not ezist,  
or to fight for that existence. To hunt, to farm, to seek others to make life more  
bearable and meaningful. To die, or to live. The freedom we offer is from Death  
Itself! Everything else is just babble. Everything else is is a feeling of 'blasphemy',  
as if the genetic code is somehow sacred, as if slow natural mutation had any benefit  
over deliberate and intelligent design. Only here could you have been free to shape  
your own destinies, instead of being pulled along by prophets and tyrants._

_Everything else is just the side-effect of a limited lifespan... just when a human  
feels as if accomplishing things that will last, that life starts to end..._

_Humanity is a LABEL. It is just a name we call ourselves._

_Everything else is just ashes. Dust to dust."_

Bolter fire ripped through the Soviet lines. Reinforcements to Tokyo-3 were primarily  
Russian and Chinese, as the port they set off from was Vladisvostok. The European  
front was hardly so homogeneous. The weapons, however, were much the same.

The "Lem'an Rus" heavy assault tanks were built in several new plants, though most  
were in the East there were some in Belarus. Though impregnable to all known MBT  
guns along the frontal arc, their huge size and clumsy mobility meant they were  
hideously vulnerable to attacks from the flank and rear. Their Battle Cannons, though  
intimidating, killed more through shock and spalling than penetrating other MBT armor.  
Pentrating hits were less useful against Angels and their spawn, who usually just  
regenerated blow-throughs. Cut-down Bolter shells had less punch than Eva-scale  
guns. The exception were the 160mm Vanquisher and 200mm howitzer Demolisher  
variants, but these were few and all shared the same crippling vulnerabilities; oh so  
easily destroyed when unattended, even with all their armor.

Every army fractured from within, awash in conflicting orders and outright sabotage.  
The proportion of 'Cradle-compromised' were less than 'Loyalists', and despite what  
their commanding officers may say many soldiers were not eager to retreat into the  
dark shelter of the miasma.

The skies were in similar confusion. Nuclear bombers were the only ones unaffected,  
ignoring all commands and sticking to their planned flight paths. Everyone else, from  
fighters to choppers, were being called in to support the ground troops, defend the  
paths to the civilian centers no matter who was in the way, or to take out each  
other. Attempts to follow ANY orders, no matter how official or justified, only led to  
quick disaster.

Kaworu Nagisa stood at the center of the Cradle's command center, watching the  
disciplined formations dissolve into chaos. It was all so... disappointingly easy.

_"It seems you can only respect what you can fear." _he said. The ground began to  
shake, and the obscuring cloud over the Cradle began to rise. Shapes that belonged  
in the sea soared into the skies, and clawed things began to march. _"So be it..._

**_Let me educate you on Absolute Terror..."_**

It was 5:28 PM, local time. Friday, July 15, 2016.

-o-

Prime Minister's Office  
London-2 (formerly Lille)  
1 hour, 12 minutes later

The Continental UK was somewhat of a misnomer, since there were still substantial  
amount of people trying to live at the Isles, though it was difficult with the new near-  
arctic conditions. Its Prime Minister, Jonathan Thresh, had plenty of problems to  
overcome. Rising seas levels also took out a large chunk of the northern coast of  
France, meaning that millions of refugees had to push even further inland towards  
farming regions.

While the continent could not entirely begrude them their lives (specially as both  
nations still held sufficient nuclear reserves), it was still a bitter ezperience. Could a  
nation survive without its own homeland? It was not like the Earth would tilt right  
back to make the Isles livable again. It would take serious effort to solve their  
dillemma, mere thousands of years would not make it go away.

Until then, he had to endure. The insults or the pity; why should he care? He now  
understood the plight of the diaspora, and the only important thing was to survive.  
But he would live as a man, not a dog snapping at table scraps. He should be with  
his family, evacuating with the other high officials all the way into Spain. But he  
had... responsibilities. He had his own demons to face.

His office was dimly-lit and silent. Distant screams and the sounds of gunfire could  
not budge him from his desk. Near his fingers was a pistol, and two black-suited  
agents were dead nearby.

"The Hunt! The Hunt! The Wild Hunt! We ride!" a melodious voice half-shouted/half-  
sung from the hallway. "The Hunt! We fly! We take! We Claim! The Wild Hunt, has  
come! The Forgotten! Reborn! The Hunt! We Thrive!"

The office doors slammed open, and a tall woman in sheer white robes walked in.  
Her silver-blonde hair was pulled into a bun, and her ears were slightly pointed.  
She bared here teeth in a grin. "We Arrive."

_'So you have.' _The Prime Minister's glare showed unashamed fear and yet also  
defiance.

"Now don't be pouty, Jonathan. We already warned you about the wisdom of  
proportional response." the woman said, licking her blood-red lips. "You know how it  
is-... they shoot at me, I tear their arms off."

"You can regenerate bullet wounds." the middle-aged official sighed.

"So? We can grow them new arms. It's a simple procedure." Samantha Thresh  
strode over to look out the plate glass windows. "You had me put into the Cradle,  
hoping that someday someone would be able to cure me... are you unhappy to see  
me again so quickly?"

Prime Minister Thresh took a deep breath, and pinched it. "No, mother." he huffed  
out, sounding defeated.

She smirked. "You've always been a horrible liar, Jonnie. You've got face that people  
want to trust. And I AM proud of you- it takes more than just looks and personality  
to get this far." She turned back to the outside. "Everything I've always done... was  
for your own good."

_'MY Good? How dare-...!' _He grit his teeth and forced himself to calm down. With  
a flippant tone he conveyed disdain for her entire existence. "This is way beyond  
forcing me to eat my vegetables. People are dying out there. MY people. Not yours.  
Not anymore."

"The hunt, the hunt..." she hummed. Fifteen years had given the ConUK enough of a  
foothold, enforced by their eminently respectable army. Their withdrawal was  
planned and disciplined. All for naught.

"Look at them, Johnnie. Obedient, skilled, and unshakably loyal." Black-armored  
figures marched across the opposite avenue. They were larger and tougher than any  
man, their right arms ending in massive guns while the left carried thick shields.  
They were easy to see under the light of streetlamps, as the city took surprisingly little  
damage. "You don't have to worry about looting, raping, burning, all that unpleasant  
business. It's a much cleaner way of waging war, don't you think? Very little waste,  
very simple logistics. There should be dignity even in defeat."

"They're Brutes, mother." the Prime Minister replied without looking. "Who would  
ever trust mindless creatures specifically bred for war? It is the pain of loss that  
makes war so horrible, that makes us reluctant to throw our people into it." He grit  
his teeth. "This isn't a game."

"Of course it isn't, dear. But we try tell good young men to die simply because we  
want them to prove their love for their country. We try to reduce human beings into  
numbers and elements- our own and the enemy." She sighed theatrically, her  
bosoms heaving. "All of this because, as human beings are imperfect, so are the  
political systems they impose."

"And what would YOU replace them with, then?"

She smiled. "I don't know... if you'll excuse the pun... the UNSEELIE?" Jonathan  
Thresh clenched his teeth and reached for the gun. "That's not going to work."  
his mother added. "The Prince... he has already recognized that there's no way to  
win against our forces. Even the Evangelion is useless when it comes to taking and  
holding ground. Going to Spain won't help- the Milesian colonies there were already  
destroyed. You're a rebel now, Jonnie."

He looked away from her smile. She was young. And alluring. She looked younger  
than him, and now more perfect in body and features than what normal genetic  
combinations could provide. Even her voice was like music.

He felt his skin crawl. How she stirred his emotions in many ways... it was intentional.  
It was disgusting.

"I fully recognize you ARE my mother, the brain and the memories remain the same;  
the flesh altered but... again, the same." He got up and pointed the pistol at her  
head. It was a Walther PPK, incidentally, for reasons quite obvious. "But I also  
wonder why the Sidhe are said to be repulsed by cold iron."

"... well, -**we**- aren't." Blam! "You... you shot me! You ungrateful little...!"

"I'm sorry, mother. I should really have accepted that you died a long time ago."  
He pulled the trigger a few more times.

"Ow! That stings!"

"Blessed silver." He replied blandly. "In the name of God, the impure souls of the  
living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation." BLAM! A gout of blood erupted  
from his resurrected mother's forehead. She fell over and lay still. Even in death  
she seemed unnaturally beautiful. "Amen."

Only then could he allow himself a single sob. He heard mingled roars, and two Brute  
warriors burst THROUGH the wall. They sniffed, saw the dead body of their master,  
and roared again. They leveled their massive arm cannons at him.

He closed his eyes and waited. _'I'm sorry, Jean. I'm sorry, James... '_ Someone had to  
make the sacrifice, to poke a vulnerability through the Cradle's shield, to delay the  
approach of the interlopers. "... nothing has changed. The mission remains the same.  
We shall fight, and we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the  
hills" He began to laugh, but bitterly. He and many others had made their choice,  
and others would have to suffer to see it through. "We shall never surrende-..."

There was pain, and then darkness.

-o-  
-o-

The Earth's Cradle  
Somewhere south of Leipzig  
Same time

-o-

"It's going well." Sarah Campbell commented idly, with her eyes closed. There was a  
more conventional command center, and there the Cradle forces did control the  
varied assets they deployed. At the Cradle's heart, Dr. Lader could transmit data  
directly into their minds.

"Maybe too well?" Martin replied, rubbing at his slicked-back blond hair. Fortunately  
a benefit of regenesis was to cure premature balding. "I really thought there would  
be more resistance than this."

"This is the fruit of -proper preparation-!" Dr. Lader crowed. "We have -not- been idle  
these past months. Time Dilation effects while in otherspace gave us more than the  
four months these deluded fools -wasted- in -paltry- monuments to their own -  
pride-."

The boy snorted. "Like you're one to talk."

"I am MY OWN testament, pig-ignorant fleshbag. Ego is an -integral- part of every  
personality. What matters is being able to -back it up-." A figure, shapeless under a  
hooded cloak, approached. Its eyes glowed bright green, and an elongated gas mask  
covered its face.

"All of you, shut up." said Kaworu. There was nothing more he could do; but even  
while watching it all unfold his mind his mind churned with possibilities. The greatest  
peril with actual precognition was being overwhelmed with eventualities that all  
seemed equally valid. "We only have these few hours before... they... respond. Make  
sure we have taken all objectives and secured all the people necessary to our cause.

We must be prepared for their counterattack."

"Hee... yes, more! More! We asked, now we must take." Martin laughed shrilly.  
"Make them angry! Make it fun!"

"We have more to lose." Sarah agreed. "So we must fight all the harder. Those who  
made tenuous links to us must now make an open decision to join our side, or later  
be uncovered as sympathizers; and be deeply inconvenienced because of that."

_'The skillful employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous  
man, and the stupid man. For the wise man delights in establishing his merit, the  
brave man likes to show his courage in action, the covetous man is quick at siezing  
advantages, and the stupid man has no fear of death.'_

Sound doctrine, ever since ancient times. Being half-Angel, he was ezcluded from the  
psychic commonality of the Cradle- sending, never receiving, the light of his soul  
burning too strongly for that. Thus their flaws and thoughts remained unpleasant  
mysteries.

"You seem disappointed, Nagisa."

"This.. this is unnecessary. The fools! Why did they have to force my hand?" he  
began to pace around. "They try to undermine my work and then dare to accuse  
me of treachery? IDIOTS! The Evangelion and NERV are direct threats to our very  
existence, send them here and what choice do we have but to play to our strengths?"

"This -is- the reason why increased -capacity- for intelligence is the first step in  
-regenesis.-" Dr. Lader replied cooly. "They are incapable of taking the long view,  
still afraid of being turned into mindless zombies, too attached to their decaying  
-status quo-."

Kaworu Nagisa cursed at how nothing - absolutely nothing - worked within his limits  
of actual precognition. Like, _**what the fuck, all you bastards?**_ People could  
always be counted to do the dumb things, amidst the occasional brilliance of the  
individual. Would it be all worth it? Controlled crises or hardship would make people  
lives worth living, make their days interesting? So would it be better for him to set  
up a society so unstable it's stable in its instability?

And there was still SEELE to consider. The old farts were not beaten yet.

Why wait for geniuses when everyone's intelligence could be increased? What  
wonders of science would be unwrapped by that light? By contrast, resistance  
seemed like so much clinging to superstition. In the war for survival, they should not  
rely on NUKES for winning, but in the humble footsoldier. Improve the footsoldier,  
not the limited-use superweapon.

Pacing, back and forth, swearing occasionally. "All those philosophies from the  
past... bullshit" said Nagisa. "The mind is neurons-o- and virtue, chemical reactions. It  
IS NOT. Difficult. To make someone happy. To KEEP someone happy. A productive  
and well-justified society IS NOT out of reach." He did not want to King among that  
unbothered multitude... just one of them, one of many, a voice no longer shouting in  
the darkness.

Kaworu's philosophy was, like him, not a hard and steadfast ideal but one that tried  
to make a virtue out of adaptation. He's just trying to pull off the grandest ever Indy  
Ploy. It would work out. Somehow. With so many planets across the cosmos, with so  
many people- he could always try and try and try again. As long as you're not dead,  
you're not defeated. Third Impact would be just giving up, pure cowardice, and a  
disgusted anger for that is something he shared with Shinji.

There was wisdom, after all, in Knowing that One Does Not Know. That was why  
Shinji was important, to defeat him and his belief system was also to purge  
weaknesses that were unavoidable in his own. The mind worm? Insurance. The  
ethical considerations of mass manipulation or zombification (for was it not just so  
convenient that the UN so helpfully put all the critical people all together so there  
wouldn't be time lost trying to hunt them down?)... well, who would care, five  
thousand years later? It was not like their lifestyle would not be dependent on those  
events - just the flavor of history.

In the end, it did not matter really who was Right or Wrong; but who WINS!

"Miss Campbell, activate the sleeper cells." he said with a grimace. He could just  
wait, let hundreds of years prove his point, but he was also human enough to be  
impatient and greedy. "They will learn- they will ALL learn. This is For Their own  
Good."

-o-

In the birthing vats of the distant Cradle, Amelia Thresh (nee Bagley) rose from a  
pool of liquid, gasping for breath. Technicians brought her a towel and a warm flask  
of tea. "What... what day is it?"

"July the fifteenth, m'am." replied one, in his grating mechanical voice.

"Huh. I lost almost a month. Still..." she rubbed at her chest, neck, and forehead.  
"It's good we have multiple forms of immortality. Is it supposed to still hurt like this  
when I revive?"

"You should not have any 'future' memories. Whatever it is, it will pass." the bio-  
technician turned away, uncaring. "As all things in this false world eventually must."

-o-  
-o-

Eastern Command Bunker  
Somewhere south of Sedan  
Two hours later

Most of the nations funding NERV had prepared for the Angels' inevitable arrival.  
Command centers shared the same basic layout as NERV's- deep underground, with  
multiple stations and a large holographic screen. Most of them were immune to  
anything short of a nuke. Their bunker was stronger-built than that; doing proper  
fortification could surely do no harm.

Like NERV's own central command, reports filtered it from many different military  
operations. While junior officers screamed into garbled communication channels,  
those higher up the ranks could do nothing more than wait for the situation to clear  
up. The President had already evacuated to the primary command bunker. The  
nuclear option had already been released.

The majority of the command staff were still arguing over what to do and trying to  
make sense of conflicting data. Two of the more junior (in age, at least, if not in  
authority) generals were on their way back from the C3 floors.

"Perfect Liberté, perfect Égalité, perfect Fraternité... " said Air Corps General Durant.  
"Even their views on biotechnology is the triumph of science over fickle nature. Yet  
how so terrifyingly easy that could turn into a dystopia."

Army Division General Broussard snorted. "It should have been obvious from the  
start that their promises were too good to be true. Whenever there's trouble, they're  
always there."

"Ah, but our problem is that they -can- live up to their promises. Shooting the  
civilians convoys trying to evacuate TO the Cradle is what provoked their army in  
the first place! We're getting slaughtered over land and air. It just goes to show- "

"We never should have trusted those damn... psyker freaks in the first place!" The  
Army general slammed a fist on the reinforced hallway. "How do these creatures  
know when and how we're going to act? We have been stabbed in the back! Even the  
damn Psykana don't know what's happening... HA! Better have them away, we can  
settle this without any fancy tricks..."

He squinted at the other general. "What, you seem too willing to admire these things  
destroying our people. The bombers are in the air, why are you holding back?"

"The same reason the UK bombers are doing nothing even if their capital just fell.  
The miasma is too thick. Even the GPS is confused... we don't know where to drop.  
The only place where we know there ARE massed enemy forces... is already inside  
our protection zones! We can't nuke our own forces!"

"And we have no contact with NERV. Bastards. They... they may have interest in  
seeing us removed from the picture."

"Us, as in the military. Or us, as in France?"

"... I don't know. That's what worries me." He was still fairly young, even if he tried  
to disguise his balding head with a toupee. He was still vigorous, there was so much  
he still had to experience. 'Damn Nagisa. This was never part of the agreement.'

They arrived back at the strategic conference. All the other generals... they were so  
old, and shouting about their own merits from out of Second Impact. It was clear  
they had no idea what should be done. Surrender, however, was never said. The  
politicians from the primary bunker were asking for a temporary cease-fire. The  
Eastern Defensive Line was a very concave.

"Yes, I know! We can't hold for much longer- the things are almost here! If the 3rd  
Tank Division just didn't rush ahead to join up with the Germans, then it may be  
different!" someone was shouting. "Who told those fools to let themselves get  
surrounded?"

General Broussard winced. That would be him.

"They are drawing enemy assets that would otherwise have moved west." someone  
replied. "That's why our greatest threat is from the north, the Cradle has almost  
finished with the UK's army... now we know that trying to spread out to focus  
offensive force on a point won't work- the enemy will just LEAP over it. They have  
BASIC INFANTRY that can challenge MAIN BATTLE TANKS, by God! We have pull  
back and let combined arms actually combine to break the enemy."

"You're talking defense in depth! Fortification! IT DOESN'T WORK! They could ignore  
our strongpoints and be at our evacuation centers within hours! Even minutes!"

"Where the forces of the Cradle go they bring their jamming. Only in close formations  
are combined-arms tactics possible."

Marshal Jacques Bergeron was largely responsible for keeping the military together  
post-Impact, and avoiding a shooting war with the desperate and starving UK. He  
had actually retired but was appointed back into high command several months ago;  
just about after Tokyo-3 drove Leliel and the Earth's Cradle off the Earth.

"Durant, you will recover the bombers and have them support out defense." He let  
muffled complaints pass for a few moments, then "SILENCE! Making an attack inside  
our own territory is unpleasant but is still better than total destruction of our nation  
and way of life. The enemy is there- it MUST be destroyed."

There were murmurs of agreement. The bombers had much smaller yields than the  
ballistic missiles. Only if the N2 devices prove to be insufficient, only then might they  
proceed with the nuclear alternative. The enemy may be good with biotechnology,  
but hard radiation messes up everything.

Air General Durant all but glowed with admiration. They were ready to die, to poison  
their own, just to preserve the old order. "Sir!" He saluted.

"Broussard."

"Sir?"

"We just broke open stockpiles of old MILAN rockets. Just managing to bring enough  
man-portable antitank weapons here was a minor miracle in itself. Pull the third  
infantry division back and get re-equipped." They could therefore disperse and still  
remain effective. "We're going to have to just figure things out as we go." Not an  
unusual state of affairs.

Broussard looked pained, saluting slowly. He was sweating visibly. The old general  
looked puzzled, for surely it was the wrong time to display any fear or hesitation. It  
was the best of all possible situations in their war.

The younger general dropped his arm. His eyes grew unfocused. He felt a great pain,  
a wriggling starting from his scrotum. Local Psykana adepts had already scanned the  
minds of most command staff, and there had been many medical tests. These were  
all weeks ago, however- and understandably all did not give much focus to that part  
of anyone's anatomy.

He bit his lip, as threads of pain flowed all over his body. Chemicals tried to dampen  
the pain of tiny, but fast-growing new organs. Purplish veins, like vines, crawled up  
from under his skin and stabbed into his brain. Memories flowed back.

It was as if her tongue was again setting his nerves aflame. That perfect face, those  
trusting eyes._ "What do you want?" _she had asked then. _'Mmm? For this to never  
end?"_

A voice closer to his ears, and little bites at his earlobes. _"You have known pain. You  
have known disappointment. And you are **terrified** that the future will bring nothing  
but misery. You -know- that you are a failure as a human being. In the haze of ever-  
new sensations you try to forget, that the glory of France is in the past, and not  
something you will ever find again in your lifetime._

_You are a man in a time when machine-gods walk the Earth, and by sheer accident  
of birth missed the chance to be significant."_

He screamed and writhed, uncaring all of things, now as then. He knew only absolute  
terror. _"But no matter."_ The voice was sweet and unreal. _"You **are **special -o- for it is  
**you **that we have chosen. Even in your pretensions and emotional delusions you  
were never more than mediocre. You wish for greatness, so we will give it to you.  
Become the proof of our concepts, beloved Broussard. Become the force of our  
truth."_

His fears were banished. He opened his eyes and stood back up, unconcerned about  
the guns pointed at him. He could see mouths working, hear the sounds, but all their  
words were meaningless to him. He felt a sudden shock, dimly he realized he had  
been shot; and he laughed. It was all so beautiful. It was perfect.

To become new, to cast off the old and corrupted flesh. To be the better person he  
wanted to be, but failing continually.

_Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it;  
and of ancient times, that I have formed it?  
Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be  
to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps._

_Therefore their inhabitants were of small power,  
they were dismayed and confounded:  
they were as the grass of the field, and as the green  
herb, as the grass on the housetops, and  
as corn blasted before it be grown up._

_The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry?  
All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof  
is as the flower of the field_

A physical, tangible God. Boasts that backed up, proof that arrives. Was this why he  
had gambled, so long ago? The disgust at a world that made no sense, that which led  
him to decadent desires just to escape the despair of existence? He was a ground-  
pounder when Impact happened, and knew enough what glories were lost. What  
labors still lay ahead.

He despised them, their flawed morality dictated by dying before ever really knowing  
why they ever lived. He felt he deserved more than a decaying world filled with those  
too fearful to take a lamp into the darkness. _'It takes greater courage to defy  
tradition, than to defend the familiar amidst the popular acclaim. I DARE to be  
right, you obsolete relics! I will take the wind and tame it!'_

"... and all flesh is grass." he whispered.

In his heart, he felt the touch of star gods, his soul shining with the brightness of  
a young sun.

-o-  
-o-

Council Central Office  
Riga-2, Latvia  
Two hours later

The Premier of the New Council, Emil Bundayev, did not have much direct influence  
over the NSSR. That did not mean he could not worry, nor should be begrudged  
military information; no matter how bleak.

"How soon can the reinforcements arrive?" he asked Leonas Daugela, his aide.

"It's going to take some time... a sizable force must remain in the East, for quick  
deployment against...(a cough) for... Japan and Tokyo-3. The forces nearby are in  
some disarray... we lost the command center near Grodno, while Minsk-2 and Slonim  
are managing somehow; Slonim being the less damaged."

The older man groaned and clutched at the back of his own head. "I don't believe  
this. We have enough problems with suicide bombers, but now- exploding men?  
Really?"

"It's hard to explain, sir... but it's true. General Gintaras walked into the command  
center, and did command effectively for some time. Then, just suddenly, he  
muttered something... and then he blew up. We only have the word from those in  
radio contact at the time."

"There's no way to detect this?"

"It _**is**_ a possibility that some of these officers were replaced last night, but... by  
all accounts, those affected seem normal until they speak a specific code phrase.  
The Psykana say that since these people might not even know they are living  
bombs, they have no way of sensing deceit."

Emil Bundayev groaned. "Wonderful. Even I know trying to disperse the command  
structure right now isn't a good idea."

"Sir, you should evacuate too. You and this place is as much at risk..."

"Hm?" The Premier glanced out his windows for a moment. Riga-2 was a nice city,  
and was an important trade center due to its new harbor; but hardly of significant  
strategic value. "We're well off the front lines, and this whole thing would move just  
fine without me. There is a risk, but I don't have any special reason to be afraid."

"But sir... you were instrumental to getting the new tanks and bolt weapons out  
there, which makes it possible to actually hold positions." The fact that bolt ammo,  
by sheer size, also meant limited stocks was just unfortunate. "Besides that, you're  
one of the people Shinji Ikari actively appreciates... I don't know, but the Cradle  
might hold a grudge over that sort of thing."

And then, for some reason, he exploded.

-o-

+++++ Message Received +++++

Massive combined-arms attack from  
and to all points surrounding the  
Earth's Cradle.

Enemy air assets confirmed as round  
disks 18 meters wide and moving at  
mach 2.8, attack consists of intent  
kinetic strikes at opposing aircraft  
and missiles. Subject too fast for  
lock-on, limited success with AA  
weapons. Unconfirmed reports of  
bombers being outright stolen from  
the sky. Transforming capability?  
Temporary designation 'Cyberdisc'.

Ground forces confirmed as  
a. heavy infantry analogue, with  
thick armor, shield, and prominent  
weapon-arms. Slow-moving, but  
immune up to high-caliber gunfire and  
light cannon. Shield capable of  
dispersing force of 140mm cannon.  
Weapon is a 'gauss-fired' composite  
rod, with clear penetration to medium  
vehicle armor. Temporary designation  
'Brute'.  
b. Shock infantry, noted as 'mutation  
forms'. Quaruped run estimated over  
38 kph, large jaws, claws capable of  
damaging heavy vehicle armor, night  
vision and corrosive spit. Very  
numerous. Very dangerous. Temporary  
designation 'Hellhound'  
c. AFV analogue, 'Brute' unit mounted  
on podlike skimmer (antigrav?) vehicle,  
larger gauss rod weapon. All known  
armor useless. Temporary designation  
'Heavy Destroyer'.

All defending forces routed. Repeat, all  
forces routed. Limited resistance  
remaining on paths to civilian shelters,  
rumor of teleporting enemy troops  
preemptively seizing fallback points.  
Can't hold. All assets, everybody that  
can hold a gun, already committed.  
Repeat, cannot hold! For God's sake  
send help!

++++ Message Ends ++++

-o-

Misato took the alarm. The pilots were so bone-tired they slept peacefully on as she  
rushed out of the apartment. "Sorry for waking you up, Pen-pen." she said fondly, as  
the penguin emerged irritaby from the refrigerator. "Keep an eye on the kids while  
I'm away, okay?"

The penguin, flapped its flippers nonchalantly. She had nothing to worry about. He  
took out a bottle of beer, pried the cap loose with his beak, and sat facing the door  
Misato just closed. Waiting, blinking on occasion.

Tokyo-3 was at full alert. "What's happening now?" Misato shouted, as she strode  
into the command center. Beside her, Makoto moved to replace Kaede on the tactical  
station. Their hands touched briefly, and shared as smile, as the young woman moved  
to the secondary command center.

"There's movement at the Cradle." Ritsuko answered, swiveling on her chair. She  
looked terrible, having taken just a few hours of sleep over the past week. "It seems  
the monitoring armies just up and decided to shoot at themselves and each other."

"That doesn't make sense...! We might get world war three on top of what we  
already have to settle." The main screen showed a satellite view of northern Europe.  
She noticed Switzerland stck in the middle of that. "What about the Commander?"

"They're already heading back." Ritsko replied, taking a sip. Gendo... she longed to  
see his reaction to how much NERV changed in his short absence. "Peace talks are  
useless now."

Misato then began to take calls, many of them international, to DO SOMETHING. She  
could only say that NERV was 'considering its options'.

"Open me a channel to Cerberus base." Misato commanded Shigeru. A small video  
window appeared on her own command console. "Yang-sensei, I apologize for the  
inconvenience... you're not part of the military anymore, so we shouldn't impose on  
you like this."

"Oh, it's fine, Colonel Katsuragi. Anything I can do to help... it's better than boredom  
at least."

"You're getting the feed from NERV? Right. Everybody's attacking everybody over  
there... are we looking at mass-compromized armies, some sort of insanity field, or  
what?"

"I... can't really say for certain. Is this really all the information we have?" .

Misato looked to Ritsuko, then shook her head. "It looks like _'someone'_ cut the main  
transcontinental communication ocean cables. We're getting passive feed from the  
monitoring sattelites, and reports only from around the border. We don't know what's  
actually happening at the Cradle."

"It would be so simple just to blame it all on mind control. That would absolve blame  
for all participants." The strategist sighed heavily. "Unfortunately this is long in the  
making. Just because the Cradle SAYS it does not manipulate people directly, it will  
not, doesn't mean that it CAN NOT or actually WILL NOT. This is common sense that  
leads to things like Cold Wars... this is basic politics!

Nations -never- trust. THIS is paranoia backfire. They segmented their commands so  
that in case any portion is taken over the rest may stand ready to defend. The  
problem is that they CAN'T trust their channels of communication!" He made a  
grimace of pain. "I don't think anyone can stop them from shooting at each other.  
It doesn't matter if anyone is under unnatural pressure, or no one, or everyone.  
Anyone who stops is just going to get shot."

"They imitated how Tokyo-3 is run." spoke a voice from offscreen. "Of course, it  
works HERE because we've got fucking landlines and relays fucking everywhere in  
the overlapping defense."

"Thank you. And I admire that." Yang commented. "This report... it gives us nothing  
less than the picture of a decapitation strike. The military commands have been  
obviously sabotaged, many politicians are dead... this is merely good doctrine."

"And we don't know how they're doing it, what they're doing, or if we can even do  
anything." Misato leaned back and clasped her fingers together.

"Leaving to confront the Cradle... I can understand that it could be seen as an act  
of war. Everybody... everybody... wanted to see who would win out between an Eva  
and those Tridents."

"But they didn't HAVE to involve normal people in this!"

Yang sighed again. "That is where the Cradle and we here in Tokyo-3 differ. I'm  
starting to understand a little about this Greater Good. If their words about clinical  
immortality are true, then over the long term small present difficulties may be worth  
it. What is some resentment today, if they can direct the whole human race for the  
future? The Evangelion's power is useless there. They can hold whole continents  
hostage... if they can't restrict our logistical base one way, then they'll have to do  
it directly.

Again, simple but rational doctrine. Doctor Akagi's new advances might have...  
scared them into this. First, they must win. That's the only important thing."

Ritsuko sniffed, unconcerned.

Misato leaned back on her chair. "Okay, so we can't use the 'Homing Laser' trick  
because there's no AT-field or Angel mind for it to actually lock onto... and I sure  
as hell don't want Shinji-kun to put himself into the ICU again by trying anyway."  
She turned to Ritsuko. "How soon can we ready the 'Dollhouse' to launch?"

"It seems I won't be able to mount **a proper death ray** as a prow weapon. But  
everything else is just **fluff**. We only have one of the reactors online, the rockets  
passed the initial test... the command bridge is rudimentary. But there is fuel, there  
is space for whatever you want to send along." Ritsuko shrugged, her irritation  
mostly at the delay . "It's incomplete, but it should move... the hull should hold, at  
least you can **ram the shit out of someone** with it."

She grinned slightly. It would still mass upwards of fifty thousand metric tons, after  
all. Promethium fuel added another dozen thousand. It was disturbing how little  
resistance there was to the idea of breaking through the Cradle's defenses by  
crashing the whole damn thing into it.

"... thanks for that, I think?"

Misato turned back to the main screen. The bright lines of electrified Europe was  
marred by the all-obscuring miasma. It was growing before her eyes, crawling to  
Belgium, eating into Poland. She felt somewhat ashamed, at her emotional  
disconnection from whatever was happening there. She could only muster a general  
sort of apprehension, rather than vengeful ire. It was only her problem because  
people expected her children to solve it.

_'Wait a second... if disrupting the chain of command is sensible doctrine, then...  
everything being done there is to make it more difficult for the Eva when it actually  
arrives. WE are the Cradle's primary enemy!'_ She stood up suddenly and shouted  
"Makoto! Get the security teams out! Wake up the pilots! We need to protect-..."

"We're getting an incoming transmission!" Shigeru reported, his fingers already  
working to switch it over to the main screen. "It's a burn-through signal from the  
Cradle."

Maya hiccuped. "...what's this feeling...?" It was icky.

Ritsuko frowned. The Cradle lacked the hard fiberoptic connections for the millitary  
Net, and the miasma blocked enough of the spectrum to prevent any attempt to  
bounce it off the atmopshere. Relays just would not be able to transmit the energy  
required to overwhelm all bands. "They're taunting us." she said blandly. "It's the  
same principle as the 'homing laser'."

She stood up and walked closer to the command tower's edge, near where her  
mother stood for her fatal drop. "Doctor Lader." she hissed.

Harsh mechanical laughter burned through static. "Hello, Tokyo-3. And you, Doctor  
Akagi. Finally we meet, face to face."

Ritsuko snorted. "Sean Vord Lader, I presume? I can't say it's a pleasure to meet you  
at last. And you're mixing up your colloquialisms." She pushed her glasses up  
slightly, orange light off the main screen glinting off them. "What do you want?  
Speak your piece and begone."

The main screen showed the Cradle's chief scientific officer's face in all magnified  
detail, down to every unsightly pore. It was odd, considering how he had already  
given up on flawed flesh... if anything, it looked more repulsive than what he looked  
like in reality. He sneered down at everyone.

"-What- are we, but -our thoughts-? And rightfully, I should be asking YOU -what  
you want-. But it is already obvious from your combative tone."

He grinned, showing uneven teeth. "Did you really think that we would not know  
about the little toys you were building here? As if they could be anything other than  
bare aggression? How so proud you all feel at such -paltry- attempts to break what  
-little- you understand about universal laws?

Ha! Akagi! How so low you've -fallen-. I have learned more about the fundamental  
nature of reality these past few weeks than the accumulated meanderings over  
millennia! You had the AT-field to toy with, Akagi, but let me ask you this- when was  
the last time you -set up a control group-? What -theories- have you put to the  
-test-? We are touched with the brilliance of genius, that the dim masses may call  
mad-o- but when was the last time you acted like a -scientist- instead of some -glorified  
technician-? Without the effort of -examination-, forcing your intentions upon the  
universe, you have willingly -reduced- yourself to the level of a witch doctor, relying  
on -ritual- and hoping for effects! You have taken the vessel of the AT-field, and  
turned it into a spitoon!"

Ritsuko suppressed a wince. Everything about the 'Doll House' was untested. All of it  
relied up the strength of will of a teenager. Theoretically, there was the chance that  
all the volunteers would not die horribly in midair.

"Congratulations, Akagi. You have successfully -reduced- human beings into tools, into  
an engine, more efficiently than whatever parasitic horrors you people may had  
attributed to our -enlightened- Cradle."

"Oh, shut up!" Misato shouted with a raised fist. "We don't give a damn! This is war,  
if you haven't figured it out yet, you demented lunatic. Who is a more hardcore  
scientist— stop filling up our channels with this bullshit! Ritsuko is saving the human  
race from monsters like YOU!"

"No, Katsuragi, -you- are -the monsters-. Your short-sighted need to maintain a  
crumbling -status quo- will doom us all. -Only- with power is there -choice-; for a  
starving man has only to eat or die. We have taken this -duty- to ensure the survival  
of the human race for the next -ten thousand years-."

"What is this bullshit... people who talk about peace lasting a thousand years usually  
aren't interested in it." Misato snarled.

"All the proof I need is when I kill you, Lader." Ritsuko added calmly.

"And likewise, Akagi."

And oddly, there was a pleading note to his mechanically-modulated voice. Just as  
Nagisa sought to prove his belief system against Ikari, the Cradle's core mind needed  
a good show from his rival.

Yang coughed to break the onset of hostile silence. "Colonel Katsuragi, Doctor Akagi-  
if you don't mind, there's a question I must ask."

"Ahh... eavesdropping now, Yang?" The administrator of the Earth's Cradle had  
always made his disdain for 'military intelligence' quite clear. Fame gained through  
sending others to kill in one's name... how was that well-deserved? "What does the -  
great strategist- have to say?"

The resident UN advisor ignored the jibe. "Doctor Lader is a important personality  
for the Cradle, it's true... but he is not its Voice. So why is he speaking to us then,  
and not Nagisa?"

Misato frowned slightly, Maya looked as if she might puke. An unlit cigarette fell  
from Ritsuko Akagi's lips.

"Oh you sanctimonious piece of offal…" she gasped up at the screen. "You're actually  
HERE, aren't you?"

Technicians and officers yelped as their screens blinked out. Lights all over Tokyo-3  
failed and even the backup systems died with a slow whine. "And I hope that **hurt**,  
you bastard!" she shouted into the darkness.

-o-  
-o-

Though he could no longer be said to possess a central nervous system, Dr. Lader  
reeled from the pain. His biomechnical personal interaction avatar toppled, and the  
Cradle's multifaceted Mind rang with his scream. "T-that... that -bitch-!" he wheezed  
though the voice vents.

Kaworu had to laugh. "I must admit, that does have a certain brutal elegance, as a  
solution. Did you really expect them to -hesitate- while you felt out their firewalls?"

"Nagisa. For once in your life. -Shut up-!" The cyborg avatar clutched at its head.  
"Damn her. But they're blind now. -That- was stupid."

"Ah, the irony." Nagisa added, still with his creepy little smile.

"I know that most of Tokyo-3's systems are connected to the MAGI. Only a total  
system purge would be able to protect them from Dr. Lader's psychic hacking." Sarah  
said softly. "Sympathy and contagion is what allows the soul to be split, but even  
Dr. Lader's duplicate Mind requires a physical connection."

"I don't know if what the Doctor here has can even be considered a 'soul'... but now  
we know having that interrupted leads to him flailing around like a frat boy with a  
hungover." Martin rubbed at his own head, feeling an echo of that pain. "But more  
knowledge is good, right? Science, hey?"

A strange gurgling sound issued from all around the room.

"-ENOUGH!-" rang through the Cradlemind. "Sympathy -and- contagion. Only MAGI-  
class systems have enough computational density to support my awareness... the  
contact may have been short, but it was -enough-. The teleport homer is in place."

"Good." Teleportation was a very, very, VERY blatant violation of the laws of macro-  
scale physics. It was also linked to practical precognition, which in itself was the  
rarest of all true psychic abilities. Like telepathy it was not precisely limited to range.  
Kaworu himself could not even pretend to understand how it really worked.

The legend of the _Kefitzat Haderechv_ was, like most such things, mired in hyperbole  
and outright fantasy. However, at the root of it, the great Mind of the Cradle... the  
Black Moon of mankind's fate, was greater than any mortal that ever walked the  
world before.

-o-  
-o-

It was just before dawn, and massive floodlights stained the sky above the the  
NNHIS construction site. It was an immense grotesque shape; quite phallic with its  
prow shield and bulbous engines, that rested upon equally large pylons. Normally  
Asuka would find it funny.

She shivered, not just because of the cold winds blowing from the sea. She turned  
away from the sight. "How can he do this to me...?" she asked Shinji. "He attacks  
my country... my people! How is THAT supposed to convince me?"

The Third Child shook his head. "Are you a pampered princess to be plied with  
sweet words and gifts? Or are you Asuka Langley-Sohryu?" He had to chuckle. "No,  
it's not your country anymore- it's his. If you want it, then you'll have to either  
agree to his terms or TAKE IT back."

Asuka huffed. "He knows what I like. It's a challenge. Dammit." She closed her eyes  
and let herself fall. As she expected, Shinji caught her in his arms. His hurry left him  
off-balance however, and also as expected their combined weight pushed him to the  
ground. She smiled at his grunt of pain.

His was not the broad-shouldered comfort she had sought in her dreams, but... it  
was warm to be held and protected. It was cold to stand alone and so high. "You  
both know me so well. I'm not sure if I should find that... irritating.

And sometimes... I have to worry. Should I be afraid? Should I hate the both of  
you? Sometimes it seems like everything... this world, all this death, it's just one  
big game. A sick game for sick people."

"I suppose that's why Nagisa thinks what he's doing is a cure. It's an old saying-  
the best medicine is always bitter." He exulted in the scent of her hair. "Only you  
can make it... palatable. If you can forgive him for this, then your loyalty is...  
proven."

"Hmf. Aren't you going to try and convince me not to be tempted?"

"It would be futile, you know. He intends to make you a Goddess. I can't match  
that. Decide what you want."

"I should feel insulted." She grinned and began to began with wiggle her hips in his  
embrace. As they were both already in their form-hugging plugsuits, it was hard to  
hide signs of... attentiveness.

"I know you like this. You're letting me go just like that? Trust, yeah, it's all well and  
good... but do you even value me at all? Are you really that stupid, baka Shinji, to  
risk losing me? Do you even..." She grit her teeth. "I hate mysteries. You know this.  
If you don't start talking normally I'm seriously going to punch your-"

Shinji laughed, and pulled her tighter. "Do you want me to show you your glory,  
Asuka Langley-Sohryu?" he whispered into her ear. She giggled.

The wind blew stronger for a moment, and then stilled.

"Death. Death is your gift. It is to die in bed, surrounded by your children, and their  
children, and knowing that you were better mother than Kyoko Zepellin Sohryu. You  
have killed, and you will kill, but all through the battles in life you won; the only on  
that matters will be that never, ever, abandoned your family."

Asuka ripped herself free from his embrace. She spun in place and punched him in  
the face. "... you total bastard!" she hissed, as he toppled sideways.

Shinji Ikari looked impassive. "Sadly, I know just -who- my parents are." he replied  
in the same tone of voice as before. "But I CAN be a bloodthirsty madman if that's  
what you want."

She shoved him to throw herself away. "... you're just like him. I'm just a tool for  
the both of you. No, SCREW YOU. I refuse to be your plaything!"

"No. Asuka, please. I may hate Nagisa, but he does love you. He knows this about  
me as well."

"Bullshit. You don't need me. You already have Ayanami. Fuck it, maybe even Ibuki.  
And we all know Kirishima would tackle you in an eyeblink." She slumped, and  
thought about hitting him again. "... why am I even here...? This is stupid." It should  
be enough that she was the best pilot, right? That was why she had worked so hard!  
It should be enough! _'I won't cry...'_ she again swore to herself. '_I'm strong enough by  
myself.'_

But damn him, that was a really good scenario. They really did know her desires all  
too well. Secrets held power. She did not want to be protected like that. It was an  
insult. Her resentment boiled.

Shinji continued, without mercy. "Think about it, Asuka. Ayanami is sterile. It's likely  
that Ibuki-san is fertile, but it's the same with her and Kirishima-san. The genes that  
allow for Evangelion activation is probably very recessive. Like it or not, you're the  
only real option for ensuring the next generation of strong Evangelion pilots. Nagisa  
CAN do something with the genetic material, but... he's serious about immortality.  
You won't really -need- progeny."

Asuka began cracking her knuckles. "Okay, I am seriously going to have to hurt you  
now. If you hold still, you'll go unconscious that much faster and you won't feel much  
pain."

Shinji held both hands up in surrender, cringing visibly. "Okay, okay, but really...  
that's why you should never look for reasons to love. You just might find it." He  
sighed. "And it just... cheapens the miracle of it." He looked up. It was almost  
sunrise. "Asuka. I'm... unsure of many things... even afraid... but never about you.  
Never about what I feel for you."

"... you... no." She grimaced. "Words. Just... words, Ikari."

"Do you know why I'm not afraid to lose you, Sohryu? Because-" He reached over  
and put his hands over her clenched fists. He pulled her back and growled into her  
left ear. "You. Are. Mine."

Their kisses always tasted like sunfire. Desperate, hungry, trying to consume each  
other- that intensity only fed itself, until they had to stop, gasping for breath. That  
was why the contrast with Ayanami's gentle accepting lips afterwards was so...  
interesting.

_'Wohoo! Now the rest of it! Say the rest of it!' _someone cheered in Shinji Ikari's  
mind._ 'You still have a few hours until launch! There's still plenty of time to... get  
things done! Finally! Finally!'_

_'Someone PLEASE shut her up.'_ the boy yelled within his skull.

"You're still keeping a lot of secrets from me." Asuka voice intruded into his  
thoughts. Her eyes were bright and inquisitive, staring into his own distracted gaze.

"... they're more embarassing than insidious, really." Shinji replied weakly. "Ouf!"

Asuka shoved him into the ground and sat on his stomach. She grinned, with the sun  
at her back and her hair seemingly on fire. She looked predatory. "And YOU are  
MINE, Third Child. If you forget that I'll make you regret it." She put both hands on  
either side of his head. "Do you understand me? I will have -everything-. I will have  
it. Everything too terrifying to know, everything too painful to bear."

"You will have no master but war, Asuka. I promise you this." he replied with a grin.  
Behind her the red form of Evangelion Unit Two waited. Death was already her  
mistress.

The sun blessed the coming storm. And then, it was time.

-o-

-o-

_Now it's time, I fear to tell I've been holding it back so long  
But something strange deep inside of me is happening  
I feel unlike I've ever felt, and its making me scared  
That I may not be what I (think I am) _

It was... very red, the touch of sunrise only adding to the impression. More or less  
cigar-shaped, the prow had an armored bill ending in a pointed tip. There were  
openings that looked like tall cathedral windows, these were for the firing angles of the  
Basilisk artillery it carried. Clusters of anti-aircraft mounts dotted the sides, Phalanx  
CIWS stripped out of ships. Control jets were nothing more than the largest rocket  
engines they could find, mounted on gimbal joints.

The vehicles were loaded, the men secured. Evangelion Unit Two was lashed face-  
down, in the exact center of the airship. Asuka grinned, as gravity pulled her her  
weight to her feet; though seated she felt as if standing up. The airship was laid  
out much like a spacecraft, with swinging seats and decks that could function  
when forward thrust turned apparent gravity perpendicular to the Earth's surface.

-o-

_What of us, what do I say? Are we both from different worlds?  
Cause every breath that I take, I breathe it for you  
I couldn't face my life without you. And I'm so afraid.  
There's nothing to comfort us  
What am I, if I can't be yours?_

_-o-  
_

She took her hands off the controls and raised them, palms up. Her Evangelion  
complied. Power, pure unspoiled power flowed into her being. _'MINE.'_ she  
accepted it. _'My power. My world. My will. My people. My promise. My love. My  
pain. My enemy. My hate. MY STRENGTH! The heavens. Mine to pierce!'_**_  
_**  
"Rise! Castle in the sky! With burning wings, FLY! **Luftschloss STURMBRAND!**"

Eight massive rockets fired, blasting away at the landing pad. The sound of it alone...  
it was enough to set Tokyo-3's buildings to shaking. Upon a pillar of flame did Castle  
Sturmbrand rise to greet the eighth day. Blood red and daggerlike, it stabbed  
through the invisible barrier in that crystal blue.

-o-

_I don't sleep, don't feel a thing. And my senses have all but gone  
Can't even cry from the pain, can't shed a tear now I realise  
We're not the same and it's making me sad. Cause we can't fufill  
our dreams (in the life)_

_-o- _

The shockwave of something that big breaking the sound barrier was felt even deep  
inside the geofront. Inside the two other Evangelions and the Trident Land  
Dreadnought. "Oh fuck me." Ritsuko Akagi muttered, even as it was all she hoped  
for. "It actually worked." Maya Ibuki chuckled at that.

"Godspeed, Sohryu." muttered Rei Ayanami, watching the rapidly-diminishing  
spectacle through the entry plug monitors. Strange, she felt a slight pain. She was  
not injured, so... why? Even as her place was beside Ikari, she realized that things  
would not be so interesting without her opposite.

More reasons for her to actively dislike Nagisa. She looked at Shinji Ikari's face on  
another window. She almost felt pity, for his hatred was weak compared to what  
she held. The key had gone. The door was open. The time for reckoning was fast  
approaching.

She felt a small smile cross her lips.

-o-

_So I must, let us break free. I can never be what you need  
If there was a way, through the hurt then I would find it  
I'd take the blows. Yes I would fight it. But this is the one  
Impossible dream, to love. What am I, if I can't be yours?_

_-o-  
_

Kaworu Nagisa looked up. _'Indeed. What am I? What are we?'_ Behind him the six  
eyes of his Trident Warborn; four on it face, one each at the tp of its horns, glowed  
bright pink. _'Answer me. We will know. We can't go back to the womb. It's time.'_  
He smirked. _'This Cradle will rock.'_

_-o-_

_-o-_

_-o-  
_

end All Along the Watchtower part2

-o-

* * *

And here, we finally reach, 75% of this story done. Woo. Much thanks for your patience and patronage thus far. I'd also like to express special gratitude to those from TFF (The Fanfiction Forum) and SB (Spacebattles) for their invaluable help with both technical and literary criticism. Though broken keyboards, long discourse, and all those tangents we poked into for worldbuilding's sake; no, this story is not to my honor alone. Without your input, this story wouldn't be even half as good.

And, of course, the incredibly useful resource that is the TVtropes wiki. :D The Useful Notes section on various topics were very enlightening and easy to comprehend. Yes, thank you, we will **not panic**.

Once more, much apologies for the long wait. From now on no more setup, no more bland chapters spent in conversation or exposition. The time for talk is over! We're nearing the end. Damn the torpedoes! RAMMING SPEED!

Also, the translation may be dodgy, but it was best of NGE's EoE ._~Thanatos~. If I Can't Be Yours_ that I could find. Ah, well. As always, please excuse and tell me of what I missed in the text.

* * *

-o-

-o-

A few days earlier, however, more unseen complications entered into the equation.  
Maya Ibuki remained a known, and even often overlooked quantity to most people.  
Her closeness to Dr. Akagi and the pilots drew some comment, but not much more  
beyond that. She was nice, and hardworking, and never complained.

She was also overworked. As personal assistant to Ritsuko Akagi, it was her task  
to filter out which problems were actually worth her sempai's time. Dr. Akagi had  
multiple PhDs and was still expected to authorize everything from weapons to hull  
design. Unfortunately Lieutenant Ibuki knew even less outside of her steep  
specialization in biocomputing and certain cybernetic disciplines. She was forced to  
be the Administrator over many things. Battle was so much less stressful than  
management!

All the pilots liked her, so she was tasked to watch over them as they applied the AT-  
field for construction. The MAGI's calculations were likewise were responsibility. She  
did not really know much about the mechanical components of the Doll House, but  
even down to the miles of wiring needed to be done within just days-o- she had  
many, many documents to sign. Site to site, office to office, so much to be done!  
She had a sneaky suspicion some of those forms were just attempts to get her  
authograph. She never should have agreed to Makoto-kuns EFB cosplay!

"Bleargh." she blurted out, too exhausted even to turn the key for her lock. The  
door to her room opened on its own.

Maya did not care. She shuffled inside, threw aside her uniform and collapsed face-  
down onto the bed. She coo-ed as she felt fingers dig into her shoulders and back,  
offered no resistance as her pants were removed to leave her with nothing but shirt  
and panties. Expert and familiar hands untangled the knots in her muscles, leeched  
away the soreness in her nerves. Once it was done, she felt as if liquid, sinking into  
her mattress.

Only after many minutes did she turn her head to look at the person sitting at the  
edge of her bed. "Thanks, Rei-chan." she whispered hoarsely. "I really needed that.  
But I thought you were meeting Shinji-kun at the old temple today?"

Ayanami nodded. "We have a problem, Ibuki-san."

"Unngh. Things were going too much to plan anyway." She flopped over to lie on her  
back. "Want to talk about it?"

"It would be better to wait until HE arrives."

After that, there was not really much to be said; both women already very familiar  
and comfortable with each other's presence. More than might, they held strenth in  
patience.

It was not too long before the door to the Ibuki apartment opened again, and for  
Shinji Ikari to step in. He looked just as tired as Maya, but his bloodshot eyes were  
wide with panic.

And behind him, stood Rei Ayanami.

"Ohh dear." Maya moaned. She wondered if she could be fast enough to reach the  
Bolt Pistol under her pillow.

"There is no need to worry." said the Rei Ayanami close by. "I am not HER."

"I was not able to feel your presence." replied the Rei Ayanami by the door. "How  
long have you walked free within our city?"

"You-o-!" Shinji gasped. "What have you been up to? And WHY didn't you even TRY  
to inform me?" His palms were open but held out to the sides, like knives. "You  
do understand this is... very suspicious?"

The other Ayanami shook her head, and chuckled slightly. "Sorry to make you worry,  
but I -KNOW- you. I know -me-. You needed all the concentration you could spare  
for Sohryu's Castle. I didn't want to give anyone any trouble..."

Maya was already sitting up, and no longer concerned about getting her Bolt Pistol.  
With both Ikari and Ayanami nearby, in case of hostilities she had about as much  
hope in riding a tornado. "Who... are you?"

"I am neither Ikari or Ayanami. Not parent nor child." She tilted her aside aside and  
gave a very familiar sad smile. "You may call me... Raka."

In kanji that was '_scent of home_'. In Norse or Germanic that meant '_eternal_ or  
_honorable ruler_'. Shinji Ikari palmed his face. It was not part of the scenario, but  
still... it was snafu of literally mythic proportions. "Great. Just great. Even **_you_** have  
the hobby of tormenting me. And it does NOTHING to alleviate my suspicions."

"It's quite more fun than what I initially thought." She tilted her head to the other  
side. "There's still so much more we have to **learn**, _neh?_"


	38. Chapter 37: Along the Watchtower part3

Please set your browser to in 1/2 view, it's there in the right side of the story screen - ( B s . A A A : full 3/4 **1/2** : E E : Light Dark)

* * *

All Along the Watchtower part3

-o-

-o-

The Chimera was a much more sensible design compared to its larger sibling, but also shared many of its disadvantages. The large wraparound tracks increased its profile, and required greater effective torque from the engine. They had thick steel armor, which meant it weighed towards MBT scales just for an APC. However, as proven in those days around the center of Europe... there were also great advantages to size; in carrying capacity and being able to go anywhere.

The miasma had spread to cover most of the country. People fled on whatever they could find; trucks, bikes, cows, name it. There were still those who dared to venture inside the dense dark fog to pick up stragglers. Wilfred staggered out of the miasma and was nearly shot, run over, and then burned. Only the timely intervention of their attached psyker saved the shambling, benumbed young man.

In truth, the psyker was as much a conscript as the soldiers with him. He had little particular loyalty to the UN, and even less desire for Nagisa's terrifying visions, but he was uprooted from his comfortable dentistry practice and for what? To serve as some sort of human divining rod? They had taken his good reputation, his family, almost everything he had worked for through the years... it was a vast injustice, and how he raged.

His family's safety rested upon his cooperation. They were at Tokyo-3. Nagisa and the Cradle; for all their bluster, it would take much more to actually crack the city-fortress. His family was safe, there. Only his actions preserved their continued well-being. The suspicion, the disdain, he endured it all. The Psykana, hastily-formed out of pressured assets such as he-o- it was betrayed from within.

"Take him in. He's clean." Grumbling, the soldiers obeyed. Sure, the UN Psykana for all its grandiose claims and multiple near-violations of human rights had -failed- to secure international command... but it was those same minds that protected them now even within the miasma. Those minds allowed distant communications even when the finest electronics failed.

It was a new and painful and bewildering lesson to the world, that 'stealth' was useless even as absolute stealth proved to be possible. Anything -within- an AT-field might as well be in another universe, where nothing could be trusted to be what they seemed. The problem lay inf that it -was- a field, and like through any medium there would be disturbances and distortions from anything passing through. Only a stupidly huge machine like an Eva could hide within it. Or small pockets of men and machinery, shielded from notice by the very antithesis for the AT-field, the psychic emanations from certain souls.

The bones of Wilfred's wrist showed white on his skin, so deathly tight was his grip on his Bolt Pistol. In the end they let him keep it, it was empty anyway. He kept staring at its grinning skull.

He felt numb, and his memory kept flashing through the same events again and again until the pain fed upon itself. The screams through the comm channels, only to be cut short with gurgles or booms. The feeling of panic, held back only by the knowledge that his crew depended upon his finding a route into safety. The voice, inside his skull...! Telling him to stop. With his brother's voice, almost he believed it.

The shelter they were supposed to protect, it was overrun. Or did he run it over? He could not remember anymore. The crunch of things under his treads, he did not care. Only one thing remained in his mind. To stop was to die. To keep going was life.

That... thing... which ripped their panzer open as if its armor was paper; so beautiful, and its promises so luscious. His hand and the Bolt Pistol began to shake. Glowing in the dark, with eyes red as sunset... lips red as roses, teeth sharp as knives.

The Chimera was roomy, and more injured soldiers were belted onto the side benches. None of them dared to meet any other's eyes. "G-good tank..." the young soldier mumbled hoarsely, as it rumbled back to its task. "Brother would have liked it..."

His palm felt the memory of the pistol's discharge. The hot flash of a bolt into an open turret ring. Screaming, fleeing, into the dark. The pack that chased him between the shadows. He remembered... calling out for help? Did someone answer? The experience had left him dead in ways even their taint could not touch.

He wanted to scream, and shout, and spill blood, but... nothing. His body refused to obey. He could only live in presence of the enemy.

-o-

The air itself grew heavy, laden with electric charge. The miasma started to lift, like an unfolding umbrella. Sunlight spread out from its edges. It showed shriveled trees and bare rock, lumpy remains of what had once been war machinery, hollow structures and the castoff cloths of missing corpses. Nothing remained that was once living. All biomass consumed to appease the hunger of a bestial god.

Thunder rolled. The miasma flashed bright green, as it dispered the coherent energies of strike from beyond the heavens. The Cradle shook as its shell flaked away.

"The spore cloud managed to to reduce the damage by almost seventy percent." was the report from the Cradle's own command center.

"An AT-field thrust. It could have destroyed us in one hit, if we did not bring -sufficient density- in psychic energy to blunt the effects." Dr. Lader hissed.

"Now we know the Moon Cradle is -also- fully operational."

"The old men sacrificed the Red Earth ceremony just for this temporal power?"

Nagisa scoffed. "They see me as an affront to their whole belief system, while NERV remains the greater threat. The fools. The suicidal idiots!" _'Sohryu will be here in a few hours, I don't need this useless aggravation!'_

"The -superlaser- is charged." Dr. Lader added.

"Return fire."

A similar green beam lanced out from the Cradle's matte-black husk. The luminiscent walls inside the Earth's Cradle dimmed momentarily.

"And now they know we are not defenseless."

"We -cannot- sustain this with just one Angel core, Nagisa." the cybernetic scientist warned. He was referring to the core removed and implanted into Nagisa's new Warborn, and the other core providing power to the two other Tridents. With three Angel cores, the Earth's Cradle managed to skirmish with a half-awakened Moon Cradle.

"This demonstration is enough. They can't risk destroying Lillith's physical form at Tokyo-3. There, as here, only a direct assault has any chance of success." And with Sohryu successfully driven to Europe, that deprived NERV of the power of a fully-realized S2 Engine.

-o-

Out in the wastelands, the shockwave of those two blasts had tipped a Chimera over to its side. Its passengers piled out, coughing at all the dust still whirling about.

Wilfred stared out at the scene of such casual malice. He looked down at his Bolt Pistol and then to the northwest, where had prevented his brother from becoming an abomination.

Meaningless.

Against such power, they were all already dead men. The Cradle was rubbing their face in it, and showing that the only way to avoid the fate of small and fragile beings was to share the life of something greater.

The young soldier spat aside. They had taken everything from him. His girlfriend and his foster family... their shelter was already probably overrun. The aliens had robbed him of his innocent world. The mutants had taken from him his own hopes for a future without war.

The psyker was wounded and unconscious. "We can't stop here." Wilfred told the others there. His bleak tone of voice sufficed, even without the attache to translate. "This is unclean country. Pick up a weapon, and let's go."

-o-

-o-

Europe was considered all but a lost cause without the Evangelions. The President was understandably reluctant to let their Eva leave, were it not for the legal issue that it was not 'their' Evangelion in the first place.

Their radar posts... screamed; really there was no better word to describe it. Bluepattern detectors were ringing all over the world. The NERV American Branch in Boston was built like the NERV Germany branch... though fortified to a respectable degree they knew full well they would not survive an all-out Angel attack. World communications were still patchy, and NERV Japan had gone 'black' less than two hours ago. Anything could have happened.

Whatever it was, it came from the East. It was big. Fighters were scrambled to intercept, but found that they could not get a good enough look. The best they could do was mach 2.8. The thing was blowing through the skies at about six to eight times the speed of sound.

The scream of supersonic flight was familiar, but those on the ground could have sworn it sounded like OHSHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIII-...! The flying supercarrier overshot the base and was lost to the horizon.

Maniacal laughter was coming from the comms of one of the fighter pilots escorting the thing. "It's not possible...!" his voice cracked with frantic disbelief. "It can't fly. It can't! It's not right!"

Minutes passed. Ten. Then thirty. At close to an hour, Castle Sturmbrand slid back into view. Regular puffs of its rocket engines kept it going. Its shadow passing over the Boston Base... even that felt heavy. Unlike the first two NERV installations, in Tokyo-3 and Berlin-2, the NERV Branch' stagin area was at the outskirts of the city. Most in Boston had already evacuated well ahead of time anyway.

Just the sight of it was maddening. Even the greatest of the old zepellins were put to shame... at a little more than three hundred meters long, Castle Sturmbrand was taller than the Eiffel Tower and possessed more volume than the Great Pyramid. The rockets twisted downwards, and fired to control its descent. White smoke filled the area. There was only the deep crunching sound as the great craft rested upon its landing pylons.

It was the first of its kind, and yet the ultimate of another. The new and terrible Zeppelin (pun implied). Some were already calling it the _Nia Teppelin_.

The cargo doors opened with a sharp hiss. By the expression on Sohryu's face, she was not willing to comment. "What are you waiting for?" she shouted. "Move it! We've got a war to win!"

-o-

Mayumi Yamagishi was a slim, glasses-wearing girl; nearly fifteen years old but was a little tall for her age. Her long, nearly-waist length hair gave her an air of maturity that made her shyness seem like aloofness. The staff were uniformly protective of her, but there was no one she really could consider as a friend. Even her own classmates (for following Tokyo-3's example, pilots were to be allowed a normal growing experience as far as possible) did not try to get too close to the gloomy girl. There was some comfort in being alone, she thought; she was free of others' demands, or to pretend to be something she was not.

Mayumi knew well enough she was a shadow. She was an Eva pilot, but Tokyo-3 and its own Evangelions were the centerpiece. She did not feel inferior, in as much as simply... redundant. She was content with being what she was, but often wondered or wished for the sort of fiery confidence that her peers possessed.

She was giddy with excitement, but it only showed in increased clumsiness and in deeper silence. Inside her skull, she was screaming with joy; but those on the base saw only a stoic readiness. The wondered if she was preparing to measure herself against Sohryu; reputedly the most competetitive and egotistical of the pilots.

'_Sohryu. Sohryu. Sohryu._' Logically, she knew she had no chance- her experience was all simulation, battles created through Sohryu's own obsessive input into the best sort of training. Emotionally? Mayumi would be -_honored_- to personally feel defeat at the other pilot's hands.

Ikari scared her a little, for some reason. Sure, she could see his attractive points, but just lacked that feeling. Maybe he was too dark, too coldly competent somehow. Ayanami was similarly threatening to her self-image. She, who liked silence, knew well how much judgment may lie behind a flat gaze.

They did not burn, not like Sohryu. They were... too much like her, they would not be able to pull her out and make her brighter than what she was.

Unlike Tokyo-3, or the Cradle, or Berlin-2 for that matter; NERV Boston did not have a genius scientist to serve as a showpiece. Sure, they had many prominent names, but no all-encompassing mind like that of Akagi or Lader; and even the most of their best thinkers died at the Unit 04 Nevada test. The closest they had was Donald Thompson, PhD. At twenty-six, he was still closer to a prodigy than a full-on genius, but he bore responsibility for Unit Three's functions. The young scientist stood only a little taller than the pilot, which combined with his scrawny body and scraggly corn-yellow hair did not give much for his self-confidence. He had an earnest but confused look, which was not so unusual upon the faces of scientists in those times.

Incidentally, under the online nickname of "Yamu", he had beaten Kensuke Aida in the quarterfinals and lost soon thereafter. There was a difference between knowing the actual strategic potential of new and ever-more destructive technologies, and the proper application for their Fantasy equivalents.

He was also the closest that Mayumi could consider as a friend on the base, in as much as two terminal introverts could really relate to each other. They stood there near the landing gantries, watching Unit Three being loaded, and utterly unwilling to break the silence with banal conversation.

For all the production miracles that NNHIS could pull, it still remained that their efforts would pale beside the industrial juggernaut that was the American military-industrial complex in full swing. Unit Three had its own Titan Modules, with its own weapons systems, and various support vehicles. Even with more limited access to superconducting material, Unit Three had a stronger internal battery than most other Evangelions.

It helped that it was a solid design, building upon the difficulties met with the Proto (00), Test (01) and the Production Model (02). The torso and power systems were indistinguishable from that of Unit 02, the major change lay with the arms. It was a new super-tensile material, that only recently proven to be eerily similar to _wraithbone_. It was mutable in the same manner, conducted electricity in much the same way (though not superconductively so)... the only serious diffe_rence was _that it was apparently activated by the AT-field, not psychic energy.

_'Ungh. Just why was it that the AT-field generated by Angels and the psychic emanations from certain humans so opposing to the point of cancelling each other out, when they seemed to share certain effects? Was one meant to imitate the other? Was it all just a coincidence that the Evangelions in their natural form were like human giants?'_

The lure of forbidden knowledge was also used to draw minds into the Cradle. Dr. Thompson forced his thoughts away from that line of inquiry. It was bad enough trying to deal with the escalating levels of weapon lethality (as proof that insane thing shadowing the whole base)... but those were terrible questions with terrible answers.

He was young, and therefore disposable. Someone had to go with Yamagishi off to near certain death, and they had assumed he had all the willful enthusiasm of youth when it comes to such dangers.

The _Teppelin _**Castle Sturmbrand** was huge, and already loading up an entirely 'volunteer' company of American troops. The customary approach to overseas operations were futile-o- there were no AA or radar locations to take out ahead of time, GPS was worthless, and stealth of utterly no value. Only through the protection of the great craft could any force actually hope to force a landing. They would be the biggest target in the sky, true enough, but it was better than being cut into pieces on the ground.

Marines were ready to meet Marines. As they boarded, Dr. Thompson wondered if it was deliberate. Every group of soldiers was of course all too willing to show off, but even past Impact maybe they had prided themselves for too long about being the best of the best.

Introductions were done. The Terminatus Legio's harsh electronic voice did not intimidate. Much. They evoked more of curiosity... though parts were gathered from all over the world, only in Boston were they finally assembled; just a stones' throw from the NERV Branch build over the former MIT Labs. And no one had noticed!

In retrospect, there might have been some psychic meddling going on there; but it was still the equivalent of, say... Brazil... beating the Americans and Russians to the moon using on off-the-shelf parts to build their rocket. Armor strong enough to take tank rounds to face; indeed, the Brutes the Cradle deployed were attempts to mimic the success of the Tactical Dreadnaught armor. Only infantry may ever really hold ground, and no infantry could break or hold ground like the Heraklitus.

Utterly useless for the purpose of the Marines; for the shock value of the armor was softened by penalties in weight and movement. The Psykana with their lighter powered frames, but silvered instead of golden, radiated amusement... as if guessing at their thoughts. Now that was enough to discomfit them.

"Major Richard Torrildo and company." saluted one of the soldiers ahead of the four APCs. Chimeras, fitted with dual Bolter turrets and a third mounted up front next to the driver. Technicians outside were already installing additional CIWS and lascannon mounts. "Permission to come aboard, sir."

"Captain Walter Shade, formerly of the USS Milwaukee, then the UNS Kringolith. Welcome to Her Castle Sturmbrand, Major." At the questioning look, he continued. "This thing was shaped by one girl's will and kept aloft only by her willingness to spit at the very logic of the universe. We're supposed to obey the UN, but never forget... we live only as long as we serve the purpose of one little lost girl's vengeance."

"I see..."

The Major turned to another soldier that approached. "I am Major Kondrati Ustinov. Will you have problems with being under my direct command for the duration?" he was asked.

"Not at all, sir. We are ready."

Donald Thompson couldn't help but to laugh. American troops under the command of a Russian, while inside a German (t)epellin built in Japan; off to fight heretics from the mountains of Kenya. Meanwhile, Greek mercenaries and displaced Tibetans meddled in things no one else understood. A strange era that he was so... lucky(?) to live in.

-o-

Soon enough it was time to leave again.

"All right, listen up! This MY Castle. When I order something, I don't care how crazy it sounds- you don't ask questions. You OBEY! The only reason this crazy thing flies is because I WANT it to. The only reason you're here is to destroy the enemy! Any questions?"

"No, mam. We understand." The Unit Three contingent shook their heads, with Mayumi far more ethusiasm than necessary. She clutched at her head, dizzy.

"Good. The first one to make a crack about this Castle and _Graf Zeppelin_... I'll throw you out myself. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"Mam, yes mam!"

"Bitte." she finished with an overdramatic throw of hands. _'Now I just have to find the wiseguy playing "Ride of the Valkryies" over the speakers and beat his ass into the deck plating.'_

Her look softened. "So we meet at last, eh, Yamgishi?"

"Y-yes." The girl was unsure of bowing or offering a handshake. Asuka laughed at her. She grabbed at the other girl's hands and dragged her away. She could not see the long-haired pilot's blush at the contact.

"Come on. Your Eva's bolted in, and my own is still feeding excess power to the capacitors. It's time to teach you to fly."

-o-

-o-

How could it be so simple, and yet so difficult? There was joy there, and even peace... but was the reason she failed so often was to feel the touch of Sohryu's burning soul overwhelm her own?

"NO!" Asuka shouted through the link. "No fear! No hesitation! We soar on wings of fire, and the winds feed our fervor! What is the ground, huh? Just rock. Stupid, unmoving rock. Only WE are FREE, and if we say we will not fall then we WON'T!"

Donald Thompson, Ph.D, was banging his head against the metal walls of the control center.

"You get used to it, eventually." one of the technicians said while giving him a sympathetic pat to the shoulders.

"This isn't about power. It's not like the Angels don't possess their own versions of the S2 Engine and we still manage to kick their asses. We cheat like hell, we hit them where it hurts, and we win, because we're brutal creatures like nature intended!"

"Is that... something to be proud of?" Mayumi dared to ask.

"Of course! Who else would be who we are? We can only be ourselves, no matter what; and right here, right now, we OWN THE SKY!"

Mayuki eeped, as she felt the burst of power expand outwards. So bright. Castle Sturmbrand tipped backed up to the sky, playing merry hell with everyone's sense of balance. From the outside, the tepellin was a speck at the tip of a broad conical white wall-o- even so high up in the stratospheric border, where the air was thin. Still, the AT-field was all that was keeping the hull from glowing red-hot. From that height, it would take whole minutes for even the great craft (with all the aerodynamic properties of a flying brick) to actually fall. It would still be a few hours until they crossed the Atlantic, so it was the perfect time for a 'crash course' in wingless flight.

Those inside were already (literally) getting sick of it.

Finally, the captain voiced his concerns. "Miss Sohryu, we already established that Miss Yamigishi can maintain the Field long enough for us to try and glide to a stop."

"No. She has to know how to get this thing flying again, or we're NOT going back. Otherwise the only way we're going to stop is by my ramming this thing into the god-damn Cradle so I can kill everything inside! You know how I earned this S2 Engine! Power is not enough! Skill is not enough! Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"... not really." the captain said with a sigh. Sohryu can be -_such- _a bitch sometimes, but most often there was a deeper reason for that insistence.

"If we don't go all-out, we die." she added somewhat wistfully. "It's as simple as that. We've got a war to win, and once again it's the enemy that has all the aces. It's..."

"Sohryu...!" Mayumi gasped.

"Good, you're keeping your AT-field meshed with mine. I felt that too. Captain, incoming!"

As they figured out before, 'barrier' AT-fields were generally created relative to the generating Evangelion. The problem rises when said Eva is traveling at approaching or over the speed of sound. There were two ways of handling defense in such a state. With the presence of a second AT-field from another Evangelion, a 'softer' AT-field could try to disperse the attack. This worked best against energy beams. Kinetic strikes would just go through, for it was not a barrier per se.

Mayumi Yamagishi and Unit Three extended her AT-field out to five kilometers, for this; leeching power from the trailing edge of Unit Two's own AT-field. "It's not working!" she barely had time to say.

"Battlescreens!" the captain shouted. Fortunately the order had already been pre-empted by the officer at the controls. The passive deflection systems had already ramped up to full.

Castle Stumbrand shook as a kiss of plasma blackened the paint off its hull. A second strike did no more damage.

"It worked..." he breathed out. When something moving hyperkinetic met another thing also going hyperkinetic, usually both explosively vaporize. Large as the Castle may be, the damage would still be catastrophic. Slugs at that speed could even break through Evangelion-class armor.

Below at the Eva controls, Dr. Thompson nodded with similar feelings of awe and relief. "The intensely strong electromagnetic field formed plasma that performed like some sort of anti-kinetic battlescreen." It was not the total barrier of the AT-field, but for something completely man-made... it was close. Matter was stripped into its constituent atoms, the faster it goes the more assured its destruction. It was also useful against particle beams, positron beams, and to middling extent; lasers.

The problem was the plasma bloom from the other side of the screen, and that it was a hideously power-hungry defense. Even the massive capacitors of the Castle took appreciable drain. The limitless power of the S2 Engine could only output at a certain rate.

But it worked! Distressingly, it also showed that the Cradle was aware of their approach and their location. A pre-emptive strike against Tokyo-3 would not have worked anyway, since the distance was enough to allow for detection sites and the power of three Evas' AT-field. Something over the Atlantic, though... the range was short enough for a more rapid, reliable response. Nagisa had shortened his reach.

_'Kaworu is ready to kill me.'_ Asuka realized. She grinned. _'Good. He respects me THAT much, at least.'_

Having taken control over most of Europe, the Cradle had access to their arsenal.

The next ones were nukes.

-o-

-o-

Refugees were pouring over distant borders, but there were those who simply could not run anymore. Many more millions had already decided to throw themselves at the mercy of the Cradle. Buildings were collapsed across streets in crude fortifications, and all that remained of the military of three nations dug in. The region was Thuringen; the place, Gotha.

It was like going from midnight to noon. A gaping circle above the city showed serene blue sky, and the Cradle's stifling purple miasma could not trespass on that dominion.

At the center of their own protected domain was an old church, St Margaret's. Inside, an old blind woman prayed. Outside was a baying mob.

"You brought this upon us!" they were shouting. "Turn it off! Let us leave!"

Lama Feckeldraft was, quite frankly, amazed. It was beyond even his abilities. The power of simple faith by an old woman... where did it come from? Her own will, or someplace else...?

The Brutes were powerful but slow. Their shields could take hits from battle tanks, their arm-cannons could destroy said tanks. But they were slow. Force Blades could cut them through, and blessed bolts punched through AT-Field shaped armor. The cost was bitter, but mere sixty men convinced the Cradle that massed heavy infantry was not the way to get through. The five silver-armored guards with him were all that remained of the best of three generations. Not since having to flee Germany... not in seventy-five years did he feel so old and weak and useless. Wards, psychic imprints, localized pertubations in spacetime or whatever esoteric terms it they may be called- the protections would not hold for much longer.

The battle, as he well knew, raged on multiple levels and across time. There was the quite mundane war spreading across Europe, with proud armies being crushed one after the other by unnatural forces. And another, in the hurry to upset the plans of other powers. Then the everpresent battle in the hearts of humanity.

-o-

She may have been beautiful once, and though her face was lined with age there was a certain youthful quality to it. Her white hair hung over her eyes, which were but flesh-covered bumps. Birth had not given her eyeballs. She had never needed them.

_"Brasidas siezed a mouse, and being bit by it, let it go."_ sourceless whispers wafted through the church. _"There is nothing so contemptible, said he, that which may be safe if it had courage to defend itself. __Bellarmine allowed the fleas and other odius vermin to prey upon him. We shall have heaven, he said, to reward us for our sufferings_**_. _**_But these poor creatures have nothing but the enjoyment of the present life__. Such difference is there between the maxims of a Greek Hero and a Catholic Saint."_

The bait was left untouched. She allowed herself a small smile. A man... an old man, specially, would have seized that as opening for a debate (or tirade); finding more joy in the struggle than in fulfillment of the purpose. Such a difference there was between Intelligence and Wisdom.

Apparently, The Child was not used to being ignored. Such spoiled children often were, by their own powers or those stolen from others; sought to keep attention all to themselves. _"I don't understand it, really. This... blind faith. How can you live with it? After everything that happened? _

_Don't you get it? You're just talking to yourself! How much more must I defile this world for that God to appear? If there is a Heaven, let it show itself! If there is a plan, then let it be done!_" The voice echoed with a thousand voices. _"Let Him appear! Let Him **stop** me, if He even can!"_

Sister Luminitsa shook her head sadly. It was clear enough that the boy meant it; that blasphemy, that isolation, the deep and lingering frustration. Angry young men, so much in a hurry to change the world. All through time, each of them thought their pain was unique, that destroying the old was necessary to give birth to the new. Justice to be made through pain and blood, washing away old sins by ever newer atrocities.

They had earnest faces, and pure souls. Those eyes sad even in triumph; so much like young Vlad. How much trouble they had with young Vlad! It was all the same, daring death yet longing for it; denying faith, but full of hunger for meaning. This sentiment must have carried through, for she felt that burning power batter even more at the edges of her consciousness.

_"The dark skin of the Rom can be traced all the way back to India, but the souls that rejoice in secrets... why is the root of the name Gipsy, from Egipsy? Mere coincidence? Historical error? You do not believe in coincidences. Your sister tried to hide, but now she is part of the glorious gathering of souls. She is gone from the true book of the dead. Would you like to hear her? You live now, only because you abandoned her, abandoned all your people; even as they were marched off into the camps. They suffered. And they died. And you are here._

_Do you think what you're doing is enough to earn forgiveness?"_

Sister Luminitsa bit her lip. The Sight made her almost impossible to entrap. Even as she tried, she could only see one true path at once. Many, many more people died even as she tried... she could only be in one place at a time. But worse yet, perhaps, was that she could not judge the enemy as they may have deserved.

She never seen any man's face, but saw in the light of their souls how so few were really so irredeemably evil. She had plenty of reasons to hate, but found it difficult to keep that in her heart. To treat the loss so... calmly... it was as if what was lost did not really have much value?

She could See, but could not say what justice should be... only God can make sense of the everpresent contradictions and repeating mistakes of humanity's history.

_"Only one person dares to try and stop me, but the irony... you know that by all the words of prophecy; you support that which will kill the very heart of your faith. We are Revealed only the greatest atrocity possible, death and suffering on such a scale unimaginable. He will fight even that, that so many should pay for so few. That the SELF-IMPORTANT ARROGANCE OF SOME OLD MEN SHOULD CONDEMN THE WORLD INTO GREATER MISERY! The Greater Good denies any justice in that! **I refuse** to entertain any diety so narrow-minded, so selfish, so blatantly malevolent! _

_I REFUSE even the half of me that aches to rejoin the source. I will bring mankind to the Heaven that they deserve, that they build! _

_And the rest of the men not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, _

_of silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk._

_I see! I hear! And by the Silence that greets me, the roads I build for humanity WILL be walked! You won't stop me, you weak old hag! You are broken, useless, unnecessary! These are the times when gods wake, but not yours. Not anymore."_

The slightest doubt, the slightest crack in the dam... that was all he needed! She was blind, yet in her other Sight she felt as if she might go blind again. So much power! How could one mortal will hope to keep it at bay? The beast raged in the distance, otherworldly power twisting the very forces of nature around itself. She remembered another angry young man, so enraged and so willing to burn himself and everything; helpless in the tide of history. There were the Qabbalistic formulas, but these were more of tools than principles for combat and destruction.

He wanted to break open the world, but even as his people had suffered... as too many people suffered under the costs of war... he was made to realize that adding more suffering into the world would solve nothing. Exposing the secret would give no one any comfort.

So he fled, all the way to the East, where the ancient traditions still stand guard. She remained, to watch over the land still in pain. So many orphans, so full of pain and hate.

How could they have known, back then in 1948, that an even greater atrocity was approaching? And now they both fought to preserve a crippled, but freshly-innocent Germany. Such was life.

_'Merciful Savior, please.' _she whispered. _'Let no more children go astray.' _

-o-

Morning brought warmth, but not much relief. They were an island in a dark and purple sea. The mood was ugly. Not even 24 hours had passed, but already the people were at the breaking point; nearly five million crammed into a city meant to hold at best sixty thousand residents. The was no power, no water, and only the military's presence kept the limited food stocks from igniting mass riots.

Yang was right. Telepathy was an attack against which there was practically no defense. The Psykana could keep the miasma at bay, but not the more subtle intrusions into people's dreams and emotions. Not that they needed much more prodding to get nightmares that would last them the rest of their lives.

As always, when it comes to the Cradle, there was some basic logic underneath. Unconditional surrender simply meant they would be allowed to flee over the border.

Germany (and portions of all surrounding nations) would be the new Cradle of Humanity. A sovereign land. A place where dreams and fantasy may come true. It was useless to resist.

Heroism is proportional to the challenges overcome. Nagisa saw this as a sort of moral evolution. Large shapes, with leathery wings, circled at the edges of the city; bouyed by the interaction between resonant AT-fields. Dragons.

Lama Feckeldraft frowned. He was quite sure that was meant as an insult. To make the impossible possible, that was also a miracle.

Gotha, a major rail center, became a city of more importance as the North and Baltic Seas swelled beyond reason. The miasma-choked highways were fatal accidents waiting to happen. Railways had direct, predictable paths and the capacity to move mass amounts of people quickly. The problem was that once those rails were cut, those millions were quite effectively stuck. Only those guided by psykers, centering upon the emanations from Gotha, could hope to navigate through the gloom. The added problem there was that the people were just as likely to lynch them as to be guided by them.

That, and there were hardly enough trucks for five million people.

They were gathered in and around _Schloss Friedenstein_, the ancient fortifications quite useless to their plight. Directly to the south and across a small lake were the railways, now ruined slag. The flat expanse were turned into a mini-dead man's land; laced with trenches, barbed wire, and gun emplacements. Tanks waited hulldown over the rise. The helpless populace were less than a stone's throw away from that first and yet final line of defense.

Unconditional surrender was the only option. It was the only way they could be allowed to WALK out of there.

"If we don't surrender, we will die!" Mayor Stark Mattstein shouted. "The more we resist, the more calamity they're just going to heap on us."

He was a piggish sort of man, but elected for being amiable and generous. His evacuation from his city was delayed, bowing to the political impetus to morale. His city was a transport hub, never meant as a shelter, and being so far from the action it might be safe. Now it was too later. He was a man ill-suited for the task of leading a war-torn populace, but he was the best they had. The other major command shelters were either out of contact or, likely, dead. To his credit he suffered through it with grit and determination, and more than a little nervous sweat.

He reeked of panic.

"This... this isn't our fight." he continued. "What did we do to really DESERVE this?" he added with a wave all around the broken city. Theirs were an entirely different situation from Tokyo-3, and it was utterly unfair to expect them to act the same way! "Germany... is dead. The land is bare, the rivers are dry, DEAD. We don't have anything left... we had enough of this! I realize I might not have full authority here, but for decency's sake, man! End this!"

"We're all in this together, sir, and again I must ask for your patience. The reason why we are still here is because the Cradle does not haveas much of a massive unstoppable force as it likes to pretend it does. It's like the Mongols and their mobility, being able to go from one region to another with such speed that it seems like there is a much greater attacking for than their numbers would imply. The Cradle still hasn't broken through our defenses... if we can just hold on... help is sure to come."

"And how many more will die until that happens? NERV and the Eva... this is all their doing! Bringing it back here will just make things worse!" Murmurs of assent rose from the gathered mob. "If you can just stop provoking them, we can leave!"

"You can't trust the Cradle. What we have is the best defense mortal effort can bring. And please, remember that it is the Cradle that is the invader here..." But almost as fast as those words were out of his mouth, Feckeldraft realized it was a mistake.

"You were here ahead of the Cradle." spoke up the uniformed man to his left. The local garrison commander was Colonel Schaft. His face was hidden almost entirely in bloodied bandages. There was still a lot about Gotha that retained a certain town-like charm; mostly in the lack of really tall buildings and many tasteful open spaces. All of this made it hideously difficult to defend.

"We have less than five hundred men and twenty armored vehicles. As much as I hate to admit it, this is futile. And it is YOU people that the Cradle seek from this place. Perhaps it is time to let them have what they want." A few of the Leopard-IIICs rumbled into view.

Feckeldraft sighed. And how much more dangerous would the Cradle become, if they had access to the secrets and abilities that they possessed? What would work against an Angel could work against an Evangelion. "And if we don't comply, Colonel? What then?"

"I don't like it, but I will do -_whatever is necessary_- to ensure the safety of these people."

"We stand against the Cradle. The threat of tanks is not enough. You... your mind is not unknown to me. We can stop you."

"Yes. You can. And then what?"

Five million people could not fit into the street in front of St Margaret's Church, and there were at most only six hundred people there; mostly soldiers and former society notables. Their feelings were echoed by the populace.

"We might be the last remaining sample of our nation and our culture." Colonel Schaft said sadly. "Even if the Cradle is to blame... we have no other choice but to throw ourselves to their mercy and try to flee. It's shameful, but I've seen what it's like to be caught where Evangelions battle. We can only endure... there is no victory for us little beings here."

"Do not speak to me of enduring shame, Colonel." the monk replied with cool hostility. "I was born Michal Avram Feckeldraft, son of Simon, son of Ezra, and I have outlived and abandoned too many of my friends to cower now." He showed his right wrist, and the blue numbers tatooed there. "No, Colonel, the Cradle does not know mercy. You will have to _buy_ your safety... you will have to _pay_ with treachery."

Images and emotions leaked through. He was a young man, then, raw and untrained. The best his terror-numbed mind could do was to get himself continually forgotten or pushed to the back of the line. The other survivors likely thought he was some officer's favorite or a spy in their midst. Their hatred was a physical thing, even if no one had enough energy to act upon it.

To be powerless and alone, it was the same situation, wasn't it? They both had their own faith in Sohryu's return... the issue was if there would be anyone left to rescue when the times comes.

There was no malice there, but the fact remained, that most of the Psykana were not even _European_. It was not a question of race, but fighting and dying for the sake of those few who were not even their own countrymen.

The officer sighed. "How much longer must we carry the sins of our fathers? That is not a compelling argument either... five lives for five million. It should be so simple... if taking you would give the Cradle stronger weapons, then... you should have the courage to end it yourself."

"A bastard sort of valor." the monk grimaced. It was a cruel impasse, and one of Nagisa's favorite dilemmas. He forced inevitability, and waited to see which side would break first. How easy mankind kills, how so breakable their alliances of words and dependencies. In the end, even the most selfless heroism was a self-centered stubborness.

If they did nothing, then eventually the insatiable forces of the enemy would overwhelm their divided defenses. If the people surrendered, then the powerful psyker minds the Cradle so needed would either be theirs or be removed from the battle plan. If the psykers prevailed, but either killing or subverting the defenders... the sweet hypocrisy was enough.

The Cradle's AT-field surged, and the purplish miasma thickened to almost black.

It had its own troubles. It was afraid, and with that fear; it struck. The psychic shield buckled for a moment. With an exultant roar, one of the dragons got through. One of the armored Psykana standing next to their Lama changed his grip on his Force spear. He hefted it back, and then threw it like a javelin.

The dragon gave a deafening screech, and fell. It bounced off the tiled roofs of a local college and slid to the streets, cracking the pavement. It was quite dead. It was also much larger up close than they had dared assume.

The old monk bit his lip. The gall of Nagisa and his forces at the Cradle! They could make the whole Earth... fantastic... like that. They would hand over control over mankind's destiny to... less random factors. Just like with exercise, a little pain, a little suffering, was necessary for improvement. The sheer arrogance! Nagisa decided these things like a living God, molding the Earth where he walked.

The people were afraid, the soldiers were resigned to their fates. The miasma had lifted, but it still left dark shadows upon the Thuringen Woods, and bestial howls now and then erupted from the gloom. There was one more such howls- but it was cut short in mid-yell.

A Chimera came roaring down the highway, with what looked like an overly large wolf was clinging to its front. The personnel carrier rammed itself into a gas station. There was, sadly, no explosion. It plowed through, bereft of its strange passenger.

The rear hatch opened, and someone tossed out a grenade.

There was a large explosion, and pained howl.

As noted, there were several disadvantages to the Chimera chassis. It was however quite convenient that it looked so much like a tractor. There were slots to fit a dozer blade. The most obvious advantage was the thing's sheer toughness coupled with decent speed. Both proved necessary for its survival.

Its small turret with the dual Bolters was a slagged ruin. A deep gash run lengthwise through its left side, gouging through the entire line of hull-mounted gun ports. The right side was not much better, pock-marked with blast damage. There were missing bits of track, but the tank managed to keep going.

The Chimera rebounded as it hit a concrete protrusion at full speed, and for a while there everyone thought it would tip over. The tank slammed back to the ground, busting a track as it did so. Sparks and metallic screeches followed in its path, as it ground away the last few hundred feet. People leapt out of the way. Then, almost mercifully, it stopped.

The rear hatch fell out of its hinges. Through dust and smoke a few figures stepped out from the vehicle. They all had gas masks on, and their posture showed only deep weariness. The last three dragged a struggling bound figure from the Chimera; a man in a form-fitting black suit with long white hair but a young and astonishingly beautiful face. Though gagged, he began screaming as soon as the sunlight touched his body. He was thrown to the ground; he trashed around wildly, he screamed some more, and he burned. The flesh evaporated right out of his skeleton, leaving a blackened collection of bones, which then crumbled into dust.

Thus was the price of immortality. The Cradle put in controls, put in castes, once you joined it was almost impossible to disobey. Dissent made things interesting, but the purpose would always be fulfilled. Nagisa could not join the hivemind, but it bore the patterns of his thoughts.

Flesh was nothing. Pain was nothing. The damned would live again.

The lead figure took off his gas mask, and saluted. "Recon Unit Eight reporting back, sir." the young man said to man with the highest rank pips. "The roads to Jena and beyond are still unsafe." _A little bit less unsafe now, but still..._

"What happened to Mr. Hearne?" Lama Feckeldraft indelicately put in. There was something... odd... about this young man. It was not the blank stare of shell-shock, but a remote serenity he was familiar with; that of a meditative state.

"He has been injured, sir, but he is stable. My apologies, but I'll be speaking for the other troops in lieu of a translator." The others from the Chimera stood around, for if they let themselves sit down they might decide it would be too much of a bother to get up again. German, French, an even a downed English pilot; it did not matter. All were too tired from their insane debacle.

"How did you get back, without someone to mask your presence?"

"We followed the roads, sir, and just killed anything standing in the way." The young man's expression never changed from a sort of bland disinterest. Only his alert eyes showed that he was not a lobotomized tool.

"I see. What is your name, young one?"

For a moment there, a flicker of emotion passed across the soldier's face. It was not anger taken from insult, but from regret. The panzer driver answered, unspoken but clear enough; _I may follow your orders, but I serve someone else now._

The name meant nothing to either Feckeldraft or Schaft, but the utter annhilation of the combined French, German, and West Soviet divisions meant that the Cradle now had those men and war machines. Death, as proved elsewhere, was at best a temporary condition.

"What else can you report?" asked Colonel Schaft. Like the psyker, he found the young man somewhat discomfiting. "Other shelters? Survivors?" The miasma messed up the entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum, only the psychic beacons (which operated outside of rational space) could function.

Wilfred looked pained, but he could not find the words. How could he speak of how they had found shelters blasted open, bleached skulls in the trees, dry riverbeds, tanks that moved without drivers, and myths given flesh? They had found people huddled around dim fires, he had called out to them, but they had refused to leave their meager circle. There were soldiers who fired upon them, trusting no one, and the dead of the civilians who had begged for their help piled high upon their improvised barricades. The hunters that sought their tank as prey occasionally went ahead to show them grisly trophies.

What could he say? Then, as now, he had felt nothing.

"No. No other survivors." He reached into his pocket and brought out a glowing round stone. A psychic beacon. "The Beast has taken everything of value from this land."

-o-

Deserts and mountains and forests formed an effective time-wasting barrier. But ever has it been easier (and cheaper!) to transport by sea. From Vladivostok, three different armies from three nations rushed to provide support. Timing was crucial. Castle Sturmbrand would provide the distraction, but they too must support its attack.

Yang had, as an intellectual exercise, pondered how to strike at Europe. The best conventional strategy would be to push up through Mongolia and Kazakhstan and remove the immidiate threat of Russia. Obvious, and therefore the most difficult; even barring that they needed each other to keep from total economic collapse. The UN's Strategic Forces were volunteer regiments of from many different nations and ever has speed been a priority.

The world was a sphere. The Chinese Navy was strongest in the world, as long as he led it. On a purely theoretical basis, it would be much faster to circle around past the Bering Sea, through the Arctic, and down into the Baltic Sea. There were the usual dangers of ice, enemy fleets and submarines, but the situation at the Cradle... they were no longer any problem.

Out from the gloom emerged more tanks at full speed, and firing at something behind them. Chimeras, most of them bearing a red star upon green hulls. There were a few Lem'an Rus', packing hull-mounted Lascannon. They were a portion of the gathered troops at Vladivostok, set to invade Tokyo-3 at a moment's notice.

The Cradle tried, but could not stop their deployment. They had made all appearances of heading off to reinforce Yang and young Ikari.

They landed last night. A powerful mind could shield the many, and a thousand minds could shield a nation. Stealth was impossible, when AT-fields were concerned, except if you used the naturally opposing force. The sustenance that the Cradle needed, but now better to throw them into the fray and risk it all.

Dragons swooped down, and died in droves; they had tough scales and could breathe fire. The lack of AA defenses was one of the reasons the protectors of Gotha felt such despair. No longer. Some of the larger wyrms spat globes of fire, which were deflected by a whip of flame coming from the lead vehicle.

Out of an open turret of a very large tank with sponsons mounting six Bolters to each side, an old wrinkled man grinned into the wind. AT-fields were certainties, PSI were probabilities. The world was still full of wonder, it did not need such artificial encouragement. The old abbot felt like a child again. The perfection of the Outward Path was ever meant to be used. Warming an entire valley deep in the Himalayas for millenia, that was just practice.

The psychic barrier stiffened, shrinking, but stronger now.

"... and by the way, greetings from Yang Wen-li." _Even the Great Strategist serves._

-o-

-o-

Castle Stumbrand shook, and the harsh noise of breached armor echoed through its corridors. Captain Shade coughed, trying to wave away acrid black smoke and the smell of burnt plastic. "Da.. damage report?"

"Hull breach from Deck Four, Level C to Deck Three, Level H. The fires on Deck Six, Level L have been contained. We lost the capacitor clusters 44R to 45R. No damage to weapons systems, or propulsion."

"Casualties?"

"Burns, some minor injuries, no fatalities." He leaned back on his seat and sighed in relief. The tepellin had six 'vertical' decks numbered from top to bottom; with the sixth as the main cargo hold. It was also laid out 'horizontally' into fifteen sections labeled from A to O from fore to aft. At full speed the decks become walls and the sections turn to floors, due to the inertial forces of supersonic flight. While technically it would be possible to endure it lying down, from the start designing so that the personnel should be able to walk around helped in terms of damage control.

The insides of the Castle Sturmbrand felt like a cathedral. This was from the vaulted appearance of cross-bracings between decks and sections. Dr. "Yamu" Thompson had already put aside the insanity of something that should not even be able to float, much less fly.

"Interesting. This is interesting." Asuka chuckled. Her breathing was strained, her eyes were starting to look bloodshot. As noted, Castle Sturmbrand could not generate a 'barrier-type' AT-field lest it run into its own defensive wall. 'Softening' the field could get incoming attacks to perhaps detonate at a safe distance. The anti-kinetic battlescreens were working perfectly.

Radiation and lasers were but different frequencies of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum. Fortunately Castle Sturmbrand's hull was well-named; incredibly thick and tough, ablating against those that could get through the more esoteric defenses. Not impregnable, but damn near close. Their 'breaking front' was four kilometers wide. The shock from their passing was visible from space. The sonic booms rebounded off the ocean surface, causing an atmospheric effect similar to that of a nuclear shockwave. A typhoon in their path was pierced right through and actually broke apart from the reactive forces sufficient to overcome its coriolis force.

"Second wave incoming!" Mayumi Yamagishi shouted.

The Cradle's high-speed projectiles were invisible to conventional radar. Even lidar was of limited effect, as the things operated similar to the principle of a 'homing laser' only as applied to appreciable mass instead of energy. There were 'Blue Pattern' detectors on the great craft, but these were not linked to autotargeting systems- they detected the presence of fields, not discrete objects. NERV sensors back at Tokyo-3 could make do, but not the rudimentary systems hurriedly loaded onboard.

Gunnery controllers waited tensely for the objects to hit the edge of Unit 03's AT-field. Four kilometers off, the blurry objects became large white disks. They had to slow down due to the interference between fields and the utter uselessness of nukes set to contact detonation. These were not nukes, however.

The disks numbered seventeen in all, and they continued on at a much slower velocity but also weaving about in unpredictable patterns.

"Weapons free!" was the command. "Blast those things out of the sky!" Within the confines of Mayumi's AT-field, local radar could now reliably detect the approaching enemy. Threads of fire burst out from Castle Sturmbrand's hull. The hull ports that looked like cathedral windows revealed the AA Hydra variant for the versatile Chimera platform (there had not been time to actually bolt in turrets and such; thus the broadside arrangements). Hydras were four fire-linked 90mm guns in eight Hydra platforms to each side. Of the nine Hydras to each side, two of these were King Hydras; mounting quad lascannon instead. Multiple Phalanx CIWS guns supported the defense.

By that time the discs had already surrounded the tepellin. All but four of the inbound projectiles were shot down. The surviving objects paused right before hitting the hull. The closer they disk got, the slower they must to move- only that way could they actually pass through the anti-kinetic battlescreen. It was actually a small miracle that any such things manage to get through at all.

Impossibly, they remained motionless relative to the Castle, despite lacking any sort of obvious propulsion system. They realigned themselves parallel to the hull and split open. Arms and legs emerged, while the centerpiece pushed up to become an x-shaped head. The right arm sprouted a particularly unsubtle cannon, and the beams began to eat away at the ablative outer hull.

"Prepare for boarding action!"

What would be the proper name for a biomechanical Angel/human hybrid? _Nephilim_ did not seem appropriate, since these were meant as weapons instead of distinct entities. The staff from NERV Boston hit upon the name '_Asshimar_', incidentally the same name by those who met them at Europe; and for much the same reason. The Machine Cult introduced its members to certain... obscure interests. The fact that cherry red Castle Strumbrand was at least three times faster than anything that had flown before was but coincidence.

Asuka had promised to stab the first person to call the damn things _'mobile suits'_. They were not piloted, after all. She then groaned about actually knowing such trivia. Kensuke was due for a punch to the face. He had corrupted her.

There was little pressure differential between inside the hull and the sky outside, the AT-field took care of that. The Asshimar were biomechanical giants, humanoid in shape, over twelve meters tall. Apparent gravity took over as they entered the Castle's warhull, and they slammed into the section floors. Attacking from distant points dispersed the defenders. They were effectively immune to everything up to light cannon and even Heavy Bolters. Castle Sturmbrand was an _ad hoc_ construct, and had little in the way of inside defenses.

The Asshimar were terrible things, being able to savage land and air with equal ease. The tepellin counted as 'death trap'. Man-portable Lascannon, stripped out of Tempest gunships, removed the armor advantage while confined spaces meant there was no hope of dodging fire. Sophisticated bioweapons, capable to outperforming any human-made land, air, or sea combat vehicle, were reduced to self-destructing as living bombs just to do some damage.

"Absolute Territory is a matter of perception, not a measurable gradient." Dr. Donald Thompson muttered to himself as he watched a group of Psykana swarm and cut to pieces a being at least six times their size. "Sohryu has absolute command within this Castle, I understand now. It is her region of quantum certainty. It's the reason we're not eating antimatter right now."

Indeed, earlier one of the nukes had actually detonated inside the hull. The craft was too huge for Terminators to protect section by section, but it one of the Heraklitus' helmet cameras caught the event. One of the Asshimar shoved a 10-megaton device through a hole and then flew back. The nuke detonated well enough, but the air itself thickened around the blast. The Heraklitus Terminator, one Konstantin Valdor, crossed his arms over his head, though knowing how futile it would be. There was a boom, a shockwave enough to knock him back, and he could feel heat even through his armor. But the fact that he COULD feel it was incredible. He was but seven meters away from a hot nuke!

Perhaps he was already dead. He opened his eyes. The sight was incredible. Brilliant white clouds swirled around a tunnel... and there was this white curtain inching forward, making a crackling noise where it touched the walls. The curtain of energy kept on expanding for a few more moments, then abruptly reversed.

Castle Sturmbrand buckled as the nuclear explosion burst outward in a conical blast.

Air rushed out of the gaping wound in the tepellin's side, until filament threads of wraithbone linked together to seal up the hole. Sgt. Valdor blinked. The walls ahead still glowed red-hot, though the superconductive properties of wraithbone was already working to dump the heat elsewhere. His armor was scorched and blackened, the gold filigrees melted into unrecognizable lumps. But he had become the first ever human being to survive a pointblank nuclear detonation.

After a while, he shrugged and looked for a replacement man-portable Lascannon. It was not the weirdest thing he had seen in young Ikari's service.

Dr. Thompson felt like curling up in a corner somewhere. Insane. He could finally understand while the AT-field was also called the Absolute Terror field. Peace was dead. Even if the Angels are all defeated, armies would still clash, millions would die, and cities would burn; people would do ANYTHING to possess control over the powers of the Evangelion. What about when Evangelions must fight other Evangelions?

An even worse thought; if that was possible within this region of Absolute Territory, what would happen to them when they reach the Cradle's own true domain?

He looked around. Everyone else was eager to find out. The Tempest gunship pilots most of all, for the teppelin's speed meant that to deploy them too soon would be leave them useless and left behind in the middle of the Atlantic. That the whale of an airship managed to swallow a nuke and live was only a slap to the face, shameful proof of their continual inability to provide air cover.

_'These people...!'_ He did not understand them. Even the ones that had boarded with him back at NERV Boston, had they changed so much in such a few hours? Did the Eva have some sort of mental influence, even as much as they so despised that from the Cradle? Or was it simply that the tempering effect of civilization on the human psyche could be stripped so easily? Had man, ever, really learned?

-o-

-o-

The Cradle, however, did not really care much about the bitter resistance nearby. More important was stopping Sohryu. There was no stopping Sohryu.

"We missed? How could we miss?" Martin Bettelheim shouted. "It's a goddamn laser! It travels at lightspeed!"

"Sohryu does not have to avoid the beam. She only has to avoid our -aim-." Sarah Campbell replied flatly. "The primary weapon of this Cradle is meant for blasting through fortifications. The Moon cannot dodge."

"Aren't they supposed to be homing, anyway?"

"This is not some form of Epic scale Magic Missile." Kaworu pointed out with some amusement. "If you keep on thinking that, it won't be long before we find ourselves bathing in Dispel Magic."

"We... have -exhausted- almost all our aerial drones." Dr. Lader's mechanical voice sounded strained. "Even with our assets, there is a limit to how quickly we may repurpose fissionables. This... it can't be just the power of the S2 Engine. We have three equivalent power sources!"

"We need more attuned minds." For all his power, Kaworu still could not connect with the Cradlemind, so had to ask "What is happening with that place in Thuringia?"

"The -fools- still resist. We have surrounded them as unto a -ring of fire-, but it will take us some time. We must sometimes destroy some healthy cells to get at the -cancer-. If the power of heaven is not enough, then I shall become as a -Doctor of Hell- to bring the healing of the Greater Good!"

-o-

-o-

Mayor Stark Mattstein cried tears of fear and shame. He had squealed like a pig as he was thrown to the ground, just like how he was taunted and bullied way back at school so long ago. They would keep on hitting him until he oinked. He had worked hard, he had grown powerful, but the fear and feeling of helplessness was keen as ever.

"THERE WILL BE NO SURRENDER!" Wilfred had his kneee pressed to the mayor's gut, and his bolt pistol pressed to the man's forehead. Those who arrived with him had gathered in a circle around the scene, with their battered guns and knives aimed outward. The rest of the soldiers were likewise at the ready. The civilians could only look on in anxious horror. "TO GIVE UP NOW IS TO GIVE UP -FOREVER-! You die today as a man, or be slaughtered as cattle!"

Wilfred looked up. They were angry and afraid and beyond shame. It was one thing to give up one's life for a cause; but that of a man's own family? Wives, sons, and daughters; for them even the mayor could be brave... there was a certain fatalism in his eyes, that the soldier could understand. But fear for his family was stronger than even that.

Everyone else's eyes... it was the same question. _'Can you keep them safe? Can you ensure that our children will fill the space left by their parents?'_

The situation had abruptly reversed, but Colonel Schaft remained unmoved. "Even with this, there are still not enough men nor weapons to create a convincing defense. Do you think you'll be a martyr this way?" the officer scoffed. "You think we haven't sacrificed enough? There is no point in shedding even more blood. We can't stop the Cradle. Right now only the safety of five million people should be our priority."

"There is no safety in running, only protection won by the lives of other more worthy souls. You can only earn freedom by blood and honest toil." Lama Feckeldraft said, as if many guns were not pointed their way. Though the reinforcements had brought tanks, Chimeras were not armored enough to withstand the Leopard IIIC's 150mm APFSDS rounds. The Land Raider, and the strongest psyker on the planet, that was another matter entirely. "You are not innocents here. You can only buy the enemy's favor with murder. You know this. This young soldier knows this."

The colonel clenched his fists. He had served the army well, he was no coward. He was no moron either, to waste his own life on futile gestures. "So you would rather have millions suffer in the middle of a warzone than relinquish control? Do you know how all of this sounds?" He pointed at Wilfred. "This is insane! Do you know WHO you sound like?"

The young man snarled, and would have pulled the trigger right there. _How dare he!_

"You think I give a f-...?"

The ground trembled before he could take a step. The quake was strong enough to toss him off his feet. Hills gave way, and the miasma itself began to spin around a point far off in the distance. A glaring eye began to form.

Towering spikes of black, chitin-like material rose from the broken ground. They split open, like flowers, and curved pylons slowly slid out. The 'homing laser' used two overlapping layers of AT-fields, one to contain the beam and another to direct it. Sparks of greenish energy danced between the two ends of the metal arc. At the center of the pylon was a crystal lens, a massive psychoreactive crystal.

-o-

Superconductors and super-efficient capacitors were what the world needed for the next massive paradigm shift. Unfortunately these were materials that defied current definitions. They brought quantum processes into macrospatial levels, and could not be produced without someone there to actually observe and direct their creation. They might have been called 'solidified AT-fields' were it not that these objects were also utterly unaffected by such energies and that the AT-fields were pretty much 'fucking magic' already.

Wraithbone could -grow-. This was not so unusual, as crystals and other non-organic structures also grow (such as stalagmites). The problem was that wraithbone could, if directed, strip necessary elements out from the air. Atom by atom, in a complex compound pattern, they appear. For all they knew, it might be converting hydrogen into other elements at will.

Psychoreactive crystal, if one could simply get past the whole 'psychic energy' thing was far less confusing. Crystals for given size and purity could contain energy up to a point, until they break. The energy is then release in bright, but harmless light. The problem was that where, exactly, does the energy go? Other than the leak of cool light, there was no indication of how it actually contains that power. Psychic energy was actually known as such simply by the ability to -charge- the crystals, which may then be tapped in the form of 'fuel' for psychic abilities or simple electricity. A sufficiently large and pure crystal capacitor might as well be called a zero-point module.

Every human being on Earth was psychic, even if to some infinitisimal degree. This was proven by the 'collective (un)consciousness' that allowed certain people to 'speak in tongues'. More than Evangelions or power, the Cradle needed minds to examine. If there was no psyker gene then they would discover it, or create it. More useful to the current situation, it could allow them to pierce an AT-field without having to resort to mass firepower or closing in to neutralize it.

And even better, to craft the utter opposite. The Pariah gene; to be immune to defects in reality.

A sliver of greenish energy flicked out, crossing the sky and fading off into the distance. The day was green; the light reflected off the miasma covering. Flash. Flash. Flash. Out towards the distance.

The psychic shield fell. Even if the energies were mutually opposing, the Cradle bled off too much power. It was a side-effect. Miasma poured into Gotha.

-o-

-o-

The Land Raider was a natural progression from the wraparound tracks of the Chimera and the Leman Rus; many engineers had already convinced themselves. Though nearly two hundred tons, it avoid many of the pitfalls of the ambitiously impractical Maus. For one thing, it was much larger and thus the 'footprint' of its tracks spread its weight over a greater area. It was also faster. It used the chassis not to carry a massive gun, but to carry elite troops. Furthermore, its guns were extremely efficient microwave lasers instead of bulky solid-slug cannons. Recovered Evangelion plate made them practically invulnerable to most conventional weapons.

If you could build one, why not two? If the critical shortfall was supply of Evangelion plate, why not try conventional steel armor? If you could build two, you already have the manufacturing lines to build more; why stop there? Evangelion armor was made with human technology, so it was possible to build more... it was just slow and time-consuming. The factories at Lem in Belarus, had only limited access to Evangelion plate for the first run of Lem'an Rus. The Chinese had even less; having lost almost everything from their own NERV site, but Yang had managed to get ahold of some armor material straight from the NNHIS manufactoria.

Sure, the Soviets could boast some of the hardiest new tanks, and Japan/America alongside their Eva construction capabilities some of the most sophisticated weapons - China could boast the single toughest, meanest, tank on the planet.

As it did not have to carry ten Terminatus (until later), most of its carrying capacity was devoted to extra ammunition. The Wudan-pattern Land Raider Crusader tore through an advancing line of Brutes.

It was a slab of dark green metal, blocking two whole avenues by itself. The situation around Gotha was thus; most of the city was considered lost. The old castle up on a small hill was crammed with people. Buildings were to the north, and to the south was an open expanse of parkland and railways.

The enemy attacking from the north could be handled almost alone by the Land Raider. They were forced into narrow defiles, and their railguns failed to affect the antikinetic battlescreen. Unlike the one used by Castle Sturbrand, the screen was made by force of will alone. Nine hundred generations, and the mightiest minds of each age... continually reincarnating into a single human shell. The psychoreactive crystal contained energy. Unlike the AT-field, which seemed to spontaneously alter spacetime, psychic prowess rested upon the conversion of existing energy states.

"Soul there is. Proven by science, even." the chief abbot of the ancient order of Javaal put aside his cigar. "Every death here fuels the enemy too." Whips of fire and spikes of earth bloomed around him. He paced around the top of the Land Raider.

Like a printer's head going back and forth across a page, he defined a boundary that no one could cross. East and west, away from the main road, the enemy could try and assault with some concetration of troops.

They were called the Undying. They were faster, stronger, and more resilient than mortal men. They were servants of the Gods as detailed in the True Book of the Dead, they were the cursed of Ra. They were physical perfection personified. They longed for blood. The fresher, the better. Religion drew the focused mind, and they existed to add that power into their own unholy lineage. They too, were the last and more powerful of their traditions. The Cradle added the last final touch to turn them into Vampyr like the mythos... perhaps Nagisa was being playful. They could no longer disobey any of his whims.

The Vampyr were jumping from wall to wall on the buildings. Soon enough they would break the defensive line to get at the civilians. In less than an hour every one of those people would be mindless slaves to thrown into the cauldron of battle. The Pyskana had to fall back to engage other high-mobility combatants.

Screaming, a group of soldiers emerge from hiding to shoot at them from behind. The enemy had supernatural speed and reflexes, true, but they did not dodge bullets as much as they gauged the intent they could see.

As expected, the enemy took the bait. They sprung at the soldiers, baring fangs and sharpened nails. Wilfred's Bolt Pistol killed the one leaping at him. The two soldiers on either side were not so lucky. As they fell, the former tank driver whirled about to blow one pale head off its shoulders, and completing a full swing stabbed a knife into the eye of another misbegotten enemy mutant-psyker.

They were dead things, but so what? He was dead, too... only the purpose filled him. She will come, to claim her people. But the hope and fury of man must wake up, and by the blood of the enemy the sacrifice will be made!

Then the monks arrived, leaping from building face to another in the same way as their enemy, as if they were made of air. Instead of crawling across the vertical walls, they ran as gravity was always 'down' to their perceptions. Those Psykana would were not so physically potent carried guns and trusted in blessed luck.

"CUT AND THRUST!" yelled white-robed figures, their swords sparkling in the sun. "STAB AND CUT! LET THE ANCIENT PROMISE BE FULFILLED!"

They were the last and final legacy of Javaal, and the ancient monastery in the Himalayas was empty of every fighting man or woman. It was as they had feared; to reveal themselves to the world was to destroy themselves. They did not wear power armor, for even when operating at a practically unlimited budget there was a limit to how quickly these could be constructed. The fighters preferred not to be burdened with armor, anyway. Speed was life. To stop moving was to die. Ironically this was something that Nagisa also believed, in regards to evolution and in giving humanity fantastic predators to weed out the weak.

It was like something out of an old martial-arts movie, the ones where mooks seemed to take such glee in being cut down that, collapsing, they sorted themselves out in convenient piles. How ridiculous it looked did not hide the sheer skill it would take to actually perform the same feat against unwilling enemies armed with ranged weapons.

Brutes fell by the dozens, and like the combat monks facing them might as well have been wearing air; such was the penalty of heavy armor. Battle precognition made up for the rest.

It was a slight coincidence that their robes and such looked like those of Old Republic Jedi. Some of them carried double-edged spear-staffs. Kurly Khrisna, the Sunshine Kid, coughed. His lungs were blackened ruins, he had lived for so long sustained by the power of his mind and his will; waiting for the prophecy to be fulfilled. He laughed again, and it was sad reedy sound.

Here a Destroyer, a Brute torso mounted on a skimmer frame, was yanked out of the air by invisible forces and thrown into an orderly formation of enemy heavy infantry. There, screaming people ran into buildings and whatever shelter they could find. Some of those buildings collapsed in the frenetic fighting, and killed all those within. There, a man tried to surrender, only to be cut down from both sides.

"You will not fear the enemy's spilling of blood. The enemy can TAKE our blood! BUT THEY WANT ARE OUR SOULS! ONLY -WE- CAN -GIVE- THEM OUR SOULS!" Wilfred yelled. _The enemy will take no more! _

Those who choose to join the Cradle did so with the implicit acceptance of humanity being weak and obsolete. _"And from the deeps there arose a mighty beast, of many eyes and many limbs. And the beast from the darkness did set upon the light of mankind with hateful thirst and unnatural hunger..." _he muttered. Codex Imperialis, page 45, The Third City and Chaos Within.

Just words, random meanderings of some writer somewhere; meant to fluff up a setting. The Angels, and humanity, at least they had their own power. Those who would live between however, must steal the light from either.

Wilfred breathed roughly, and ran to join another firefight. As a tanker, he dimly thought about how the Leman Rus Vanquisher was the ugliest bastard of an armored combat vehicle he had ever seen. The extra-long cannon was nice, even if it was on top of a prominent turret. It was slightly off-center, and beside it were a pair of twin-linked Bolters! That was in addition to the sponson-mounted Heavy Bolters. The Lascannon up front had better combat endurace, but a horrible firing rate.

As expected that tank had quickly run out of ammo and had to pull back. He and his men had to fill up the gap. The Cradle had let loose its Angelspawn; they were like dogs, with monkey faces, and had talons that could tear into tank armor. Fortunately they also lacked armor of their own.

Gotha, one of the rear shelters, had just around eight hours to prepare. Their barricades were puny. Wilfred understood now why the Cradle sought psykers with such obsession... the wrinkled old man could bend earth with a gesture, and within minutes had given them some hard fallback points. Behind one of those stone walls he and a small group of troopers held off a tide of gnashing, hairless vorehounds.

NATO 5.56 rifle rounds sufficed. Bolt rounds were overkill, and perhaps that was the intent... to drain the defenders' ammo. The Cradle clearly did not care about throwing away these creatures en masse. _All life has value_, said the cradle. _Human life most of all. _This implied however, that there was a scale by which they measured the worth of existence. Some life had value over all, and some nearly none at all.

"Pull back, leave it to the flamers! Support the southern defenses!" was the order. Chimeras rode down to set the place ablaze; the crude animal minds of the vorehounds still feared fire. Running again, though he was panzer trooper Wilfred had in the few hours picked up the knack for commanding infantry squads. They did not really need more than to point their guns all in one direction and try to fire at the same time.

Loud roars came from within the miasma. The protective clearing had shrunk to just around _Schloss Friedenstein. _The enemy's main attack came from the south, past the railways, the only place where their mass infantry could gather. Fortunately it was also perfect spot for artillery. White smoke obscured the nearby battlefield, while the miasma choked the sky in the distance.

Something huge stomped out, and the defiance in its roar carried past the open grounds, the small lake, through the sculpted woods, and set the old stone walls to shaking. It shrugged off artillery and battle cannon fire, and spat out its reply. A blue-hot beam carved into the trenches.

Its glittering red bionic eye flashed, its two little arms ending in sickle claws were waved about in anger. Another roar issued from a mighty jawed head, and the mechasaurus strode forward. Similar forms joined it soon after; those with hard turtle-like shells that mounted large cannon, fins on their backs that seemed to project a defensive field, tails that threw explosive barbs, jaws that bite... and dragons from the sky.

_'Isn't this interesting?'_ the Cradle-mind delivered to their minds. _'Inefficient,sure, but ah... the variety! Life! It is the struggle that defines us! We will remake the world; not to our image, but into something that will never lack in wonder, in glory, in value, and in high adventure. See the power that can change it all! We defy destiny!' _

A Tyrant King bit into a Marder APC, lifted it high, and tossed it away. As if to say; _your shapes bore me_. Its roar was a challenge. Its animal-mind yearned for that which can equal its might.

Wilfred looked stunned. Still, he felt no panic. He wanted to curl up and hide... but still nothing. The samurai spoke of Zen in battle, and there was the _berserkerganger_. Monks in rote prayer and mindless tanks tried to achieve that state of utter emptiness, when ego is gone, and the soul is empty of all hopes and all desires... and God fills the vessel ready.

The Cradle offered enlightenment at a glance, Nirvana in an instant. He wondered, briefly, if it was theirs to grant at all. Could anyone call upon it, or does the state of holiness arrive on its own? He looked beside him, to the mixture of weary and frightened faces. It did not matter. He did not wish others to share his bleak but painless existence.

"No. There is no choice left, but death or war. And I CHOOSE WAR! Until Sohryu comes we will hold against these scum!" He pointed at the enemy with his sword, one of the historical relics once again made useful. "FOR GERMANY! FOR SOHRYU! AND FOR WAR! Men! Affix bayonets and CHARGE!"

"For WAR!" shouted those with him. Not a few were civilians who had chosen to pick up a fallen gun. Some of them toted cannons torn off Brute arms. Those who could not affix bayonets found something sharp to stab with. "The dead have no need of anything else!"

"KRIEG! KRIEG! KRIEG!" they shouted as they broke cover. Three mechasauri roared, already having crossed most of the barriers. Behind them, the old fortress was nearly defenseless. "KRIEG! ENDLOS KRIEG!"

Feckeldraft had no time to enjoy fighting alongside his old mentor. He ran to join the defenders to the south, but knew he could not make it in time. The Cradle could teleport hither and tither with impunity, but mere mortal minds could not handle such a heavy strain.

It was a futile gesture, men like straw blown by the wind upon a stone. The tanks were not doing much damage to mechasaurian hides, what could pointed metal carried by human hands do against such resilience? The Tyrant King snapped at Wilfred, only spurring him to run even faster. He dived, and he could feel a massive head passing just scant inches above. He rolled aside to avoid stomping feet. Still, he felt nothing. No fear, no exhilaration. His heart was pounding, but only with bland exertion.

"There is still power in humanity!" he spat at the beast. _'Wake him up with your devotion, shine forth his glory with your faith. In his name; cleanse, purge, kill!' _

The Tyrant King was irritated; its puny arms could not reach the human gnat scrambling up its back. Absently it considered going to the ground, but decided it was not worth the trouble. There were other puny creatures to kill.

Though a cybernetic creature, the mechasaurus was still a living being. It needed to breathe. Wilfred found a nostril and jammed a grenade into it. The damage was only slight, but the pain brought the Tyrant King to the ground. Wilfred leapt off before he could get crushed by the thing's weight.

The thing roared as it slowly tried to get back up. The few seconds of delay was precious, but still not enough. "Hold! Hold and fight!" he shouted to the others, not really looking nor caring if they followed. "Prayer may cleanse the soul, but pain purifies the body! Kill them! To the last!"

Wilfred had long since forgotten to reload his Bolt Pistol. He pulled the trigger and with a glorious DAKKA!, Bolt rounds punched into the Tyrant King's open maw. The inside of its jaw was only less tough than its armored hide, so he switched to full auto. How many rounds should an officer's Bolt Pistol hold? He threw himself into its mouth, pointed down its gullet and pulled the trigger again. The mouth shut, with teeth and jaws capable of tearing through tank armor locking into place.

Muffled noises came from within. The Tyrant King spasmed, and roared. And died.

Michal Feckeldraft watched as the other remaining troops diverted the saurian attackers. In good time, Leman Russ Vanquishers arrived. Their 180mm guns were poweful enough, but each armor-piercing shell were marked by the aquila and blessed by prayer of a Golden Saint. The massive Bolt rounds destroyed the enemy beyond hope of regeneration.

Precognition had failed the world, but not the Young King's foresight. Nagisa was right, in that if ever young Ikari met the time of Revelations, he would fight on the side of those billions who would be cast aside. But still, what sort of mind would prepare for war on such a scale...? Was it all really just coincidence, that he wanted some cool stuff for his city? Was he but a boy playing with toys?

It could not be that simple. It was too perfect, too convenient. The only other conclusion would be that the boy WANTED it to happen, that this was the very war he wanted to fight. It however meant collusion with the Cradle, and as such impossible. So they were back to someone seeing a narrow path for humanity's survival, that even the mightiest psychics on Earth failed to perceive.

He had trained the boy, but it was the effect he had on other people that was most impressive. So many people... it was they that paid the price for the journey. He went over to the fallen Tyrant King and tried to pull open its jaws. Though slack, it was still too heavy.

_Der Mann, der nichts fuerchtet, ist nicht weniger maechtig als er, der von allen gefuerchtet wird. **The man who fears nothing is not less powerful than he who is feared by everyone**_. One more worthy soul, who paid the price for the journey. It was the way of things that the good should perish so the rest would survive. The old man leaned against the beast and wept.

"... hey. Anyone out there?"

"Unbelievable!" Hah! And the bitter thing was, the Cradle probably thought they had done them all a favor anyway. Not until they made it possible, could anyone really brag about having to go one-on-one against a cyborg T-rex and win.

"... if I crawl deeper into this thing's throat, could you get one of the tanks to blast its teeth open?"

The old man began laughing.

"... this is not funny, whoever you are! I'm running out air, acid is eating into my boots, and there are still more heretics to kill!"

It took a bit more time for the monk's mirth to subside. "My apologies, let me go find a lever or somesuch."

'_When I left Germany, and my father's faith, I felt that I could no longer believe in God. Prophecy, yes, but a benevolent deity; no. I have seen more, and the only godlike being that waits beyond the veil of death is the all-devouring Primordial Chaos; the Great Mother that eats her young. We give our lives so she will not wake.' _

He looked around. There was no fate as cursed as those of a people chosen by God. And yet, through thousands of years, even as greater empires were forgotten, they remained. For their temple was not built of stone and wood and gold and burnt sacrifices, but of their own bodies.

It was happening again. Many were the dead ends, and the dead, in the path towards the immortality that is living memory. He had left in rage, even though he occasionally longed for the security of that faith. Even more terrifying was the physical proof of his adopted creed.

_'Faith in the invisible and untouchable have been the root of many abuses, and many glories, and faith in a rational universe is just as dangerous. Even the Cradle understands just how small and powerless is each individual human being. Their science, their symptomatic cause and effect, is no less a terrifying faith than anything.'_

"We will have to suffer a bit more, young soldier, before we finally get the kind and ever-watchful sheperd we so deserve. But better we don't need one through the long night." He looked up at the sky. _'Adonai, if you listen, I beg you spare him and us this bitter cup.'_

A star in the distance glittered in dark promise.

-o-

-o-

Battered, bloody, and on fire; miasma broke apart as it approached. The sunlight showed a scarred, dead land. The single remaining pocket of resistance was a jewel in both its uniqueness and fragility.

"For mankind to stand on its own! For my lands and people who cry out in pain! For wrath! For vengeance!" LCL kept Asuka Langley-Sohryu from showing any tears. Her voice broke. "DEUTSCHLAND! I HAVE RETURNED!"

Pylons began exploding, one after another, their crystals overwhelmed by the opposing energy. The Cradle-mind screamed as the AT-field scoured away at their psychic resonance.

-o-

-o-

"Holy crap. She _is _-pissed-." Kaworu muttered numbly. "While this was my intent, it has succeeded _far _beyond my projections."

"We will have to try our hardest to -kill- her, Nagisa. I trust that will -not be a problem-?"

The hybrid nodded. "I am a voice in the great Mind, a servant of the Greater Good. I am not your King, nor do I imperil you for a Queen. Do as you must, my comrades, and... good luck."

Dr. Vord Lader's biomechanical avatar collapsed into a useless lump. His voice rang through all the Cradle. "The time has come! We -fight- for our -right to exist-! We test ourselves by -destroying- the old order! We fight now! -Unseal- everything! -Release- the restrainsts! Let -nothing- be lost to hesitation!

In unity, there is -strength-!

In strength, there is -serenity-!

In serenity, there is -victory-!

We are the Techno-Apotheosic Unity! The TAU is strong, and it will prevail!"

Nagisa closed his eyes. _'I will not face Sohryu. She is here. Which means Tokyo-3 lacks the power of the S2 Engine. SEELE will make their move soon. So here shemust stay.' _The trap was set, and the prey was obliging.

One of the three Angel cores of the Earth's Cradle dimmed, and died. And then Kaworu Nagisa was half a world away.

-o-

The Tyrant Kings roared and charged. They were creatures that could breed true, but behind their jaws were powerful electromagnetic inducers, and their spines were plasma generators. What came out of their mouths were burning gases at extremely high velocity, contained in self-propagating electromagnetic fields. Weak Hellbores, but Hellbores none the less.

No defense could last long against them. It would have been much more sensible to mount energy weapons on mechanical chassis, but a point on sheer technological and power disparity had to be proven.

"**SCHLAGANN IMPACT!" **broke the air, and Unit Two's Great Hammer blasted out a crater half deep as the Eva was tall, and wide as it could hop.

Tanks a kilometer way rocked on their treads and nearly flipped over. Those cowering within trenches were nearly sucked out by air pressure. The sound of it! Like nightmares being torn apart. A lingering heavy note kept the miasma from reforming. Sping! A cartridge jacket the size of a small house ejected from the G-Impact Stake. Another compressed promethium cylinder locked into place with a loud sliding click.

'_Katridge geladen.' _the interface whispered to her ear.

Even in Tokyo-3, people were still continually unprepared to see just how BIG Evangelions really were, up close. The red Eva's stride toward the defenders' positions cast the trenches in shadow. This was the monster that they had built, but the people there never realized just how so terrible a creature they had brought into the world.

Unit 02 turned around and planted its feet firmly between the attacking army and the paltry defenders. Taurian heavy infantry, hovering drones, and assorted mechasauria-the biomass the Cradle had gathered, they were put to strong use. And now, tragicomically, as weak as the defenders had struggled.

Asuka Langley-Sohryu punted a nearby Tyrant King into the horizon. Though twice as large as a real Tyrannosaurus Rex, they were perfectly sized for kicking.

Behind her, Castle Sturmbrand dipped into a barely-controlled crash landing, with Mayumi rapidly draining the reserve capacitors. She squealed helplessly. Asuka ignored her plight, her viscous anger at the enemy stirring up the very air.

Asuka brandished her hammer. "Hell or Heaven, I don't care!" she shouted at the Cradle. "You want a piece of me, you bastards? Come and get it!"

-o-

-o-

Test upload, part 1 of 2. The other half is being reformatted, but should be up in a few hours.

Author's note:

Yes, the battlescreen is a bullshit explanation. Theoretically, there is that research with charged plasma fields, but the demands of scene goes beyond that (specially in regards to high-velocity impact of large objects). It helps that the AT-field used for propulsion traps may trap the field effect even if the damn thing was traveling at several times the speed of sound. Yes, it's magitech. But eh. Roll with it. ^_~


	39. Chapter 38: Along the Watchtower part4

-o-

"Constantin" was a celebrated name, similar to "Alexander", and thus a popular name for  
boys. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about "Valdor", for as far as he knew  
his family had been farmers and small-scale merchants even back unto the days of  
Aleksandros. He was Macedonian, though the divisions between Macedonian and  
Greek had blurred after Impact. Many of Greece' ancient historical sites, and whole  
islands besides, had vanished under the Mediterranean. Those who remained had to  
endure the collapse of global trade, the disruption in climate, and pirates and raiders all  
through the region.

He was born big, that was for many years his only virtue. He could pull as much as  
any ox or horse, and that was why in his youth he was known as the 'the Bull'. With  
his sheer strength he tried to keep his father's farm going, plowing the fields  
alongside the animals. It was not enough. The new government practiced little more  
than organized banditry.

He was the third son, and though his brothers were strong, not even the eldest had  
his might. Were it not for the clear resemblance to their father, he would have  
seemed utterly out of place. He had sisters. He had avenged what happened to one  
of them, the youngest and most beautiful; and for the bloodbath he had left he was  
called 'the Skullthrower'. He had to flee, for strength against drunken men was less  
use against bullets of awake soldiers.

If the government was stealing from the people, then those who stole from the  
government should be... patriots, right? He had joined up with actual bandits for a  
while, but found that life was just as distasteful. Everyone was hateful, there was  
no justice, nowhere in the land.

Three years after Impact, the UN brought order back into Greece. He had returned  
to his old home to find it burnt to the ground and his family nowhere to be found.  
Had his murder of the local boss so long ago provoked such punishment? It turned  
out there was nothing personal, it was just the unfortunate site of a battle. It had  
been abandoned long before then.

His brothers had been conscripted into the army. Against a force trained by Yang,  
they were dead. His sisters... they had done well enough, all considering, though  
the next youngest too had died of some illness. They had married men of low but  
honest standing, and did not need him anymore. There was nothing left for him to  
do... he did not want to settle down and find a wife, for he was young and with  
peace returned there was so much of the world to see.

Though the UN swept in to put a less corrupt government into place, there were  
still bandits and pirates about. He became a mercenary. He was good with heavy  
weapons, and his fists when necessary. They called him 'Hercules', which was  
was a Roman name. It should be Herakles, but he supposed no one (not even him)  
really gave a damn.

But none of that mattered anymore. He lived from day to day, fighting, drinking,  
whoring, until he found his way into eastern Turkey. He was hired to guard a small  
expedition up Mount Ararat. He was Orthodox, but did not really see anything special  
about the trip... when he saw who was leading the effort, it seemed like just  
another rich boy's holiday.

It was he who first called the boy '_Aleksandros' reborn_, the protector of man. In his  
name they had fought the fallen, the mutant, the undead, the heretic, and the  
traitor. He was proud to serve as the first and final guardian for mankind's hope. The  
Eva was incidental... the terror that waits beyond the stars, that was why humanity  
had to be united. The legacy of the ancients was fear and suffering.

He was sent with Sohryu. Why? Had he failed in his devotion to the cause, had his  
strength faltered somehow? He had raged, he had shouted, and he had obeyed. He  
could break the boy with one hand, but that will he could never bend. He would  
protect Sohryu and all she valued, with his life if necessary.

Nothing else mattered. He was Heraklitus, the first of his chosen. He NEEDED to be  
by Sohryu's side; that was the duty of the Custodian and bodyguard. That was the  
command.

He screamed in fury. "**_WE ARE GOING OFF COURSE!_**" Castle Sturmbrand was in a  
slow descent curving away from Gotha. What the hell was the point of going with  
Sohryu if she would just jump out of her goddamn Castle and be the first into  
battle? On on hand, he could respect that; the girl had balls of cast iron, big ones,  
in her desk drawer. On the other, she had totally stolen his move. "**_NO! TURN!  
SOMEONE TURN THIS THING BACK!_**"

Yamagishi was a sweet girl, but she was practically useless the. It was the best she  
could do NOT to bring them to fiery doom.

Each Terminator weighed nearly a ton, but they had drop pods for parachuting into  
battle. Useless unless they were over the battlefield, and even if they dropped  
exactly right then, they would STILL have to walk or find a truck into the battle.  
The Land Raider was too heavy to air-drop.

Then he spotted one of the RATO canisters used to assist the launch of Tempest  
gunships. The VTOLs weighed several dozen tons, did they not? The Rocket Assist  
Take Off canisters helped fling them out of the hangar.

Dr. Thompson coughed up blood. The Eva control center was a ruined mess, and  
they had to move to the hangar as that section had opened up into the open air.  
Without Unit-02's strong AT-field, the difference between inner and outer hulls'  
atmospheric pressures was tearing the tepellin into pieces. The technicians were  
busy trying to keep the Castle from falling apart.

One of the Heraklitus, already in full armor, approached him. "**_You seem like a  
smart guy. Mind helping me out?_**" the Terminator asked in the harsh mechanical  
rumble so indicative of his sort. **_"How should I strap this thing?_**" In his hands,  
was a RATO rocket, rated for three thousand pounds of thrust.

The NERV scientist blinked. He took off his glasses, and tried again. "You have GOT  
to be kidding."

"_**This is taking too long. Look, either help us out with this, or we're going to  
try and paradrop one of the Hummers, and take you with us**_." That solved the  
problem of finding transport towards the battle, though it meant most of the other  
Heraklitus would have to wait for landing and try to catch up with the Land Raider.

"Wait, you do realize that even vehicle airdrops are done a short distance away  
from the ground at almost stall speeds, instead of from this high up and at half the  
speed of sound?"

"**_We've done it before_**." He meant the airdrop, at low height, and low speeds.

"You're insane." the young scientist said dully.

"I'm insane." he remarked later, while helping the Heraklitus with their impromptu  
jetpacks. The few engineers he could rope into helping were disturbingly enthusiastic  
about the process.  
**  
"DEEP STRIKING!**" yelled Konstantin and two others, before throwing themselves  
out of the tepellin. Twin streaks going off into the distance marked their overture into  
the maestrom of battle. The third had presumbly gone into a death-spin.

Dr. Thompson groaned. He went over to secure chair, took off his glasses and  
clutched at his head and grit his teeth and let himself be absorbed into the darkness  
of total helpless frustration, silently mouthing curses at the universe. He did not even  
feel the crash.

The Cradle threw everything at them, anything to slow down Sohryu and buy a few  
more moments to prepare. How the situation so reversed would have been laughably  
ironic were it not so pathetic.

The Cradle did not ignore the fallen Castle Sturmbrand. The Tempest gunships could  
finally skirmish against the Asshimar battlepods. Their lascannon proved to have a  
superior firing rate, as their flight mode did not require a significant proportion of  
power just to stick it to physics. The Asshimar proved to be slightly more agile, but  
the VTOL craft had turreted guns.

With shortened reach, the Cradle was free to send out a vast killing blow. Dragons  
were meant more as terror weapons, and being self-maintaining. There were things  
like bats, that were flying bombs, but thankfully not very fast. The Cradle still did  
not know how to make 'bomb scarabs' like that which Leliel had used. The 'bomb  
bats' however, could serve like flying mines to bar airspace. With these, a few  
Asshimar actually got through the air groups and at the ground tepellin.

They transformed in mid-drop, for a Land Raider was rumbling out of the wrecked  
cargo deck; a sweet, sweet target. There was a whip-crack, and a black blur, and  
two of the Asshimar mechanoids fell out of the sky. They were mangled pieces when  
they hit the ground.

There was a great savage hiss, and from the darkness of Castle Sturmbrand two  
points of light glowed. Another pair of cracks, blurry motion, and two more of the  
white-shelled shapes were pulled towards the tepellin- only to smack into each  
other near the opening. So hard did they hit, that the shells had fused together  
into a misshapen lump.

Twin snakes slithered back into the dark. The Asshimar had transformed back to  
their podlike shapes and fired blindly into the dark. Unfortunately, because their  
weapons were hardmounted in that form, this meant they had to drift about in  
place. Easy pickings.

Evangelion Unit Three emerged from Castle Sturmbrand, its mouth open in a leer.  
Again its arms blurred, vanishing from sight for a moment. Now there were repeated  
cracks; one by one the enemy fell. Their beam guns left deep pits in Evangelion  
armor, but otherwise failed to do any harm. Crack! Crack! That sound comes from  
the tip of a whip traveling faster than sound.

A bright green flash struck at its AT-field. Castle Sturmbrand answered in turn with  
a full Lascannon barrage. More of the enemy's flying units arrived, and on the ground  
was a literal carpet of onrushing vorehounds.

Unit Three's arms flowed back into shape, and Mayumi Yamagishi made it reach out  
with palms downwards. Her AT-field squished the enemy, blood spreading out and  
trickling down into a low as a stinking acidic stream. Slowly, hunched over and  
hissing, the Evangelion walked to join its partner. The forces of the Cradle parted as  
it approached. They knew futility.

In good time, Castle Sturmbrand managed to get its weapons systems back online.  
Though they no longer had the S2 Engine to draw upon, the battlescreen snapped  
into place and would hold for a good while. The sheer toughness of its armor was  
already legendary to its enemies. They had little to fear.

Miraculously, the two Heraklitus did manage to survive deep striking into the battle,  
deploying their multi-layered parachutes once the rockets had run out. The third also  
managed to survive, though he crashed through several buildings. The wood sapped  
away enough of his momentum, though he had several broken bones even through  
the Tactical Dreadnought Armor.

The Cradle had create Brutes in mass amounts as their response to the Terminators.  
They were a poor match for the originals. Beneath the armor was muscle, subject to  
the square-cube law, unlike the Evangelions which were in effect personifications of  
altered space. The Heraklitus tossed them around and broke their formations like  
bowling pins. They now had, NNHIS name, Power Claws.

It did not take too long, the Cradle had to shorten its reach even more and fortify  
their own positions. As the world had expected, it would be settled as contest of  
gods and giants.

-o-

Sister Luminstra trembled in the cold air. Her bony grip was weak, and her steps  
hesitant. For the first time, ever since birth, she was truly blind. She had burned out  
her talents in directing that single strand of probability that formed the psychic  
shield. She was an old woman now, useless, frail... her eyes were blank, and misting  
over with tears.

Was it worth it? The mayor and the colonel had been correct, the Cradle would have  
just let them walk out of there. All the way down to Austria, if they so wanted. The  
price was the psykers who kept them 'safe'. Have they been selfish, in their own  
way? She could not see anything, but she could smell the death in the air.

They were also misled. The power of the Cradle was not infinite. The population of  
Germany was a recovering sixty million out of Impact, and many still survived in the  
untouched southern regions. If the Cradle had won, if they had enough of an edge to  
defeat the Evangelions who have come to purge them... then nothing could save  
those remaining.

Her people had been sacrificed, again, at the altar of warfare. The undying had, as  
the true book of the dead warned, burnt in the fires of the vengeful sun.

"You're afraid, Michal." She had felt his muscles of his arms stiffen. "What is it?"

The answer was in how the ground itself trembled, and the nearby heavy crunch of  
boulders giving way. The air felt even colder.

"The god-machine." Feckeldraft whispered, grimacing. He had to look up, so far that  
his neck pained. His mind screamed at the sheer size of the monstrosity. Its mere  
existence was an affront to the natural order. It was a living blasphemy. How could  
anyone ever get used to it? To enjoy it? To revere it?

He had trained Shinji Ikari, but though he had recognized the compelling quality in  
the boy, he had never really understood how anyone could twist whole nations into  
compliance. Now he understood.

Unit 02's shadow stretched across Gotha. Even the old fortress seemed like a sand  
castle to its girth. In abbreviated Titanicus armor, it had a hunched-over and even  
more bestial air. Blood-red paint gave stark contrast against the clear blue sky. Unit  
03 joined it eventually, and together their AT-fields scoured miasma from tens of  
kilometers around.

The Cradle's power was subtle. This was not. It was raw, savage, and hot. "It is the  
sound and the fury, even if for now it serves..." the monk muttered. Control over  
such a beast could only ever be an illusion.

Castle Stumbrand remained a fallen, wounded thing. They had gutted it, brought to  
Gotha almost anything that may be useful. Food, specially. Weapons, next. The  
cargo considerations for these were an afterthought... in fact, they had brought too  
much, so inconsequential was their weight compared to what the tepellin had to bear  
from its own shell.

Asuka Langley-Sohryu. She was smaller than they expected. Cuter, too. Her eyes  
were still red from angry tears. She was an Eva pilot, Shinji Ikari's equal in many  
ways and in others his superior. She had often looked on with a mixture of disdain  
and disbelief at the blatant worship Tokyo-3 (and other parts of the world) directed  
towards her chosen companion... but now that she was on the recieving end of it...  
she had no idea what to do.

This adulation, this outpouring of gratitude... it was, for so long the very thing she  
had worked for, had alienated so many just for the knowledge that someday all  
would have to acknowledge her prowess. And now it was here. It tasted like ashes.

"No, you have been... very brave." she answered tightly. "Get up! I'm just a girl. You  
saved yourselves!"

It was far harder than she had thought. _'I can enjoy this. I can convince myself of  
this being my rightful due..._' But it was a luxury she could not afford. Delusion and  
contrivance could only make her weak, and it was her power that earned her the  
place in the sun.

She reached town to take a fistful of dirt. It was dry, crumbly, and gray. More than  
just biomass, the Cradle had leeched the very life from her lands.

Asuka tossed it aside, and people recoiled from the plume of dust. "Who's in charge  
here?" she spat.

Feckeldraft looked to his mentor, who shook his head. Even he did not dare; the  
Psykana were supposed to be outside the normal chain of command. The mayor still  
lived, but he had already abased himself to her presence. She knew he had no real  
influence in matters of true importance.

Almost immediately after the fighting, Colonel Schaft had taken his own pistol and  
blew his own brains out. Perhaps the shame was too much to bear, or he did not want  
to see just how things go worse . He had seen the Evangelion up close, and it was  
enough. Nothing else mattered. The history of humanity was over and done.

From the gathered group of troopers, someone was pushed out to the front. He ate  
dirt. Asuka looked on, impassive, as he got up and dusted himself off. "You stupid  
bastards..." he was muttering.

"Don't make us give you another victory throw into the air again, sir..." one  
threatened in the anonymous safety of the multitude.

"Bastards..."

Asuka looked him over. He was young, and had a proud posture. He lacked rank  
pips, but his eyes were empty of feeling. She recognized that stare. She had seen  
in the eyes of the two boys she claimed to love, and in her own in the mirror.

"What's your name, _krieger_?" she asked with a slight nod at his salute.

"Wilfred Ingram..." He took a deep breath, and reverted to his birth name. He was  
the little wolf by the stream; forced out from the shadow of the hunter that was his  
brother. "Wulfenbach, _panzertrupper _First Class, formerly of the Bund's 4th Division."

Asuka raised an eyebrow. "_Von _Wulfenbach?"

"... not for a long time now, _kriegsmarie_." he added stiffly.

Asuka snorted, most unlady-like. "Well, maybe again." She looked around. Dust,  
debris, death. "We've got a lot of work to do. Wulfenbach, you are now a lieutenant.  
We have the guns. Gather your men and whoever wants to volunteer. This area is  
clear, so send out people to find trucks and whatever will run.

Make a list, drill a bit, eat! We assault the Cradle at noon!" She paused. "No, wait,  
make that at three o'clock."

He saluted again. "As you wish. For war and Sohryu." She had winced at that, then  
went away. The entire command structure for Germany had gone to pot. Perhaps  
enough of the government or rear-echelon military officials survived in the far  
southern shelters, but not even they would dare oppose Sohryu at that point. She  
was Kaiserin in all but open declaration.

She now understood why baka Shinji ran from open crowds. She stomped back to  
the bivouac to rest. When Mayumi volunteered to give her a massage, she did not  
resist. Blessedly quickly, she fell asleep.

Outside, shouts of KRIEG! filled the air. The soul of Germany lived, but things would  
not be the same again.

The special 747 flight touched down at (Kyoto airport) and the NERV delegation had  
to travel in a limousine back to Hakone. It was easy to see where Japan ended and  
Tokyo-3 began. A pair of large AA towers straddled the highway heading southwest  
and, in the distance, sleek black stone walls closed off scenic valleys. Cannon roots  
dotted the hills and mountains. Past the road tunnel the city itself unfolded like some  
demented game board with its regular grid of city streets, pits and tips of strongpoint  
defenses, and winding .

"It's good to be home again, Ikari." Fuyutsuki murmured, while taking a deep breath  
of sterile recycled air. "No matter what happens, it's still where we belong."

Gendo gave a slight snort. The attempt to kidnap them along the way was  
amateurish at best. Most of SEELE's assets had already been drained away into  
NERV's own reserves. All inconsequential compared to the power of the Moon Cradle,  
but it was still insulting.

"Nagisa's offer is moot." the old man added. "Sohryu will crush him."

"Perhaps. It doesn't matter either way. Nagisa is also an amateur in the Great Game,  
and had already thrown away his opening." The rumble of the elevators stilled, and  
doors opened with a hiss. The hubbub of activity greeted them, the noise almost a  
physical blow.

No longer did NERV fill its corridors with just solemn emptiness and the distant  
mysterious mechanical sounds. Employment, just as the city itself, bloomed under  
the passing of crisis. Danger pay was attractive pay, and NERV could well afford it.  
A sizable portion came from the UN, and other 'donations'... but as the goverment  
over a semi-independent city, there was also taxes for the use of their land and  
their technologies. NERV and NNHIS, once adversaries, had all but married into  
mutual respect and useful partnership.

_'Knowing each other over a bed of coals...' _popped into Fuyutsuki's mind. The energy  
of the city occassionaly tired him out. He wondered if Gendo ever entertained  
thoughts of losing touch and being left behind. It should be his horror; losing, not  
power, but the control that power provided.

None of that showed in Gendo Ikari's face, however. His confident stride was that  
of a returning conqueror. "Stop slacking off." he told Shigeru, who was there to  
welcome them back into command. "Get this base back to high alert, and call  
Akagi and Katsuragi. We have important things to discuss."

Ritsuko Akagi was enjoying her first uninterrupted stretch of sleep for the past week  
when the call arrived. Her body screamed at the shock to her bio-rythmns, but she  
was still delighted that he had returned. A part of her wanted to throw into his face  
all that he had accomplished; without words shouting to the world "Behold! The  
shadow of the Red Tower! I am NOT replaceable!" while another simply wanted to  
feel what the elder Ikari would do to confirm his controls.

She yawned as she headed deeper into NERV's lower levels, towards her private  
laboratory. There were several documents she needed, proof for an 'incremental full  
disclosure' that was really but another layer of prepared lies.

She ticked out in her head just what the world apparently knew about NERV and the  
Evangelion.

1. The public now knew that the Evangelions were created from a mixture of Angel  
and human technologies. NERV used to contain the Artificial Evolution Lab, but their  
advances did veer towards the ridiculous. NERV still pulled new tech seemingly out of  
thin air, but at least it was a lot less ridiculous. For 15 years, they would have had  
the world believe they had a monopoly on transcendal genius? Ridiculous. It was a  
brilliant enough achievement to puzzle out alien biologies.

2. The official response was that the world had enough on its plate after Impact, that  
being told their suffering was just the opening stage of an invasion would have  
crippled morale and essential restoration efforts. Jet Alone and etc. proved that most  
of the world's governments and the military-industrial complex was in on the  
conspiracy. It was to keep idiots who would want to try negotiating with the aliens  
from disrupting the preparations for the defense of the entire planet.

3. Why are the Angels attacking? They want Earth, for some reason or another. Why  
Tokyo-3? The original Angel carcass was there, used to build the Evangelions, and it  
served something like a beacon to the Angels. There was no reasoning with the  
Angels, for they did not possess an intelligence similar to mankind. They were the  
(so-far seen) apex predators of the universe, and Earth just one more hunting  
ground.

4. Apart from Gendo Ikari's explanations, younger Ikari also brought in knowledge  
that both muddled and supported the issue. The psykers hinted that it might not  
have been the first time Angels had come to Earth, and they were less driven off  
by those defenders at the time than the creatures eventually had their fill and left  
or that they went off (like scouts) to call the rest of the pack. They were the source  
of the great, primordial monsters in mankind's collective unconscious.

Ritsuko nodded. Palatable reasoning, specially if served with a good dose of mea  
culpa from those involved. All lies, of course. If Nagisa simply did not project such  
an aura of smug superiority, his truths would have been a lot more believable. The  
boy sought to change mankind, simply because he was incapable of handling mankind  
as it stood. Ritsuko yawned. If logic alone was enough to convince people, there  
would be no need for leader figures.

Her lab was a mess. Papers with half-remembered designs and equations were  
stacked high over desks and tables, a whiteboard was filled with more numbers and  
DNA strings leading up to two conclusions. [ a) recursive stupidity? and  
b)= interesting, but scary?]

A Tesla coil sparked on the wall, for ambiance. Some enterprising geeks had figured  
out that by directingthe frequencies, it was possible to play music with lightning. She  
used it as an alarm clock. A large purple sofa with a rumpled blanket was to her left,  
and a discarded bra (not hers) upon it.

Ritsuko yawned again as she passed the specimen displays. Liquid bubbled up in  
small preservation tanks and aquariums. She paused. One of tanks was empty.  
_  
'Shit'._ Perhaps she had grown far too complacent with how near everyone jumped to  
her authority. Was it spite or ego that led her to keep a living angeli annelid mentis  
as a trophy? She would strip secrets from the evil little thing; a cure to its infestation  
would also help against senility and other neural degradations.

The locks were undisturbed. Someone who could fake her thumbprint into the reader  
and input six-digit code had stolen a most dangerous sample. Ritsuko reached for  
the phone, but saw a cut line. For security's sake, the lab had only one hardware  
information access point. Though it was 2015, cellphones were still cumbersome, thus  
Ritsuko did not carry one around while indoors at NERV.

_'Maya?_' Who else would know her codes, or even the system ovveride? She used the  
young woman as she herself had been used, but... no. Ritsuko shook her head. It  
would be redundant, for Lt. Ibuki already knew almost as much as her about  
Angelspawn physiology. NERV was a festering pit of lies and betrayals, however, so  
she could never really be so sure. The blonde scientist pulled out the papers she  
needed.

The place had to be locked down. Psykana were not allowed inside the geofront, so  
the mindworm could already be anywhere... or anyone... in NERV. She grit her teeth  
as she opened went to the door. None of the pilots, even Ayanami, were quite so  
immune to infestation. Oh, yeah, '_fucking telepathy_', the Cradle could order an  
assassination attempt to anyone from half a world away.

The door opened with a hiss. She gasped.

"You? But... why would...?"

Ritsuko saw spots before her eyes. She let out a pained gurgle and doubled over,  
reeling from the blow to her solar plexus. As she lay there on the floor, she felt a  
cold, crawling sensation to the back of her neck.

"NO!" she yelped, trying to reach -o- PAIN! Teeth tore out the flesh right underneath  
her skull, injecting acid into bone, trying to bore right through. Her vision began to  
fade from the searing pain. '_Neurotoxin_...' she remembered, firing off all pain signals  
at once, and making sure the prey can't move.

She saw black shoes walking calmly away. Betrayals at NERV, nothing unusual. She  
screamed. She was blind. It had already eaten into her vision center. There was a  
numb feeling of bliss alongside the wracking anguish- she was feeling her central  
nervous system beginning to give way.

'_Apotoxin_.' was Ritsuko's final thought. She could not move to get at the thing at the  
back of her neck, but her spine was still working. Not for much longer. She had but  
a few precious seconds to reach into her labcoat pocket, and grab at a thumb-sized  
hypodermic dispenser. She clutched at it, stabbing its point right into the flesh of  
her palm, and poison flowed directly into her bloodstream.

And Ritsuko Akagi knew no more.

The sliding door shissed open, and Gendo Ikari came striding into the briefing room.  
He looked around, at the guarded expressions waiting for him. He frowned. "Akagi  
isn't here yet?"

"She's... tired, sir." Misato said carefully. "I'm sure she'll be along. Maya's already  
gone off to look for her. " Already there were Misato, Kaji, Fuyutsuki, and Makoto.

"A command officer should not have to go off just to fetch another. That is why we  
have junior employees." Gendo gave a slight shrug and took his seat at the head of  
the table. "Enough. We will begin without her.

The United Nations, prior to the Cradle's attack, had issued an ultimatum calling for  
greater oversight over our operations." He slapped down the manila folder he was  
carrying. "This is the unofficial declaration of surrender of the United Nations of this  
world to whoever manages to take control over Tokyo-3. We are now, in effect, our  
own independent state -o- but as the UN does not have any idea of how many Angels  
there will be... whoever controls the grofront can hold the world hostage. Contact  
between the Angels and the thing they seek will begin Third Impact."

Kaji blinked. "But... YOU control Tokyo-3, (cobra) commander."

"Shut up, Ryouji." Gendo and Fuyutsuki said at the same time.

"UN Oversight may be permitted but not to interefere with the vital effort of actually  
defending the human race. No one else can do this job like we can. We have been  
forced into disclosure, but at least we now have the resources to do something about  
the situation. We contain deep within Geofront the Angel known as 'Adam', which  
crashed on Earth billions of years ago. Certain parties and nations had already been  
aware of this. Relocating the carcasse is not pos-"

The lights abruptly turned red. The entire geofront rang with alerts. Misato stood  
up. "An Angel attack?"

Maya appeared on one of the wall monitors. "Emergency! Misato-sempai, it's bad!"

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Are the pilots already at the gantries? Don't wait for  
my order, attack the thing ASAP." There was no longer any need to watch out for  
unexpected enemy developments. It was best that they got over the little power  
displays quickly.

"No, not that... this is a different emergency! Ritsuko-sempai's been attacked!  
We're in trouble here inside the Geofront. Misato-sempai, please authorize a base  
lockdown."

"What about Ritsuko?"

"She's... stable." Maya looked away. "It was very close, but she managed to  
survive. I don't... please, I don't want to talk about in on an open channel. We're  
at the infirmary."

Gendo looked genuinely surprised. Akagi was too valuable and knew too much, for  
any of the sides to strike at her directly.

-o-

Evangelion Unit 02 sat cross-legged as if meditating. The G-Impact Stake, also  
known as the _Ernster Einschläg_, was the last relic of NERV's German Branch.  
Technically, Germany had two sites; one on Berlin-2 and the other in Hamburg. The  
latter had even less defenses than the primary site, and thus fell even quicker into ruin.

Germany was there reason for NERV's existence. SEELE, as GEHRIN, had funded the  
Artificial Evolution Lab at Hakone and paved the way for its becoming Tokyo-3. They  
had taken the most damage out of the Human-Angel conflict... partly as ironic  
misfortune, and the results of complacency in expecting one little city out of all the  
world to absorb all the damage. The radioactive ruins were the reason other nations  
abruptly stopped trying to build even more Evangelions.

In the words of the project manager at the NERV Nevada site "Unless you're ready  
to fortify up the wazoo and devote your entire economy to making sure that Eva  
survives, then there's no point in trying." America's reserves seemed more than  
enough for the task, then Nagisa ganked their newest Eva to turn humanity's last  
bolthole into an engine of their destruction.

Four Evangelions. No will to build more, no time to do it anyway. Those four would  
have to defend the whole world. No more playing around with reserve pilot  
candidates. All or nothing. The pressure was immense.

Large cables linked Unit 02's T-modules to Unit 03's own, and to capacitor trucks  
on the ground. The Black Eva lay face-up some distance away, as engineers refit  
its modular components for fire support tasks.

Below gathered the forces ready to assault the Cradle. The two Land Raiders,  
one blue and one red, seemed to glare at each other. The Wudan pattern was  
slightly larger, but the Olympus pattern from NNHIS had a stronger bite with its  
twin-link lascannons. Around them had gathered quite a motley crew.

The Psykana had taken a savage beating, for even active battle precognition had its  
limits. Yang had ordered rapid deployment troops on a blind seaborne mission... the  
Chinese assets were the admiral's Marines, of course. The delivery had focused on  
bringing essential vehicles and weapons over personnel, which was good news for  
the remaining troops. They were all organized into ten-man squads, each to a  
Chimera. The newly-arrived Psykana were dispersed, one to each squad, with  
their own assault squads led by The Sunshine Kid and Feckeldraft. They tried to keep  
the old command chain intact, but it culminated with the Tokyo-3 officers and Asuka  
Langley-Sohryu. The battle ahead, there would be no room for fear or argument. If  
anyone had any doubts, it was best they removed themselves from the assembly  
or make their case to a Power Fist.

"Okay. I'm not good at speeches, so... let's keep this short. 'Kay? First of all, I want  
to thank you." Asuka said to the gathering. "Thank you for hanging in there, thank  
you for coming to help. This is not about saving Germany, this isn't even for revenge.  
The situation hasn't changed. It's still about survival."

The civilians had gathered around Castle Sturmbrand while others searched for  
trucks. Some of the families decided to head further south anyway. The military  
could not spare many soldiers or vehicles for escorting duty. The convoy, once they  
got underway, would be practically defenseless. Their hope was that the assault upon  
the Cradle would distract the enemy to such an extent that the helpless populace  
would be left alone. Better yet, if -somehow- they could defeat the Cradle quickly.

"It's not going to be easy, I'm not gonna lie to you. The Cradle has around thirty to  
sixty thousand people inside, and we don't know how many combat forms. Oh, sure,  
the Eva can smack around its defenders, but only from the outside. You're going to  
have to end it, to destroy their capacity to wage war, from the inside. The whole  
lot of you will likely die." She shrugged. "Got a problem with that?"

"Death or war." was the murmur across the gathered troops.

"Good! THEN LOAD UP! WE GO TO CRACK THE CRADLE!"

A joyous roar rose, and soon they were off. The autobahn was still there, and they  
could make good time. The Land Raiders and Lem'an Rus fitted with dozer blades  
led the columns, plowing aside ruined vehicles in the way. Chimeras and trucks  
followed, and tailing behind were even larger cargo carriers for the capacitors and  
Evangelion weapons. Flanking the troops on either side, were the Evangelions, their  
mighty stride keeping pace with the motorized advance.

Inside one of the trucks, Wilfred wondered if that was the new face of war. Around  
the shadows of Titans, people would fight in escalating savagery. Like water boiling  
under pressure. The presence of such monstrous war machines did not obsolete the  
fighting man, only forcing them to give lie to the futility of fighting. He looked  
around. Besides, even the Eva required reserve power and weapon reloads. Nothing  
had changed. Man was still the best at killing man.

"Everybody close your eyes!" blasted through the radios.

They did, even if they were going at full speed or safely inside armored hulls,  
remembering the ultimate command "Follow Sohryu, no matter what". There  
was nearby heavy boom, the ground shook a bit, and then a ringing silence.

A few heartbeats later, and they were allowed to ease up. "Holy ...! The bastards  
just tried to nuke us, didn't they?" spat the soldier next to Wilfred. Outside, a  
brilliant white halo of clouds hovered above the highways.

Angels did not realize that a nuclear explosion caused damage through different  
components. The AT-field, as a region of absolute certainty, could only really  
do one thing at a time. Heat, pressure, and the radiation... only a human mind  
with full knowledge of its own weapons could have a crafted a shield to deflect  
or even reflect these effects.

Creatures leapt out of hidden burrows, breaking into the defensive perimeter before  
anyone could react. Bolters and autocannons barked, flamers went to full. Some  
of the vehicles fell behind, and were quickly overwhelmed. Not for a moment did the  
rest of the advance slow down. Looking from above, Mayumi was reminded of a pack  
of jackals after a herd of wildebeest... only here the jackals outnumbered their prey  
by three to one.

-o-

"Nothing's workiiing..." Martin hissed. "Okay, stop. Just stop. STOP DYING!" Unlike  
Kaworu, he could maintain a connection to the Cradle-Mind, but like the hybrid liked  
asserting his independence from it. The necessity of controlling an AT-field forced the  
separation. It was apparent enough that Cradlemind was displeased, however.

"Perhaps it would be best to conserve power and biomass. This is not delaying  
Sohryu." Sarah added softly. There was the undercurrent of '_you do not comprise  
the entirety of the Hivemind, Doctor Lader.'_

"Fools! Nagisa has taken -one- of the Angel cores. This Cradle requires -another- to  
keep its integrity, so the both of you must -share- the output of a single Core. The  
S2 Engine is different from the Core itself, but it is the latter that determines the rate  
of utilization." A portion of his Mind continued to lash out at the distance. "It is more  
than -possible- to overwhelm Sohryu's own defensive capabilities."

"Then why don't you just hit her with the same beam we used to attack THE  
MOON?"

"It is a poor tactician that leaves nothing in -reserve-. If she dodges it, or withstands  
it, then we are left dry. Then we die. You must fight at close range, neutralize her  
AT-field, and only then can we expect any attack to have a chance of success."

"The shortened reach." Sarah whispered. "The greatest number of stratagems is  
available where one possesses the advantage of terrain or resources."

"Ah, but it's also written that it's better to fight at the enemy's home ground rather  
than in yours." Martin jabbed away.

"The -Hivemind- does you good." Dr. Lader had to admit. There were benefits to  
Nagisa's ethos, if one were just willing to pay the price. "But we have no more  
-choice- in this matter. So -be silent- and let your Warborn drink of its fill. Your  
meatbag comments do not help quicken the process." Though still monotonous, his  
voice turned ever more serious. "The time will arrive, worry not. You will walk as  
a new God."

Lader was a corruption of 'adler', or 'eagle'. The scientist had never known his  
great-grandfather, but there were enough hints that the man had been involved  
with rocketry. His grandparents had emigrated to the United States afterward,  
rearranging their name into something that sounded inoffensive. Lader sounded  
like some old-time cabinet. In all respects they had lived quite sedate, normal lives  
as produce shopkeepers.

His parents had fully absorbed themselves into the culture of rebellion. They were  
geeks before the word passed into lingo, nerds burning with raw physicality. His  
father worked on the programming of computers that were as yet half-built, and his  
mother... was a biochemist. They were freaks, and proud of it, and had many friends  
in many fields and walks of life. They rocked science, and rocked it hard. He was  
child of the eighties, riding technology out of control, when lasers and giant robots  
tickled little boy's fantasies.

Dr. Lader's held the promise of the Cradle. The problem was, as Akagi has said, 'the  
fool was a -_transhumanist_- the same way Misato was a -_teetotaller_-.' In other words,  
the exact opposite. Nagisa might think he was paving the way for a better humanity,  
but Dr. Sean Vord Lader was a -_post-humanist_-. Humanity was a failed experiment,  
a dead end. Clean it up, start over.

Was it really fair to blame the Transformers for all of this? How could such blazing  
personalities as his parents produce such a darkly brilliant boy? It could not be just  
the name. Children were cruel, but no worse perhaps than being teased for having  
been named 'Jesus' or 'Abraham Lincoln II' or 'Elvis' or 'Frodo'. After all, there was  
some guy out there named 'Trout Fishing in Nevada'. And he had chosen such a  
-_unique_- moniker for himself.

A child, hiding in the bushes, trying to stop himself from crying, holding his breath  
and feeling his heart pound until it seems like it would burst right out of his chest. A  
young man, trying for an aloof 'bad boy' persona that only predictably led him to  
being seen as a freakish loner. Never having to hurt again. The flesh was weak and  
full of pain, moments of joy fleeting in the loneliness and the ever greater dangers  
of knowing the folly and meaningless delights of other beings. He could not pretend  
to be sociable, to hide his sheer contempt for others. No one could hate him as much  
as he loathed himself and his fleshbag weaknesses, so it seemed to balance out.

The concept of suicide was puzzling in how some opt to throw away their single and  
most precious existence for pains that others could endure daily without a second  
thought. Faith itself seemed meaningless; the horrors of religion were clear, while  
many an atheist or agnostic were tolerant and generous people in all other respects.  
His mind was his value, but was it worth throwing aside everything else? Had he  
been born in a different era, he would have been anything from a vizier, a wizard, a  
hermit, or most likely burned as a heretic. But he did not hurt. Moral suicide was not  
yet a death.

Yet many more lived through even worse 'travails' and led more open and successful  
lives. He did not know what he was missing. How about Akagi? In many ways they  
were similar, but also.. not. People found her acerbic on occasion, true, but she was  
still respected if not well-liked. Was it just because she was -pretty-? Because she  
could compromise her personal integrity enough to present such a fake façade for  
others' worthless little concerns?

Dr. Lader did not waste time with shame or excuses. He was no longer bound by  
instinct or the bio-feeback from choices, chemicals to tell him if what he did was  
'good' or 'bad'… held hostage by various invisible cues when dealing with other  
beings. He fractured his own mind into a thousand shards, and each into a thousand  
more, and every single one devoted to finding more methods to cause pain, fear,  
and humiliation. Perhaps, it was just so simple as that some people quite so...  
**_enjoyed_**... being an asshole.

Nagisa had hurried to lever his controls into place, and just because obvious weak  
points were -obvious-, did not mean they were not worth using. Not even Nagisa  
desired perfect unity in the hivemind. Conflict kept life interesting.

_A deep pearl, a metal heart  
That jagged flaw around which glory builds  
And we all eat of our insanity  
And we all drink of our insanity  
And we cast it back into the sea_

Dr. Lader had no more eyelids per se, but he blinked in confusion. Now why did he  
think that all of a sudden? Ah. Sarah Campbell was, of course, also part of the  
Cradle-Mind. _'Bah, fifty thousand minds all joining together into a boundless gestalt  
and what do I get? Bad poetry.'_

"Tentacles?" Asuka screeched, aghast and disbelieving. "Gaah! Enough of this crap!  
Get out of my way!"

Her chainaxe sang and bit into the thick veiny protruberance blocking the road. She  
then used the momentum of that swing to turn about and throw the axe, a long  
chain extending from inside the handle. The roaring blades chopped into a few more  
strangling growths before wrapping around a tall tower shaped like a sea anemone.  
Its oral ring of tentacles seemed to function in the same way as Unit 03's extendable  
limbs, much to Yamagishi's displeasure.

Unit 02 plugged the end of the chainaxe into a socket on its bracer. The smell of  
ozone wafted through the air, and sparks danced along the links. The polyp-tower  
let out a screech, and writhed, and its tentacles whipped about in powerful frenzy.

Asuka felt like vomiting, but she had experience on how that was a Bad Idea inside  
an entry plug filled with LCL. Its toothed mouth at the tip was ringed with tentacles  
that throbbed. It was turning pink, screeching with pain, or anger, or likely...

Below, inside the NERV Mobile Control Center, Wilfred hissed at the screens. "It's not  
working." Other displays showed army attempts to fight without getting in the way.  
"She's just feeding it more energy. It LIKES it."

Dr. Thompson's eyeglasses glinted. "Wait for it..."

With the S2 Engine, the capacitors that made Titanicus modules so bulky became  
redundant. Unit 02 carried only the chestplate and shoulder hood assembly that  
gave T-type Evangelions such a distinctive hunched appearance, and comparatively  
thin armor plates over its arms. The 'Reaver' pattern of the Titan modules was one  
seamless shell around the chest and shoulders. It did not have, or need, the  
powered asssistance of full Titanicus gear; as much of that was simply to get the Eva  
moving under the strain of all the junk it would have to carry into combat.

A small window on Asuka HUD showed capacitor banks draining. She kept pouring  
amperage through the chain. Soon enough the tower began screeching for a  
different reason, and its tentacular tendrils began exploding, and it collapsed into  
itself; a smoking, stinking heap.

"Electrons are electrons in the end." the scientist from NERV Boston remarked with  
relief. "Even creatures that can generate electricity can only store so much before  
their own cells start to -cook- from the energy running through."

The Evangelion's capacitors were starting to refill from the trickle charge. The  
chainaxe retracted back into its shaft, its blades stained with purplish ichor. Unit 02  
looked to the distance, at the Cradle looming large. Miasma clung to it, like a wispy  
robe.

Unit 03 kept the AT-field barrier up, while blasting out now and then with its  
shoulder-mounted turbolaser batteries. It carried more of the capacitor modules, in  
the more box-like 'Warlord' pattern of the Titanicus equipment. Its extendable arms  
and legs remained unburdened however.

"Reload!"

Trucks hastened to obey. Unit 02 did not need to carry the weight of so many  
capacitors just to support extended operations, so could devote that capacity  
instead to weapons. Asuka slid the Great Chainaxe back into its slot and unslung the  
Great Bolter from its hooks on her backpack. She reached down to pick up a  
magazine from the ammo carrier, slid it in, and fired at the shadow of something  
approaching.

Rocket rounds streaked through the distance, and splashed harmlessly against an  
a barrier of cocentric red hexagons.

There was a drawn-out 'PWONG', and a blue flash, and Asuka felt something strike  
at her chestplate. HARD. Unit 02 fell over.

A steady 'vip-vip-VIP' was the sound of Unit-03's fast-cyling laser cannons, keeping  
the enemy's defensive field up with supressing fire. There was another loud 'PWONG',  
but that attack was stopped by Unit-03's own AT-field. Clearly, whatever attack the  
enemy was using, it was (like hers) independent of its own AT-field or power supply.

Unit-02's four eyes flashed, and it slapped its right palm down at the ground. The  
shock for some reason made the fallen Great Bolter bounce, and the red Eva  
snatched it from the air. One-handed, it pointed the weapon up and let a stream  
of burning Bolts rip at a distant shape in the air. Asuka rolled aside, as corrosive  
balls impacted the ground where she lay. The acid dissolved through concrete and  
soil, down to the bedrock.

Unit-02 stood up and let out an irritated growl. Standard Evangelion armor was  
composed of angled plates, with a thousand layers of armor material. Titanicus  
armor added to the chestplate ceramic-infused titanium, diamond-steel mesh, and  
ablative layers designed against directed energy attacks. Asuka could feel a burning  
sensation just below her left collarbone. A high-energy kinetic strike- that which the  
AT-field was best at deflecting. But again, the AT-field for all its power could do only  
one thing at a time. '_Damn, I was too focused on direct combat again._'

The Evangelion had a mind of its own, and it did not think the same way as human  
beings. Or even any other animal on the planet. The square-cube law would have  
meant not even the Eva could support its own weight, much less perform such feats  
of strength; but like all Angels seemed to exist within its own bubble of altered  
spacetime. Even down to its cells, down to the very last atom; it was never really  
part of the universe at all.

It was a historical fact that sometimes in the heat of battle, even the berserker could  
find a certain serenity, where every motion flows seamlessly into the next, and time  
itself seems to lose all meaning. To Asuka, all that meant was that her senses could  
expand to extraordinarly levels, there was this feeling of omniscience, as if the world  
itself turned so slowly and she could see things almost before they happened. This  
battle reflex mode could only come when the AT-field was directed inwards, rather  
than wasted on showy displays. Ritsuko Akagi could have told her she was eroding  
her own personal AT-field, and all the dangers that implied... but Asuka thought it was  
just a normal extension of battlerage.

"Target switch! Yamagishi, take the air. I'll handle that idiot with the Railgun.  
Everyone else, the Cradle! We destroy that, and this is over! CHARGE!"

Unit-02 roared, and began running. Fighting against Ikari and Ayanami forced her to  
create and discard tactics and techniques on the fly. Even the power of the S2  
Engine could be defeated with proper tactics or sheer willpower; after all, they had  
defeated Angels with their own S2 Organs before.

It was as if they were meant to battle each other, in that own special time and frame  
of mind... that's where they LIVED. People always thought it was knowing each  
other's strengths and limits so perfectly, that the best they could hope for was a  
stalemate. Idiots. Who was this now that dared to challenge her? She stood amongst  
a new pantheon, the Titans, the beginning of a new age born of blood and sinew.

A blue flash, and the metallic sound following close behind. The air around the red  
Evangelion seemed to explode outwards, her every step leaving deep craters. She  
could see it... like ripples on water, the approaching hypervelocity slugs. So slow.  
Her Great Bolter barked once, twice, and slower Bolt rounds left orange trails through  
the distance. Once again, where hypersonic object met hypersonic object, both  
would just liquefy. But explosively so.

Unit 02 passed through the obscuring cloud, and beheld her enemy. The Jagd Wulf  
still had that long, saurian back, but now had a more wolf-like face with fangs.  
Barbed quills still protruded from the back of its skull. On its back it carried twin  
Rail launchers, massively more powerful than any Evangelion-portable weapon. The  
slugs were infused with psychic energy, to simply _ignore_ AT-fields.

Asuka felt her vision go bright for a moment, pain consuming her mind, and she  
stumbled. Unit-02 faceplanted into the dirt, narrowly avoiding getting its face  
sheared off by a heavy particle stream. Godzilla, the Jagd Wulf was not; but that  
was a melta.

The was always a price for power. Asuka knew that well. Run fast enough, see too  
much, and there was always a wall waiting. She dropped the Bolter and unslung her  
chainaxe, and threw it again. It spun like a boomerang, and shredded the long  
launchers on the Warborn's back.

And like a boomerang, it returned to her outstretched hand.

"Where is he?" Asuka demanded through the open link. "Make him come out! I want  
to hear his excuses before I kick his teeth in! He will EXPLAIN himself to me!"

Martin Arthur Bettelheim smirked. "Nagisa is... somewhere else. Do not overestimate  
your importance to him, Sohryu, based on the possession of a pair of tits."

The Jagd Wulf's corpse-white shell began to twist and reform, tilting its torso back to  
a more humanoid stance. Its wolf's-head with six blazing orange eyes opened its  
jaws, exposing rows of vorpal teeth. Its shoulder-blades moved back, and its arms  
lengthened and thickened, serrated claws flicking out at the tips if its fingers. It  
howled. The Trident Warborn, Jagd Wulf -Werwulf-. '_Why that shape?_'

The double-jointed limbs made it FAST, leaps and bursts of speed greater than the  
Evangelion. It was STRONG. The human shape was not perfect; among the predatory  
animals it lacked in speed or strength or even sharp bodily implements.

Wham! Asuka managed to turn the axe just in time. The oversized axe-head also  
served as an effective shield. Her Eva was had to ben backwards, its feet digging  
deep furrows into the ground, its spine strained from the weight of the enemy. Unit-  
02 had muscles, but not quite as thick or many. Claws dug into metal, and pulled the  
weapon free from her hands. Jaws that could bit through her torso snapped at  
her head. Unit-02's Titan modules completely lacked onboard weapons.

Asuka let go, dived down, grabbed the enemy by the waist and slammed it to the  
ground in a textbook German Suplex. Its head cratered a section of the autobahn.  
A single lane away, tanks and troops hurried past; while the enemy was so dazed.

Martin struggled in her grip. Asuka pitched over to the side, and took some  
fighting room. Their AT-fields meshed and neutralized each other. The Jagd Wulf  
bared its teeth again. Unit-02 reached back and pulled free its hammer. A catridge  
locked into place.

An axe-age, a sword-age, a fire-age, a knuckle-age; all this and more would come  
to pass. _'On his damn fool head!' _She screamed and leapt, meeting him mid-air.

-o-

_Hear the Cradle, my friend, my friend  
Life is no curse, nor death the reward  
To the vistas we have yet to explore  
Bend no more to a debt never yours_

Mayumi Yamagishi had her own problems. Her nemesis, Sarah Campbell, too had her  
own problems; mentally at least. With bored ease she twisted her Trident Warborn  
away from another laser volley. Laser pulses might travel at the speed of light, but  
Unit-03's shoulder-mounted turbolaser cannons had a very limited vertical traverse.

Flight was such a wonder. Mankind had never really conquered the void. They might  
try, with their machines, with their world records, but at the end they were all still  
souls trapped in the well of gravity. They flung themselves into the expanse, and  
always they fell. Back into the grime, the crowded plane, the prison of two cardinal  
dimensions. How could they bear it? They were all so limited... so blind. Unable to  
see the big picture, again and again repeating the same old mistakes.

She thought back to that little cell in Johannesburg. The sky was her only release.  
The steel-barred windows were too high for her to see anything, but she could hear  
the hints of being in a city. And it did not matter. She could scream, she could  
cry, she could die. No one would care. People were -meat-. Her father was meat,  
her mother was meat, she was meat. Her captors were meat. Meat that hurts, that  
has urges, that suffers, and dies. The soul was just a comforting illusion.

Except... that the soul did exist. But that provided no comfort at all. It was better as  
a delusion.

The Flanagan Institute, formally a competing organization to the Marduk Institute,  
but actually just another of the six hundred semi-legitimate fronts, had finally  
tracked her down in the early 2011. She had paused, just before stepping into that  
black car and leaving her old life forever, and looked up at the blueness of the sky.  
She reached up, relishing the emptiness between her hand and the expanse. But of  
course no one can ever really own the sky. She was just trading prisons. She was  
still paying with her flesh for her right to exist.

For a moment, her chest tightened. Her parents were good people, but also each  
independently wealthy. When Impact removed the worth of those little plastic cards  
they carried, they had little actual skills to fall back upon. They had to start over  
from a scratch, in a continent they did not know.

For a time, others could pay the price for her existence. They had suffered, they  
had faltered, and now they were done.

_Look to the Cradle, my son, my son  
Where all is still, and safe, and warm  
The place that death cannot touch  
The future drinks from its wellspring_

They called it the 'Hivemind', but the stupid mundanes... they had no idea. The  
brilliance of a diamond was in its many facets, each distinct but adding to the whole.  
The body was just flesh... cursed meat... but her mind, her very soul! With the  
fractal unity she felt complete. Free. It was like flying.

She watched the battles below, again easing away from more anti-air efforts.  
Splitting her attention was easy. Martin. He and her, they were linked. It was not  
love, not quite, but even loathing meant caring about someone else's wellbeing.  
He raged at being regarded as second-best.

One would have to be a fool to trust Kaworu Nagisa, but he had always been brutally  
honest. Perhaps even maliciously honest. "You are nothing. A pale copy. A hopeless  
redundancy. Understand this. Sohryu was anointed, and though you might share the  
same -blood- until you sieze the mantle from her hands you might as well not  
exist. She was chosen, you were not. But the truly strong choose for themselves."

At least Nagisa had ambition! A new Culture, a new world coruscating in the long  
night, to gain all you must risk it all! Sarah did not understand why Nagisa seemed  
so frightened of Ikari. Other than a tendency for grandstanding, which Nagisa himself  
was also wont to do, the younger Ikari was a disgustingly normal teenager.

Martin Arthur Bettelheim raged, and clawed, and howled. Asuka Langley-Sohryu  
hated, and stabbed, and roared. Both were in the grip of the _berserkergang_. Too  
similar to each other, neither can live while the other survived.

She felt cold. She had no actual desire to replace the Evangelion pilots in the  
limelight, but until they were destroyed she could never truly be free.

_Take the Cradle, my child, my child  
And leave behind the hate and the lies  
Peer into that vessel where you wait  
And taste at last the fruit of eternity_

Her Warborn landed smoothly behind the black Evangelion. Her wings folded up  
behind her arms. Iridiscent patterns glistened upon the black skin of her war  
machine. It was not a bland, uniform black like that of the Eva; it was not paint, but  
rather overlapping scales and spines. Its legs were double-jointed and ended in  
curved talons. Its face was skull-like, even slightly bat-like, but a flattened frill  
lay around its neck. The original Trident project was based off the Evangelion, but  
with a distinctly saurian influence. From what the seized at the Moon's Cradle, they  
had sculpted its shape a bit farther up the evolutionary tree. Now the Warborns did  
not quite suck as much in close combat.

"You are Mayumi Yamagishi. Even you are a pale shadow. I would pity you, but you  
deserve much more than that."

Mayumi huffed, feeling the heat on her back. The lasers had actually tagged the  
enemy a few times, but Warborn armor had the same layer of ablatives as Titanicus  
armor. A greater limitation than mere capacitor drain was heatsink capacity. That  
was why the Cradle preferred kinetic impactors over energy lances.

"I won't listen t-to your lies!" she said with as much defiance as she could muster.  
Sections on her back armor blew, flinging hot heatsinks at the enemy. At the same  
moment, she scrambled forward to give herself some breathing room.

Sarah nonchalantly slapped away the steaming bricks with a flap of her black wings.  
"Then I won't lie to you. You've been lied to long enough." And sadly, it was quite  
true.

It was interesting, that her (Phoenix Spasm) Lamia had almost the same face as  
Unit Three. Martin had always been about fire and action, but her strength was  
taking the power of others into herself. Her passive acceptance even -intimidated-  
him. Just because her flesh was his for the taking at any moment did not make him  
forget the danger under those soft, yielding curves. For all his talk of beating Sohryu,  
bloodying a Golden Saint, or even going up against the person Nagisa himself so  
carefully prepared- he could never go from zero to balls-to-the-wall like she could.

The feathered serpent was the original ambush predator that the insignificant little  
ancestors of wild cats so feared. Her lazy evasions from earlier had lulled her prey  
into a relaxed illusion. And then, faster than an eyeblink, there was only screaming.

She felt no guilt. Though Nosferatu meant 'plague-bearer', what she gave was a gift.

-o-

They ran, like rats, and found there was little shame in it. The contemptous ease by  
which the Cradle had brushed aside whole armies... it was nothing compared to the  
raw insult that was the Evangelion's existence.

Wilfred grit his teeth, as the command truck went on at full speed. Though they were  
far enough that the Evas could no longer be seen, little earthquakes followed to  
remind them of the titanic struggle. The Evangelion was terrible enough, and the  
sheer size of Castle Stumbrand was maddening. But the Cradle! At six kilometers all  
around, it was an unearthly monolith. The Evangelions reminded them how so very  
small and futile mortal efforts were... but they were supposed to fight THAT?

Sohryu was just the goddamn distraction! Even one such as he, who had thrown  
away his hopes and his fears, could not so blithely accept such an impudent act.  
"Can we really do this, alone? You have some sort of weapon or breaching charge  
to break open the shell, right?"

The command truck held mostly those from NERV, Dr. Thompson supervising, along  
with Lama Feckeldraft to coordinate where mundane methods failed. The young  
scientist looked up, his face ashen. "No, we don't." He was utterly out of his depth.  
It was clear however, that theirs was a one-way road.

Wilfred had to laugh. "If suprise really was the key to success, then this has to be the  
best plan -ever-."

"We have been preparing for this moment for nearly four thousand years." Lama  
eckeldraft mentioned, staring at the space between his splayed fingers.

Wilfred hung on as the truck lurched on a piece of broken road. "Really?"

"Well, not like this... but a similar situation. The ancients had always believed that  
the world not only -would- end, but -must- end. It is a battle that is reflected in  
the conflict between gods and giants, those who choose this world and those who  
would destroy it."

"So how have you prepared? Dug up any old tricks to deal with something as big and  
powerful as the Cradle, if all of this happened before?"

"The ancient instructions can be summed up as thus: Stab Them Until They Give Up."

Wilfred laughed until stomach hurt. "Wi- wise words! Very wise!" Sometimes the  
simplest solutions were the best.

The old monk did not look amused.

-o-

_'Dammit. Yamagishi!'_ Asuka noticed two flailing black forms at the edge of her vision.  
She did not have any time to spare. "HRAAAAAAAGH!"

BAM! Her warhammer caught the Jagd Wulf at the side of its head.

The werewolf-shaped Angel/Eva hybrid toppled. It was starting to severely piss  
off its pilot. A warhammer was supposed to be a cumbersome weapon. In close  
quarters combat, her S2 Engine advantage meant little. The muscles of his Warborn  
was arranged far more efficiently than her human-shaped Eva. He had the edge in  
speed and strength. And still he was getting kicked around!

_'Dammit, what is it that I'm still missing?'_ It was impossible. And since the AT-field  
was naturally opposed to psychic phenomena, he was certain she was not altering  
probability somehow. What did she have, that he still lacked?

Conviction? No! He roared and impaled her through the less-armored abdomen with  
his claws. He was even MORE determined to be the best. He was throwing everything  
into the fight. His Warborn was different from her Eva; it felt no pain, it did not  
hesitate. The control system was wired directly into his cortex; no crap about sync  
ratios and like that there.

"I CAN'T LOSE!" Martin shouted hoarsely. "NOT TO YOU! I AM YOU! DISTILLED,  
AMPLIFIED!" The Jagd Wulf Lycanus opened its maw to bite, but Unit-02 managed to  
wedge its hammer into its jaws. Amber light began to glow from inside its throat. At  
such range, the AT-field could not be used as a barrier.

Asuka grimaced, red staining the orange LCL around her mouth. She pushed up with  
her right hand, while the left yanked at something. Martin had a moment to think  
'uh-oh', realizing it was a chain. The chainaxe-head -purred- as it was pulled back  
to its shaft. Unit 02 slashed away at the side of the Warborn's neck, and the charged  
particle bottle lost containment. A scorching glowstream spurted out from the wound.

She chopped away some more, and at the pained roar pulled her Einschläg out from  
the enemy's jaws. Then introduced it again into its head. The Warborn Werwulf  
slammed into the ground. Asuka pounded at it three more times, denting its  
braincase into a crater.

"You're ME? Hah. Where does that moronic drivel even BEGIN to make sense?"  
Asuka scowled as she saw the skull pop back up. Just what did it take to put these  
things down permanently? It was regenerating colossal damage way faster than an  
Evangelion. "You have NO IDEA what you're dealing with? DO YOU?"

It could use the AT-field. That meant it had a core. All she had to do now was to  
find it, pull it out, and break it.

Purplish ichor dribbled out from the stab-holes in her gut. Her own plugsuit was torn  
in the same spot, though thankfully the flesh underneath only showed deeply bruises.

Evangelion battles tended not to last more than a few minutes, up to half an hour.  
Even when the records show hours of an engagement, most of that is simply just  
watching and waiting for the enemy. Combat, in itself, was rapid, and brutal, and  
final. That was how she gained her S2 Engine, after all.

The problem was that the enemy's build was even more optimized towards 'Rip and  
Tear' than her own war machine. It was also a wonder that 'rip-n-tear' was likewise  
ineffectual against her.

-o-

It was intense. Poison filled her veins with fire, but there was also this blissful  
soothing sensation as lifeblood drained out of her neck. Mayumi shivered. Absently  
she realized she had let got of the controls, and where her hands were. '_Did I  
just...?'_

For a moment, Mayumi had a vision of Asuka standing with her back turned. The  
red-haired girl was in her plugsuit. _'Tch. Weak._' she spat and began to walk away.

Mayumi was a loner, and did not go into many encounters where she could feel  
rejected. Like Asuka, her defining moment of being unwanted was to be abandoned  
by her mother. A prog knife deployed out from a shoulder pylon. Unit 03 grabbed it  
with its left hand and stabbed at its own face. "AAAAAAAH!"

Stab. Stab. Stab. The fanged, cobra-hooded head clamped onto her neck did not  
seem to mind. It only let got when it was starting to lose more fluid than it was  
taking. Taloned feet pushed off Unit-03's shoulders and it vaulted back to the sky.  
The Lamia landed a short distance away, crouching, and still as a gargoyle.

The black Eva weaved unsteadily on its feet. A portion of the Titan modules  
around its right shoulder had been torn clear off, to open the way to its neck.  
Too dangerously close to the entry plug. Mayumi's vision was still fuzzy. She heard  
a nearby clanging noise.

Then she realized -she- was hearing it, not the Eva. Whatever it was, the thing  
making the noise was just outside her entry plug! _'Impossible!_' The sheer size of  
the Eva meant that its LCL/coolant vessels must also be broad enough for the flow.  
Something was in her veins, clogging up arteries and pushing through her very  
innards! She could feel it, and the violation was... literally as bad as it could  
be without bumping genitalia.

"Do you really think Sohryu -cares-?' If you sacrificed everything for her sake,  
it would make her treasure your existence?" Sarah whispered. She chuckled darkly,  
but not unkindly. "Do you think that by suffering you can -buy- your way into her  
embrace?"

She flicked at her own glossy black pageboy haircut. The Warborn Lamia licked at its  
bloodied claws. "If you choose to live as a tool then you must accept the fact that  
tools exist to be used...

To be broken." Its arms extended, whiplike, and its grip cut into the Unit-03's  
shoulders. It pulled, dragging the Eva into the ground.

Mayumi screamed in pain as explosions rippled through her Eva. Shockwaves  
reverberated within its armored torso, tearing apart organs and blowing out armor.

"And discarded." Serpentine arms retracted back into shape. Sarah Campbell sighed  
and closed her eyes. "We are too similar, Yamagishi. And for that, you WILL have my  
pity."

-o-

It went completely as Kaworu had predicted. There was a good reason Evangelion  
battles happened in bursts of furious activity. The power of the S2 Engine may give  
endurance to an Eva, but its fighting ability was ultimately limited by its pilot.

Unit-02 reeled, and tried to strike back. Its punch fell wide, and a blow to its  
midsection lifted it clear off the ground. It staggered back, and collapsed, face-up.  
The sky was so blue, and the light seemed to swallow its consciousness. Asuka  
gasped for breath.

Even with the hyperoxygenated and nutrient-laden LCL, the pilots would exhaust  
their own body's fuel reserves. Mental fatigue would scar them much sooner.

The pilots were still human beings and with all that implied. The random hand of fate  
as expressed by genetics and natural selection had its limits.

Asuka kicked out, and felt a slashing pain up her shins. She looked left, then right.  
The Warborns... claws and talons and cannons integrated into their bodies meant  
they would never be disarmed. She decided to go for the chainaxe.

Without looking, she dodged a vollet of spines. A prog knife popped out from a  
shoulder pylon, and also without looking she threw that behind her. She was  
rewarded with a pained howl as the knife entered one of the Werwulf's six eyes.  
She was still fighting well.

But it was inevitable. She would falter.

As she scooped down to grab at her weapon, a black tendril wrapped around her  
left ankle. Unit-02 slammed into the ground, shoulder-first. She felt her own get  
wrenched out of its socket.

She would wither.

_'Can't... move, you useless doll! Move!' _The red Eva's fingers twitched. 'Gagh!'  
The multi-thousand ton mass of a Warborn slammed into her chest. Her chest  
caved inwards. Her heart stopped.

The glow faded from Unit-02's eyes.

And she would die.

Martin was likewise out of breath. Unlike the Eva, the Trident did not use LCL, as  
both as contact and buffering medium. It was surprising how so... normal... the  
cockpit looked, with its main screen and assortment of buttons, levers, and  
switches. Interface between the Trident and its pilot was through datajacks  
implanted directly into the pilot's skull, just behind the ear. They had telepathy,  
and also TCP/IP. The Mind was a matrix of personalities and their works.

The worm wrapped around his spine worked its wonders. It automatically adjusted  
chemical imbalances in his bloodstream, absorbed excess feedback, and repaired  
whatever damage it could find. Sohryu could only endure. He would regenerate.

The Werwulf grabbed the Eva's head, and slammed it back into the ground. No  
response. Martin grinned. "I am... better... than you, Sohryu! The power of the Eva  
is limited by its pilot! Now, you break!" Claws scratched almost lovingly at the red  
face armor, then dug into the seam around the chesplate joints. With a grunt, Martin  
ripped off the Titan module. "BREAK, DAMN YOU!" He laughed maniacally as he got  
a good grip on the Eva's chest armor, the last barrier to its core.

"I'LL KILL YOU! KILL YOU ALL!" Those screams were broken by sobs. Unit-03 was  
pinned down, the Lamia's limbs wrapped around it like packing tape.

"We are deathless, interloper." Sarah whispered, the forked tongue of her Warborn  
licking at Unit-03's face. Bit by bit it was dissolving the faceplate. "Punish the  
imperfect flesh, for only through permanence can there be triumph."

The Lamia could have injected poison or acid to have the Eva melt from the inside,  
but the Evangelion was a war machine of rarity and utility. Mayumi was crying, then  
screamed again as convulsions wracked her body.

She struggled, but there was no way to get free. The crushing embrace of a serpent  
did not come from muscle power, but removing leverage from its prey. That was the  
fatal limitation of muscles linked to swinging bones and joints. It was the very  
-reason- her own Unit Three was supposed to be undefeatable in close combat, even  
by the general-purpose Unit Two.

No one among the planners could have predicted the enemy would assimilate its  
abilities so quickly. The Angels were not that smart. And, apparently, neither was  
NERV. Their uninterrupted string of victories had made them arrogant in their own  
abilities.

Asuka Langley-Sohryu so personified that glory of war, the part that knew honor,  
discipline, perseverance, and mercy; an Athena ascendant, not the bullying Ares  
that fled upon being wounded. They had known each other for but a few hours, but  
the girls found an easy familiarity... perhaps it was that, to Asuka, Mayumi looked  
very much like a younger Ritsuko Akagi. They both had that little mole near the lips,  
and hid fear of intimacy behind a shield of disinterest. The intellect and being able  
to 'talk shop' with Evangelion combat was also refreshing. Being a respected sempai  
relaxed the stress of competition.

"It can't... it can't end like this!" she half-begged. Her vision was starting to dim.  
If even Sohryu had fallen, what could she accomplish? The wrenching noise of  
Unit-02's chest armor being pulled off seemed to fill the plug.

The Werwulf began bashing away at the exposed core, every strike seemed to  
physically slam into Mayumi Hamigishi. She grit her teeth until her gums bled. She  
gripped the controls of her Eva so tightly that the titanium began to bend. A red  
light and a bloody haze started to fill her being, starting from her womb.

-o-

Wilfred Ingram Wulfenbach, Lieutenant for a fresh few hours, punched out a small  
locker inside the command truck. As a bog soldier he had been at the edge of death  
so many times, but never had he actually felt so helpless.

The assaults groups had already begun their seige and infiltration of the Cradle. While  
NERV technicians tried to resuscitate Sohryu, other screens showed the troops in  
open battle against Cradle's last line of ground defenses. If the enemy brought back  
their Trident Warborns, then... their gambit would just fall apart.

"Don't worry too much." Feckeldraft murmured, staring at the two Land Raiders  
blasting through the impediments in the way. "The girls are stronger than you may  
think. We have to honor their pains, in giving us this one chance."

"Even so, the power of the Evangelion doesn't seem up to it." Wilfred had learned  
that the primary breaching method would have been to ram Castle Sturmbrand itself  
into the Cradle. "If only we had more firepower on hand..."

The Tibetan monk tsk'ed. "What is the finest weapon of man? These god-machines  
we call Evangelions? The Legio Terminatus? The Adeptus Psykana? The tank? The  
lascannon? The fist?" He shook his head and pointed at the screen. "None of these  
things. Courage and courage alone stands above all!

You know this already. But there are others who have eaten of the same lesson."

-o-

There was a bright red flash, and a screech of pain. The coiled grip loosened a  
fraction. "What? Who dares...?"

Brightlance cannon beams poked holes into Lamia's back. A wing of Tempest gunships  
rose out of treeline concealment in a strafing run. Mayumi winced as one of the  
lasbolts burned through the enemy's tangling arms and into her thigh.

Missiles fired, and exploded against the red barrier of an AT-field. The wing of eight  
VTOLs broke off into two groups to circle around the Trident Warborns.

"Worthless insects!" Martin yelled, thowing spines at the Tempest flyers. The Lamia,  
still wrapped around Unit-03, used the Evangelion as a shield. The gunships could not  
fire their lascannons without poking holes through the captured Eva.

Finally, one of the VTOLs dared to go into a dive. Close range meant better accuracy.  
The Werwulf speared it with a spine from its back. Another Tempest had already taken  
the same line of attack. That one kept firing all through the dive, and rammed itself  
into the Lamia's face. Promethium flames clung to the Trident Warborn.

A blade snapped out, switchblade-style, from Unit-03's bracer. Screaming as well,  
she punched up, through the Lamia's jaw and into its nasal cavity. The Eva then  
pushed away, throwing obscuring orange smoke and hot chaff all around.

Unlike normal people, the Cradle-enhanced pilots could segment their attentions.  
_'Interesting.'_ Sarah thought with some amusement. _'Using our very own trick with  
the miasma, but here in close combat it will buy no more than a few seconds.'_

The point was not to hide Unit 03 from view, however. For a moment, losing sight  
of the Eva meant that the enemy had to consider looking for it. Its threat level  
increased, it grabbed attention, and for those crucial seconds the enemy forgot  
about that which they had broken utterly.

Fingers dug into the side of the Werwulf's and pulled it down to face level. The red  
Eva showed open toothy grin and exhaled a misty cloud. "Haaaah..." Somehow that  
was far more threatening than any mere roar.

Martin slashed with its longs claws, but the Eva nonchalantly grabbed the wrist and  
twisted. Then, holding two portions of the Warborn's anatomy as hammer and anvil,  
it began beating the Werwulf's face in with its own elbow joint. Disappointed at the  
lack of blood and carnage, it pulled the enemy into an over-the-shoulder throw.

And then it roared. Titan modules blew off from their mountings, as useless weight.  
Its red core glowed, and bled purple blood around the sphere.

A little girl was crying. _'M'not weak. Not useless, dammit. M'a smash you all.'_  
She clutched at her doll, while it rained outside. Thunder and lightning broke out at  
the distance. She curled up into a ball. _'Don't need anyone... m'fine alone. But..."_  
she hugged her doll tighter, and two faces flashed across her memory. _"Don't wanna  
be alone.' _

She felt warmth around her shoulders.  
_  
'Ssh, my little treasure. It's going to be all right. I'm here now.'_

_'Mama?'_

-o-

The Earth's Cradle monitored the situation in much the same way that NERV  
command kept track of its Evangelions. Dr. Lader split his attention between the site  
defense, packing away the elements for evacuation, and the Tridents. "Get up, you  
pathetic -cur-!" he hissed to Martin Arthur Bettelheim. The teenager was stunned,  
and not just from the broken neck of his Warborn.

"What... she can't regenerate, can she? What does it take to actually KILL this  
bitch?"

"The Evangelion has gone -berserker-. The core is exposed. This is your chance! Both  
of you, -attack-, NOW!" Panic tinged his words. He needed help at home, and quickly!

"Emergency!" rang through the Cradle-Mind. "There is an armored fighting vehicle  
identified as a 'Land Raider' rampaging through our central hangar!"

"A -WHAT-? Impossible! We have an active AT-field to block -all- teleportation  
attempts. It would take either a Mind equal to mine, or a tactical gen..." The enraged  
scream echoed through the honeycombing tunnels of the Cradle. "YAAAANG!"

-o-

Bang! One of the larger bulkheads fell open, its joints blasted off and Thunder  
Hammers to task. Facing them were a host of mutants, battlesuits, and men and  
women determined to fight for the children they had brought into the Cradle. They  
stood at a standoff, both sides unwilling to make the first move.

There was a steady 'tap-tap-tap' of a wooden cane upon a shell-tiled floor. An old  
man, tiny and hunched over with the years and garbed in an orange robe, squeezed  
to the front. He took one last drag off his cigar and put out the embers against the  
knee plate of a nearby Heraklitus.

"Four thousand years waiting is this, but still not a battle to fight I wish. Surrender.  
Protect its own people, the Psykana will. Beg of you, I do; do not slave yourself to  
this beast."

"Hah, you would just enslave us for your own purposes instead." yelled one of the  
Controllers there. Fresh new mutation forms from the vats, and augmetic warriors to  
lead them, they were the force meant to attack Tokyo-3. They were -made- for  
tunnel-fighting and the confusion of psyker combat. "No, you worthless fossils,  
clinging to a duty long since obsolete! We are finally free from the chains of man  
and mortality. We will have FREEDOM, or we will have your DEATH!

-YOU- surrender, meat puppets!" voices echoed and combined, the walls themselves  
vibrating to provide. "You are intruders here, and your deaths are a -waste- to the  
Greater Good."

Kurly Khrisna, the Sunshine Kid, closed his eyes and sagged upon his walking stick.  
He had lived through the centuries, and had seen the atrocities that man could  
commit. He had fought in battlefields long forgotten, and the memories of all the  
masters of Javaal before him, and all those that came before the mountains were  
tamed... never had he so faced so tragic a decision. The core of the Buddhist  
philosophy was not to kill. The necessities of the Psykana, and the fighting tradition  
of Javaal, meant that they had to -absorb- the sin for the rest of their people, to  
sacrifice even nirvana for the sake of those who still lived in the mortal illusion.

The Greater Good was an aggregate of many of the more noble practices of many  
religions. It was quite a rationalist view, if one just ignored the _mind control_, the  
_mutations_, and _chronic backstabbing_. From the Four Great Truths of Buddhism they  
gradual self-improvement and the setting aside of fallacious individualism. And that  
was what managed to piss off even the Enlightened. Form without substance, action  
without purpose- it was an empty life, and a gross parody, an insult, to everything  
that they valued.

_Javaal: To live is to suffer  
The Cradle: Through pain there is strength  
Javaal: All stories end. Even the heroes must rest  
The Cradle: Then let us be villains instead_

Age and weather had eroded whatever traits he had, that would hint at whatever  
part of the world he was born or the culture that caused him to wander. Javaal was  
isolationist, but ever had its ruling council been veterans of every sort of warfare  
possible. He was the oldest, and still remembered the Spanish _Tercio_. In his youth  
he plucked _harquebus _balls out of the air and wrestled with living gods in the Congo.  
The Nile was no mystery to him, and there he found the Eldar diadem.

He frowned. He had lived for too long. Happy memories... they stung more than the  
sad events. Why did it not happen earlier? He could have done so much more when  
he was younger. He had watched humanity go from atrocity to atrocity, and by his  
oath was forbidden to interfere. A bittersweet gift, for an old man.

The Sunshine Kid twisted his walking stick and pulled free a hollow section. There  
was a 'snap-hiss', and a glowing green rod of energy formed out of the hollow tip.  
Everyone boggled. _'No way! Is that a...?'_

The old monk flipped the remains of his walking stick, and the central piece fell off. A  
similar hollow tube was in his left hand, and with a slight flick, a 'snap-hiss', another  
glowing green rod appear.

_'Two of them?'_

Names held power. Why was it that two or more centuries later, a wizened old monk  
was still called '_The Sunshine Kid'_?

That little old man holding two sticks of coherent light paralyzed the defenders with  
fright, far more than the sight of a row of grim armored hulks. Then he started  
moving. It was this little bright blur headed right for your face; like sunrise through  
the mountains, and a warm light that was for many would be the very last thing they  
ever see.

-o-

The Continental United Kingdoms' Prime Minister, Jonathan Thresh woke up in one of  
the containment facilities deep within the Cradle. He was naked and felt slimy. The  
Cradle had no need for torture or interrogation, they leeched the information they  
needed right out from his neural pathways.

What was a -teleport homer-? The new dictionary definition was '_a device or  
other object that emits a unique presence detectable to extrasensory perception to  
facilitate transition between two discrete points instantaneously and without loss_.'

Telepathy was a quantum process, and psychic power was the manipulation of  
probability in macrospatial quantity. The usual method of setting up a teleport homer  
was to leave some object or mind with an (easily detectable) psychic signature. The  
Cradle handled this easily enough; they could with such a vast Mind overwhelm  
normal teleporation measures with either its own presence or an AT-field, while  
simultaneously able to set up teleport homers with a more subtle presence.

Thresh was not a psyker. He could, however, PRAY. The soul could not be blocked,  
and it went deeper into the communal vessel of humanity than just the collective  
unconscious. A Golden Saint could then alter probability from elsewhere to bring a  
blind teleport right to where they needed to be.

The Cradle sought to unite humanity into a communal Mind. However, humanity was  
ALREADY one organism, stretching through space and time, past and future. They  
were the Fifteeth Angel, a creation in seeking to preserve itself from being devoured  
by Lillith, the primordial source.

Yang Wen-li would not have been such a successful strategist if he was not curious  
about the newest developments in tactics or politics. The UN saw great threat in  
Shinji Ikari, but only so far as that he possessed an Eva and had somehow managed  
to convince secret societies to reveal themselves despite thousands of years of  
careful isolation. That might be a mass-brainwashing power just as dangerous and  
disturbing as Cradle's own. Yang, living in Tokyo-3, saw open reverence by at least  
two different groups of societies, with Eastern and Western modes of thought, and  
in the cloaks of faith Buddhist and Catholic. Simple persuasion, or even forceful  
mind control, would not have been enough to pull together such distinct and even  
rivaling creeds. Coercion would have meant the boy had to either rewrite their  
brains to such precision that they would obey, without removing their abilities, or  
maintain constant pressure upon their senses.

Impossible. Even if Yang did not quite believe that the boy was not a psychic, it was  
quite clear that psychic activity interfered with activation of the Eva. Direct  
manipulation on such a scale would be godlike, and it was also clear that the boy  
preferred the power of his machine-god.  
_  
'Why do they trust the boy?_' Yang was curious. '_What leverage does he have to make  
them obey? What can he give that is worth the destruction of their own societies and  
the mass death of their own people?'_

A soldier does not kill just because of orders; man was not an automaton nor armies  
homogenous fighting groups. Every person had a lever, a motivation for -doing-.  
What makes a person get up every morning? What could make him go without sleep?  
Some people work for pay, others see pay as just a convenience to allow them to  
purchase and follow other pursuits. Not for money alone would criminals rob, but to  
what these money represented; what it could give them. Even Yang did not call for  
his people to fight out of sheer patriotism (though they likely would see it that way)  
but because to BE a patriot for Yang's China was to LIVE and SUCCEED in the new  
century. Eventually it would become recursive, and the distinction between reward  
and motivation blurred.

Given the absolute clusterfrak that the UN's Psykana was subject to, Yang could not  
find any handle. Psykers hated the boy, true, but not the most powerful and active  
groups- THEY willlingly endured in his name. Such unselfishness was unreal.

_'No, not really.'_ Even Thresh, in faraway Europe, could see it. Yang's letter did not  
come as much of a surprise, but it was a pleasant one; if Yang had figured it out,  
then his own concerns was likely as true. It was a personality cult. Dangerous.  
Dangerous. Alexander, Napoleon, Hitler. But also Gautama, Yeshua ben Yusef, and  
Muhammad. Communism knew the power, denied it, and eventually had to accept  
that they could not truly defeat it. It was an ironic truth.

_'__Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and  
the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people_.' was the actual quote  
from Marx. Faith was apparently illogical, but a powerful and deeply entrenched  
force.

What a man would not sacrifice for his family, for his country, he would for his god.  
Even more dangerous. Mahayana Buddhism did not precisely have an 'end times',  
but Christianity DID. It was not completely heresy, if they were to say 'though no  
one can truly know when the end times will arrive, but the sheer coincidences piling  
up and Nagisa's blatant references to it; he's trying to artificially bring it about and  
thus we REFUSE it. When it is time, it is time; but for now WE FIGHT.'

Was it possible to make a saint out of someone who did not quite share one's own  
religious beliefs? The boy was no prophet, but a defender of the Law. By his own  
Shinto definitions, the boy should have been Emperor -yesterday-. From abroad, only  
Yang, who among all the billion people of his country was deemed worthy to possess  
the Mandate of Heaven, could grant it to someone else.

God helped those who helped themselves, but He also worked in mysterious ways.  
And now, apparently, the vehicle of that deliverance was one frustrated young teen.

Nagisa was an active precognitive. THAT was what made him so terrifying as an  
adversary to plan against. Ikari was only a paranoid schemer to the point of almost  
precognition. Fortunately the strength of Shinji Ikari and that which set Kaworu  
Nagisa to envious ire, was the -quality- of his support staff.

There was -another- powerful precognitive out there. Those who possessed sufficient  
power to predict the future to a useful extent were likewise unable to see how it  
would affect themselves and others like themselves. Shinji Ikari was immune to  
precognition, for some reason. Jonathan Thresh, he was not. That was why the  
Cradle had chosen to use his mother as leverage.

_'That's tradecraft. Just because we can't read minds doesn't mean all that all  
the practice with espionage is useless. That's why it's called -intelligence-."_ he  
thought, while wishing for a cigarette. He had also swallowed a small radio emitter,  
the kind used to secretly mark vehicles. The bio-technicians had not removed it. Why  
would they bother? It was not like such a paltry signal could be detected from  
outside the Cradle.

Not all psykers were from Tibet, Brazil, and environs; after all. The Church back when  
burning witches had also kept and used those who may be legitimately clased as  
such. The Royal Protestant Knights also had a history of distinguished service.

He got up from the limpid pool and looked around. The cell was round, and barred  
with tough, coral-like growths. There were a lot of cells, and prisoners political or  
otherwise. The chamber was devoid of guards or attendants. They must all be busy  
elsewhere. There was a slight indoors quake. Very busy. Then the lights went out.

Was it a self-fulfilling prophecy? Or simply, with Yang involved- capitalizing on the  
enemy's arrogance? The Cradle had been so -confident- that everyone would  
embrace the Greater Good, once they have been enlightened to its possibilities.  
The thing was; they had not actually gotten around to brainwashing him YET.

With Sohryu at their throats, there was so much else to do. At the very least, while  
intact, he could be used as a bargaining chip- but having been picked up for the  
possibilities, he was thereafter ignored as harmless.

He rubbed at his arms to shake off the cold. _'Yes. Idiots._' As long as there was life,  
there was hope. And thus, no surrender.

The Prime Minister (or did his capture invalidate that?) sat knees-up and leaning  
against the wall. The living heat of the walls faded after a while. He hoped it would  
not take too long.

-o-

One burning question remained: '_If Nagisa is a precognitive, then he is a psyker. As  
an Angel/human hybrid, is that even possible? Is the Trident that so different from the  
Eva?_' It at least did not require an activation gene. It seemed a more viable, less  
selective weapon system than an Eva; and now with the ability to use an  
AT-field! That was why they had to be crushed, and quickly. As a society and an  
industrial power; the Cradle was at the cusp of terrible potential.

The Lamia dived, to gouge armor and flesh out of Unit-02's left shoulder. The Werfulf  
slammed into it from the right. The Eva took the brunt of the impact, then rolled  
up and around like a matador. Its last prog knife deployed, and as it slid off the  
Werwulf's back it grabbed ahold of the tail and cut it right off.

The Trident Warborn lost balance briefly, and ate dirt. The Eva looked at the still-  
twitching appendage and contemptously tossed it aside. It let out another hiss of  
breath and a demented grin.

The Werwulf snarled, and quills stood up on its back. Barbed spines flew off, and  
impaled the Evangelion. Unit-02 bellowed in pain, and even more as it tried to pull  
out one of the spines. Martin bullrushed the Evangelion again, knocking it to the  
ground.

-o-

"The A-10 connections are all cut. The Eva HAS gone berserker..." Dr. Thompson  
confirmed.

"Yeah, so why does it still **fight like Sohryu?**"

The young scientist compared the brain patterns between Unit 02 and 03. He nibbled  
on his thumbnail. "Maybe... no, that can't be true." He shook his head, but his  
voice was contemplative. "Is it possible that Sohryu is already so much of a  
bloodthirsty berserker that her mental state is already the DEFAULT condition of the  
Evangelion, overwriting even its own feral rage?"

The 15-inch screen showed a grainy camera view from the Eva's own perspective. It  
had both hands gripping the top of the Werwulf's mouth, the Trident's teeth impaling  
through its palms. Its right foot was wedged into the Warborn's lower jaw. The view  
was shaky. They heard a crack. Between the two holds the Eva was ripping the  
Werwulf open. Its lower jaw dislocated. Then the foot slammed down, the jaw torn  
free. Skin and blood and muscle followed. The Warborn's attempt at a pained howl  
was an incoherent mess.

Then the Eva began pulling out the Werwulf's eyes, and eating them.

"... you can't tell me that's still Sohryu." Wilfred continued, though unmoved by  
the display.

The A-10 nerve connections snapped back. The chewing did not stop.

The Trident Warborn Lamia flapped lazily in midair, watching. _'He had thrown away  
his humanity for power, but still... he lacked the pure ferocity of the monster._' its  
pilot deeply enjoyed the irony. "Bettelheim, I have figured out what we require..."

"Shut up and help me!" His words were garbled, for the symbiote in trying to dull  
the feeback could only numb his lower jaw.

"We are the force of evolution, but natural selection functions best under intense  
competition. Nagisa was useless for the purpose of putting simulation data into  
practical use. He wins far too easily."

Sohryu, like Ikari, was resistant to active precognition. This was not a quality of  
Evangelion pilots however, as Ayanami and Yamagishi were not immune to those  
methods. Had Nagisa remained he could have destabilized Sohryu's mental state, the  
weight of numbers would have been theirs, and though unfair the battle would  
quickly be over and done.

Nagisa believed in The Greater Good, true enough... but it seemed as if he still  
doubted if his own followers were actually worthy of it.  
**  
"YOU WILL -COME BACK- TO THE CRADLE, -NOW-!" **blasted through the  
communal Mind.

Whatever additional ruminations Sarah may have had was cut off as she felt  
something wrap around her ankles. Unit-03 and Mayumi roared.

_'I see Sohryu is infec-...' _Sarah sighed as she was yoinked out of the air. The other  
arm wrapped around her Warborn's torso, and Unit-03 leapt the rest of the distance.

The black Eva wrapped itself around the enemy.

"This again? Have you not learned that I hold the advantage here?"

Mayumi's hatred was palpable. She felt violated, short of actually bumping genitals.  
"This is a type One Titanicus Module, you bitch. Do you know what that means?"  
she hissed into its batlike ears. "I'm carrying an -onboard nuclear reactor-."

"Do you plan on going out on a blaze of glory, as an offering to Sohryu's victory?"  
Sarah shook her head. "You are as I used to be. The best we could hope for was to  
be remembered... incidental figures to the story of life."

They struck the ground, and bounced. It was a rather odd sight, like two fluffy  
monkeys tangled into a ball. They rolled, punching and headbutting at each other all  
the while. It was the difference between pugilists and ancient wrestlers.

"We bear an Original Character more suited for a world at war." The Lamia's own  
limbs extended, widened, and likewise clasped around the Eva. "Your tactics has  
already been predicted, countered... and pre-empted."

Then the Lamia -burned-. Its feathers exploded into shards. Acid inside its body  
poured out of new orifices. A pity, but there would be no recovering Unit 03 for their  
purposes anymore. As the Evangelion died in the fatal embrace, the Phoenix Spasm  
shrugged out of its skin. It was not a complete skeleton; somewhat smaller,  
proportionally that of a child. The rest of the bones kept the Eve in a death grip.  
Like a wraith, it lacked legs, its spine extending out into a tail. Its arms ended in  
sickle-like claws, but it was ever meant for escape and recovery. Given time, a  
complete new Warborn could be built upon the central control chassis.

Both Unit-03 and the Lamia were out of the fight; vainglorious martyrs. Eva-02 was  
not faring much better. Berserker mode did not automatically make the Eva fight  
any better. Asuka woke up to even more pain and damage than before her  
unintended rest.

"This is** bad**." Dr. Thompson muttered. "Yamagishi, can you hear me? Are you all  
right?" He turned aside to the other tactical consoles. "We're getting status feeds,  
but we still can't get communications restored?"

"The jamming is keeping us from communicating with the assault groups, too." was  
Tactical Two's response.

Tactical was showing that pain-suppressant drugs were being pumped into the entry  
plug and Yamagishi's. That was NERV Boston's automatic aid system, one which  
NERV Tokyo's first-gen entry plug lacked. Sohryu's brainwaves showed she was on  
taking a hella lot of pain, on the verge of blacking out again. And this time, the  
berserker would not save her ass.

"They're just children." Wilfred snarled. He turned and snapped "Aren't you all just  
so ashamed? I know **I** am."

Feckeldraft was seated knees-down on the floor. "This is their war. The only thing  
we can give them now is our faith. They will fight, because they know the odds are  
impossible. They will win, because their will is unbreakable. Believe. No matter how  
strong the enemy, no matter how great the despair."

The young soldier grimaced and turned back to the screen.

Martin saw Sarah fleeing back to the Cradle, and snorted. Useless as ever. He turned  
to the red Evangelion, and prepared for one last charge. It was almost dead. With  
his spines still stabbed into its body, every movement only added further damage to  
its internal organs. His Werwulf was slow to regenerate its own wounds. His left arm  
was useless, and his bite was gone.

He saw the scorched black form of Unit Three trying to crawl towards Unit Two, and  
laughed. It was a pathetic sight. Like a dog crawling back to its master. Its much-  
vaunted flexible limbs were now shriveled stumps. And still it tried.

"Sohryu..." Mayumi Yamagishi croaked out. "Win."

Asuka closed her eyes and felt her Evangelion. It was tired. The S2 Engine was at its  
limits. She had nothing left.

Except...

Unit Two bent down to help its fallen comrade. The Jagd Wulf charged, its powerful  
feet were as pistons. Everything seemed to slow down. Everything rested upon one  
final attack. With the exposed core, Unit 02, even if it dodged, would inevitably fall  
to the superior regenerative properties of its enemy. The Werwulf needed to settle  
it in one hit, for the Eva still had use of all of its limbs.

Unit 03 turned over. It had crawled on the dirt, in the depths of shame, but it was  
not completely crippled and had not returned without an offering. Clasped to its  
chest was the G-Impact Stake, and a revolver catridgre.

The black Eva had lost its faceplate. Its scarred, skinless face was bared in a rictus  
grin. The red Evangelion returned the sentiment.

_'The S2 Engine is a biomechanical organ. Its power is limited only by the capacity of  
the Evangelion and the pilot. Too much will destroy its organic components and the  
very nerves and transmission lines for its power. Brains would explode from the  
sudden intensity of the generated AT-field. That is why the S2 Engine as designed for  
Unit Four is already rated to discharge at its maximum capacity.'_ was Ritsuko Akagi's  
lecture.

_'But... it IS an organ. Unlike a solid machine made of moving parts or circuits, running  
over capacity will not break it instantly. It will hurt. It will take a long time to heal.  
But it CAN be done.'_

Spang! A revolver docket ejected from the back of the Ernster Einschläg. Unit  
Two slapped in the replacement. Phunk! Phunk! Phunk! Phunk! Spang! Four  
promethium catridges fired into a compression chamber.

Designed to drive a spike into the enemy through an assisting explosion (hence,  
Grenade-Impact Stake), the pressures within the hammerhead pushed out the driver  
bit. The conical head began to spin as Asuka forced her AT-field into the chamber.

_'Achtung! Jotunn Morderkopf!'_

Power blasted out from the red Evangelion, the spines forcibly cast out from its  
flesh. The core at its chest was like a baleful eye. Flesh closed around it for a  
moment, as new pathways from the S2 engine hurriedly grew. It blinked.

Had Martin Arthur Bettelheim and his Jagd Wulf fled from the start, they would have  
lived. If he had kept going even faster to stab the Eva in a cross-counter, he would  
have succeeded. But at that moment, seeing the bright glow in the Evangelion's eyes  
and the relaxed ease by which it lifted its great hammer... fear touched his heart. He  
hesitated a fraction. He did NOT want to die.

"NO! Why always Sohryu? I spit upon the arbitrary discrimination in this universe!  
Your time is over! I am -better-, I am _Hati_, hate, and _Skoll_, repulsion! I am the  
force of the inevitable! This sick and dying world deserves nothing less than to be put  
out of its misery!"

Asuka looked up. She bore sympathetic wounds with her Eva, and blood covered her  
left eye. "I am -the sun-." She raised her hammer high. "I will not be devoured by  
such as you. Eat This! _**ERNSTER ****SCHLAGANN****!**_"

The Jagd Wulf's arm stabbed out. Asuka exhaled. She felt her core crack. "**DRILL!**"

The hammer dropped. "**BRREAKER!**"

The hammer slammed upon the Jagd Wulf's head, the drill boring into its skull and  
openings around the bit ejected charged particles at relativistic speeds. The AT-field  
interacting with the wraithbone lace of the drill funneled it all down. The strike did  
not kill Martin Arthur Bettelheim, for the cockpit was at the chest after all.

"I WIN! I CLAIM! _THE WORLD!_"

He forced his hand into Unit-02's core.

He could not reach.

_'What...? Something... is it a barrier? I can't touch...'_

The particle stream kept going, eating into the ground, down into the crust. A melta  
equivalent, the initial charge was quickly exhausted. The drill kept spinning. The  
back of the hammer-head broke open, and a second stream of white-hot light  
sprayed out. The air around the Eva spun in a tornado. A tighter stream of piercing  
particles blasted out from the drill tip.

The initial impact created a vaccuum in the compression chamber. Now the drill was  
converting the very flesh and bone of the enemy. The winds were drawn into that  
glowing funnel. Martin screamed. He was being shredded! 'Must... escape!'

The Werwulf's arm drooped away from the red Eva's chest, bent backwards, bones  
breaking, and was reduced to light. The shoulders of the Trident Warborn opened up  
and the skeletal wraith-chassis emerged.

It was not just a vaccuum. It was an intensely strong AT-field, compressing and  
compressing, and he could see the proud form of his Warborn torn into pieces,  
spinning around and around into a glowing spiral. It was like trying to swim up a  
waterfall.

"This is unfair..." he mumbled sadly. "This is cruel. I was never meant to survive."

Nagisa had lied. What a surprise.

Not even his backup could escape. That fire, that field, it drew and rendered and spat  
out his very soul. This was how even star-gods could die, in the total conversion of  
energy. Not even Adam and Lillith would survive, though the process would take  
much (much) longer.

There was a final bright flash, an explosion of power and pressure, flattening trees  
for kilometers around. Unit-03 tumbled, its limbs stitching together from the excess  
energy in that AT-field. It skidded, face-down, into a hill.

The light faded. A ruddy red glow and plume of vapor issued forth from the slightly  
concaved hole at the Eva's feet. The G-Impact Stake clicked, and retracted the drill  
head. Evangelion Unit Two slid the hammer into a hook at its waist, and fell on its  
back. An Eva had a large central core and two little spheres around it. Unit 02' core  
showed a large crack, while the sub-cores had exploded into useless shards. Ichor  
bled from holes all over its body.

The ground trembled. Germany was not a very tectonically active region.

Limping, Unit03 approached. It had to drag the other Eva away from the new  
volcano it had inavertedly created.

-o-

The command truck knew none of this. It was tipped over to the side, ripped open,  
and on fire. They had arrived at the very 'doorstep' of the Earth's Cradle, and no one  
was holding back.

"Higher ground!" Wilfred Ingram Wulfenbach led troops up a nearby hills, formed of  
debris from the Cradle's landing. "We'll gain an advantage!" Any advantage, no  
matter how small, they had to take it. In numbers and firepower the enemy already  
had undeniable superiority.

People were continually unprepared for just how BIG and terrible Evangelions  
actually were when up close. The Cradle put all of that to shame. At six kilometers in  
diameter, it had hundreds of levels and thousands of twisting tunnels. If urban and  
jungle combat was a meat grinder, then the innards of the Cradle combined the  
worst features of each. Two Land Raiders and twenty-four elite warriors against a  
population of close to fifty thousand, in their own mountain-home that they could  
reshape at will? It was a death-trap.

There was no way in. The Cradle had a great gash, but the height and the curve  
of the hard, matte-black shell prevented any attempts to climb into it. At least  
the Cradle had stopped its counter-attacks, for some reaon.

Wilfred clung one-handed to the turret of a Vindicator-pattern Lem'an Rus. The  
penalty of mounting a 'fuck-off' huge cannon in a mobile frame was that as caliber  
increased, the fewer shells it could actually carry and thus a shorter duration of  
utility. He was the only thing keeping it from being swarmed.

He wiped blood from his eyebrows. He still thought it was a pig-ugly design but  
even as an officer, being infantry -sucked-. He looked to a nearby Hydra and grinned.  
Pilots so loathed having to do support for ground attacks. Big tanks only meant juicy  
targets for those flyboys. 'Let's see them dodge LASERS.'

He no longer feared death, but still... it was a good time to be alive.

He frowned as a large, skeletal shape flew past and just melted into the dark  
material.

"This is getting ridiculous." he said, completely overlooking again that he should  
have had to reload -sometime- after shooting burst after burst with his Bolt Pistol.  
He had however, found a hat along the way. It was a nice hat. It made him forget  
about little trifles like that. "How many last stands is a man supposed to get,  
anyway?"

"At least one more." Lama Feckdeldraft said, emerging from the turret. Back in Tibet,  
he taught probability mechanics. The stabbing and leaping and the deluding  
themselves into invulnerability; he left that to the young and young-at-heart. It was  
the same trick that he used as shield around Gotha; as the enemy approached, the  
chances of their coilguns misfiring or just exploding in their hands increased, until  
their aimed it at the region of effect, at which point the odds became one.

"We're alive. Does this mean Sohryu won?"

"My colleagues are surely causing the Cradle no end of intestinal pain. I felt  
something of massive psychic presence approach. Was it one of the Warborns?"

"Likely. Too big to be anything else, really." He leaned with his back to the turret,  
listening to the crew inside gather reports in a language he did not understand.  
"Those inside have bigger problems now." As fast as he said it, he winced at the  
pun.

The old monk sighed and rubbed at his bald head. "We... had always known it would  
end at a Fortress of Black Stone. The walls of the City-Fortress over at Tokyo, and  
the final bulwark, it seemed so obvious. This place" he waved up at the black shell  
of the Cradle "... also qualifies. It ends here. -We- end here."

The young soldier slid down to the hull, bone tired. He took off his hat (and it really  
was a Very Nice Hat, black leather with red trim) and fanned with it. "They'll go down  
making a difference, but... it's still sad." While it was the very same thing he had  
advocated earlier, it was still such a goddamn waste. Good people had to die because  
the enemy was too many. "Four thousand years, you people were waiting for this?  
Really?"

"What is the most frightening thing, kampfer?"

'_Hmm_.' Not death, certainly. Failure? Torture? Ghosts? "I guess being helpless would  
do it. If you're powerless, you pretty much have to fear everything." He chuckled.  
"In short, life."

"The most terrible thing would be that there are no coincidences. None. Never has  
been, never will be."

That was enough to make even Wilfred wince.

"-Humanity- has been waiting for this. Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Chinese,  
African, British... all and more it does not matter. Javaal was just the most recent  
repository of an ancient legacy. But it's for good reason that to believe in fate is  
called _fatalism_."

At the distance were two stick-like shapes, dipping in and out of the horizon. Soon  
a small earthquake made itself known, increasing in frequency and intensity. "Do the  
impossible, defeat the undefeatable, sink the unsinkable..." Though like many of the  
world's conventional military, Wilfred resented how an Eva could quickly make even  
his best efforts obsolete, he also as quickly realized what an Evangelion truly was.

They were man's physical oath to **_kick fate in the balls_**, here they come...

- and they were running.

-o-

A few minutes later, Sarah Campbell appeared on the Core level, striding up to  
Dr. Lader's mechanical grotto. The scientist had downloaded a portion of his Mind  
into another construct. In Earth's Cradle, Everyone Pulled Weight. He had fought and  
died thousands of times, with combat drones and even as doors; all to slow the  
enemy's progress.

_'Damnation!_' he shouted into the mindlike. 'Where is my support?' A few seconds of  
reflection later brought the answer. Dead. Force Blades cut down to the very soul.  
Fortunately there were plenty of memory backups. It was the least literal of the  
Cradle's promises of immortality, but it would suffice.

"I see that the evacuation pods are full, Doctor. Have you loaded your own  
patterns into it?"

"And I see Bettelheim has fallen. His backup has garbled. -Damn- these probability  
shifters."

"If you had not reduced the flow from the second core, he might have had greater  
ability to neutralize Sohryu's S2 Engine-backed AT-field."

"-Whatever-. He was never more than a dumb animal, anyway."

Sarah frowned, slightly. Her expression; wide, dark eyes framed by her short raven  
hair, was like that of Cleopatra before an asp. Slowly, she walked up to the raised  
platform. The various assistants did nothing, busy with their own efforts at damage  
control. It was a while before Dr. Lader noticed her proximity.

"Hm? What do you want -now-? You have your -orders-, there are some spare  
battlesuits. Go make yourself -useful-."

"You have been throwing women and children at the invaders, to detabilize them  
psychologically."

"It seems to be working, they have avoided more direct access points. There are  
plenty of backups."

She pushed him aside. The physical construct was low-priority on his gestalt,  
doing low-level processing that running simulations beforehand. It was also  
pretty handy as a combat form. The bullets bounced off an AT-field. She took  
his wrist and broke it right off, the monomol cleaver-claws along with them.

The Cradle had redundancies all over, but even its biocomputing required a  
place for primary processing. The command center was in the level directly  
above the Cradle's core, but that was for the benefit of those who chose not  
to submerge themselves fully into the Mind.

"Cradle of Earth, hear me. Authorization override SOPHIA." There was a rumbling  
all throughout the Cradle, and everyone connected to the Cradlemind felt a rush of  
power. Dr. Lader gnashed as the charge drained away from the superlaser. "Initiate  
Void protocols."

Nagisa could never connect to the Hivemind, but by painstaking mapping of his  
brain's every neuron, it possessed a template of its personality.

"No reason to get excited." the Mind spoke kindly, as if to Shinji Ikari. "There are  
many here among us, who feel that life is but a joke. But you and I have been  
through that, and this, is not our fate."

The shaking intensified, and the second core, the one once known as Bardiel,  
cracked and burst into a shower of glowing yellow motes.

"-What- have you -done-?" screamed Dr. Lader, clutching under the hood of his  
robe. He was booted right out of the Cradlemind and confined to just one head.  
"Sohryu approaches and you divert energy from our defenses? A back door...? It's  
impossible, such a thing cannot hide from me!"

"You forget, Doctor, that the Cradle is not a computer or a matrix of personalities.  
It is, fundamentally, an Angel." Sarah pointed to the remaining core. "There is no  
point in fighting for this location. Our plans may be laid anywhere."

"Let us not talk falsely now." the Mind said to Dr. Lader. "The hour is getting late."

"-Shut up-! Enough with the meaningless Pop -Culture-! Damn you, Nagisa! This is  
treachery! You have betrayed the Greater Good! You -hypocrite-!"

"We all serve a purpose, Doctor. You, ultimately, serve as A Lesson." Sarah added.  
"You have monopolized the Cradlemind for too long, and will stand as the peril of  
too much individualism and megalomania given free reign. Goals are one thing, and  
ambition another."

"And are -you- any better? Nagisa!"

Nagisa's template in the Mind was fading, his voice turning back into the thousand  
voices. "We will leave now. From the Cradle a new humanity shall wake. Evolution  
and natural selection only functions when there is competition. Now we cannot go  
back. They will hate us. They will pursue us. Now we have no choice but to become  
stronger with every generation. And they want to defeat us, they will have to become  
-like- us. The seed of conflict must be sown, for us to grow."

The blast doors into the Cradle Core burst inward. A shrunken old man walked into  
the chamber, his walking stick tapping with every step.

"We congratulate you for getting here." Sarah called out to them. "But sadly, you  
have destroyed the only chance of Third Impact not happening. We will leave this  
world now, it is yours to defend. You have my condolences."

"Kill them! -KILL THEM-! ALL OF THEM!" Dr. Lader screamed at the technicians.  
The robed, multi-lensed figures looked at each other, then deployed auxiliary combat  
appendages. They leapt, crawling vertically down steep walls, sickle arms flashing  
in the dim light.

Sarah Campbell shook her head, and disintegrated as well into a column of softly  
glowing particles.

Dr. Lader screamed and screamed, as he felt his memory backups and physical  
redudancies being erased. "Live." was the last message. "Cling to life for as long  
as you can. The power of the Cradle is all yours now. Do with it as you will."

"I will -NOT- accept this indignity! You will -suffer-! You will -ALL- SUFFER!" His  
construct writhed on the ground, while his mind cast about for any other shell. And  
found it. 'Hah! That construct, it remains pristine! All the effort into making its  
control cluster repellent to psychic attacks also prevented any outside manipulation.'

His contemptible human-shaped shell burst into mechanical parts and gore.

A sphere, about five hundred meters across, rose from the very top of the Cradle and  
out into space. Nothing lived in that pod, it did not possess a single controlling Mind  
like Adam or Lillith, intelligence like but it was a complete Seed nonetheless.

The two Evangelion pushed through the Cradle's AT-field, it was like having to swim  
through a viscous fluid.

The Core section of the Cradle was a large oblate chamber. The very top of the  
ceiling was shrouded in darkness. Sixteen glowing green eyes became aware. Dr.  
Lader's final form lowered from its nest. Hooked and multi-sectioned jaws capable  
of chewing through Terminator armor chittered angrily. Barbed and poison-filled  
hairs protruded from eight spindly legs.

"What, a Boss Fight, is this necessary?" the Sunshine Kid muttered. "Four thousand  
years, and still... no respect."

Kurly Khrisna looked back at his own that remained. Pagnor, his dark skin showing  
bright red gashes. The Man-Of-Peace, his proud long white beard cut off in ragged  
clumps. Helmeted warriors, their eyes betraying just how young and afraid they  
truly were.

He turned and looked up at the nearest Heraklitus. The mercenary had shown no less  
stubborn, stupid bravery than the shining fools he had so trained. The armor was  
broken in places, myomer bundles cut and even the helment had split open. "Valdor.  
Spider-slayer, you will not be."

"What?" Konstantin looked confused, then angry. "No, this is my duty as Custodian,  
grandfather. We will fight to the end, and purge these aliens."

"Your duty... not to die by my side. To live, to stand by the protector of man." The  
abbot laughed weakly. "Go, and tell your master this: Remember he must. Innocence  
he has regained, but now humanity needs his full awareness again. What he has  
abandoned to history, accept it back! Accept it he must!"

"Sir...?"

The old man turned to Lama Pagnor, who seemed pained at having to obey. The last  
wish of a man that had been father and grandfather to them all... the warrior could  
not refuse that. Even his own pride, his own will, was a paltry thing. _'If any respect  
you ever had for me, do this you will.'_

The golden-armored giants of the Terminatus Legio were held by the remaining  
Psykana, and all vanished in a forced teleport.

_'Four thousand years, eh? Worth the wait, it was.'_

He ran, as fast as his short old legs would allow, past the stabbing limbs of a  
gargantuan spider. The creature crashed, its legs cauterized stumps, behind him.  
Not slowing dow, he threw himself into the gash in Iruel's blue core. The Angel  
core turned green. He had lived, and it was a good death.

-o-

The AT-field impeding the Evangelion's progress abruptly died.

Wilfred pushed off the ground, heaving for breath. The ungodly pressure... now  
the rush of air back into lungs; he felt light-headed. He turned to lie flat on his  
back, and saw- the monstrous form of the Evangelion, Unit Zero Two and its  
great hammer, silhouetted against the son.

If there was indeed a tragic cycle... "She's **_Thor_**, isn't she?" he asked aside.

"Ah-yup." was all Lama Feckeldraft could say.

-o-  
_  
"Kammer hast kritische-masse."_

"Load catridge, dammit!"  
_  
"Jawohl!"_

The revolver docket had three catridges bearing a very familiar symbol. The Eva  
was a weapon of so much mass destruction in itself that Californium slugs did not  
really add that much to its destructive power.

It was still ridiculous. The Earth's Cradle had a diameter of six kilometers- six  
thousand meters, while the Evangelion did not even approach one hundred. It was  
like a mouse trying to challenge an elephant. And unlike said elephants, the thick  
ablative shell of the Cradle had no assorted 'voolnerables' to damage.

Asuka took one last look around her. The miasma had completely disspated by then,  
and the broken, blackened terrain extended for as far as she could see. The only  
green she could see was at the tips of distant hills and the tanks pulling away from  
her location. A plume of acrid smoke was rising over the horizon, but that was not  
her problem. Mayumi was herding the troops off to safety, though the black Eva's  
arms were still gangly strings its AT-field was strong enough.

She should feel angry, but... she felt only pity. For all the Cradle's boasts, for all  
their tricks and their treachery... in the end, nothing. With one stroke, she would  
end it all. It was monstrously unfair.

The Earth's Cradle was empty. The walls were dissolving into a discolored muck,  
flooding the many chambers. Dr. Lader screamed as he forced his mind into the  
very essence of the Cradle. He was utterly alone, and that had its up-sides. For  
the Earth's Cradle was Iruel's body. So much power there, his alone. Nagisa was  
being unexpectedly generous.

Or cruel in his irony.

The old abbot had destroyed the Angel Core, passing the burden of its existence  
into Dr. Lader. Though the man had always despised his human form, the post-  
humanist nature of the Cradle-mind (and now Cradle-body) was just that of a  
monster. All the power, none of the control.

The ablative shell began to flake off in massive clumps. The pieces burst into black  
powder on the ground, burying it under concealing dust. It rose high enough to cover  
even the Eva standing nearby.

Soon a rough shape emerged. No longer just a wounded sphere, the curved  
portions looked like that of a turtle's. shell. A beaked face started to show.

Asuka put her hammer down. She took slow, measured steps until her Eva was  
completely under its shadow. "You in there... you're powerful, I'm not going to deny  
that... " she projected with her AT-field, and the vibrations carried through the shell.  
"Are you one mind or many? It doesn't really matter anyway.

You have killed so many people. You have despoiled this land. You've lured people  
with false promises, and attacked others when their guard was down. But you know  
what really pissed me off? You're not the first one to try that. It's what NATIONS  
do. Hell, inside that thing... it's sovereign territory. You were just trying to make  
yourselves a legitimate power.

We pushed first. You pushed back. Hard. And now -I- get to decide. Do I push you  
over, make you fall down? Do I push so hard that no one should ever even dare to  
-dream- about pulling this sort of bullshit again? You pull out a knife, we pull out a  
gun, you kick my people, I eat your eyes. Brutality answered with brutality. Kill and  
kill and kill until no one is there to complain."

Legends about the pilots had already flown all over the world. Sohryu was the best  
of them in pure combat, but that was only theoretical. She had never really killed  
any Angel on her own. That she hesitated there, was what allowed others to see  
that she was more than just a weapon to point at the enemy.

Those watching a short distance away already understood. It was the very first  
combined-arms operation involving an Evangelion. The Eva had changed the face  
of warfare. An Eva pilot, by default, had power to equal that of a general. It was  
not like anything could be done to stop them, short of launching nuke-level attacks  
at one's own troops. The Evangelion pilot, as a warrior, also had to be a leader.

"I am not anybody's -weapon-! The Eva is not a toy for war, and history is not  
about who's right and wrong! Who the hell do you bastards think I AM? All this  
suffering could have been prevented! I don't goddamn -enjoy- having to do this!

We're not perfect. Our society has a lot of problems. I can see why you think it's  
better to just give up and start all over again. At the start, you wanted peace and  
acceptance, didn't you? That's why... I'm not -giving- you this last chance. It's  
something we both have to sacrifice. Our pride, our hatred... it's just going to keep  
feeding the fire, wasting lives. War gets deadlier, but war, war never changes.

Stop this, please. Don't make me do this. You took my country apart, I know you  
have the power to put it back together again. Become a symbol of life, instead of  
death. The Eva... its power, let's have a world where there would not be any need  
for even me."

The air grew unnaturally still. The Earth's Cradle was a nation unto itself, that would  
not be too hard to argue. Did Sohryu realize just what she was asking? Surrender  
was not a capitulation to terms... she would become the de facto ruler of a power  
to rival even the city she had left; indeed, any nation on the planet. Europe was in  
shambles, many armies and capital cities had already crumbled under its onslaught.

The UN would not be in a position to resist. Sohryu as an ally was infinitely better  
than an enemy. Conqueror. Savior. Princess. -Empress-.

These possibilities hinged on that moment. Dr. Lader knew this, the simulations  
running in reflex. Unlike Nagisa, she could be trusted to keep her word and there  
was still the open possibility of actually influencing her decisions. She had... honor,  
in the purest chivalric sense.

He wondered briefly if the situation was Nagisa's way of saying "_I'm sorry?_" or "_Marry  
me?_" Dr. Lader had never been loyal to anyone but himself. He was never going to  
be a leader, to be looked upon with awe and dread. He could still be great, but it  
would take finally setting aside his gargantuan pride and serving with faith.

He made his choice.

"You are -deluded-, Sohryu." He was a physical God. Three kilometers thickness  
buffered him from the outside. The boarding action from earlier would no longer  
be effective; he did not have to worry about preserving assets for The Greater  
Good. "There is no victory here. The greatest mecy I can give is to burn this putrid  
land, before you set loose ancient powers you -cannot- comprehend! That Eva you  
bear! The price of its power will be -far- more that you will be willing to pay!

The source of all life is the Primordial Chaos, and its darkness and malevolence you  
will experience in mortal flesh!

NO! I will -not- bear the burden of your folly! I will burn this land, and take the  
moon from the sky! I refuse to perish alongside this doomed world! I AM IMMORTAL!  
A PRINCE OF THE UNIVERSE! I -REFUSE-!" Eyes appeared all over the dark shell. "I  
cannot be -caged-!" Wicked energies poured out from the irises, cutting into the  
ground, searching for little creatures to burn.

"I cannot be -controlled-!" There was a trembling, and great roots broke the earth.  
Like a seed pod, the Cradle began to rise. "UNDERSTAND -THIS- AS YOU DIE! EVER  
-PATHETIC-! EVER -FOOLS-!" Large bombardment spheres, like those weilded by  
Sahaquiel, grew from the carapace. Two Evas would not be able to pull off the  
multi-strand homing laser trick, and he could ensure that the terrors in the night  
would continue to plague humanity in physical form.

Asuka sighed. Gnarled roots, in size dwarfing even her Eva, whipped around.  
Those that sprang at her Evangelion fell apart, in pieces, before reaching her.  
This despite that her hammer had no cutting edges whatsover.

"We. Are not afraid." She looked up, hefting her hammer with both hands. "I said it  
before, I don't care. Bring it. If we have to, we'll HAMMER HEAVEN! HAMMER HELL!  
Reduce all obstacles into light! This is -our- world! This is the path we have chosen!  
We shall fight against the tide of genocide and BREAK THROUGH into tomorrow!"

She felt a presence inside her plug, hands over her own grip on the control handles.  
_'Is it something to be proud of, being a destroyer? To be the best at it?'_ She thought  
of those waiting for her to return, and felt... approval. _'The fires consume, but also  
clear the way. Someone has to blaze the path to renewal... and it is ours.'_

It was still ridiculous. She was going to break something nearly solid all the way  
through, a city in itself, with one hammer? The core was even off-center, so anything  
other than a direct hit would be as futile as spitting at a glacier.

Everything about it, even the AT-field, had such overwhelming superiority. The drill  
head spun, and a minature tornado formed around the Eva; blowing aside the dust  
and debris. Asuka focused her will into the chamber, compressing the promethium  
and Californium mix until she held the equivalent of an infant sun. The back of the  
hammer-head ignited into swirling ribbons of flame.

Dr. Lader was reminded of the new volcano not too far away.

"I see you."

The Eva raised the hammer over its head, and seemed to grin. Down below someone  
took off his hat and whooped with joy.

"Impossible!" The mind thet remained of a man looked towards the green core. "I still  
have my AT-field, a psychic cannot... there is a -HOLE- in the field!" He might as well  
have a bullseye painted on his forehead. "She can't be... she's just going to completely  
blast through the walls?"

"Spin on! _Ernster Schlagann!_" Unit 02 leapt, whirled about in the air to add the  
momentum of rotation into the blow. "Pierce, and smash, with all your might! With  
all our hopes, all our dreams, and all our sorrow! Take this, the anger of all the billions!

_ -o-**GGGGG** -o- -o-**IIIII** -o- -o-**GGGGG** -o- -o- -o- -o-**AA** -o- -o-  
-o-**GG** -o-**GG** -o-**IIIII** -o-**GG** -o- -o-**GG** -o- -o- -o-**AA**-**AA** -o-  
-**GG** -o- -o- -o-o-**IIIII** -o-**GG** -o- -o- -o- -o- -o- -o-**AA** -o-**AA** -o-  
-**GG** -o- -o- -o-**IIIII** -o-**GG** -o- -o- -o- -o- -o- -o-**AAAAAAA**-  
-**GG** -o-**GGG** -o-**IIIII** -o-o-**GG** -o-**GGG** -o-**AA** -o- -o- -o-**AA**-  
-**GG** -o-**GG** -o-**IIIII** -o-**GG** -o- -o-**GG** -o-**AA** -o- -o- -o-**AA** -o-  
-o-**GGGG** -o- -o-**IIIII** -o-**GGGGGG** -o-**AA** -o- -o- -o- -o-**AA** -o-_

-o-**DDDDDD** -o-**RRRRRR** -o- -o- **IIII** -o-**IIII** -o-o-**LL** -o- o- o-**L L** -o- -o- -o-  
-o-**DD** -o- **DD**-o-**RR** -o-o-**RR** -o- **II** -o- -o-**IIII** -o-**LL** -o-o - o -**LL** -o- -o- -o- -  
-o-**DD** -o- **DD**-o-**RR** -o-o-**RR** -o- **II** -o- -o-**IIII** -o-**LL** -o-o- o- **LL** -o- -o- -o- -  
-o-**DD** -o-** DD**-o-RR**RRRRRR** -o- **IIII** -o-**IIII** -o-**LL** -o- -o- o- **LL** -o- -o- -o-  
-o-**DD** -o-** DD**-o-**RR** -o-**RR** -o- **IIII** -o-**IIII** -o-o- **LL** -o- -o- **LL** -o- -o- -o-  
-o-**DDDDD** -o-**RR** -o- -**RR** -o- o- **IIII** -o-**IIII** -o-**LLLLLLL** -o-**LLLLLLLLL**

**-BBBBBB **-o- -o**-**o** RRRRRR **-o- -o- -o-**EEEEEEE **-o- -o-**AA **-o- -o- -o- **KK -**o- -o- -o**-KK **-o-**EEEEEEE **-o- -o-**RRRRRRR **-o- -o- -o-**-!  
-BB **-o-** BB -**o- o -**RR** -o- -o-**-RR **-o-**EE -**o- -o- -o- -o-**AA** -**AA -**o- -o-**-KK **-o- -o-**-KK -**o- -o**-EE **-o- -o- -o-** -RR** -o- -o-** RR **-o- -o-**-!  
-BB** -o-** -BB **-o- **RR **-o- -o-**RR **-o- -o-**EE -**o- -o- -o- -**AA** -o-**AA -**o- -o**-KK **-o- -o-**KK** -o- -o**-EE -**o- -o- -o**-RR -**o- -o- -**RR **-o- -o-**!  
-BBBBBB -**o- -o-**RRRRR -**o -o- -o-**EEEEEE -**o- -o**-AAAAAA **-o- -o**-KKKKK **-o- -o- -o-o** EEEEEEE -o- -RRRRRRR **-o- -o- -o-**-!  
-BB -**o- -**BB **-o**-RR **-o- -**RR **-o- -o**-EE -**o- -o- -o- **AA **-o- -o**AA -**o-o -**KK **-o**-KK -**o- -o- -o**-EE **-o- -o- -o-** RR **-o- -o-**-RR **-o- -o- -**!  
-BB** -o-** -BB **-o**-RR -**o- -o-**RR -**o- -o**-EE -**o- -o- -o- **AA -**o- -o- **AA -**o**KK **-o-** -KK **-o-o -**EE **-o- -o- -o-** -RR **-o- -o- -o-**RR -**o- -o**-  
-BBBBBB -**o- -**RR **-o- -o- -o**-RR **-o-**EEEEEE **-o-**AA **-o- -o- -o- **AA -KK -**o- -o- -**KK- **o-** EEEEEEE **-o-**-RR -**o- -o- -o-**RR -**o- -o**-!**

Fwoosh. The contact point erupted into plasma. The Cradle could shrug off megatons  
of energy, even inside, but being liquid-filled the shock travelled all through its many  
cavities. That empty space near the center crumpled inwards.

The flames ate into the black egg, expanding, growing in strength and ferocity. It  
may have been a few centimeters at the contact point, but when it blasted through  
the back of the Cradle it was at least a kilometer round. It kept going, past the  
horizon and out into space. Someone standing on the Moon's surface would have  
seen a burning thread lancing out into the void, streaking right past the Moon's  
orbit, going on and on as long as that girl on the ground screamed and raged and  
cursed herself and all humanity for being such blind and careless fools.

The point of impact was a nuclear explosion, and a shockwave blossomed outward,  
rocking tanks on their treads. The sky was on fire, and the air screamed.

It was just a few seconds, and then it was done. The Cradle was hollowed out,  
and it collapsed under its own weight in thunderous fragments. The red Evangelion  
slumped to its knees, its steaming hammer dropping from nerveless fingers.

It was done. She had done her duty. She had avenged the so many. So why did shefeel  
no relief?

'_This... is just the beginning_.' she thought. '_The beginning of the end. Kaworu.  
What else have you done? We are a wretched people, but for how much longer are  
you going to throw that into our faces?'_

Strong arms caught her before she dropped face-down. Hugging was awkward in  
Evangelion scales, but Mayumi did not care. "Asu... Sohryu-sempai! Are you all  
right? It's over, we won!"

**We won! **

That statement reverberated among the gathered defenders, and soon throughout all  
Europe. The price was bitter, but there was no question about it. The Evangelion was  
humanity's own, and the nations of the world could unite against a common foe. The  
face of war was a red-haired teenaged girl, perhaps brash and stupidly competitive  
even at the best of times, but if there was a force, a trinity of golden power adrift in  
the world; then she held Courage aplenty.

A Seed drifted in interplanetary space, invisible to all forms of detection. It floated  
discreetly towards the sun, bathing in its invisible streams of energy. Power it  
needed, and terrible shall be its return.

There was still a communications blackout across the continent and into the East.  
Military facilities all over Europe were in shambles. It took some time, but eventually  
word arrived. The Evangelions had all failed. Magnos Tancred had fallen in the line of  
duty. Tokyo-3 was burning. The Terminal Dogma had been breached. The MAGI  
screamed its anguish into the ragged sliced-off ends of the International Network.

-o-

-o-

-end All Along the Watchtower part3-

* * *

In retrospect, perhaps I really should have just posted the first half of this portion much earlier, instead of letting almost two months go by without updates. :p I honestly didn't think it would end up being this long; hence why the climax is a little sparse.

And now, apologies for a different thing, for a change; the cliffhanger. Yes, it **_is_** necessary, and no; you'll have to wait for the next chapter for the answers.


	40. Chapter 39: The Coming Storm part1

The Coming Storm part1

-o-

-o-

-o-

While the world did have practical fusion power, the plants very expensive to  
construct. That Tokyo-3 had three of them, all under the geofront, was thus very  
impressive. These also ate up a noticeable chunk of the international budget. It was  
bad enough trying to get approval for one, but three power plants? The leverage for  
that must have been insane. Gendo Ikari had it done. Tokyo-3, quite literally,  
-overpowered- Kyoto-2. Ridiculously cheap electricity acted like a magnet for  
industry, and also quite literally dragged regional economy along with it.

Shinji Ikari, drawing upon the immense power reserves of the city and the might of  
the Eva, then gave unto them artificial fossil fuels. The economic consequences of  
that...! Fortunately one could not patent the process. The world had already learned  
not to ignore the name Ikari by that time, but the necessary new techniques and  
technologies required and made up on the spot just for the construction of Castle  
Sturmbrand... it was INSANE. Just out of seven days, once again the Fortress City  
sent waves of unrest all through the global markets and forever changed the way  
they would have to do business.

Artificial fossil fuels. Carbon nanotubes. Room-temperature superconductors. Super-  
high efficiency crystal capacitors. Cybernetic myomer. Mind-machine interfaces.  
Mass-produced solid-state lasers. Weaponized antimatter. The rudimentary equations  
for FTL communication. Or even matter transmission.

"And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates,  
and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and  
bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the  
eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. And there arose  
much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and  
became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings,  
Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl, taught astrology, Kôkabêl the  
constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiêl the signs of the earth,  
Shamsiêl the signs of the sun, and Sariêl the course of the moon."

Shortly thereafter, man was drowned for having achieved **_civilization_.** Shinji Ikari  
was raised _Shinto _in a nation which had to take best use out of limited arable land,  
so had an ingrained distrust of how much sin and debauchery there was in actually  
having growing cities filled with people seeking to master the earth. As like the  
Mayans in Palenque, the Persians in their stewardship of Babylon, and the Khmer  
with Ankor Wat, he felt that any society that overextended itself beyond what its  
environment or citizens could support would just eventually self-destruct. Swallowed  
by the jungle or the desert, and gone from the memory of man until their bones were  
dug up as museum pieces. Nothing made by man would last forever, and their vices  
and iniquities ultimately their own defeat- surely a God would know that!

They had done even worse since then. Why were those greater atrocities allowed to  
happen? Second Impact was caused by man's own hubris.

The relationship between _ningen _and _kami _was more give and take, a balance in  
things. There were still shades of crude animism there, but he supposed it was just  
the difference between world-views. He could not doubt the strength of their faiths,  
enough to last for thousands of years even while great empires flourished then died.

It was a different time, he supposed. It was easy to judge thousands of years down  
the line, as if these things functioned by the scientific process; trial and error, and  
the most 'obvious' solutions would not simply be discarded by the emotional logic of  
the mileu. Trying to force people to accept the most logical path, that was too much  
like Nagisa's way of doing things.

Still, it was disturbing. His city was strong. His people were happy. Almost nothing  
was beyond their power. And damn anything that dared to strike them down for  
arbitrary reasons- he would keep them that way!

The city was a boomtown. When he first arrived, it was starting to empty- most of  
the building was done, and with the construction companies leaving so followed the  
workers and the economy that relied upon their business. Now the population had  
doubled in a little under a year. The risk of destruction did not seem to diminish the  
attraction- the bubble grew bigger and bigger, everyone involved trying to get their  
share before it all went to hell. Perhaps even literally.

Until that happened, they were ridiculously, ridiculously rich. All because of the  
Ikaris. Houko Construction had gone from a middling land ventures corporation into  
one of the elites, allowed into NNHIS. _That _conglomerate, proud creators of -_**Magnos  
Tancred-**_, was a powerhouse. They had unlimited lines of credit with both the**  
**People's Republic of China and the New Council Republics for raw resources...  
including fissionables. Not the Japanese government. Them. Nuclear materials. In  
corporate hands. Their link with the local JSSDF garrison was becoming suspicious.

Cerberus Base was very nearly an appendage, a testing pool for new weapons  
intended NNHIS service.

And to think, they could all have been ruined husks instead! The boy counseled  
them not to get too used to such windfalls. The collapse was inevitable. There was  
no further room to expand.

"On Earth." Kensuke Aida corrected firmly.

Shinji Ikari had to grudgingly concede the point. "But only if we live through this.  
We're maneuvering here with our lives as a capital, and not just to score market  
points."

"Our price is MARS. Enough of this penny-ante crap. Even the Board agrees... you've  
been leading us into the economic bursting point necessary for outer space  
exploitation. We have to keep moving or we self-destruct. If we die, we die. If we  
live-o- we want Mars."

"Fine, fine. I'll even get its core to spin again, so you get a magnetic field to protect  
against solar wind. Happy?"

Kensuke frowned and rubbed at his chin. "You know what, I'm not even sure when  
you're exaggerating for effect anymore."

-o-

-o-

There was, of course, pain. The cold intensified such sensations, and exhaustion pulled  
at every step. Within the Geofront Ayanami's memories proved more useful, but as she  
was now out in the open, he tried to come forward.

She paused at the door. She knew NERV was still intact, the last Angel was defeated  
most soundly, and her very presence was an unnecessary abomination. She could  
not simply return to sleep however, for that part of him burned with a curiosity that  
Ayanami had never experienced.

'Every human being has to contend with the question, why am I here, is that not so?'

'I have not needed to do so. Am I not human?'

'No, that just means you were indoctrinated at a very young age. I'm pretty certain  
you're wrestling with that question -now-. Metaphorically. I mean, our existence is  
pretty much that... isn't it?'

Shinji Ikari had raised himself on the Socratic method. She missed the antics of his  
voices in the head. Finally she could understand just how shapeless and boring were  
her own thoughts before his arrival.

'We are hesitating. Are we afraid?'

She took a deep breath. _'The Emperor is my guide, I shall not falter.' _She began to  
turn the wheel on entrance hatch. _'Though I leap through the cold dark void, I shall  
not fear.'_

It was dark out, but with many floodlamps workers tried to get the city back into  
order before dawn. It was wet, but only to a little more than shin-deep. The waters  
were moving and drain away soon; little comfort at the moment. Shinji Ikari tried  
to look before moving, but Ayanami Rei had never felt any hesitation with her steps.

She shivered. She had, after all, spent the last few months as in a nice, long, warm,  
bath. She had gone in fully expecting to all give that up for a horribly mismatched  
fight against an Angel or Eva; mindless bliss for possibly painful, gruesome death.  
She had expected to come up swinging, literally fighting off hell on earth with  
everything in her power, with fist and nail and teeth and a smile on her face.

So, she gets to stand out in a cold, dark alley with her socks sogging wet and with  
someone else still living the best parts of her life. She sighed and rubbed at her  
forehead. Of course. She only hoped her combination of their talents did not bring  
with it a double dose of their shitty luck.

A large bulldozer rumbled past. There was no fear in the eyes of the soldiers, and  
soggy civilians in large trucks only showed subdued irritation. No despair. They had  
not lost, not yet. It was not her time.

The piece that was Ayanami was beginning to understand frustration. Ikari would  
have liked to understand the situation further; like it or not, it would be a waste of  
a perfectly valid opportunity, to just go back to sleep. _Carpe diem_ and all that there.

Ayanami -does not- pout. Her footsteps did slosh noisily, but she did not care.

Flash.

-o-

She remembered a sense of dull amusement. _"Prudence if magnified is  
cowardice._ _Caution is the blood kin to indecision. Courage taken to the  
extreme is nothing less than suicidal impatience. Folly and wisdom, too  
often, wear the same garment."_

_"By the Dark Gods! As usual YOU DO go on and on and ON AND ON, just  
GET TO THE POINT already!"_

_"I am amazed that not only have my Young King's essential character remained  
unchanged, but that he had turned his central flaw into strength. Why is it  
that his first instinct is to fortify?"_

_"You will not dare call HIM a coward, xeno witch!"_

_"Ah, it DOES take courage to ACCEPT facts of one's own LIMITATIONS. Khorne  
CARES NOT from where blood flows, but if I see another squad of Khornate  
Berserkers charge a prepared killzone, I WILL... GNAAGH! AT THE VERY -LEAST-  
THIS IS WHY WE HAVE JUMP PACKS, YOU MORONS! I WILL -HAVE-! CHAOS  
UNDIVIDED! BY BEATING! THE HABIT! OF -COMBINED ARMS-! INTO YOUR SKULLS!_

_Huff. Huff._

_Enough._

_Be at ease, for this only drives us to ponder- is he an IMPERIAL FIST, or an  
IRON WARRIOR?"_

_'Oi, can he be none o' da above?'_

_'IT is a METAPHOR, you ignorant bARGH!'_

_'HAR! And dat's wot Mork calls ironinny.'_

'But. That is titanium...?'

__A growl. _'And now you must burn. All of you! You will  
__-now- BURN.'_

_'Striking Scorpion would be apt as well.'_

_'BURNINATE IN HELLFIRE!'_

-o-

She leaned against a wall, breathing heavily. The city had changed, and Leliel's  
attack left whole blocks missing. A passing helicopter lit up a poster nearby.

Evangelion Fantasy Battles 2

The Call of Chaos

_Coming soon November 2016_

It looked fairly new, so no more than a few months had passed. _'Chaos?' S_he shook  
her head. It was not important. It took a little more time, but she did manage to  
situate herself. There should be a cardinal safehouse nearby.

She slid into the alley behind a disused garage. One of the junction boxes was clearly  
labeled WARNING HIGH VOLTAGE with two crossed lightning bolts; an innocuous  
symbol, were it not that the same sigil appeared on the Thunder Hammer and Storm  
Shields and the heraldry of the Heraklitus. A little backthinking would be that all  
these things did indeed possess lethal electrical charges.

She spoke to the junction box. "I am the eggplant. Coo coo cachoo."

Nothing happened. For a moment she wondered if it would be suitably ironic if there  
was nothing there to back up the sheer arrogance of thinking people would keep on  
obeying his smallest whims for all the past months. She understood _quid pro quo, _or  
that even kings have to pay for their upkeep.

She sighed. _'They changed the codes. Ah, hell.'_

She punched at the switchbox. Cast iron crumpled under her dainty fist. Fortunately  
citywide power was out, for safety's sake during flooding. The wall beside it receded,  
water dribbling down a downwards passage. She decided to worry about the fist-  
shaped dent in the morning._'_

_This... is a safehouse?'_ For a few moments she boggled at the sight. As expected it  
was off-the-grid, with its own independent power supply and the walls suitably  
reinforced. It was just... bigger than she expected, and the thick supporting beams  
of the personal bunker held fast to structural armor. A large tarp-covered shape  
dominated the space, she pulled on it and gasped. It was a tank. A Chimera, to be  
precise, with a dual Bolter turret._ 'They... managed to mass-produce it already?'_

She mused on how they managed to sneak it in. She looked around and wondered  
how they even expected to get it out; there was no ramp leading up to the street.

Who... are 'they'?

Again, she shook her head to realign her priorities. Clothes first. Pain she could  
endure, but Ikari would not have it any more than necessary. A console nearby  
called to her, but... no. There must be method. Patience was their way. She changed  
into bland work overalls and trudged over to the bunk beds. So tired.

_'I should be gratified that things have gone as planned, but... I am here. There is  
something wrong with the scenario. What... have I done?'_ She meant both Ikari and  
Ayanami. What sort of scenario required such equipment just for a relief bunker?  
What wars were there that demanded such doomsday caches?_ 'I should contact my...  
self? Selves? In the morning. For the moment, this body needs rest. _

_I think, for a newborn, I have done quite wel...'_

_-o- _

-o-

Most people tend to forget their dreams. Even Rei Ayanami could dream, she was  
normal enough in that respect. The problem was that, while for normal people sleep  
was an effective way of shortening the passing of time, her dreams offered no escape  
from the pain of her existence. Even her best memory (prior to meeting Shinji Ikari)  
was adorned by the sensations of something trying to melt her brains from the inside,  
then being knocked around as the entry plug explosively ejected from the spine,  
careening off the walls before crashing to rest.

There were memories of being torn apart, of nearly being boiled alive, of loneliness  
and pain ever since childhood. Being strangled to death by Naoko Akagi was  
surprisingly the least painful way to go. It was not until Shinji Ikari's return from  
his walkabout that Rituko Akagi ceased dummy plug research. An artificial piloting  
system unable to utilize the AT-field was worse than useless, it was giving a free  
Eva to the enemy.

Rei Ayanami's dreams were not pretty places to be trapped within.

-o-

_"And now, student, I will teach you shibari."_

-o-

"Those had better be dreams and not new memories." was a slightly shell-shocked  
clone's first thought at her return to wakefulness. She had yet to open her eyes.  
Dimly she was aware of movement. The part of her that was Ayanami reflexively  
snapped out to grab at something close to her face. The part that was Ikari realized  
it was a hand. Danger!

"AAAAAAAH!" A shrill voice voice shouted very close by, over to her left side.

She sat up and yelled as well, trying to roar frighteningly but unfortunately... through  
Ayanami Rei's voicebox. "Yaaaaaaaah!"

She opened her eyes to see a little boy trying to pull away. His companions seemed  
petrified. "GAAAAAAAH!" they both ended up screaming.

They paused and stared confusedly at each other.

"NGYAAAAAH!" they shouted again. She let him go. He fell on his rear, more pouty  
than frightened. At some point, Shinji ikari must have integrated Da Boyz more into  
his plans; she realized.. _'This is not a good thing.' The_ rest were grinning.

Soon enough they were introduced. The four children were Hiroshi, Mito, Asou, and  
Izumi. They recognized her as Ayanami Rei, and thus she pressed on her own  
questions rather than give them any opportunity to ask theirs. It was supposed to be  
a class Four safehouse, so how is it that they could get in, much less know of its  
location?

Even a systematic measuring of building dimensions all over Tokyo-3 would not  
have revealed its presence. The entrance is set into the wall behind a storage  
room, and the gap for the way down is disguised behind an apparently immovable  
stack of rusted crates and assorted car parts. Only ground-penetrating radar  
would have revealed its presence and it would not seem amiss, just one more  
storage basement.

There were two more entrances. One within the building, inside a stockroom and  
behind an innocuous pile of heavy car parts, and another led into the tunnels under  
the city streets. The alley entrance was secured by a voice-activated lock. The  
garage entrace was... not. Its primary protection was secrecy, a small hatch under a  
car's back seat. Class Four safehouses were intended for the pilots or their rescuers,  
carrying unconscious or injured with them.

The Gretchin, though curiosity and rampant trial-and-error, knew all the safehouses.  
_'I am impressed and appalled.'_ All an enemy had to do was to interrogate one of them  
to compromise the pilots' exit plans. _'They are children. They will break.'_

It was the aftermath of an Angel attack. These children were wondering why I am not  
with the others. "There are other things I have to study." she replied in Ayanami's  
tone. "There are currently two of me at this point in time. It is essential that no one  
know that I am here." She advised them not to think too deeply about it. Time travel  
was rather torturous like that. "No one must know, or things would change from what  
I remember." She cannot... must not... give them any details.

They were children. They... accepted it. In a world where gods walk and psychics  
peer into the future, it did not seem so unusual. If they argued or ask too many  
annoying questions, she could simply leave and deprive them of their adventure.

She had proved her identity by lifting the tank single-handed. She might not be the  
biggest, but she was the strongest. Ergo, she was Da Boss; at least on the field.

There were, of course, no maps for the Tokyo-3 tunnels. They only had their memory  
to guide them. It was with some pity (though her face did not show it) that she knew  
why these children were so free to roam around even in the direct aftermath of an  
Angel attack. Their parents were recent immigrants to Tokyo-3, and not dead but  
merely... negligent. Even with the high pay, what sort of person would willingly bring  
children into a warzone. Either someone who had no choice, or someone too greedy  
and lacking no one to foist off the children onto while they went to work.

She asked for them to deliver a message to Kensuke Aida. Only he may obtain an  
archive of recent events, without inquiring into the request in turn. It seems that he  
may have bigger mysteries to unravel.

She yawned. It starting to dawn on her how ironic it was that she could tear apart  
heavy steel bulkheads with her bare hands if she really wanted, but her body was still  
so very disgustly -weak- in other matters.

-o-

She opened her eyes.

That was a dream too. Dreaming that you were awake was a weird experience, but  
not so unusual. She blamed Ayanami's near-perfect recall and Ikari's plotting patterns  
for the realistic quality.

She looked around. The safehouse was essentially a metal box sank into the ground.  
If there were actually injured people, then the best place to send them would be... a  
hospital. Fat lot of good a heavily-armored APC would do, except in punching through  
obstacles to get them there. The safehouse carried only basic medical supplies.

The notion that children would find their way into the safehouse was likewise  
ludicrous. The alley entrance was voice-activated, and the hatch had two layers of  
armor plate behind it. True, she had managed to bypass the lock by punching it, but  
then again one had to know where it was in the first place. The construction crew  
was a possible leak, but there was no reason children should know of it.

The inside entrance should have been prevented the Gretchin, a bunch of elementary  
children, by the simple expedient of the doors being held shut by the biggest padlocks  
that could be found. All other windows were high up, and the tunnel entrance should  
look indistinguishable from other walls filled with tubes and wiring.

Then she found a bunch of data storage bricks nearby. They were slightly larger than  
the cassette-shaped slates used in SDAT players, but more rugged and reliable.  
Second Impact forced manufacturers away from disposable media... it was a shock  
at just how fragile and easily lost, oh the sum total of human knowledge. Paper was  
more robust, but also vulnerable to water and flame.

So her dream about that being a dream was a dream. She clutched at her head. 'This  
is going to drive me insane.' Her entire existence was an improbability, but still... 'He  
had never really found any use for existentialist koans, and neither should.' The  
thought was gone from her mind.

There was a computer nearby. She focused on the stack of documentaries rather  
than think about the implications- that someone had deliberately TOLD the Gretchin  
of the location of the safehouse, and had KNOWN she would be there. That someone  
had willingly exposed those children to danger; not even she knew how stable her  
Angelic powers would remain, not to mention her own mental state.

-o-

-o-

_The woman was so tiny in its palm. The Evangelion kneed the Jet Alone and let it fall  
on its butt. It put its left hand closer to its chest, protectively. It opened its mouth as  
if to roar, but instead Shinji's voice came out of its radio and external speakers.  
"If this Evangelion had a voice, it would say:_

_I HAVE WALKED AS A GOD, FOUGHT AS A GOD  
I HAVE MADE THE BATTLEFIELD MY HOME  
I AM THE GOD IN THE MACHINE  
I AM THE HOPE AND FURY OF MAN  
I AM EVANGELION! TITANICUS!  
PRINCIPIO ETERNUS!_

_THE ENEMIES OF HUMANITY WILL DIE !  
BY MY HANDS, THEY SHALL BE BROKEN_

_"You…! YOU ALL! Did you really believe THIS could have stood up against the Angels?  
While we were all fighting for our lives, you were wasting your time and money in  
this… thing! This soulless thing… this… TOY… of greed and ambition! This thing was  
never about saving humanity! It was just about MONEY and POSITION! You would have  
let Misato-san die! You would have a city burn! This… displeases me."_

_The Evangelion walked over to its fallen Bolter and wielded it again. It aimed at the Jet  
Alone and fired, shredding it further._

_The Evangelion roared once more. Know it well, you who would dare stand its way.  
"I AM PRINCIPIO ETERNUS"_

-o-

"Holy crap." she muttered. "How can anyone say all this melodrama with a straight  
face?" Never had she really realized how so utterly insane were the words that come  
of Shinji Ikari's mouth. The words as he said them were heartfelt and spontaneous,  
and as thus he could not think them unnatural. Ayanami did not understand the  
concept of speeches to begin with. She could not be inspired by words no matter  
how grand, but the way his truth rang within her soul...

She was not embarrassed. She was horrified. 'This is... me?' No matter what, Shinji  
Ikari had always thought himself as still that child lost in the intensity of a galaxy  
utterly removed from his experience. The face that he actually presented to the world  
was something else entirely.

_'I... He is a madman. His enemies are never really sure that he would not unleash  
the wrath of the Evangelion upon the troubled world. Ikari would never. But they do  
not know that. The insane are unpredictable like that.'_

Fortunately his allies did; and explained why it was such fun to torment the boy with  
unwarranted praise. It was akin to calling a fat man 'Tiny'... except that by treating  
Shinji Ikari as some sort of warlord was to set up false expectations. People walked in  
eggshells around him, as he could tear them all apart if ever really angered.

Well, he could. She could, at least. The irony was making her head hurt. If the power  
of mankind was not enough, then he would become a monster... he had planned it.

Was he already a monster to have actually considered that?

She turned her attention back to the screen. The primary argument against the Eva  
was that they were unstable. The destruction of the Trident prototype was a  
crushing rebuttal otherwise. The yield may have been only a few kilotons, but no one  
else had anything that could contain a nuclear explosion to such an extent that a  
woman but a stone's throw away would not even experience any increased radiation.  
Nuking the Eva would not work. It could just direct the energy right back at them in a  
focused beam of hot plasma.

She wondered if the generals felt the same way the captain of the Yamato in seeing  
torpedo planes swooping down en masse... helpless, obsolete at the height of their  
power. It was a fate cruel in its inevitability.

Shinji Ikari was... boastful. Incredibly, because of his apparent insanity, they had no  
choice but to take him at his word. He was, after all, Gendo Ikari's son. Would he  
really say that without anything to back it up? Did he not have the support of NERV,  
and of his father its master? So audacious, that there was refuge in that. So unreal,  
that it could not be a trick. The worst they could do would be to call it as a bluff, and  
be proven to be as the useless white elephants as they feared they would become.

_'Join him, or kill him; there is no other road.'_ The middle path was to do nothing, and  
as such become nothing. Roadkill was another way of putting it; the battles were  
intensifying and they could not hide behind their own political processes. There was  
far less risk in trying to ingratiate themselves with the boy (and thus, NERV). After all,  
they wanted their own Evangelions eventually.

Assassinating him would destroy an asset that would produce or train the next  
generation of pilots.

And the whole thing about killing Angels and preventing Third Impact, of course. None  
of those reasons reduced her dismay.

She had gone back into the tanks well before the battle with Sandalphon. She could  
accept the method they used to kill it. The battle against Matariel was not so crazy,  
it was basically just stab and cut (though Magnos Tancred's first real appearance was  
a pleasant surprise).

And then, there was the battle against Sahaquiel. She felt like going "What the  
FFFFFFFFFF... (Ocularis Terribus)" _'How does he do that?'_

The homing laser could be used to hit any military site... hell, all of them, all over the  
world, all at the same time. The world needed Evangelions now, if only to defend  
against other Evangelions. No wonder SEELE relocated to the Moon.

_'... wait, what? The Moon?'_ A useful new memory at last. Also, troubling.

She had no ideas. Perhaps something later would hint at what he planned to do about  
that.

-o-

_As before, NERV's command center reported that there was no one inside the entry  
plug. Theoretically, it should not even be able to activate. And if it was berserker, when  
apparently all logical methods fled, then… it should be acting far more aggressive.  
Instead, it acted like a wounded animal. It was… afraid._

_But like hell that meant Asuka was going to hold back any. She kicked out of a  
disguised elevator block and gave chase. If she was asked, then her answer would be  
simple too. The Evangelion was a tool. It was no weapon, but power manifest. She felt  
the shockwaves pass as her Unit-02 plowed through the streets, so fast that the air in  
front was like a brick wall. 'Hah!'_

_Nothing so simple as air resistance could stand up to the might she felt crawling across  
her veins. Nothing so mundane as momentum could dare prevent the fury she had to  
express._

_She pivoted on one heel and leap sideways to surprise the enemy. The white Eva turned  
and seemed to cringe._

_"HALT!" Asuka shouted. WHAM! Eva Unit-04 reeled from a G-Impact Stake to the  
face. "… hammerzeit." And then Asuka smashed it again._

_The white Eva's head had a noticeable dent inwards. It stumbled back unsteadily,  
clutching at its head and bellowing in pain._

_Asuka grinned. The big red warhammer in her hands was one of last relics of NERV  
German Branch. Technically the Ernster Einschläg, it multiplied the momentum in  
every swing to drive either a blunted or pointed spike imbedded into the hammer- head.  
The handle was the same way, but fed by oversized shotgun shells. In many ways, Asuka  
would have found it laughable, if only she had more to remind her of old home. It was like  
they expected her to go hunting vampires or something._

_WHAM!_

_The white Evangelion let out a frantic 'Skreee-" but that got cut off as Asuka hit it again._

-o-

Asuka. She had to smile. The affection from both Ikari and Ayanami echoed through.  
_'She has indeed grown into a person worthy of the adulation of millions. Her face  
glows with the knowledge that she is not alone, that she is loved, that she has  
value.'_

The loss of Germany was the fire that hammered her into shape, and its reclamation  
the quenching that tempers her resolve into the truly unbreakable. '_I can take some  
relief that the Angels are at least beyond his capacity to plan, but now it is apparent  
that her options have been carefully cultivated.'_

She had no fear about Sohryu possessing the S2 Engine. Odd, but... even at her most  
savage she was comforting, and though she might not like the simile every faithful  
guard dog did have a bit of the wolf left in him. She was symptomatic of the society  
that produced her. She would not destroy it just for her own gains... after all, they  
were her vindication.

The problem was... Nagisa. She did not really know Nagisa. His fascination with her  
was obvious, and perhaps for the same reasons as Ikari. Her fists tightened. Was this  
jealousy she was feeling? Perhaps. _'Do I want to punch his smarmy face in?_'

Definitely.

-o-

_Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!_

_Whine. DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA__!  
DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! Click. Whine._

_Magnos Tancred bullrushed forward, uncaring. The darts plinked off its armor, and those that  
punctured through seeped poison. Pity that the Dreadnought did not have blood or LCL. Its own  
counter-barrage was vastly more effective, forcing Matariel to close its big eye again. While the  
Angel was capable of rapid healing, a portion of its lower face was nothing but useless shredded  
meat, bulging with cancerous growth. Even with its many eyes, it was nonetheless blind to one side._

_The Angel swung up with one leg, the tip sharp and gleaming, and struck down at the much smaller  
enemy. The Dreadnought avoided it barely. Flash! Positron beam holed that leg, sending jets of ichor  
spurting out. The Angel screeched and skittered back._

_The Dreadnought could not tilt its body high enough to aim its hardmounted positron cannon at  
the Angel. Matariel was still using its AT-field to dampen all signals around  
Tokyo, thus it severely reduced its own defensive ability. It was for all-out attack, an  
ambushing being. Against the Eva AT-field specialization and perfect armoring both  
proved to useless._

_Unfortunately, being matched against the purely human-made machine was the worst possible  
thing for it. All the anti-Eva methods it had prepared, such as acid, poison, and the anti-AT-field…_

_It toppled over, useless._

_Mana Kirishima growled as she ordered a temporary retreat. They needed to reload. NERV  
had sent out crates of Mega Bolter rounds, but even that would not be enough. They could  
not -kill- the enemy._

_No matter, they knew all along that all they had to do was keep it occupied._

-o-

_'Who is this Mana Kirishima? She shows the signs of far more blatant manipulations.'_  
Not just from Ikari, but the generals that sent her. They had succeeded beyond their  
wildest expectations.

Ayanami had the absolute faith that comes from knowing her moment of ultimate  
sacrifice, but it was a greater faith to trust without assurances for the future. She  
looked at Kirishima and wonder at the girl who may have been, that girl with both  
body and spirit whole and happy. '_She is blessed in a world aflame in war, but it is  
better still to have a world without war.'_

Nonetheless, a part of her was jumping up and down in glee. "Is... is that a  
Dreadnought? Trident Land Dreadnaught! HA! Hail -Magnos Tancred-! Hail, Master of  
Battle! Hahahaha! This is wondrous!" _'The Eva is a god-machine, but only -Magnos  
Tancred- is truly mankind's creation and the worthy vessel of its indignation.'_

She paused.

_'No. This is bad. If we delve too deeply, what else may follow us back?'_

The Asahino Lance Cannon also drew an appreciative 'oooh'. It would not be enough  
against the Moon Cradle (which she had already guessed was at the far side anyway)  
but it was good to finally have anti-orbital defense. Sadly, the big honking gun was a  
juicy vulnerable target too.

-o-

_"The most dangerous place on this planet, Tokyo-3, is ironically the safest. Since we  
would be under attack anyway, might as well be at the most fortified location on this  
Earth, where we may offer our own meager efforts to the task." Monsignor Mendoca  
added._

_"So, it's more on… why ask for help from the rest, when you can have the very best?"  
the French representative asked archly._

_"Somewhat." replied the Javaali monk. "Consider it enlightened self-interest if you  
must."_

_"On the basis of a sophist adventure, you're asking the UN to suspend the rights of  
potentially hundreds of thousands of people! You're asking militaries to cooperate in  
seizing and deporting their own citizens. It's insane!" The representative slammed his  
fists down in emphasis. "This new organization you want us to create and support, the  
UN PSYKANA, would hardly even have to report to the UN…! How can we know  
you're not just grabbing power for your own sake? In fact, I doubt you even have any of  
the supposed abilities that separate you from the rest of humanity…!"_

_Other shouts joined in. "Yes, this is just some form of new, fantastic racism!"_

_"People should be allowed to live in peace, if that's what they want!"_

_"Do you really have any proof that we can't handle it?"_

_The two psychics shared a look. They sighed. Lama Man-of-Peace tugged at his beard and  
looked up. "Are we in danger? We are. But I sense, the question you really want to ask  
is… are we dangerous?"_

_The Brazilian prelate, orphanage manager, and sometimes software engineer palmed his  
own face and groaned. There was a reason they had preferred not to make a public  
demonstration._

_They stood facing the Assembly, within the UN hall in Geneva. It was a closed summit,  
but cameras were rolling. The problem was that skepticism was endemic to humanity.  
The Lama took his hand away from his beard and gestured up. Podiums rose into the air,  
he closed his hand, and there was the sudden sound of wrenching metal. Twisted lumps  
of aluminium, wood and plastic dropped with dull thumps._

_"The answer is yes." he said flatly. "Imagine this, multiple ten- a hundredfold! We will  
not be used as weapons AGAINST humanity. Though we lived through persecution,  
through golden cages, and the bleak denial of our own selves… in the end we fear more  
what the enemy can do to us, can do USING us, than whatever you may imagine for  
yourselves."_

_-o-_

_'I could not have predicted that psychics -exist-. The initial scenario was intended  
against the predations of SEELE. I have no idea what it would take to obtain the  
allegiance of these people._

_Ikari has made them weapons. And Nagisa... '_

She clutched at her head. Pain. Painpainpain. Her soul feels as if made out of jagged  
glass.

"This is insanity." she whispered. There were too many variables. _'What is Ikari  
planning? I admire the Emperor, but to become Him has never been my goal! It is  
the utmost arrogance to try and live up to that ideal! I am not an immortal  
guardian, I am not wise through the ages. Everything I see points towards that goal.  
Have I become consumed in my hubris?_

_Have I forgotten the vow that no one else should suffer? He is supposed to be the  
servant of mankind, not its master!'_

She stared at her hands_. 'Is this why I have woken before my time... that the great  
enemy that I must fight against, is... him?'_

No, it cannot be. Ikari would not do that_. 'This is city steeped in the cult of  
personality, but such things never last beyond the lifespan of their leaders.'_ Unless  
he intended to become immortal, it would only backfire horribly.

Unless...

_'He intends to make some stupidly symbolic sacrifice? He does not even have to die,  
he can try to -fake- it. That is his route to retirement? Oh the fool. The naive young  
fool. Ungh. Too many have already suffered, too many have died to further his  
cause. Dare he try to escape judgement?'_

She rewound the video back to the battle against Sahaquiel, and the moment the  
world really had to consider the consequences of Evangelion mastery. Nothing helped  
evangelism like a little demonstration for mass destruction.

-o-

_-Principio Eternus -roared and opened its hands. The beams split, one to each finger. The  
homing laser streaked to follow the pods released earlier. A few of the closer ones were  
annihilated, but there were those already almost at the cities, and there were more than  
ten…_

_"… raagh! No!" Shinji screamed. "Control! I need more control…! More! Evangelion!  
We must have more."_

_The roar was such that the air itself shook from a pressure wave. The Evangelion  
writhed in place, and its back armor, around the entry plug, exploded. Light issued forth._

_"Is that…" Misato gasped in horror. "No… it can't be." Like she remembered._

_"Wings…" As the ribbon of light unfolded, to her relief (but continued disbelief) it  
was not like the terrible visage of Adam._

_"Arms." Maya whispered. "He gave himself two more arms…"_

_The glowing limbs coalesced, and spread its own fingers. In the distance, the beams split  
again._

_"The capacitors are exploding!" Shigeru shouted. "They can't handle the strain…! Oh  
shit! Everyone evacuate that area…!" Booms echoed through the corridors._

_Misato shouted up to the screen. "Rei! Stop feeding the laser!"_

_"My faith is strong." she said softly. "I will not bend."_

_"My hate is pure!" Asuka added. "I WILL NOT BREAK!"_

_-o-_

She fell to her knees, her fingers digging into the concrete. Around her, barrells  
crumpled inwards, gasoline spilling out in spurts. Lights flickered, and the engine of  
the Chimera rumbled into activity. The tank rocked on its treads. Soda cans boiled  
over and exploded.

She heard a scream, and turned to see the four children from yesterday. She had to  
force it all back, and lock it away... it was unnecessary there. Rei Ayanami should be  
able to detect such an outpouring of energy. Then, with growing horror, she realized  
_'This is NOT an AT-field!'_

It was invisible to the detectors and those with attuned senses for the same reason  
that those standing in Times Square could not really see Manhattan or that an ant  
could not perceive that the tire it is on will soon roll to crush it flat. Or someone who  
live on three dimensions but had dim knowledge about a fourth, trying to deal with  
existence in the fifth. One could pour buckets of brine into the Pacific and it would  
not care.

An AT-field was a region of Absolute Territory. Of certainty. That was why the  
quantum/psychic effects, of macroscale uncertainty, was the neutralizing opposite.  
She knew then why the Seeds were never meant to land on the same world, indeed  
the same solar system. It was not just a matter of separate and competing  
evolutionary ladders.

Eventually the boiling pressure inside her subsided. She heard clapping."That was  
cool! Do it again!"

_'I am a goddamn Angel!' _she wanted to shout. _'Don't get too close!' _She had  
expected to go out full-bore, fighting impossible odds until she died. It was as he had  
intended. She could not really fault his reasoning. At that point it would not have  
mattered, but now... it did.

She also realized why she had been reluctant to contact her other selves. If she  
was in their position, she would have seen a clear danger that had to be killed as  
quickly as possible. She had no liking for unnecessary conflicts, specially with her  
biochemistry still in flux.

Fortunately Ikari had always known that the gift, along with the introduction, was a  
useful tool in diplomacy.

-o- _  
-o- _

It was easy enough to discourage the children from further participation. The  
information-intelligence phase was often dull, but there was always the possibility of  
something exciting. The planning and analysis phase was always boring all throughout.  
She was just going to shut in and vegetate for a few more days, but her time was  
too valuable to waste on little tricks to impress them. She needed control, full  
concentration... it made them resent her a little bit, but it was important. She  
stressed again, necessary, but BORING.

Once they were done, she turned to the significance of the safehouse having a tiled  
floor. As a cardinal safehouse, the wall corners were also pointed to each of the  
four directions. Starting from the north, she counted nine tiles diagonally down. She  
carefully pried it open to expose a small metal box.

Shinji Ikari did not know the class four safehouses. He had some vague knowledge of  
what was inside and where they were, but as last-ditch locations they were better  
left unused. There were other more accessible and more comfortable safehouses for  
general use. So it was that he had commanded a certain spot be dedicated to hold  
a message to the future if ever he traveled back in time. Just in case.

Empty. She sighed in relief.

Counting from the south end, ninth tile; a box just in case the time travel extended  
for a few weeks rather than months or years. Empty.

She realized she had been sweating. She sighed again. Good. There might still be  
something in that special safety deposit box, or if the event went for more than a few  
hundred years she might have to go prospecting over at Mount Hei. She did not think  
it likely that there would be anything further. She did not consider it strange that  
such variables must be eliminated first before crafting a plan. There was nothing bad  
about being sure about the problem and the factors surrounding it.

Wait...

She looked around the room again. She began to count off nine tiles from the east.  
There was one more box there. '_Huh_.' She had no idea what it was about, but for  
symmetry's sake she was sure there was another contained nine tiles from the west  
corner. She opened it, and within was an index card. Printed on it was

SPEAK TO THE YAKUZA

She went over to the last box, and inside it was another card.

REMEMBER, IGNORANCE IS BLISS

After her earlier brief moment of panic (by Ayanami's standards- what most people  
felt as vauge apprehension), she had decided that the easiest way to keep from  
having to fight Ikari and Ayanami for her own existence was not to give them any  
reason to attack her in first place. She was, technically, their daughter. It had better  
be a damn good reason.

Her own plans had the problem of not interfering with others already in place. Why  
waste time trying re-tilling grounds that were already seeded? As she slept the  
greatest danger they faced was SEELE. Her own resources were limited, but she  
could help there in ways much subtler and more effective.

... or she could yank out about a million yen in nonsequential bills from one of the  
caches around the city, check into the best hotel in Kyoto-2, and spend a week  
gorging on ice cream and action movies.

Mmm.

She held that sweet moment of sanity for a few moments longer, then went to work.

-o-

There was another disturbing thought as she prepared her disguise. Most humans  
were narcissistic to some degree, it was a natural component of being alive. Even Shinji  
Ikari had that flaw. Rei Ayanami, though Japanese, should not really have been  
introduced to samurai literature. It only further reinforced her belief that that the  
truest love was loyalty, and her value was only to be spent in the service of  
another.

Perhaps it was that part of her which was so reluctant to reveal herself to Ikari. She  
would not DARE tell him what to do. The furthest she could bring herself to do was to  
tug at his shirt and give a look of quiet yearning. It was the sort of face that made  
Shinji Ikari want to hug her and kiss the top of her head and breathe in her scent and  
protect her forever.

At which point Maya Ibuki would give out a little squeal and surrender into the urge  
to do just that. Too much _'moe'._

As she pondered the way to braid her now long black hair she gaped._ 'Wow. I -am-  
cute.' _She could use this. Another asset that Shinji Ikari lacked. She licked her lips  
and put on a beret. Hiding in plain sight, it seems, would be easier than she had first  
assumed.

_-o-_

_-o-  
_

The train to Kyoto was full of people. Most workers did not really live in Tokyo-3 but  
commuted on a daily or weekly basis. It was the tradeoff between high pay and the  
potential lethality of working there. There was a risky moment as the group went past  
crystal strands designed to either excess psychic energy or the utter absence of it-  
as in an AT-field.

Fortunately her brain emitted just the right amount of psychic energy as any normal  
human. Just as the Evangelion had two components for controlling the AT-field- the  
physical brain of the Eva, and the Core.

By all rights the Eva should have MASSIVE psychic presence. Why should it control  
the AT-field in the first place? The firmament separating between them was the  
known principle of physics. Was there a difference between the psychic energy  
produced by human minds, or Angels themselves? Maybe that was actually what  
made it work. An AT-field was a -field-. It is the location of -movement-. It was not,  
by itself, something capable of containing thought and existence. Just as light itself  
was both wave and particle, she wondered if they had taken the first step into a  
greater duality.

She resisted the urge to chuckle. And, as usual, like the Internation Network before  
impact, the first use human beings had for potentially paradigm technologies was  
to weaponize it.

_-o-_

It was a warehouse, and under the skylight a bunch of goons were playing cards.  
Then, there was the sound of breaking glass and a shadow slammed into the table.  
The metal frame of the table was strong enough to take its meager weight, but it  
seemed to loom large before their eyes. Its red eyes glowed with hellfire, and its  
long black hair floated down like folding wings.

One of the goons pulled out a gun, then yelped in pain. The gun fell to his feet,  
sliced into two clean pieces. One of the closer goon felt himself being yanked up  
with unholy strength to its eye level.

"Where... is your _oyabun_?" it asked with cold hostility. Babbling, crying, the thug  
denied knowing anything.

It was a girl. And then she smiled. They screamed.

_-o-_

"Miss? Young miss! We're here! Hyatt Kyoto-2 Hotel."

She blinked. "Oh. Thank you." She paid the man and got off the taxi. She rubbed  
at her eyes under her large round sunglasses. She was still getting used to having  
to separate 'reality' from 'daydream' from 'dream' from 'memory'.

Right. Fun as that may be, it was much easier to just ask Tokita-san about the  
'alternative sources' they were using. From there, it was just a simple phone call to  
asking about the man in charge. The one at the other end was quite uncooperative  
about his boss' location (Bitch! DO you know who you're talking to?), until he was  
asked to trace the call. It was from Tokyo-3, the NNHIS complex in Cerberus Base  
and did HE know who he was talking to? (ohh my life is dirt).

The Yakuza were unpleasant people, but not even Impact could really break them.  
Like it or not, every society had its criminal element; and while organization did allow  
a greater reach of perfidy, it stood that such organizations were also self-policing.  
They knew that the greatest profit lay in maintaining a peaceful, ordered society.  
There was only wealth when others had the ability to -produce- said wealth, and  
the reason why even the wealthiest crime lord had only a fraction of zaibatsu; the  
great companies.

_'It is in light that the grain grows.' _she thought as she entered. The assorted thugs  
were roaming around, frightening the hotel staff and possible customers. The families  
were meeting to discuss recent events. The return of the Earth's Cradle, in Europe,  
even that had consequences affecting them.

Shinji Ikari had left hints all over the place just in case he ever lost his memory. Why  
he decided to entrust those to the yakuza (or similar parties) was mysterious at first  
glance. The first reason was that it was not something that most would expect. The  
second reason was that the yakuza, even if they did know what they were holding,  
were not in any position to make use of it. The third... because in their own way,  
they were actually quite loyal.

They had always known that their existence depended upon working at the fringes  
of society. No matter how tough or powerful their 'soldiers' thought they were, the  
truth was that they could NOT stand up to a true organized effort by the military or  
government in rooting them out. It was a fortunate irony that such methods were  
available only to the tyrannical regimes; in that their better option would be to  
ingratiate and have shadowy affairs become legitimized. Ironically, the criminal  
element was also often seed options for a nascent Resistance.

Wealth and power were two different things. Shinji Ikari possessed both. To many it  
was inevitable... his father would die, from age or enemies, and at which point the  
boy would inherit NERV. And, by extension of influence, the rest of the country. Even  
greater irony that they were the ones most fervently waiting for him to become  
Emperor (of Japan). Risk all to gain all. At no other point could they hope to obtain  
power greater than what they already possessed. The only way to increase was for  
society itself to grow even more.

Social parasites they may be, but it was an entirely rational form of patriotism.

Rei Ayanami saw them as convenient targets to be thrown around for fun and  
experience, but... as they had hoped, Shinji Ikari did have a certain fondness for  
them; if at least for the higher-ups who tried to convince themselves they were  
still 'samurai'.

The guards scowled as she approached, a few leering in anticipation. Her hair began  
to shorten, to turn blue. She took off her sunglasses. As she passed she could smell  
urine.

It was a dignified gathering, if many of the faces still looked quite disreputable in  
their expensively-tailored suits. There were rituals and customs to be observed, that  
added up into a semi-romantic mythos built around their existence. They may be  
criminals, true, but they did possess their own brand of honor. Or at least that was  
what they wanted the public to believe. There was utter silence as she entered.  
The restaurant staff did not know what was going on, but anything that could  
frighten that many yakuza all at the same time was -not good-, and skedaddled  
forthwith.

"You? But we... we had a deal...!" one of the elder heads shouted in a voice he hoped  
was loud but nonthreatening.

"I am altering the deal. Pray I do not alter it any further." She waved aside.

Some of the guards looked like they wanted to pull out guns, but then decided it was  
pointless. Some of them looked on the verge of crying. She wanted to laugh, but did  
not want to cause outright panic.

She turned to the one who dared speak up. "And you are...?"

If he was insulted that she did not remember, he did not show it. He bowed deeply. "I  
am Hyuga Katsuhiro, Ayanami-sama."

"Any relationship to Hyuga Makoto?"

"A... distant cousin." She had asked that before, but who was he to question a kami  
on her whims? That blood relationship was likely the reason she had been more lenient  
to his own house. "Has something happened...? We are, as always, in your service."

_'What have I been up to? This is getting creepy.' _"The time has come. You have  
something that I require."

The old man let out a deep breath. He looked strong and fit for his age, and her  
words seemed to fill him with renewed energy. "Bring it here." he ordered imperiously  
to his own underlings. Soon enough a lacquered box was in his hands. With much more  
humility he presented it to the girl. "As he has commanded, we kept it neaby... but  
well protected... for the moment he needs it again."

Finally, he was rid of it. He had too many nightmares about it somehow getting loose.  
If he had a choice, he would have locked it in the thickest safe he could find and  
dropped into the ocean. The only reason he felt reasonably safe about having to  
carry it around was the being on the move kept it from... settling in... and that only  
a thorough IDIOT would contemplate trying to steal or destroy it.

She bowed gratefully, took it, and opened the box. Everyone else screamed and dived  
for cover.

After a few more moments, the looked up to see she was still intact and wondering  
why they were so scared about little piece of gray rock. She poked at it with her  
left index finger. Yep. Just a rock.

"Take it away... please."

She nodded. "You have my thanks. Please, do continue to enjoy yourselves."

They were left wondering if that was meant sarcastically, as a threat, or simple  
politeness. In any case, they decided it was best to just break out the booze. That  
had been too damn close for comfort.

She sat on a bench, in a park, and was starting to draw appreciative glances for her  
all-black ensemble. Both Ikari and Ayanami had a tendency to focus on a problem to  
the exclusion of all other things (including time and pain). She crossed her legs,  
exposing a bit of skin between her thigh-high stockings and the miniskirt, and turned  
the box around and around over her knee.

It was square, about eight inches all around. As far as she could tell it was made of  
paper (papyrus, even?) with multiple layers of opaque laquer adding rigidity and a  
transparent layer protecting the faint decorative pictographs in white lines. Odd, in  
that lacquerwork was primarily Far East Asian; the equivalent in the Near East was  
glazed pottery. The cover was fixed to the box body by strips of cured dark hide,  
glued in place. The inside had soft leather to protect both contents and the inner  
finishings from bumps and scratches. It was just a box.

The rock was about fist-sized, cool gray in color, and somewhat crumbly. The taste  
was bleh, as expected. It was not radioactive nor possessed any psychic presence.  
It was a rock.

It was not a puzzle she could solve either by breaking it open to figure out how it  
works or throwing thousands of manhours of someone else's research at it.

"Hello there, pretty lady. Waiting for someone?" She looked up to see a tall, slim  
young man in a blazer jacket. His hair had blonde highlights and carefully sculpted into  
points. He had the sort of that androgynous good looks, laced with just a hint of  
danger, that reduced teenaged girls into puddles of glee. "Wait no more. It's such  
a beautiful day, why don't we have some ice cream? It's got to be.. hot.. sitting out in  
the sun in those colors." Or the lack of said colors.

She narrowed her eyes behind the round sunglasses. She was not impressed. Shinji  
Ikari had that vaguely effeminate look as well, but like the original characters that  
popularized the bishonen look in the first place (court heroes of ancient/mythical  
history) it was all about deception, about how one may seem to fragile yet be  
capable of kicking so much ass.

Still, he seemed fairly harmless. He had the confidence of someone born with  
wealth and having gotten into good schools upon his own intellectual merits. The  
twinkle in his eyes revealed that he knew just how much of a self-important twit  
he sounded like, and was waiting for her to either like it or look past it. He had  
approached simply because she looked so different from the usual loud or overly  
affectionate girls that surrounded him.

"Sit." she gestured beside her. "There is a puzzle that concerns me, and you might  
help me solve it."

"Sure, what's the problem?" He grinned and sat down, making sure to lean back away  
from her but his arm drifting close on the the bench's back. "I'm Hanagebou Sousuke,  
by the way."

"Good to me you, Hanagebou-san. You may call me... Nao Raka. Do you see anything  
out of the ordinary about these items?"

He took the box. Weird girl. Good thing she had a nice body. "Hm... I don't know.  
What are these little squiggles here? This is an antique, right?" He took out the rock  
from inside and inpected it. He sniffed at it. "This... is a rock."

"As I had feared." she sighed again. "Is it supposed to be a metaphor?"

She was starting to get the idea that perhaps the whole point was just to get out of  
the city? But there was no reason to terrify the yakuza to such an extent.

He was starting to get the feeling that she would be more trouble than she was  
worth. "Don't you mean metamor..." She was not paying attention anymore, having  
leaned forward to put her elbows on her knees so she could lace together her fingers  
under her nose.

Her sunglasses glinted.

Sousuke Hanagebou shook his head and put down the box, placing the rock on top of  
the lid. "Um... excuse me, but it seems I've forgotten about a dentist appointment..."  
He turned away, then stopped. "Did you say something...?"

His eyes glazed over. He looked at the girl with with the grimly focused face, to the  
things beside her, then back to her. A look of horror replaced dumb bliss.

Hurriedly, he opened up the box, threw the rock inside, and shut it firmly. "Are you  
crazy?" he shouted, his voice breaking. "What the hell are you doing walking around  
with something like that?"

She blinked, and looked up. "What?"

"Can't you tell how -_wrong_- it... no. Oh. I see." He looked amazed. "You don't see.  
You can't even feel that it's not supposed to -be- here."

Raka picked up the box and held it up. He flinched.

"Ah! Keep that disgusting away from me! Damn it, Inanna! Why can't you just leave it  
well enough alon-..." He clutched at his head. "What... what am I saying?"

"You have just referred to me as Innana." a grim glimmer was in her eyes. "You  
will explain yourself. Now."

"I don't know what... STAY AWAY FROM ME!" He fled, stumbling, his face frozen  
in mindless terror. Others around the park kept their gazes averted; whatever  
weirdness going on there was none of their business. The girl looked like the creepy  
stalker type, anyway.

She opened up the box and inspected the insides. Nothing had changed.

She shrugged. Technically, Sohryu was more of an Innana (or Ishtar) analogue as  
a lady of war (the proto-Athena). She had expected something more on the terms of  
Kishar or some moon goddess. She blinked.

She felt another headache coming on. '_I... need... to -stop- applying parallels with divinity  
to myself._' It never ends well.

She tried one more time with the taxi driver taking her back to the train station.  
At first, there was nothing strange that he could discern. A box and a rock. Even  
a few seconds looking at it while waiting for the traffic lights to change made that  
obvious.

Then, looking for something further... all of a sudden his eyes flicked into open fear.  
"Get out." he hissed, all but throwing the closed box back into her grap. "I'm not  
having that thing here any longer."

"Which one? The box or the rock?"

"Don't... don't make me think about it any more!" His eyes were squeezed shut, he  
was sweating visibly. "GET OUT!"

"But we are in the middle of traffic."

As soon as the lights changed, the taxi swerved to the curb and disgorged a  
confused girl. The driver then roared off at full speed, desperate to get away from  
her. _'This is getting annoying.'_

As long as she did not draw any particular attention to it, it seemed that no one  
found anything disturbing about it. No one found anything strange about her carrying  
it on the train, and she passed the monitors of Tokyo-3 without any further incident.

-o-

She dreamed she was in a place that was cold and dark and desolate. Jagged rocks  
provided cover, even as both sides had night-vision gear and body armor. Fighting  
devolved into brutal, close-in skirmishes. It was Ararat, shrouded in mist.

"Many who have never really suffered begin to deny God based upon the narrative of  
the Bible... which leads to a certain paradox in that one cannot really loathe a being  
that does not exist based upon things that it did not do."

"Nagisa." she heard herself hiss. "I thought you wanted to be free of SEELE's  
influence?" She looked around, but could not find him. "Why are you here?"

"I am here because you called me; no more and no less." The voice returned,  
somewhere off to the left and behind her. "At the roof of the world, you chose to  
accept the mantle of leadership. Here at the spine of the world, you accepted the  
curse of that responsibility."

"Enough with the drama. I do not need you to bring me false flattery. If you have  
something to say, then say it. Otherwise, begone."

"Yes, well... if you would do me a favor and stop... with that form?" The hybrid was  
pointedly looking away. "Trust me, it's... hard enough trying to converse with you in  
person."

Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami both possessed a healthy dislike of Kaworu Nagisa; the  
feeling within her was an exponential increase. "Even in my dreams you're freaky.  
Give me a reason not to tear you limb from limb."

"Because, as you had said... this is a dream. It may be cathartic, but pointless. You  
have grown far too used to voices in your head, but... much as you miss the Four,  
they belong to him. Not even in your dreams can you dare to try and recreate their  
essential presence." He shrugged. "Thus, you have me. You may hate me, Ikari-kun,  
or Ayanami-san... but as enemies at least we have respect for each other's  
intelligence. Odd, indeed, that you can recreate me with such... completeness."

"Including the ability to lie about it, I presume."

"You presume correctly." he replied with a grin.

"Annoying as ever." she huffed. "If you're just an expression of my psyche, there's  
nothing you can tell me that I do not already know."

"That is true. However, truth itself may be clad in metaphor. What you hold is indeed  
a metaphor; in much the same way that fire could be a flower or that death a patient  
lover, or that the Map is not the Territory, or even that in the Beginning there was  
the Word."

"... and you are here because like it or not, I cannot help but to think of Shinji Ikari  
as an enemy, or at the very least an opponent against whom I must prove my  
existence." She nodded. "An uncomfortable truth, but I will deal with it."

She watched her mercenaries exchange fire with SEELE special forces. The forces she  
commanded were not quite as well-trained, or fanatic in their defense, but the weight  
of Bolter fire overcame that barrier. Absently she watched the grisly performance of  
the Mark-II NNHIS Judgement Bolt round; they were finally fitted with mass-reactive  
tips. The bolts exploded inside enemies, showering the area with shrapnel. Some of  
the enemies died from shrapnel composed of the bones of their comrades. Blood and  
meat chunks stained rock walls.

She felt no shame or disgust. She walked, Nagisa following close by, and passing one  
of the burly mercenaries vomiting into a rock wall. It was a glorious slaughter. "I see.  
So this is why he decided to step up carapace armor production." Accidental injuries  
from friendly fire increased when everyone involved used high-explosive rockets.

"These are hardened killers, Ikari-kun, but even they are not used to this level of  
carnage. This is how you want us to fight? Some of these men..." gesturing to the  
fallen SEELE operatives. "had families, and all of them had their own hopes and  
dreams. Did they deserve this?"

"Deserving death is not an issue. Artillery has ever been indiscriminate; it's just that  
he has allowed it to happen on an infantry level. Conventional rifle rounds would not  
have sufficed against the body armor these operatives wear. Overkill is to err on the  
side of caution." She pointed out what was happening in a clearing. "I now remember  
that the carnage encouraged the rest of the defenders to surrender far sooner than  
anticipated."

"Without the spark of life, all flesh is meat." Kaworu nodded. "You know, we are not  
so different; you and I. We have no time for useless sentimentality."

"He that kills himself to avoid misery, fears it,  
And at the best shows but a bastard valor:  
This life's a fort committed to my trust,  
Which I must not yield up, till it be forced;  
Nor will I: he's not valiant that dares die,  
But he that boldly bears calamity."

Kaworu smiled, pleased at the reference. They lived gothic lives (in the raze cities  
sort of way) and he liked in humanity the paradox of how others find unbearable  
the 'pain' of easy living. "Precisely. Death is no redemption, not for those as us."

"Hm... the historical ark should have decayed by now. What was it that I sought  
here?"

"The answer you already know, but not the question that leads to it. Not how old is  
mankind, not how worthy is humanity... but WHO is human?"

They entered a cave and paused before a thick steel door marked with SEELE's  
seven-eyed symbol. Her fingers dug into the metal and she wrenched it loose. "I have  
become a monster for the sake of what we must accomplish. The Angels, I can pity  
somewhat... if they could just find another planet to settle, I might let them alone.  
It would be interesting to study active evolution." She nodded at Kaworu's modus  
operandi. "I will kill you, of course, but that does not mean I do not envy your ability  
to experiment.

SEELE however... I will not rest until they have been brought to justice for all that  
they have done. The alien and the mutant, will be fought out of necessity. But these  
TRAITORS and HERETICS must be PURGED to the last."

Fighting continued, and the two walked through it all like ghosts. In the end they  
reached a stone altar in the deepest part of the cave.

"It is said that Adam's body did not decay, and was passed down from father to son,  
and was carried by Noah in his ark until it could be laid to rest in the center of the  
Earth. Which is, as you now know, semantic key for the creation of the Evangelion;  
whose flesh will persist until the universe's own cold demise.

Do you know how far back that mental image drills into the human psyche? Ha! Giants  
of all kinds walked the Earth, and early man slew them and ate them. Man was a  
beast among beasts, until one day... something changed."

She found that she once more carried the box. "What IS this damn thing, anyway?"

"Also a metaphor."

"All right, that does it. Eat fist, Nag-..."

"Peace, my cousin! And remember... whose research did he require for the recovery  
of that artifact?"

"Hm." She searched her memory. "Dr. Henry Jones, Junior."

"A contract is a metaphor as well; it is not the piece of paper in itself, but the legal  
entity that comes with two parties agreeing to an exchange of goods or services.  
All it does is to state the TERMS of said contract and turn a verb into a noun. Now  
think...! The Law follows you where you walk. You have always been a walking  
blasphemy, but the universe accepts your existence. How could any mere object  
be more disturbing than that?"

Shinji Ikari did not even know he possessed such a potent tool; for to know of it was  
to lose it. That was his en, the eventuality written by Keel through the formulas of  
creation, and the prophecies could only affect what was directly stated. Such things  
were always vague not just because of the difficulty in describing the formless but  
because such wiggle room was essential for free will. What was significant was in  
what was missing.

She touched a finger to her lips to hold back an unkind chuckle. 'Wrong. Before the  
Word, there was... Silence.'

"A God that we could comprehend must necessarily be ruthless and amoral; that is,  
it could not be bound by the same Laws that it demands we follow. The executioner  
is necessary to prevent murderers from commiting any more crimes, no matter how  
hypocritical such an office may be. It does so by abstaining from the need to perform  
the same acts that lead to sin in the first place- sexless, fateless, faceless... you  
know that awe and fear are kin, and something we cannot understand is terrible  
beyong imagining. It was easier to lay secular power upon chieftains and mystics."

Kaworu stared down at the altar. "This was how it used to be... quid pro quo, cause  
and effect, a contract with God. They prayed in secret, for God could not be bribed...  
only occasionally must the covenant be renewed. This is an old place, Ikari-kun; here  
Neanderthals etched their souls in smoke and dreams."

"It is one of the points where the Moon Cradle may snag subjects for teleportation?"

"You make it sound so mundane. At a time when ice blanketed most of Europe, when  
mankind itself was in its infancy... already we battled the Great Mother. Everything  
else, even you, is a side effect of that victory."

She placed the box on the altar and clasped both palms together as if in prayer. "Did  
they have names?"

"Not as we can understand them. They did not have words, you see, but they  
had perfect recall and the means to transmit that. This in the end was their  
fatal flaw, and they lost themselves in their own godhood, Instrumentality by  
accident. And thus we won the world from what could have been an Idiot God."

"Seriously? That's your explanation for the homo sapiens' dead-end speciations?  
Instead of something like environmental pressure? Humans have gone extinct in  
places before, starving to death or migrating en masse. We are still part of the  
Animal Kingdom with all the physical needs that implied."

"Recall that humanity was brought to the brink of extinction once before, for reasons  
no one could really explain; despite having spread through most of the globe early  
humans were wiped out all over but the tip of southern Africa... suspiciously close  
to Antarctica, where Adam slept."

"Interesting if true. A 'lesser Instrumentality'... unlike the total, world-wide, omni-  
species Instrumentality that SEELE plans."

"We are all the living Word, Ayanami-san. Consider, the analogy. Before the Word,  
before intelligent thought, there is indeed... NOTHING. Animals have nothing, they live  
and they die and they do not matter. They do not have it. Godhood comes to that  
which can perceive it.

The Word is an abstract concept, existing as a shadow of something that is, a link to  
what must be. It is timeless, bringing to us the ability to view both past and future.  
Evolution is random, but this is strength that has no direct value but rewards  
MASSIVELY its bearer. Our minds have shaped the Word, and it turn been shaped by  
it. We have grown, we have prospered, and all because we have not forgotten."

"Language... no, symbolism. Does it actually provide defense or does it make Lillith  
wake up even faster?"

"You have this power, and yet you fail to understand. You may have all the nations  
of this world under your heel, you may have the Evangelions do your bidding, but until  
you understand what you are fighting you will -not- win. It is not by wealth and  
influence alone that SEELE sought supremacy."

"The Word. You're talking about the Qabbalistic formulas? Or Enlil's **_me_**?"

"The word is The Law. We define this universe and are defined in turn. Before the  
Word, before being able to pass on skills and knowledge to the next generation in the  
form of external instruction... there can be no God that we can recognize.

Humanity was a beast. Before the Word, any society could be likened to a pack of  
wolves, the most any leader could command was to those he could physically  
intimidate and it would never last beyond his own lifetime. The Word is immortal, and  
affects those yet unborn. We bring the unchanging into the days that die away, and  
ask to control the unpredictable wilderness that batter our spirit.

Cave paintings and the beginning of music... these too are expressions of the Word.  
The power over instinct. The hand of the divine requires that it be recognized as  
such. The early man sought to control nature through God even as they surrendered  
their own fears to the aether.

God is a concept self-perpetuating through time. God is the why and the how, that  
the seasons come in regular patterns, that animals and plants obey an invisible order.  
God is the Word that tells us 'BECOME'. God is an EVENT, Ikari-kun. This is why SEELE  
can move on with such confidence."

"Nevertheless, it has its physical power. Otherwise why should Keel master the  
Qabbalistic mysteries, nor the Secret Dead Sea scrolls possess accurate prophecies?"

"Closer and closer. You are looking for ways to counter it, to grasp power that you do  
not have." the words were neaby, almost to her ears. "But still you miss the point.  
You are locked in the fallacies of temporal power."

"Adam and Lillith are functionally identical. If Adam creates Angels, and humanity is  
born of Lillith, it stands to reason that we are also Angels. Are you saying it is the  
fate of all higher-order intelligence to be consumed by Instrumentality?"

"As contrast to what was said earlier;

From too much love of living,  
From hope and fear set free,  
We thank with brief thanksgiving  
Whatever gods may be  
That no life lives for ever;  
That dead men rise up never;  
That even the weariest river  
Winds somewhere safe to sea.

The Garden of Proserpine is refuge at the end of a species' struggles.

It may seem as if Lillith with emphasis on the small creatures and physically limited  
evolution is a methodology of quality over quantity, but the opposite is true. It is  
Adam, with its many varied forms, that fills the void with starsong. Yet do you know  
how powerful it could be, a living Planet, a World-Beast? A sapient Solar System?  
Galaxia unbound? The power of Lillith is invisible, compared to the Absolute Territory  
that is solidified potential in the universe she reaches out from the Immaterium. What  
you may call psychic energy is a manifestation of a being that does not yet exist and  
the Potentium wave that still echoes through time.

To be human is to live. What is life?

When flesh becomes the Word, that is Instrumentality. We will have power beyond  
what we can imagine, and we will be invincible."

"Because we would not really exist in the universe anymore."

"That is what SEELE wants. Energy, even thought patterns writ in the quantum  
sea, while it cannot be created nor destroyed may be exhausted. Still, even as the  
War in Heaven continues, at least Humanity will not know of it. Universes within  
universes, layers of reality. In fact, there is no real way of proving that THIS is but  
a memory of Instrumentality being played out again and again..."

"No. Life is strength." she shook her head. "This is not to be contested, it seems  
obvious enough. We live, we affect our world. We have not lost yet."

"In this instance we agree. SEELE must not be allowed to initiate Instrumentality.  
Humanity is the final Angel, one being unknowing. God is not dead, merely asleep."  
Kaworu shrugged. "This is a dream. You and I, what will happen to us when she  
wakes up. Do you want to die?"

"Better than having to be around you any more than necessary. You still have  
not enlightened me on the issues that I can actually use."

"Then listen to me, little miss warmonger. Whatever grudes you have against SEELE  
is childish pique compared to my grievances. You have not suffered as I have  
suffered, you have not knelt as a slave, you have not killed as a weapon, and my  
makers I will destroy with my own hands! Vengeace is my right!

Many horrors have mankind comitted in the name of religion and assorted creeds,  
but all of that pales before what SEELE had done. It was worse than genocide, they  
have stolen mankind's future. I have my own precognitives, and beyond a year from  
now there is nothing but chaos. Adam's rebirth has weakened the fabric of time and  
space, it was necessary to pave the way for complete Instrumentality, and the  
death of both Adam and Lillith.

Whatever other hangups you may have, remember this... someone -else- is closer  
to being a God than you can ever have with billions shouting your name. Belief alone  
will not make it so, a trigger is necessary.

I am the herald that you do not acknowledge. I am that which will take your place  
when you fall. What you deny, I will accept; what you fail to do, I will complete.  
Hate me if you must, do not fear me if you are that arrogant, but ignore my warnings  
at your peril.

Prepare."

-o-

She opened her eyes and blinked. She had to remind herself, that even in her dreams  
Nagisa could still by lying about freaking everything. She groaned. She was meant for  
intense life-and-death struggles, not that semantic bullshit that so followed around  
and so irritated Ikari. She had thought she was finally free of that.

-o-

And it was morning.

It was a frontier, and it was frightening. They all lived at the knife's edge and it was  
so exciting! NNHIS had sunk and fortified many shelters around Tokyo-3, at no cost  
to the city or NERV, but as the city's population ballooned more and more were  
being sunk each day. The city rang with unceasing industry, but even this was one  
more note in a song. A child singing to himself in the dark, trying to drive away the  
fear. The noise might draw the wolves instead, but still- he sings.

She watched it rebuild from the watery ruin of but a few days ago. There remained  
several empty blocks, but otherwise the city seemed fresh and ready. It was not so  
much recovery as... regeneration. It was like a great machine cell, with NERV at its  
nucleus.

Tokyo-3's defenses seemed perfect. No expense was spared. The only vulnerability of  
the Evangelion was its pilot, and they were protected behind overlapping layers of  
security._ 'Even such as I, trying to blitz through the defenses, would fail.'  
_  
Positron cannon turrets and supporting lascannon-carrying interceptors could engage  
inbound nukes. Not in overwhelming number, perhaps, but the web of alliances that  
both Ikaris had bound the nations of the world ensured that would not happen.

_'This is the jewel of human civilization. Ikari must have already delivered to them the  
outer space initiative for once this war is done.' _

She looked up at the sky. Unfortunately, Nagisa was -already- space-capable. Shinji  
Ikari would have to either destroy him quickly or continue the fight star by star.  
_  
'He gives them hope. Let us just get through this, and the stars are ours. Humanity  
must never be brought to the brink of extinction ever again._

_It is so absurdly simple, that I am not surprised to see that it works.'_ Many others  
had voiced such projects in the past, but Ikari was the first to bring not just the ideals  
but the very means to accomplish it. He did not have to beg for their funding. They  
must follow, or they will be left behind.

_'The Children. The Evangelions. Ritsuko Akagi. This city is too valuable. To lose it is to  
lose the key to easy and practical FTL."_ She looked up. _'Therefore, the enemy would  
seek to destroy it utterly. Ikari and Nagisa, each in their own way refusing the  
concept of Instrumentality. A hostile Trinity.'_

Kodama Horaki hummed as she walked down Tokyo-3's main avenue. She loved the  
city. It had its problems, sure, just like she had her own problems- but they were  
solvable in time. Unfortunately, despite what makoto Huuga may have learned from  
someone else's situation, a threesome dip did not really resolve anything. The eldest  
Horaki had to figure out ways of completely claiming her boyfriend's attention on the  
times they were together; Kaede Agano just had too much advantage out of being  
a co-worker.

She growled a bit. Kodama paused as she passed the cafe ruined in Leliel's first  
attack. The memory of that day brought a smile back to her face.

"Horaki-san."

Kodama turned, and recoiled from a face too close to her own. She saw a girl with  
large round sunglasses, long black hair, a red beret, a blue jacket, and a green  
dress. "Uh, yes?"

"We need to talk, Horaki-san. It's quite... important."

The eldest Horaki looked at her watch. "Look, I'm running late, so... sorry. You could  
check back later at the Studio, okay?"

The girl sighed and pulled on her sunglasses a bit, exposing intense red eyes. "You  
paint a mural in time, Horaki-san, and do not know it. Now we must protect you from  
the others that swim between life and death."

"Who...?"

"You are a Horaki, that is enough to make you a target. But please, there is no need  
to fear." The girl pointed over to the cafe. "Come, let's have some coffee."

Kodama tried to look nonplussed, while her left hand went into her purse. She had a  
choice between a handgun or the alert button on her cellphone. She pressed the  
button, and followed the strange girl.

They sat facing each other. The eldest Horaki gave into the impulse and pulled at the  
the girl's long hair.

"Ow." the girl whispered, her head being pulled along. Kodama frowned, somewhat  
envious. Shiny and silken, but strong. Too perfect, but real hair. "Okay. Now who  
are you and why the hell do you look like Shinji Ikari as a girl?"

-o-

Landon Bradley hated the city. He was a psyker, that was a given. He sneered at  
passers-by, who drew back and muttered about crass _gai-jin_. They had destroyed his  
life. All humans were said to be psychic to some degree, and he just had a little bit  
more than the usual. For all the assurances that it would just be temporary- hah!  
Think that job would still be waiting when he returned? How many would agree to  
make million-dollars advertising deal with a known psyker? How many women would  
still think he was just that naturally charming instead of somehow messing with their  
minds? The fact that he had never really needed nor known of such an advantage  
would not save his reputation.

They had ruined him. He was pulled from life at the top of the social strata and  
reduced to... what? One more cog in the assembly line for superconductor strands  
and capacitor crystal production? It was mindless, repetitive task; except that it  
consumed all of his mental attention. It was rather easy... all he had to do was to sit  
and listen to music.

It was.. beautiful. Others sang songs lost in antiquity, others bouyed by feeling  
danced in defiance of death. It was art wrought in time. It was part of what made  
him so bitter. Once it was done, he was left feeling stripped of his soul, reaching  
ineffectually for something that was beyond his ability to even understand. Every  
single day he was made whole, and broken again.

What did he care about the distrust, and sometimes blatant racism? The mundanes  
were not worthy even of his contempt. He lived in a one-room apartment, and  
though paid generously every week inflation was starting to dent his purchasing  
power. It was inconvenience he could live with. That they played with his soul he  
would never be able to forgive.

He passed a wall of TV sets in a general goods store and scowled some more. Gendo  
Ikari was the one to adress the press. No one trusted what he was saying, but the  
information he offered freely was accepted as the best that they would ever get, no  
matter how deep they might try to dig.

Bradley had to admit, Gendo Ikari had a truly magnificent sneer. "The Cradle are  
a sideshow. They have already failed. This is where the Angels attack. They can  
cower in Europe all they want, they are entirely superfluous.

If they are not with us, they are against us. The world cannot spare the resources  
for two competing defenders, specially if one is proved to be useless and prone to  
backstabbing the people they pretend to protect."

"What about the accusations that NERV intends to trigger Third Impact?"

"NERV's mandate is to kill the Angels and prevent Third Impact; no amount of Nagisa's  
rhetoric or outright lies can change that. Do we have the means to do so? The  
answer is... classified. The world is full of idiots who would only try to risk the world's  
demise just to stroke their own egoes."

"This is bullshit, man... bullshit." the psyker muttered. "We're all gonna die and there's  
no place far enough to run."

"If it doesn't matter where you are, then why are you still here?"

He did not turn, but looked at the reflection on the mirror. It was a girl, about  
shoulder-high in height to his own. Her long black hair was arranged into two braids  
that looped around her neck. With the large round sunglasses on her face, her age  
was indeterminate but his mind rang with jailbait warnings.

He began to turn away, but was stopped by a gentle tug on his jacket sleeve. "You  
look like you're having a bad day. Why not try to relax a bit?"

"Girl, I'm not that stupid. Try it on someone else."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm don't intend to roll you for money... or anything else, really." the  
girl added with a thin smile. "I would deem it a very big favor if you can answer a few  
questions." She tilted her head aside. "Please?"

"I don't have time for this..."

"On the contrary, Mister Bradley, time is all you have." She let go and shrugged.  
"After all, what are you going to do? Go home and brood? Try to see if there's  
anything on the TV in a language you can understand?" Sadly, the the 'listening-  
in-tongues' bit only worked on human brains in conversation, not electronics.

The psyker's handsome face twisted into another disfiguring scowl. "Who ARE you?"  
His hand drifted to his pocket, and a breakable crystal there. "Are you from the  
Cradle? Can you get me out of here?"

She smiled a bit. "Try not to sound TOO eager. I already know the Cradle offered  
you a way out." She began walking around him. "In fact, that is what I am curious  
about... in many ways you are the stereotypical perfect target for their temptations.  
Why did you refuse?"

"I really don't think that's any of your business." he snarled back. "I'm not a goddamn  
plant, anyway. You people shoudl already know that." If not the Cradle, then who  
else would send out creepy kids to do their dirty work?

"Worry not, Bradley-san. I am a... power unaligned to either NERV or the Cradle,  
though my sympathies are more in line with Shinji Ikari." She pointed to a neaby cafe.

"Let us talk, Bradley-san. It may be possible to improve your situation in a way that  
is completely legal and harms no one."

"I doubt that. You don't know the lawyers that the Psykana hired to write up our  
contracts."

"It is the governments the make laws, however. He had never intended for this to be  
a permanent arrangement. Psychics -are- essential for FTL communication." Mere  
lawyers could not possibly be any more than a roadbump if she really needed to force  
it through. "Some sort of Psyker's Guild -is- a step in the right direction. Who would  
those be?"

"Staüb and Cutt, they're from Los Angeles."

"Oh lord." the girl groaned, rubbing at the bridge of her hose. '_Can they possibly be  
any more obvious? I am so going to kick their asses_.'

"Aah. So you DO know their reputation."

She nodded. "Against bureaucracy all Heroes strive in vain."

-o-

Ryoko Koiso was mostly ambivalent about the city. She was the heir to the Koiso  
school of martial arts, but even her big gorilla of her father could not beat up the  
government. Unfair as it may seem, there was a difference the treatment between  
foreign and local-born psykers.

It was sort of refreshing to be part of a school that had no delinquents in it. Just  
because she knew martial arts did not mean she went out looking for fights, and it  
did not help that her boyfriend was 'apparently' the strongest thug in town. That  
he was actually a flower-happy pacifist despite his looks... only aggravated the  
situation.

It was a crazy coincidence that the entire 'Kitano gang' transferred to Tokyo-3;  
in her and her best friend's case because of latent psychic potential (two in a single  
town, quite a fortunate rarity) the others because of their parents' employment  
opportunities, and some because old favors were being called in.

They had transferred in as seniors. Kuroda learned early on that Tokyo-3 1st  
Municipal Junior High (and wasn't that just a sterile, personality-less name?) had  
no need for a school 'guardian'. It did not matter how strong you were (for Horaki-  
san would just shoot you in the groin), the pecking order was set. Ryoko found that  
she liked the quiet, being in the background, the chance to really get some  
uninterrupted studying done.

She did like physical exertion, though. Her long hair flowed freely behind her as  
she ran through alleys, jumping or ducking under obstacles. She had changed into  
sensible dark pants and a jacket (Tokyo-3's pale green uniform was a bit too breezy  
and fragile; and for some reason bucked the tradition of a sailor fuku). She could  
have earned a bit more pocket money with the Strand Spinners, even with her low  
level of ability, but the chance for meaningful action that Horaki offered... that she  
could not refuse.

Seiichiro Kitano followed, of course, to protect her even if the thought of harming  
another living being was competely anathema to his beliefs. The rest of the gang  
followed to protect him. Which was why there were all running pell-mell down Tokyo-f  
3's crowded industrial district, obvious as all hell.

They emerged into a small clearing boxed between warehouses, where a slim girl  
dressed all in black stood in the center of a circle of unconscious men in red-trim  
jumpsuits. For a moment, Ryoko felt a pang of envy. No one should have hair that  
sleek and lustrous, drifting softly even in a slight breeze.

The girl sighed. "I manage to evade the attentions of the alphabet soups and who  
manages to trip up my plans? A bunch of meddling kids." She looked up. "Would you  
believe... there is a really, really good reason why I'm standing here surrounded by  
mauled NNHIS technicians and a suitcase nuke in my hands?"

To her credit, Ryoko did not hesitate. "Get her!" she pointed. Behind her two other  
teens rushed at the strange girl. Raka could only blink in disbelief. Two were both  
rather short, and given how petite Rei Ayanami's frame was, that was something.

"Oh, fug." _'I see they have been informed that tactical nuclear devices will not go off  
if dropped. In fact, it might even destroy the trigger mechanism. Cracking the seal  
would also render it useless, if flooding the immediate area with radiation.'' _

The one from the right had bleached spiky blonde hair and seemed to have no  
compunction about hitting a girl. She kicked Takehisa in the face. He went down. The  
one from the left had neck-length black hair, a delicate doll-like, for some reason  
preferred to wear a dark blue sailor fuku even out of school, and apparently no  
hesitation against committing violence to anything. Raka blocked a high kick with her  
left forearm, stepped back from a flurry of punches, skipped over a sweep, and saw  
a straight punch coming.

She also managed to block that one. Unfortunately, she did so with her face. There  
was an audible crack, and Ikuno Shirataki stepped back, painfully cradling her wrist.

Round black sunglasses glinted. "While it is impressive that Horaki-san already  
has an effective Inquisitorial retinue, this may be far beyond your pay grade."  
The tactical nuclear device was kicked out from her hands. "Hey!"

She felt arms wrap around her ankles. Ryoko rushed to grab it with a lunge to  
make any football receiver proud.

The angel hybrid paused and looked up at the sky, as if asking why was it so damn  
hard just to get anything productive done without all this hassle. _'Right. Like this is  
going to stop me.' _

She flipped into a handstand, flinging the teen thug around as if he was the  
tip of a lance, and striking at the fleeing girl's back. The metal suitcase tumbled  
out of her hands. "Crap." three voices said at the same time, the moment  
seeming to stretch on.

The device landed on someone else's thin but capable arms. Above them was a  
pallid face (almost as pale as her own, she realized) with slicked-back hair, eyebrows  
practically nonexistent, and teeth ending in sharklike points.

Even she looked suprised. '_Wow. That is the most genuinely frightening face I  
have ever seen._' And yet, she was even more suprised that she did not bristle up.  
Sure, it took a lot to frighten someone who could go hand to hand with an Eva, but  
that amount of shock should have provoked an instinctive response. It was bad to  
judge people by appearances, but she was after all in the time-critical business of  
stabbing people in the face for world peace.

"Run, Seiichiro!" shouted the girls on the ground.

"But... Ryoko-chan..."

"This is more important than either of us, Kitano." the smaller girl with the intense  
eyes commented. She had leapt and managed to wrap herself, crablike, around the  
target's back. Raka could not quite reach back far enough to pull her off, and other  
methods would damage her modesty. "It won't be cowardice. We can fight more  
easily if we do not have to worry about protecting you or the objective."

'This one definitely reminds me too much of me.'

"A-all right. If you say so, Ikuno-chan." Very reluctantly, he turned away.

"KOISOOO RYOOKOOOO!"

A large teen with a broad face and curly hair barreled into through the alley and  
bumped into the fierce-looking teen. Seiichiro Kitano spun around and dizzily landed  
on his back.

"FEAR NOT! I, SEIKICHI KURODA HAVE ARRIVED! WHO HAS DARED TO HARM THE  
LOVELY KOISO RYOKO? I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

"Do you want to DIE, dumbass?" Takehisa shouted from the ground. "Don't make  
Kitano-san drop the goddamn NUKE!"

"Haha, you're such a joker, Takehisa-kun. No way us middle-school students would  
have to deal with... you're serious?" On the ground, Kitano waved, smiling. "Gyaaah!"

Raka was struck by a strong case of deja vu. Bickering in the middle of danger, and  
fools trying to outdo each other with the heroic sacrifices. She looked at them more  
closely. They were a motley group of individuals, and there was clear history between  
them; a complicated mesh of friendships, battles, love triangles and assorted other  
interesting events that bound them tight.

Another short-haired girl appeared, but her round unguarded face and exhausted  
huffs clearly marked her with '_civilian_', or '_normal_' or '_what the hell am I still doing  
here?_'. She did wear a large pendant with the Psykana symbol though. Ikuko Hirayama  
was a marginally stronger psyker than her best friend, which came as a complete  
suprise; for she always been in Ryoko's shadow.

"That can't be, Ryoko's Friend A. Surely such a lovely girl would not be working for  
the forces of darkness." Kuroda rubbed at his smooth chin. "Although she IS wearing  
all black, a sure sign of villainous intent." Adding in a whine. "But she makes it look  
good... I don't feel comfortable with doing violence to that. I am a gentleman, after  
all."

Ikuko looked long-suffering. He was just searching for any excuse not to fight and  
therefore inevitably look bad; anyone that could beat Ryoko, Takehisa and Ikuno;  
the three strongest fighters of their former school, was not someone he wanted to  
tangle with. She looked up and eep'ed.

"She... is dangerous, Kuroda-san. Kitano-san... let's all back away slowly and run."  
She touched the pendant, the cystal forming the eye glowing a purplish hue. "I can't  
sense her all that well... it's like looking at a ghost. But there's power there." It was  
like watching a volcanic eruption on TV, one did not have to feel the heat to know  
it was not a good idea to stay too close to flowing molten rock.

Kitano was getting up. "I need to help Ryoko-chan and Ikuno-chan..."

"We'll be just fine, boss!" Takehisa shouted, not minding being ignored in the priority  
levels. He had once more claimed the enemy's ankles. He tried not to look straight up.  
"Just go!"

Kuroda did not need much more prompting. Ikuko and Kitano looked regretful, but  
followed.

"I'm still in the tanks, aren't I?" Raka said blandly. "I'm dreaming all of this. This is  
insanity." No way her plans were going to get foiled by a bunch of meddling kids.  
Admittedly, ones with the vine-like persistence. Somewhere, a dog began barking.

"Enough."

Air exploded outwards, flinging the teenagers off her and smashing into walls or  
metal crates. She took one step forward, leaving a sunken bootprint into the  
concrete. She leapt, blurring out of view.

There was a girlish scream in front of her... two girlish screams, actually, and a  
pathetically weak psyker shield sprang into being. She pushed through with ease,  
uncaring of another scream, this time in pain.

Kuroda, though weak in personality, was actually large and intimidating. He was a  
loyal friend in his own way, and put himself as a physical barrier between her and  
Kitano. She kicked him in the face and vaulted over his head. He fell over, bleeding  
from the nose.

"W-white..." He had seen the gates of what lay beyond absolute territory. He  
was then unconscious, but with a silly grin on his face.

_'Is that parkour?'_ She was capable of running on high walls at a 90-degree angle to  
the ground. Kitano was hard to pin down, far more agile than she had anticipated.  
She could sense his fear, and yet also iron determination. He dodged and weaved  
through obstacles, climbing one handed up link fences with instinctive surety. Raka  
began picking up random objects and throwing it at his head. He managed to dodge  
them all without looking.

She picked up a rusted freezer and threw. He leaped aside just in time, as a steel  
appliance crumpled a brick wall. Dust and fragments flew. He rolled to a stop against  
another wall, bleeding from a gash on his forehead. His head jerked around, like that  
of a possessed puppet, but he was just looking for any escape. He had the face of  
a mass-murderer, and it showed panic.

Raka felt guilty. He was not a Blank, but more than just his apperance there was  
something about his presence that made others uncomfortable. Combined with his  
face it would surely have led to many misunderstandings. Yet from his interactions  
with others it also proved that he could also create an emotional equilibrium. It was  
not enough that she had to take out civilians, but bullying an innocent...? She had a  
task to complete.

"Give it back and your girlfriends... your friends... will live." she spoke with a voice  
echoing oddly. A weird wind spiraled around her, making her hair float in savage  
strands. Better that they get scared off by her than to meet up with some other  
force far less choosy about their methods.

Kitano hugged the device. "N-no. I can't."

"This is NOT a game. It is about time Ikari's allies realized that." She held out her  
open right hand. "This is too important to be left to chance. I would rather not have  
to take it from your corpse. Give it here, and I promise you that you and your friends  
will not have any further trouble from me."

Even Kitano knew that statement could be taken many ways. "You... you can hurt a  
lot more people with this! This is a bad thing! I won't let you use it!"

She sighed again. "I realize we as a nation and a people have a phobia about nuclear  
weapons, but you must understand that there are uses even for such devices and  
that they come in different yields. That one there is only about five kilotons, not  
enough to-..."

"LEAVE SEIICHIRO ALONE!"

She felt arms choke off her neck, and legs wrap around her thighs. Koiso Ryoko had  
dive-tackled another crab hold. There was another sudden thump and Raka stumbled  
forward. Ikuno had decided to add her weight into the mix.

"Ditto." said the smaller girl, her hands holding on to the underside of Ryoko's breasts.

The Angel hybrid might have prodigous strength, but she still had to keep a center of  
balance with two girls piled on her back. Raka hunched over and shook her fists in  
frustration. "Wryyyy...?"

-o-

He was afraid. Ironic, that he who boasted his followers would know no fear should  
have so much of it. Their fears for the future, their lack of knowledge, their failings of  
flesh; he would take it, eat it, and keep it safe. Faith was trust in that somehow, it  
would all work out. Shinji Ikari did not have faith -in himself- for how could he trust  
that which he knew all too well? She could understand his fear; for courage was to  
act despite the presence of fear, not the absence of it. He was insane, but at least  
not psychotic.

It **was **FUN to cause Shinji Ikari discomfort. That face often so calm in the middle of  
stress to break mountains would light up with panic in the emotional shoals he was  
unable to maneuver through. One could almost see behind those eyes contingency  
plans going 'click, click, click' as he tried to deal with it. Then if you poke him in the  
right place he would squeak and have to start all over again.

Ayanami was wary. Ibuki was confused, but trusting. Ikari's face was placid, and just  
by the minute widening of his eyes she knew that he had settled on a plan. As long  
as it was centered upon him, he had always been willing to let others hang by their  
own ropes. The moment any of it threatened his loved ones, though- her life was  
worth dirt.

She smirked. She flicked at her hair and let it darken, lengthening to her waist. He  
was sitting with his elbows on his knees and fingers laced together, though not in the  
manner of his father. The palms were together as if praying with the tumbs resting on  
his bottom lip. Silence stretched on the apartment, as everybody waited for someone  
else to make the first move. She sighed.

She knelt in front of him, in the formal pose of supplication. She looked up, and  
opened her mouth. She leaned forward and sought the zipper of his pants with her  
teeth.

He fell backwards, the chair clattering on the floor. "Whoa, wait, WAH! What do you  
think you're doing?"

"I have no patience for any more semantic games." Raka sighed again. "I remain true  
to our purpose and my plans are complementary to yours. If this is what it will take to  
show that I have no aims of usurping your place or denying your dominion..."

"You... you don't have to do -THAT-!"

"No. And that is why it is proof."

"No. You will -not-." said Rei, her tone flat and hostile.

Raka smiled slightly. Ayanami was cute when she was all grumpy and possessive like  
that. She did not think the girl had it in her.

And it was evening, and it was morning, and she was done. Castle Sturmbrand was a  
full two days gone. World communications were still fizzy,

The conditions were perfect. She took another nibble out of her chocolate ice cream  
cone and watched the clear blue sky. The moon was a distant white disk in the sky.

There were four tones. It was just coincidence that four was an unlucky number in  
Japan.

The AT-field detectors screamed. With his finger, Keel Lorenz marked out the  
firmament. Light came down from the sky and etched the words into the earth.  
He picked out three consonants from the field. He turned towards the above and sealed  
the height with (Y, H, V). A green beam carved these symbols into steel and rock.

AT-field sensors screamed like crazy, and died. People were already in the deep  
shelters at the city edges, as the Tokyo-3 council (Ikari, Fuyutsuki, Katsuragi)  
thought it very likely that there would be an attack. The citizens had been stuck in  
their shelters, bored for over eight hours; that the event was both surprise and a  
relief.

Keel turned towards the below and sealed the depths with (H, Y, V). Rei Ayanami waited  
on a hilltop, in a special platform dedicated to the Gargant Zero. She noticed that the power  
flow from the geofront had stopped. Her internal power meter reported two hours of combat  
potential, figuring in maximum drain using AT-fields. Arguably, her weapons demanded even  
more than that. It was why she was provided with six separate capacitor banks on the  
surface. Her Eva was clad in Heavy Titanicus gear, its shape completely hidden under large  
bulky yellow modules. Kensuke called it Full Armor Evangelion '_the O_'.

"O what?"

"Just... O."

Kensuke was being Kensuke, and was thereafter ignored.

It was total darkness inside. Maya Ibuki calmly turned on a nearby emergency lamp,  
illuminating Ritsuko Akagi's sleeping visage. She had begged away from active duty for  
a while, it was her place to remain by her sempai's side. With a loaded Bolter. Misato  
could not exactly refuse her, for Maya could just pull her vacation days for that  
moment. As for visiting hours...? She could just bribe or threaten the hospital staff  
to let her stay; it was not a good idea to annoy the one with administrative access  
to all employee records and the payroll.

She grit her teeth and forced herself through the pain. Something was attacking the  
MAGI. Though all was silent and bleak, she could tell it was starting to fight back.

Satsuki Ooi, the flighty blonde from second shift, sat in Maya Ibuki's usual spot. She  
was grateful that the dark hid her panic attack. She scrambled in the dark for the  
flashlights.

"Why has the MAGI stopped? What happened to Akagi's security layers?"

"We don't know, sir." she replied up to Gendo. "This is a total shutdown, everything  
including the reactors and the backup generators. Even the emergency lights aren't  
working."

"This is impossible." Makoto added, having found a penlight. It was the single bright  
spot in the gloom. "The grids are physically separated, there should be no way to  
force a shutdown."

Maya's console suddenly blinked back to life, though the monitors flickered weakly.  
"The Evangelions are still active!" Satsuki shouted triumphantly. She then chided  
herself; of course they would be active, they had internal batteries. Wait, why was  
Lt. Ibuki's console the first to turn on?

"Extending AT-field." Shinji Ikari mumbled, with his eyes closed. Unit One waited on  
the geofront's surface, clas in the original purple Titanicus modules. It was on one  
knee, as if waiting to be knighted.

One by one, geofront systems went back online. The MAGI was the last, though there  
were plenty of other systems that required its processing power which were still  
offline. Lights came back, the air pumps whirred back to life, much to everyone's  
relief. Sensors returned, and then- everything went red.

"Incoming hostiles!" Shigeru shouted, already working to get additional data. "Twelve  
Angels..." The main screen snapped into existence. "No... Evangelions... inbound. AT-  
fields active."

"Where did they come from? Is the Cradle counter-attacking?" Misato sat back down  
and belted herself in. "Open a channel to Cerberus Base. Engage all active defenses!  
Asahino Lance Cannon on standby!"

"Defenses online!" Makoto reported. "Targets being acquired... oh no. Units Zero and  
One are also being flagged as hostile targets!"

"Override!"

"No good, sempai!" Satsuki resisted the urge to scream and clutch at regal tresses.  
She got up and moved to Ritsuko's seat. Even her sempai's authorization code did not  
work. "The MAGI is starting to expand threat recognition protocols... oh. Oh my. -WE-  
just got flagged as hostile."

Tokyo-3's defenses were nothing short of legendary. It was now turned against  
itself. Fortunately most of the automated defenses were up on the surface. Eight  
bright yellow lances stabbed at the glowing red sphere that was Unit Zero's AT-field.  
Then, in rapid succession, eight shots snapped out to destroy the cannon roots that  
should have provided covering fire for Ayanami's firing station.

She placed the positron rifle back on the charging rack. Rei was certain the shots  
disabled the positron cannons without harming the crew inside. The others in the  
other roosts would surely be trying to recover manual control. A pity, but she had  
to act quickly.

She looked up at the figures descending in a spiral. The green laser from the moon  
pulsed in a constant stream, carving something to the east. With (V, I, H), it was  
sealed. A pane of flickering pale green energy flashed into existence.  
"Rei, the Lance Cannon is turning towards you! Move!"

"I must not, Major Katsuragi. I am the only practical air defense that remains."

"You can't block the Lance Cannon with your AT-field... even if you succeed, you'd  
be too drained to engage in combat against twelve Evas!"

"That is true. It is why I must destroy the enemy before they land." A note of  
pleading entered her voice. "I -can- do this, Major Katsuragi."

"You have a plan?"

"Yes. Please recover control over the defenses. We will need them."

Misato nodded. There was a time to improvise and just trust that the pilots knew  
what they were doing. She turned to Shigeru. "Get me Cerberus base. What do they  
have?" Then to Makoto "Try to stop the Bakelite from flooding the corridors, first.  
We can try manually forcing open the bulkheads later." To Satsuki "Make sure the  
capacitors are charged and keep me informed about the pilots."

They went to work. Gendo watched the fluid ease with which they had adapted. The  
out-of-control measures were intended against assault by conventional forces.

"What does SEELE intend, trying to keep us trapped here?" Fuyutsuki muttered. "Are  
they trying to destroy our defenses for later?" That did sound reasonable, anything  
was better than letting infantry run into gridfired lasers.

"Sensei, Keel has broken the seals. The Cradle of the Moon, the Black Seed, it is  
active." Gendo closed his eyes and ruminated. "SEELE only needs the Lance, and the  
body of Lillith. Everything else is disposable."

"Do you know what they're planning?"

Gendo opened his eyes and told him what SEELE intended to do, to break their  
prodigous defenses. Fuyutski looked ashen. "That's... beyond insane. It's cheesy."

"And at the same time impossible to counter."

Fuyutsuki groaned. "I need a vacation."

"Sensei, do remember it was you that got us banned from Hawaii." That Yui had found  
it all so thoroughly _hilarious _did not mean Gendo would ever stop holding that against  
the older man.

-o-

Raka finished off her ice cream and wiped at her lips. Ayanami and others likely  
thought that plans had to be perfect, like diamonds, brittle if hit with enough force  
but strong enough to grind away all opposition. Like Ikari (both of them) she now  
knew that good plans were like sculpting with clay. Work too quickly or on too soft  
material, and the form would not hold. Likewise, letting things go for too long would  
harden the situation, forcing greater and greater measures just to change one little  
flaw. There was always the risk something would break.

She looked to the Lance Cannon at the lake and saw that its movement had somehow  
jammed. Not good. The enemy was brute-forcing probability to control the MAGI's  
systems, but the cannon crew should not regain control too soon. It was the easiest  
phase of what may happen, and the one they could actually hijack to their own  
benefit.

She stood up, clicked her heels twice, and disappeared.

-o-

-o-

-o-

end The Coming Storm part one

-o-

-o-

* * *

Seiichiro Kitano and etc. come from the most excellent and funny manga Angel Densetsu. I heartily recommend it. :)

-o-

-o-

-o-

omake:

For more hilarity, place this before the construction of the Asahino Lance Cannon.

-o-

The world kept a watchful eye to space as Iruel hijacked the Earth's  
Cradle and been suborned in turn. Angels could appear at any time,  
and with their tendency to jam or absorb signals, only overlapping  
detection screens in close Earth orbit could hope to give early warning.  
With Leliel's destruction and crashing return of the Earth's Cradle, all  
eyes turned inwards, wary and on the lookout for further mischief.

Which was a pity, for had they looked again out beyond Martian  
orbit they would have detected the arrival of strange new complications  
to their troubled situation.

-o-

Fleetlord Atvar could deny it no longer. Tosev 3, a cold wet world that  
the Race nevertheless had no choice but to colonize, was surrounded  
by a heady mix of radio signals. Scopes could pick out bright webs  
of city clusters at night.

"This is impossible..." he hissed. "Those primitives cannot have improved  
so quickly."

"Nevertheless it is true, Exalted Fleetlord." Kirel replied, bowing. The  
blue globe spun slowly in the main screen projector. "We have picked  
up signs of sattelites in orbit, and by the strength of signals we are  
intercepting they must have moderately powerful transmitters."

"They have spaceflight. I must agree with the Fleetlord. This is impossible."  
Shiplord Straha had never really manage to disguise his feelings against  
Atvar's primacy in the Fleet, but the situation was deeply disturbing. "This  
necessarily implies some means of astronomical detection. We are surely  
being observed at this time."

"What does this do to our invasion?" Shiplord Limass of the 79th Emperor  
Viilatsur asked without being prompted.

"It does not necessarily imply having their nuclear capabilities." answered  
Straha. "We do still hold the advantage of the gravity well. Our own nuclear  
weapons..."

Atvar gnashed his teeth. "Unacceptable!" He jabbed with a clawed hand at  
the projector and then to Straha. "We will not render Tosev Three too  
radioactive for the colonization fleet that follows us! Kirel! You say they  
have satellites. What sort of satellites? Do they possess a space fleet for  
defense?"

"Most likely communication satellites, Exalted Fleetlord. They are too small  
and moving too quickly to be orbital defenses. We have not detected any  
other spaceborne assets, so it is also quite likely that they have no space-  
going ships."

"Hah! See! Primitives!" Atvar hissed again, though now in glee. "They have  
reached their limits. The slight delay in our preparations have not harmed  
us... we are more than prepared for anything that we may encounter."

"We are still going to invade, Fleetlord?"

Atvar waved aside. "We have slept twenty years in transit, and the  
colonization fleet can hardly turn back. The Emperor (bless be his Glorious  
Majesty) had ordered us to carry even more factory ships and landers to  
better prepare the ground in advance of the colonists.

Tosev Three is our home now, and I suggest the rest of you start getting  
used to that fact."

"As you say, wise Fleetlord." the Shiplords bowed. But then Straha just had  
to impudently speak up with "Even if the Tosevites cannot defend against  
an attack from space, there will be a great burden upon our killercraft pilots  
and soldiers. Should we not attempt communications before we seek to  
land our forces?"

Atvar snarled again, outraged at such cowardice. "We will overawe them  
with our might! It is always best to negotiate from the position of strength!  
If you are unwilling to contribute your men to this task, Shiplord, then I  
can assign you a duty more suitable to your abilities... like, perhaps,  
guarding our fuel ships from Tosevite counterattack."

Straha bared his teeth at the insult. Both were already in combative  
crouches. Then suddenly, Atvar laughed, flicking his tongue out.  
"Sah! Who cares? We will crush them! We will strike from on high, like  
the wrath of the heavens! The bulk of our forces are untouchable in orbit.  
We have our pick of landing sites, and their broken continents will make  
it difficult to move their troops in defense.

No, no, we have -every- advantage here... we are well prepared, and we  
have the blessing of our Emperor. What could possibly go wrong?"

-o-

For a moment, even Gendo looked unhinged. "You have GOT to be joking."


	41. Chapter 40: The Coming Storm part2

The Coming Storm part2

-o-

-o-

Ayanami Rei was calm, that was not unexpected. Mana Kirishima was not, and that  
was not unexpected either. The odd thing was that Unit 00 was the one about to get  
hit by -_twelve_- enemy Evangelions while -Magnos Tancred- was safely hidden away.  
Their feelings -_should_- normally be the other way around, but then they were not normal  
people.

Mana growled. The Land Dreadnaught rubbed the tips of its punchers together and  
sparks flew at the contact. "This isn't right." she muttered crossly. "We're -designed-  
to play bait. You don't use the thing with the giant sniper rifle to draw in the enemy!"

"The bait has to be valuable in the first place, ma'm." Corporal Nagato, the gunner,  
very reluctantly spoke up. Kirishima could get shooty when irritated, but was even  
more adamant about not having any rule-bound, unimaginative gearheads in her crew.  
Military action depended upon a web of information-gathering assets, from scouts to  
monitoring devices, and through the ages lethality went hand in hand with being able  
to see and lay the smackdown on the enemy before they could do the same to you.

And then suddenly, phfft. Nothing. The ability to take data across continents, to hurl  
lightning into the airless void, all gone as the skies screamed. She could _feel_ it. It was  
more than just any Angel's AT-field jamming... electrons were sluggish. -Magnos  
Tancred- felt heavy in her arms.

-o-

Back at Cerberus Base, there was a frantic effort to reclaim Command, Control and  
Communications. Colonel Nasuno, the granite-faced base commander, had managed  
to do quite well even with such luminaries as Yang, Ikari, and now Katsuragi looming  
over his shoulder. He could have been resentful, or depressed, or slavish to protocol.  
Then, in a blinding epiphany (sometime around ) he realized that he did not have to  
deal with Crazy Shit unless he was so ordered. Let others higher up on the totem pole  
think and lose sleep about whatever may. He was no Yamamoto, or MacArthur, or  
even Napoleon; trying to be remembered by history when it could all end in the next  
few hours was just... silly. He had a job to do.

He was relieved to see Yang arrive at the control center, two of the Psykana in tow.  
The adepts wore nonthreatening tan uniforms with a faintly Grecian short cape, and  
had features nonindicative of their ancestry, unlined faces nonindicative of age. They  
looked worried. Yang looked hung-over.

The former admiral did not look surprised to see so many blank screens. "Most active  
methods of detection rely on throwing energy at something and seeing what bounces  
back. " Yang stared up at the yellow sky on the main screen. "Computers are down  
too, I assume?"

Col. Nasuno swept an arm around. "NERV's locked out again. Some of the displays are  
still working, but we can't send anything. I've been told this isn't a hacking attempt."

"We too, are blind." one of the Psykana added. "Since time and distance are  
meaningless to telepathy... this is disturbing."

The general collapsed back onto his seat and groaned. "You all are messing with the  
laws of nature again." _I didn't sign up for this.. It's probably why the General Akira__  
went back to the Atsugi base. Hell, I shouldn't have to deal with -Kensuke Aida-!_

"Fine, fine. Tell me you have a solution so we can fight."

There was a loud *breep* and the main screen split into three windows. The first  
showed Unit Zero, viewed from halfway down its hill. The other showed showed  
-Magnos Tancred- at shoulder level. The row of smaller windows at the bottom  
showed how it was accomplished; a group of soldiers with a microwave pulse  
transciever waved at camera.

"Systems beyond a certain threshold of complexity aren't working? Things have gone  
quantum again." Even Yang had to sigh. "If we have observers at both ends, we can  
at least serve as a relay between them." He did not need to add the stupid risks  
involved with that; the soldiers would try it anyway.

Unit Zero's massive bulk contained a battery of sensors. Its head was molded into a  
protruding horn, and its thick, powerful-looking arms carried heatsinks and power cells  
beneath yellow layers of ablative armor. It was the sole source of sensory information  
for both NERV and the UNIG. Rei looked up at the sky.

Everyone had bad memories of a white-armored Evangelion. Now there were TWELVE,  
and by the ease by which they flew, they all had S2 Engines too.

"Ohh, we're in trouble." Mana whispered. "Yaaang-senseeei?"

"If we had control over the positron cannon roosts, it might be possible. It's going to  
take more than a few minutes to break into them and switch over to manual control.  
And that would only work for the outer ring of turrets." Half of which were on the  
other side of the city. Damn NERV and their obsession with being in control.

NERV and the MAGI going under was, again, not unexpected; he was not alone in  
thinking granting so much control to a computer was wise. The MAGI was no Skynet,  
but as expected it could do a lot of damage when turned against its makers.

Ayanami and Katsuragi were talking, something about a plan? Sure, what the hell,  
let's go with that.

"We must synchronize." Rei said to Mana. The Land Dreadnaught kept its hardmount  
positron cannon. "You must fire a sustained beam at this vector at the precise  
moment that I do."

"Ooh. I see what your plan is... hey, wait! Did you do the math for this?"

"The probabilities will align, or the potentialities will be destroyed for great justice."  
Ayanami was just a smidgen away from smiling openly. It was not good. She had  
never really gotten the trick about pre-battle banter, only the vague idea that  
certain words like 'justice', 'freedom', 'honor' and 'revenge' were human emotional  
triggers. "I am unable to form a sufficiently dense AT-field for defense. We have no  
other option. We will END THEM, and quickly."

One did not have to hear deranged cackling laughter. Ayanami Rei Does Not Do That.

A voice very much like hers whispered. "Commencing primary ignition."

Steam billowed out from vents all over Unit Zero. Pylons snapped out from its back,  
like bones of wings. Its single eye glowered red. The official designation of Unit-Zero,  
in Japanese publications, was Zero-gouki. The new modules turned it into Zero DaiOh,  
meaning 'great king', and hence Aida's pun 'The Oh'. It rested upon a firing station up  
on a hill, and the mounds of capacitor banks, armored buttresses and charging  
sockets did look sufficiently thronelike. The horn on its head rose to a peak, like an  
old Heian-era tall hat. The ponderous chestplate and fluted armored skirts were  
styled as unto the armor of ancient warlords.

Four minutes and fifteen seconds until the critical point.

Magnos Tancred stepped backwards and slammed itself into a plain-looking building.  
The faced opened up and various mysterious mechanisms slid into place. It was not  
like the Evangelions had a monopoly on modularity. "_Dynotherms connected_." Maya  
Ibuki's voice sample proclaimed. "_Megathrusters are go_." The Trident Land Dreadnought  
lurched out, trying to keep balance. "_Voltage at maximum_. _Let's go!_"

Mana Kirishima had far less restraint when it comes to maniacal cackling.

Three minutes, one second until firing point. Tap. Tap. (beat) Tap. Tap. (beat) Tap.  
Tap. (beat) The girls' fingers lightly stroked their triggers. On an artificial island in  
the middle of lake Asahino, Raka drummed upon a control panel.

Twelve enemy Evangelions. Where did they come from? Does it mean they were  
being attacked by fellow HUMANS? Unfortunately, that did not really come as much  
of a surprise... if anything could go wrong, it would happen at Tokyo-3.

Two seconds. Tap. Tap. (beat)

"Wreak havoc."

A blinding light lanced out from Lake Asahino. At very nearly the same moment, Rei  
fired her Dual Heavy Positron Cannon. The twin beams met the single large positron  
stream, and the collision of magnetic fields broke them into three wildly diverging  
shots. In The O's left hand, Rei had the Eva Positron Rifle, less power but faster  
refire rate. She held the trigger down and the beam shot out at a 90-degree angle to  
the dual beam in her right. That shot met the positron stream from -Magnos Tancred-  
and was likewise deflected.

So rapid was the sequence of events that a 'breeeeeeep' tone rang through the air,  
the shockwaves melting together, ripples in a pond turning into a muddled swell.  
Positron streams were antimatter electrons. Unlike the 'homing laser', they could not  
be split... they could combine. Two positron shots met at a steep angle, enough so  
that their magnetic fields could mesh, and sharply became one stronger beam lancing  
upwards. It speared a mass-production Evangelion. Before the rest could react, two  
more streams raked across the sky, met, deflected each other, and blasted through  
two more enemy Evas.

It was abrupt; four shots turned into a confusing web of criss-crossing lines; then  
the thickest beam was converged upon by all the rest, and shot upwards... past the  
enemy Evangelions, out through the atmosphere. The beams faded. A second later,  
all saw an explosion near the Moon's south pole. For it to be visible from such a  
distance... someone out there was not happy.

-Zerogouki Daioh- was built to duel -The Moon-. She won. Though not as powerful in  
its long-range attack as the Asahino Lance Cannon (which was built to duel things  
halfway across the Solar System), at the very least she was mobile enough to  
avoid counterbattery fire. How mobile... ah!

Rei exhaled and slid the Gargant Moonbiter back into its recharging rack. Steam  
hissed again, from her shoulder vents. She pointed the Positron Rifle in her left arm  
over her shoulder, and fired. An MP Eva trying to swoop in from behind got its head  
blown off.

She dropped the drained weapon and picked up an Autogun with each hand. "Barriers  
up." she sounded bored.

An enemy Eva leapt from cover with impossible speed, and slammed face-first into the  
a defensive metal wall. There was a visible dent at the side facing her. "Barriers  
down." Rei casually pointed with her left hand and shot the twitching at the back of  
the neck, near the entry plug. It lay still.

She flicked a glance at the sky. There were no more Evangelions there. She barely  
had time to react, bringing her two arms together to block an overhead stab by one  
of those hideously impractical double-headed cleavers that the enemy carried.

"Hidden arm."

Armor at her Eva's chest blew, and perfectly normal orange-colored arms emerged; a  
prog knife in each hand. The big bulky arms were robotic replacements. Zerogouki  
Daioh (or alternatively, Gargant Great General) was so huge that anything else would  
be proportionally useless. Except at extremely close range. She stabbed at its chest,  
dug out its armor, and pierced its core. The enemy slumped, dead.

Two more were diving at her. "Boosters on."

She leapt, and skimmed across the street below; the verniers all over her O-type  
equipment more than capable of overcoming the mass of an Eva. Clearly the enemy  
had expected something so big would be so agile. The two MP Evas screeched and  
flapped their wings and barely managed to to keep from slamming into each other.  
Sliding backwards, hovering a meter or so over the pavement, Rei peppered the  
two with dual-weilded Autoguns at full auto.

The O did not mean Omega. It was also a pun on zero, and the circle- the closed  
loop, with no beginning or end. A support weapons platform like Unit Zero did not  
need outright speed and agility, as Unit Two; nor thick armor and stabby implements  
as Unit One. It did need some measure of agility to shift firing positions quickly, and  
any enemy that thought a sniper would be easy prey in close combat would be in  
for a rude surprise.

"Their armor is weaker than our Evangelions." she noted to Kirishima. "Do not give  
them a chance to regenerate."

"Of course." One of the downed MP Evas got up woozily, a smoking hole still visible on  
its stomach. "TANCRED -DRILL- PUNCH!"

-o-

Col. Nasuno rubbed at his forehead. "Why do I let Aida talk me into these things?"

-o-

Fists were inefficient. The large pointed drill in the Trident's roaring right arm slid  
between the cracks of its armor and into its core. The enemy spasmed wildly, and  
slumped.

There was a flash, and Mana blocked a swing from another MP Eva. Her left arm  
contained a three-bit crushing drill. Sparks flew, the enemy's weapon was knocked  
out of its hands. Showing unprecendented wisdom, the white Eva turned and ran.

"Oh, no you don't!" She triggered her jetpacks and tackled the Eva. "TANCRED**  
ROCKET** DRILL PUNCH!"

The enemy tried to raise an AT-field. Black threads on Tancred's pointed drill  
sparked with shards of lightning, breaking through. The MP Eva slammed face-first  
into the pavement. The piercing drill bored an exploratory hole again right where  
the pilot's plug should be, while the crushing drill turned its insides into so much  
mush until it found and cracked the core.

Mana gasped for breath. If the thing was piloted, she had just murdered some poor  
fool. She felt secure that these were infested enemies... like Unit 04... for no human  
pilot would actually be so stupid as to attack Tokyo-3's undefeated defenders  
headon.

There was a loud *clang!* and the Trident crew jerked in their seats. One of the  
enemy had thrown its double-headed cleaver, and -Magnos Tancred- now had an  
exact replica of the Lance of Longinus poking out of its chest, just narrowly missing  
the reactor. Considering that the Lance was about one and a half times longer than  
an Eva was tall, it was a bother.

But not enough of one. After all, even if the reactor is damaged; it was a -fusion-  
reactor. It would not be catastrophic, and there was enough reserve power in the  
batteries for fighting a while longer. -Magnos Tancred- does not bleed. -Magnos  
Tancred- does not know pain. And they had just given -Magnos Tancred- a weapon  
capable of effortlessly going all through any AT-field, past their armor, and nullifying  
regenerative abilities.

Its face was featureless, other than the thick red lips. It did manage to somehow  
evoke an _'I has a sad.' _expression. That Eva leapt from its perch on top of Tokyo-3's  
tallest building and looked for Unit Zero instead. Unfortunately, it found the orange  
Eva. It thrust down the street, a roaring buzzsaw blade at the end of its larger arms.  
"Waagh." Sparks and kersplut. And then the white Eva was in pieces. A spike popped  
out from its the elbow joint, and Unit Zero rammed it into the exposed core of the  
newly quadreplegic enemy.

Across the street, a similar Eva screeched in pain as the Land Dreadnaught impaled  
it with the Lance impaled in its chest upon a shopping mall. Slowly, Mana pushed  
forward, the building behind the enemy bringing it closer. One Drill Punch, and it was  
done. She felt slightly guilty about staining all those pretty dresses with noxious  
violet goop.

The enemy started off with twelve Evangelions. Now there were five. Less than  
ninety seconds had passed. Not once had Rei Ayanami needed to use the AT-field.  
In fact, she could not.

Mana gave the fallen enemy Eva a few spiteful kicks. "Try and regenerate from THAT,  
dirtbags! Ha! Once and forever! The champions!"

"We have rocked them." Rei agreed.

"That? That right there?" Yang mumbled. "That is why I don't even plan anything  
under thirty minutes and between two days and three months. Trying to apply some  
sort of intricate conniving plot to this place is the height of idiocy."

There was a brief quake, that knocked dust loose even from the underground bunker  
of Cerberus Base. "The enemy has blasted through into the geofront." Rei reported  
tonelessly. "They no longer intend to delay us here on the surface."

_'The girls had accomplished three objectives; first, to destroy whatever is on the  
moon that is the source of this... strangeness... with our electronics. Second, to cut  
down on the enemy numbers. Third, to quickly open a way into the geofront to  
catch the enemy in a pincer.' _The strategist scratched at his unkempt hair again. _'In  
less than a minute and a half.'_ "I don't know if I'll feel between knowing they planned  
this in advance... or if they're making it up as they go along."

"Five against one?" Col. Nasuno shook his head. "The poor bastards."

-o-

Shinji Ikari was not worried. He was the last line of defense, alone under the shell of  
the geofront. A complicated array of mirrors and lenses gave the underground the  
illusion of daylight. Six kilometers all around, and nine/tenths of one to the roof; that was  
good enough fighting room, even for giants such as the Evangelion.

The power flow shut off with a click; and his Eva's monitors switched from direct feed  
to the capacitors around his feet. He got up and began to walk away from the guard  
position in front of the pyramidal Central Dogma, towards the underground lake. He  
watched the rippling on its surface.

There was a bright point of light, that burst to reveal a shape vaguely Evangelion-  
shaped. It had a certain insectoid air about it, perhaps due to limbs that were just  
slightly too long and bent at slightly wrong angles. It was matte black with red here  
and there, a horned head yet somehow shaped like the points of a jester's cap. Its six  
bulbous vane wings folded in and over its torso, like a cape. It rested upon surface of  
the waters.

"Nagisa. You must really have a death wish." The bundled power lines leading to Unit  
01's back, like a long cloak train, blew off to give it freedom of motion. The purple  
Evangelion's eyes flashed and steam hissed out of vents in its armor.

"I am not here to fight you, Ikari-kun."

"Really? Too bad." Shinji cracked his knuckles. "You have dared to show your face.  
I will do violence to it." Unit 01 lifted the massive autocannon in its left arm and sent  
a stream of Hellfire bolts into the air.

Kaworu sighed. His Warborn vanished just before the attack hit and faded back into  
existence somewhere behind the Evangelion. The Evangelion had to completely turn  
around, what with being unable to move its head and all.

"Not using the AT-field today, Nagisa?"

"What, no lightning, Ikari? What's wrong? Afraid I'll... redirect it?"

-Principio Eternus- shrugged visibly. "I can always throw it back."

"And so and so forth until we have an explosive plasma loop." Kaworu gestured to the  
shell of the geofront. "It is bad for the environment."

Shinji had to agree, that was partly the reason why his choice of weapons were  
powerful but short-ranged. A Heavy Positron Cannon such as that the Gargant or  
Tancred carried would just blast right through the roof and devastate his city.  
It was not as if Nagisa was being uncharacteristically considerate, however...  
everything he did had a purpose, and the rapid conquest of most of Europe proved his  
willingness for merciless initiative.

It was the first time they ever faced in an Evangelion-scale combat; previous battles  
were hand to hand, quite painful, and inconclusive... the limits of their own bodies too  
great to force a conclusion. With Evangelion and the Trident Warborn... no, that was  
an Angel in the FORM of a Trident, easily equal to his Unit 01, and perhaps even  
superior in that it possessed an S2 Engine... Shinji Ikari was no longer calm. He  
wanted to laugh. He wanted to roar.

There was something _different_ about Nagisa and his Warborn. An Evangelion may be  
capable of suprising bursts of speed, but moving thousands of tons of war machine  
built up a lot of momentum, of energy, and it likewise took energy in the minute  
applications of the AT-field to provide true agility. It was why Asuka's Titanicus  
modules was far lighter than the others, providing very little in terms of exoskeletal  
strength boost or protection. Speed, ferocity, all-consuming in its power... like fire.  
Rei, even if her Eva had an S2 Engine, had accepted she would never really reach  
that- that was why her heavy weapons compensated for a relatively low but very  
dependable synch ratio and made efficient use of Unit Zero's own paltry power  
reserves.

Rocket Packs and the AYANAMI KICK! notwithstanding. Shinji reflexively rubbed at  
his left cheek.

Shinji flicked the view to infared. A hot wash emerged from around the Warborn's  
feet. Ah. So the wings had a reason other than style points for folding up like a cape.  
The tips served as verniers to aid movement. Two in front, two at the back, one at  
each side... that was strange, Nagisa was being considerate to physics. It was also  
likely that whatever was powering those thrusters, enough to lift something massing  
thousands of tons at a dead hover like that, should be quite insane. Inwardly the boy  
wondered how Dr. Akagi would have taken that.

_'But... it's all internal!' _There was still the teleporting trick, Nagisa liked that... speed  
beyond speed, but that was a machine-god so obviously optimized to fight against  
-Principio Eternus-. Shinji carried the the first and full Titanicus gear, not as much  
defense or power as the other two patterns but nor the weaknesses of either. The  
only way through should be with brute force. _'Why isn't he using the AT-field? It's  
not as if he has to conserve power like I do. What trickery is he up to this time?'_

It was the traditional phase of battle called the 'pre-fight banter', and it did serve a  
purpose. The blink-and-you'll-miss-it snap of his attack, and the relaxed ease with  
which Nagisa escaped, spoke volumes on how much they had practiced and planned  
for their eventual conflict... so much so that like in cliched old martial arts movies  
they were unwilling to begin. They could stare at each other for minutes, even up to  
an hour. The intensity would not abate. It might as well have been...

Misato Katsuragi's voice broke into the tension. "Oh for god's sake, stop ogling each  
other and-"

Flash! Flash! Boom!

Nagisa' Warborn appeared behind Unit One with a flash of yellow light, and its right  
arm had inexplicably formed into a scythe-like blade. One of the Eva's shoulder pylons  
was sheared off, but it had managed to bend forward fast enough to keep from being  
bisected. With its left foot as a fulcrum, the Eva kicked up with its right foot as the  
counterweight, chopping blades roaring at its heels. The Warborn leaned back just as  
quickly, but got clipped on the chin. It vanished with another yellow flash.

-Principio Eternus- fell face-first into the dirt. The Warborn reappeared some distance  
away, and promptly sank into the lake.

Even those down at the command center found that they had no words. By the way  
the two boys harped on and on about beating each other's heads in, they had  
expected the inevitable moment of their encounter to be... something monumental.  
Epic. Historic. In No Way as Lame as That Which They Had Just Witnessed.

Shinji pushed his Eva back to its feet and tapped dirt clods out of the grilles on its  
face armor. Nagisa sloshed out of the lake,

"Well, that was pointless." the hybrid remarked dully. "And somehow I am not  
surprised that you have Chainsaw Feet now."

"Your command of the obvious, is, as always... obvious." Shinji had deployed the  
wrist-mounted Positron Blaster in his left arm, and fired, right at saying the word  
'_the_'.

Kaworu tilted his head slightly and felt slight heat as the beams passed. The hybrid  
had to admit to himself that he had a tendency towards the... theatrical... but  
Shinji Ikari encouraged banter just so his enemies would get distracted and get  
sucker-punched in the middle of a speech.

The Trident Warborn vanished. There was a boom, a visible shockwave. And Unit  
One was flying through the air.

Shinji grit his teeth. _'Speed beyond speed, eh?.' _It did not matter how powerful one  
is, if the enemy could simply move faster than he can react. Like the perfect spear.  
It was funny in a way. Impact force was influenced by both mass and velocity. Getting  
punched by something massing thousands of tons at past mach 6 _HURT_.

He flipped over and made the Eva land on its feet. Its fingers dug into the soil as it  
tried to control its skidding halt. The armor on Unit One's bracers flaked off. "I am the  
shield. Lead me to where I may stand against the many." he said with a feral grin.  
The impact had actually managed to knock a few of the _shoulder_ attachments out of  
their sockets. "Air mines, launch!"

Sohryu was known for being able to blow through enemy defenses. Ayanami was able  
to finesse her way to victory, doing the most with the least effort. Ikari had always  
been... famed upon for his unorthodox command of the AT-field.

NERV thought it was premature to make a 'Piloting Manual' for the Evangelions, but  
the dedicated researcher might pick up the bones of it from simulations logs with the  
MAGI, Asuka's emailed advice to Mayumi, and Dr. Akagi's paper titled "Interactions  
between Fields of Altered Space and the Planetary Electromagnetic".

Canisters on Unit 01's shoulders and back shot off and exploded, spraying the  
immediate area with solid steel balls; each 20 centimeters wide. The pellets were too  
large for anti-infantry work, but had too little velocity to damage Eva-scale enemies.  
There was a keening sound. The steel pellets stopped in mid-air.

It was much, much more effective to use the AT-field to induce other fields. There  
was a ripping noise, and spiraling blue trail through the air, and Kaworu felt intense  
pain in his left upper arm. "Right. Of course. If you can control lightning, you can  
induce electromagnetism." He teleported again.

He reappeared, and felt something bite at his neck and torso. The Warborn crossed  
its arms together, and for the first time deployed its AT-field. "The best defense is  
a good offense, neh, Ikari-kun?" The pellets were like little fireflies fluttering around  
a living mountain. There would be no predicting which one of those pellets would be  
attacking, and as such near impossible to dodge. Teleporting all over the place would  
not help quite as much, for he could also attack from any angle. "Oh, _fun_."

Unit 01 stomped its right foot down, with its right arm held out and tilting town. Its  
left arm was bent up and held above its head. The steel balls began to spin rapidly  
around it, that there looked like three wobbling glowing silver rings.

The jester-like Trident Warborn vanished, and reappeared directly above the Eva.  
There was another ripping noise, and a silver thread followed up. An explosion  
bloomed off the enemy's shoulders well before it arrived; hypersonic particles were,  
after all, faster than sound. The silvery material, like liquid fire, was will-wrought  
lightning.

The ruddy red glow of an AT-field pushed against air in the way. There was a brief  
flicker, and a great, earth-shattering boom. The geofront quivered, dust choked the  
view.

Two roaring figures stumbled out of the dust cloud, grappled, trying to punch each  
other in the head as fast as possible, as hard as possible, before breaking off contact  
with a neck-snapping cross-counter. They crashed and rolled away from each other.

Shinji Ikari rubbed at his neck. "... hah... huff... if you can't focus your AT-field way from  
your body, use IT as the attack. As expected from someone with the luxury of an S2  
Engine..."

"As I have said, it was not my intent to fight you. Yes, by your perspective it might  
be that I have committed great crimes or acts of war; but it is most unreasonable not  
to take the hand of truce when it is offered."

"You are a blight upon humanity, Nagisa. There can be no peace. There can be no  
forgiveness."

"Oh come now, considering my absolute (dodge) mastery with biotechnology, this  
little war of ours could have been much... messier. I understand that some might find  
the process and risk of... zombiefication? ... frightening, ultimately (evade) the  
symbiotes are expressions of life, not death. If I really (teleport) wanted to kill millions,  
then releasing an persistent supervirus would clean things up nicely." He looked  
smug. The Eva still required technicians to at least plug it into the power sockets.  
"All things considered, I have been very merciful indeed."

"What you call mercy, others tend to call slavery."

"Oh please, like you're any different. All I have done is to short-circuit the process  
of coercion to the satisfaction of ALL parties involved." Unit 01 had stopped firing  
and a very disdainful snort passed through the comms. Kaworu frowned.

"The difference between a prison and my biochemical triggers is that the former  
punishes the by robbing him of his free will for some years, at cost to society, and  
has a less than reliable rate of being reformed." he continued. "The Minder symbiote  
rewards him with BLISS for accomplishing tasks, PAIN for deviating from the policy,  
and allows him to be a productive member of society all the while. The same  
symbiote also improves health, adds telepathic ability, and the physical capacity  
to adapt to changing environments. It's what people would try anyway with  
cybernetics, only available today instead of fifty or a hundred years from now."

"Yes. You speak of the end of human history. It is the symbiote that does these  
things, not humanity. You will not set us free, but trap us into depending on  
something that we never really needed."

"Humanity is defined by its FUNCTION, not its FORM! It defines itself. The genome is  
supremely adaptable; it does not matter what shape we wear, now or in the future."

"The shape of man is sacred! The form of man is for man alone!" Shinji shouted back.  
"Let everyone who wishes to live as a human, with his limits and his laws, be treated  
as a human being. Our shape may change, yes, in time. But let us change the universe  
to suit ourselves, not ourselves into the demands of space and life beyond- for that  
way lies surrender. No, Nagisa. Humanity is defined by its WILL to keep going, proudly  
on, stubborn, free, and unbreakable."

"Arrogance! Arrogance and self-worship, you would let worlds burn to light up the  
pages of human history! Wars are interesting, until you have to LIVE in one! You  
should already know how wasteful this is!"

"Cowardice! Cowardice and even more self-indulgence! We will not change just for the  
sake of change. We will not yield to pressures of mere environment. We will master  
everything, including our own impulses. WE ARE NOT THAT -WEAK-! Where there is a  
barrier, we will break through! Who the hell do you think we are?"

Kaworu looked nonplussed. "Deranged fools. Obviously."

"If I do not end you here, we will keep this argument going long after this galaxy  
merges with Andromeda. Do you think I can't foresee you trying to Von Neumann your  
way into victory? Since Adam would refuse to merge your consciousness with the  
vastly inferior symbiote, you would stand as the Last Human while others shift into  
wild forms. No way in hell am I going to let that _wrongness _happen. "

Shinji paused. "... besides, you made HER cry. DIE!"

_'Ah.'_ Kaworu looked aside. _'Okay, THAT I can accept.'_

Two giant forms flickered, there was another loud crack of collision and dust rising  
from disturbed earth. Kaworu shot back up to the air, but from the dust cloud silvery  
strings whipped out and wrapped around one of the wing plyons. He increased power  
to the engines, and that only caused the filament strings to tighten... eventually  
cutting into and shredding that thruster.

More loops flashed out, and the eyes on his twin-horned head flashed. Steel wire,  
even if laced and guided by an AT-field, could burn. He detached two of his wing  
pylons, and the things unfolded like wrong-facing umbrellas. The front end glittered  
between the spokes, and suddenly were filled by a black sphere. The long portion  
was a gun, with control verniers here and there.

Unit 01 emerged, scanning left and right. It was surprised to get shot from the  
back, by its own shadow. Then from the side. There was no enemy it could see.

Shinji looked closely, and saw black disks running along the ground, like miniature  
versions of Leliel's Dirac Seas. Experimentally, he shot at one. As expected, though  
the ground beneath it may have been destroyed, the disc remained. It may even  
be trapping and charging up on the energies attacking it.

_'Interesting. I was expecting something like a funnel attack.' _Range and speed had its  
advantages, it was why he had copied Leliel's Gauss-Field trick.

Finally, he gave up and chuckled. "You have found a worthy vessel at last. It's true...  
power has its price, but you don't have to pay that price. The sacrifice of others  
would do just a well... was it worth it? TELL ME, YOU BASTARD! TELL ME HOW YOU  
INTEND TO STAND ALONE!" Steam hissed from vents in -Principio Eternus-'s armor.  
"TELL ME ITS -NAME-!"

"Where once I knelt as a slave I now weild my bonds as my weapon. This world is  
corrupt, but I am not ready to give up on it yet. I am no doctor to heal the world, but  
the future will not be stolen from it. I will be its master of fate, the captain of its  
soul! I am the serpent of time! Behold!"

Something emerged from the Warborn's outstretched hand. For a moment, Shinji  
feared it was the device misnamed as the Lance of Longinus, something which he  
could not block nor counter nor evade, then saw that instead of a bident it had three  
prongs... a trident.

"THAT WHICH SEPARATES THE FIRMAMENT! UNDEFEATED OF THE WEST! TRIDENS  
DO-!"

-Tridens Dominatus- fell down. -Principio Eternus- had shot it in the face while it was  
posturing.

_'Damn you, Ikari! I fell for it AGAIN!_' "... you flaming hypocrite." Wham. The dent in  
the Warborn's face popped back out and woozily, Nagisa got back to his feet. He  
twisted -Trident Dominatus-'s head around until it faced front again.

A distant voice screamed hoarsely with despair. _"... maaasteeerrr!"_

_'There it is again._ _Where IS that coming from?_' Kaworu wondered. "Master."

_"...maaaaster!"_

Really. He had that thought it was some echo in the Cradlemind, but... "Trident  
Master."

_"...maaaaster!"_

"The Undefeated of North, South, East, West, and Center."

_"... screw youu...!"_

Kaworu scoffed and looked up. He had more important things to worry about. If there  
was anything his association with Ikari had taught him; it was that with great power  
comes great insanity. And with even more insanity? More power!

Another clash, too fast for the eye to follow. Both war machines slid to a stop,  
pivoting even as their feet tore into the ground, to warily face each other. They  
stopped at a crouch, ready to leap back into the assault.

"Damn it, Ikari! Do you have any part of your body that does not deploy a chainsaw  
or prog blade?"

Shinji gasped, exhausted. He held up the left pinky finger of his Eva. White-hot flame  
burst forth from it.

"... or shoot fire. Do you have any part of your body that does not deploy a chainsaw,  
or prog blade, or shoots fire?" Nagisa realized just how ridiculous was his question. "No.  
No, of course not."

Unit 01 shot him with the TurboLasers on its shoulder.

There was another loud boom, and pieces of the geofront roof fell in. SEELE's MP Evas  
jumped down, and were greeted by the sight of two god-machines each trying to  
break the enemy's face with their own face. WHAM. They could actually see the  
shockwaves from each collision.

Unit-01's horn glowed red. It was a headstab.

The Trident six eyes glowed bright orange. It was eyebeam time.

WHAM.

The two god-machines reeled from the self-induced headaches. Living metal closed  
over deep gouges, and inhuman flesh bulged out from scorched holes.

-o-

The MP Evas each landed with a loud *sploosh* into the underground lake, but were  
ignored. It was puzzling. The two machines were too intent on fighting each other,  
that the way to Terminal Dogma was clear.

Or apparently so; for one that tried to rush through got nailed by an errant gauss  
slug. This caused the remaining MP Evas to focus on an approaching Unit 01. It was  
damaged, parts of its right upper arm armor was torn off, and its fists were on fire.

"I don't have time for this." Shinji huffed. "I am giving you bastards this one chance to  
get the hell out of my city. I'll get to you later." The Moon Invasion plan was still in  
the works. It was, of course, Plan 9; to Outer Space.

The MP Evas opened their mouths and showed their tongues, like panting dogs. Or  
was that their equivalent of sarcastic laughter?

"You really want to get in my way? Fine! I'll take you all on!" He slammed both fists  
together, producing a shower of sparks, and charged. The enemy hissed and did the  
same, at it from all sides.

If Shinji Ikari had a theme song, it would be playing right about now.

As Unit One ran, it uprooted a tree and jammed it straight down the closest MP  
Eva's throat. While it gagged, a faintly humming red blade snapped out from -Eternus-  
right forearm bracer and stabbed into the enemy's core. Another enemy Eva  
attempted to tackle Unit 01, but Shinji fended it off as another large progressive  
punch dagger popped out of his left arm. The prog blade sparked as it met the  
enemy's cleaver. Another red blade snapped out, from the knee armor, and with a kick  
he disemboweled the enemy. A third leapt, he whirled about halfway, pulling out the  
dagger from the first Eva's chest. He caught the newest nemesis in the face with the  
left hand's prog dagger, and pulled it in like a fish on a hook. With the longer right-arm  
blade he stabbed into the chest armor, and heaved the enemy overhead. It slammed  
into another MP Eva trying to crawl into position. Both tumbled into the ground.

-Principio Eternus- roared and stopped running. Enemies converged again from all  
directions, even from above. The forearm blades retracted, and were replaced by large  
hooks. Its horn glowed red. Knives were at its knees, and out the joints of its forearms.  
Its shoulder pylons popped open, exposing radially rotating teeth.

The MP Evas were throwing faux Lances. Without an active AT-field to home onto, the  
unintelligent devices' speed was visible (though just barely). There were brief sparks as  
Shinji knocked them out of the way. The closest enemy Eva leapt, one arm leading with  
the other held back to stab with its Lance. Unit 01 grabbed that hand and yanked,  
shoving it into the meat grinder on its shoulders. Bloody red chunks flew out the back  
vents. The white Eva screamed and screamed and tried to pull away. It had to drop the  
Lance just to push against Unit 01, which kept on going despite the weight clinging to its  
upper torso.

Watching from above, Kaworu whistled. "Beautiful." While Asuka's ferocity was  
likewise beautiful in its sheer power, its unpredictable savagery, like fire; this lethal  
intent flowed from one moment to the next, unbroken... a deluge. This was the being  
Kaworu, a creature both more and less than human, had chosen as his peer in all  
things.

Shunk.

Shinji used his Eva's bracer hook to pull the enemy closer, and stabbed it through the  
chest with the horn. He then pushed off the creature obscuring his vision, to see two  
more of the things already at him. One of them was already damaged, but healing  
before his eyes.

He kicked at one, while catching the other's forearms in his hooks. Pulling up and in  
a circle, he had the enemy pinned and twisted around. He pulled and heard the crack  
of joints being pulled out of their sockets. He jammed a knee blade into the enemy's  
spine. It slumped down. A punch dagger popped out from his right arm again, and he  
punched into the entry plug. Orange steam hissed out.

The one he had kicked earlier had recovered, though its face still looked chewed  
up from the chain-teeth on -Eternus's- toes. Shinji Ikari opened his mouth and spat  
napalm. As the enemy Eva clutched at the burning, mutilated mess that was its face,  
he managed to put a prog blade on either side of its neck. With a scissoring motion,  
he decapitated it. He then shoved the bleeding torso into his knee to stab it through  
the heart.

Beyond was one more MP Eva, standing there still untouched. -Principio Eternus-  
roared again, and retracted its arm blades. This one, it would break by its own hands!  
It would be on fire as it was torn apart! The Titan's steps thundered up the rise, and  
it struck.

The enemy caught its fist. It hardly budged, despite the massive momentum Unit-01  
had built up. It looked no different from the other Mass Production Evangelions.

"Enough."

Bam! A punch to the chest sent the purple Evangelion flying, beyond the carpet of  
enemy corpses where it started. It faceslid into a stop.

Steam hissed out again from vents in its armor. It was undamaged, but in shock. Shinji  
Ikari angled his head up. "Keel?"

"Mine." Kaworu hissed. -Tridens Dominatus- vanished.

The last MP Eva casually backhanded the blur off to its left. The Trident Warborn  
was thrown off too, blasted into the ground and bouncing off. Its wing pylons burned  
to give it controllable descent.

"Damn." Nagisa picked up a boulder and threw. It bounced off Unit 01's head armor  
as it was trying to get back to its feet. "NO! -My- prey!"

"You have got to be joking. This is the man that directly caused Second Impact,  
everything that happened to lead us to this point is this goddamn coward's fault.  
I will DO VIOLENCE to his SPLEEN."

"Exactly. Lorenz Keel is, in many ways, my father. My creator. My slavemaster.  
Without his specific decision to meddle with things best left buried, I would not have  
been born. This... life...! This wretched state, this pain, this misery...! I have not  
asked for this! As a weapon, let me be turned against my maker. I have waited YEARS  
for this moment... damn you, Ikari, you will not rob me of my vengeance!"

"Three BILLION, six hundred and ninety-two MILLION, seven hundred and eighty-six  
THOUSAND, nine hundred and thirty two. Don't ask me how I know but... that is the  
number of people who died in the very first day after Impact." Unit 01's eyes glowed.  
"I am the fury. I AM THE STORM."

"What say we split the difference fifty-fifty. Whoever gets the most stab wounds in  
wins." While Unit 01's new Titanicus gear meant that it had weapons in the oddest of  
places, the living metal of Kaworu's Warborn meant that its entire body could be  
turned into a bladed weapon. His claws grew longer and the tips of his wings  
sharpened.

Sawblades whirred. "Deal."

With bestial roars, they sprang at the source of all their misfortunes.

-o-

"This is a surprising turn of events," Fuyutsuki whispered, while sounding completely  
unsurprised. "I thought there were two more Angels that needed to be dealt with?  
SEELE seems to be jumping the gun quite a bit."

"Worry not, sensei. This is also in the scenario."

"Oh, come off it, Ikari! You can't possibly use that excuse this time. No way is THIS  
part of the prophecy."

"Believe as you will." Gendo smirked and stood up. "I will go secure the Lance. Do  
handle things over here for a while." NERV's supreme commander stepped over to  
the personal lift and descended.

"Secure it? How?" the older man shouted after the retreating form. "You can't just  
leave-..."

"Sir!"

Kozo Fuyutsuki turned, to see that Misato Katsuragi had moved from her command  
chair to stand staring up at the commander's platform, her posture ramrod straight  
and her eyes glittering with challenge. "They're saying some... interesting... things  
out there, sir. Another Angel hybrid pilot THAT I WAS NEVER TOLD ABOUT is  
supporting these claims. The fact that NERV may be playing God and cloning future  
pilots is the sort of dick move that really doesn't surprise me anymore... BUT WHAT  
ELSE ARE YOU HIDING FROM ME?"

The implications of what they were saying out there whirled in her mind; she had  
never really considered herself too intelligent (perhaps because her standard of  
measure was Ritsuko) but she had never considered herself stupid. It was obvious  
enough.

Her boiling outrage... she had to force it aside for the sake of present survival.  
This was more than just classified information, however. She given the old man  
the respect and courtesy that she felt Gendo did not deserve. But of course he  
was a liar too. Even her Shinji-kun hid things from her.

If information was power, then she had enough of being powerless. In a way,  
Ritsuko was lucky she was incapacitated. Misato would have been shaking her  
forcefully while shouting _'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?'_ to her face.

"... dammit, Ikari. You slippery bastard." Fuyutsuki rubbed at his forehead. He had  
to deal with this instead.

-o-

Shinji Ikari was a thief. This was a subject open to dispute, but not really untrue.  
After all, most of the assets used to craft the downfall of SEELE were yoinked directly  
from their coffers. On a more metaphorical sense, there was that he showed up  
almost literally out of nowhere and had the world following along like a happy little  
puppy in just a few weeks. SEELE had spent the coin of CENTURIES to get to their  
positions of power, and some kid just takes it all with a few dramatic gestures? What  
the hell was that? The people were sheep, SHEEP! Oh, they knew it already but to  
have it so conclusively proven again.

SEELE was pissed. The Instrumentality Committee had deliberated long and hard  
about revealing their existence, but it was necessary to get to the Lance and prevent  
Gendo Ikari from initiating a controllable Third Impact. Even he would not dare set  
Lillith loose upon the world by using Ayanami as the trigger. It was a decision born of  
necessity, it was nothing personal.

But they could not deny it felt -_really good- _to throw around the young upstarts. _'At  
least Nagisa has a legitimate claim to power.' _Keel thought as he brushed aside  
another backstab. The younger Ikari had gone so far by letting people think he had  
aces hidden all over, while hiding how he played without a full deck. _'Children. We  
have gone too far to be stopped by mere children.'_

The room was dark and cold and made entirely out of metal and as such incredibly  
uncomfortable. The reason that SEELE no longer showed visuals in their  
communications was to hide how much they had to cocoon themselves under a dozen  
layers of fur and thermal wear. It was undignified, and when working for the end of  
all things dignity was all they had left.

It was odd considering how they crawled on the ground. Unit 01's faceplate meant it  
had no real expressions, but it had this big gobsmacked _look _at seeing an enemy that  
just refused to be put down the same way it defied the odds again and again.

Up on the surface, Ayanami and Kirishima would have the same problem, but the  
sawblades and drills they carried meant that their enemies were at least in more  
manageable _chunks_. Ikari had gone for both power and precision as usual, so his  
reanimated enemies remained mostly intact. They buried him under the weight of their  
bodies.

Without his creative use of the AT-field, all he had was the strength born of desperation.  
Fortunately, it was enough.

"Impossible." he spat. Rapid regeneration, all right. He saw that trick before. Hell, he  
had DONE that before. Brain damage? No problem. Missing arm? Stick it back in, and  
in a few seconds it would be good as new. _'But it's not supposed to happen without a  
god-damned CORE!' _"Nagisa!"

Kaworu threw his trident, and neatly intercepted the bident faux-Lance headed for  
Unit-01's head. He flashed out of existence and reappeared to put himself between  
the last undamaged MP Eva and NERV's Central Dogma. "I am sure you have read  
some of the theories that state AT-fields altered space to such an extent that they  
might be considered pocket universes in themselves. It is a latent excuse for having  
something can break physics, but not the universe itself."

Shinji had already managed to pull himself free. "Akagi-sensei was working on a  
paper to rebut that idea. Are you saying that they have somehow managed to  
duplicate the conditions INSIDE an Angel's core? Large Cutters, engage." Forearm  
blades popped out again. Snikt. Snikt. That was... freaky. Literally ANYTHING could  
happen, why was it wasted on pathetic zombie imitations? He threw away the arms  
so the enemies would have a harder time trying to get back on their feet. The arms  
were trying to crawl back. Dammit. He had no time to pulp them all to the point they  
could not move.

He looked to the last white Evangelion. Its stride did not even slow, even as Kaworu  
attacked from all points. _'Maybe... like some sort of network? If I destroy THAT core...'_  
It was somewhat unnerving to be ignored like he was no threat. It had not really  
been that long since he last felt 'normal', but it felt like forever. _'Oh well, his loss.'_

Shinji Ikari was not above stabbing someone in the back just to win.

Unit 01 moved, and stumbled. _'What. The. Hell?' _He had cut off the MP Evas' arms  
so they had to trap him between scissored thighs. The problem was that the four  
white Evangelions had somehow fused their stumps together to become a six-legged  
creature, with the fourth Eva embedded face-down, its legs bent forwards like the  
pincers of a spider. It waved its crotch at him. _'Eurgh. That's just nasty.'_

He could see the feet breaking free of its own joints, the tips sharpening out. The  
creature lunged. "Oh, SHI-"

"What, they can combine now? The cheating bastards!" Misato turned to her tactical  
officer. "Do something to help!"

"If we reactivate the defenses, there's nothing we can do to stop them from  
targeting everything as hostile. It's like..." Makoto took off his glasses as he searched  
for a suitable word. "A fever, I think. The geofront is compromised so deep that  
burning the infection out is the only way to limit the damage."

"We need Ritsuko." she replied flatly.

Over at Maya's station, Satsuki Ooi tried to hold in her panic. The most she had  
expected from Evangelion tactical readouts was to shout out their status and to  
trigger some failsafes- who expected that somehow that position had grown to  
include being the MAGI expert? It was not fair to ask her to perform to a level she  
had never been trained by NERV!

Misato flicked an outside channel. "Shinji-kun... there's nothing we can do at this  
moment to help. Looks like... you have to combine to keep up?"

"NEVER."

"I agree." Kaworu piped in. "That shall remain an output-only port, thank you very  
much."

She grimaced. "Yeeah, I didn't really want to see that either. Makoto-kun, what  
do we have?"

"Barriers, recharging stations, all the passive setups... oh." He began working at his  
console to update the overhead tacmap. "This has potential. If we can just turn them  
on without tripping all the other active defenses."

The MAGI was active, as those up on the surface still had to deal with the emplaced  
defenses without destroying them. Rei's rapid smackdown of multiple enemy Evas was  
forced less by the timing than having to do it within limited space where she would  
not be shot in the back. Despite its size Unit Zero Daioh was not capable of tanking  
as much damage as -Magnos Tancred-; even with the AT-field.

Why did they NOT have a big honkin' gun inside the geofront, as Misato had asked?  
Because, as Ritsuko explained, it would just blow through and collapse the geofront's  
roof. NERV's last line of defense therefore relied less on direct-fire weapons (such as  
positron cannons and large-bore guns) than on short-range, area-affect weapons  
(such as missiles and scattershot cannons). And mines. Lots of mines.

Even N2 mines. NERV still had hundreds of the damn things.

The minefields had their own proximity detectors. Sure, they also relied on the MAGI  
for targeting profiles, but it was not as if avoiding them was particularly difficult.  
Ritsuko Akagi's thought about self-guiding spider mines got an enthusiastic veto.  
(Rits-chan, PLEASE remember you're supposed to be a biotech expert.)

Rrrip. Unit 01's horn was a prog blade. A headbutt (straight into the enemy's crotch,  
Shinji tried not to think about that) neatly tore it almost in half. The inner portion of  
his bracers split open, each exposing a trio of long rods. He jabbed these into the  
open wound. "Activate! SHOCK COLLIDER!"

Raw lightning leapt from the contact points and into the combined creature. It  
twitched uncontrollably, and then slumped with smoke curling off its skin. The stench  
of burnt flesh hung in the air. Shinji watched his power reserves drop from two hours  
to twenty minutes.

The fused form of the MP Evas massed about four times his own, but with a higher  
center of gravity. He tackled it by the midsection and pushed. His synch ratio was  
above 100. He felt the long mandibles scrape at his back, and if he had tried it while  
the enemy was still aware would have been impaled several times over.

"Raaaaaaargh!" With one last powerful shove, he flung the enemy. It wriggled its feet  
helplessly as it landed face-up. Unit 01 fell face down, hugging the dirt.

Then, WHOM!

The pressure wave filled the geofront's cavity, and was contained. Everything  
vibrated, as the force of multiple detonations bounced off the walls. The enemy would  
find it slightly more difficult to regenerate from bloody chunks.

"Rods retract." The bracer slid shut. Shinji gasped in exhaustion. He looked up.  
-Tridens Dominatus- was battling the last enemy Lance to Lance (or Bident to  
Trident). Slowly, -Principio Eternus- lumbered to join the fray. "Punch Daggers out."

One of his followers had once said that it would be easier to crack the planet than  
it would be to splinter Shinji Ikari's resolve. It was much less hassle to go along since  
what he wanted to be done would somehow happen anyway.

He was aware of how confidently others played The Great Game. His father's own  
sense of confidence was as bitter as it was familiar; no fear at all. Not of death, not  
of torture, or even failure- for the the scenario would well outlive its planner. The  
battle-hardened will of Ayanami, Sohryu, Kirishima, Katsuragi, Yang and so on... was  
an _active_ confidence, a thirst for victory, and hesitation would only court defeat.  
Nagisa too had faith in his purpose, and his self-assurance showed in his gradiose  
claims that he just DARED the world to make him prove it all.

But he was not used to being treated with such... indifference. The silent, tireless  
confidence that Keel displayed- the old man had no need to prove anything, nor the  
patience to engage brats in discourse. He had no vulnerabilities to exploit. He had  
power absolute, but had nothing that he valued. There was no possibility of loss  
where there was nothing left to lose.

This was bad. Shinji had a tendency to mess with his opponent's world-view, and  
without weaponized battlefield psychotherapy he only had RIP N TEAR to fall back on.  
It was not working.

Bam!

"Now you understand just how annoying it is to fight someone who alters probability  
pretty much at will." Kaworu noted with eerie cheer.

Unit 01 reeled from the blow, and Shinji Ikari felt teeth loosen in his jaw. The Trident  
Warborn flashed back into existence, slashing at the enemy's back. Cocentric red  
hexagons sprang into being and a physical backlash flung the Trident away. Thrusters  
flared to flip the Warborn right-side up before it dug a hole in the ground with its  
face. It just did so with its shoulder. There was a snap as a wing pylon was ripped  
off its mountings. It grew little centipedal legs and crawled back to reattach itself.  
The trident homed on its position much like the Lance of Longinus would, and landed  
points-down near reach.

"Really annoying." Kaworu added. He winced as he got up, using his trident like a  
crutch. -Tridens Dominatus- was not an Evangelion but a full-on Angel, engineered  
from the ground up to a specific set of abilities. The first set was to keep Shinji Ikari  
from pulling its face off. The second, was to do the same thing even without an  
active AT-field. _'Is it just me or does Keel's Eva get stronger the more of its companions  
Ikari-kun pummels into useless lumps? Hmf. We would be overwhelmed either way.'_

Clang! Fists met, one reinforced with armor and the other by an AT-field. Armor  
gave way. Instead of following through with the other arm, Unit 01 whirled about and  
slammed its back onto the enemy. Its weight unbalanced the smaller form of the MP  
Eva. A curving red blade snapped out of its left elbow and carved into the enemy's  
side.

Abruptly, Shinji felt light-headed. Weightless. Thousands of tons of war machine was  
free from gravity's influence. Its feet left the ground. He saw the enemy's wormlike  
face. Uh-oh. WHAM.

Unit 01 ate dirt. Shinji spat out a tooth and laughed. -Tridens Dominatus- hovered  
above, unscathed, looking on with horrified fascination. Evangelions were imperfect  
human technology melded with blatantly hostile alien biology, and it _hurt_. And yet it  
was the Eva pilots who were all too eager to throw themselves into harm's way. It  
was irrational.

Greatness was sown by the blood of all those who tried the same and failed. It was  
fed by the fear of those who dared not attempt.

-Principio Eternus- cut, and bled, and stabbed, and roared; for where it walked there  
was no past, no future, nothing but the sheer power of its presence. The Trident  
flashed, here and there weakening the enemy with a thousand cuts, but Shinji Ikari  
and his machine spirit bared their fangs at that which would be God. Its blows were  
obvious, honest, and while the enemy may evade or block the attack, or the follow-  
up, or even the ones after that... eventually one would get through.

Keel Lorenz felt the flesh tear off from his arm, his bones exposed to the shock of  
air. Shinji Ikari bit through the MP Eva's humerus, feeling marrow oozing out between  
his jaws. There was an orange flash, and again he was hurled away. Titanicus armor  
flaked off, its ablative layers almost depleted.

"Chairman Keel isn't really here, _physically_, you know." Kaworu noted helpfully. "You  
don't really have to tank that much damage for a hit."

"Yes, but I'm sure killing his golem would give some really painful feedback. I can't  
really invade the Moon at this point, so I'll take anything to hurt the bastard."

The Angel hybrid nodded. That was pretty much his motivation as well. SEELE might  
not be there, but their puppets could still do untold damage.

-o-

-o-

Inside the Moon Cradle, the architect of Second Impact grimaced and clutched at his  
shoulder. "_**What has been done cannot be undone**_."

"_**The fruit cannot be returned to the tree. Its seed must be planted." **_the others  
intoned.

"_**The fire has died, the sword is the key to the gates it guarded."**_

"_**Its fire cannot be rekindled. The way is open now**_." the other voices echoed.

"_**What once was, can be again. A new Paradise awaits**_."

Many philosophies flirted with the idea of self-annihilation as the path to enlightenment  
(be it submerging oneself in the Tao or God's ineffable Plan) but SEELE attempted to  
apply it across an entire _species_. It was a magnificent surrender, and if the ultimate goal  
of life was indeed Ascension then there was nothing wrong with leap-frogging past all  
the usual red tape.

The child who had grown to love the enduring strength of life and the bleak glory of  
humanity's struggles... to him it was monstrous idiocy. The history of humanity was  
not even close to completion. Much as he might oppose his aversary's world-view, at  
least the other had A plan for the future.

The child born of immortal flesh could symphatize, but felt that humanity did not really  
DESERVE it. Not yet. The Human Instrumentality Committee could be so brave and  
so frank about their will to power simply because none of them expected to LIVE  
through it all.

Symbols etched into the ground above flared again. The streets of Tokyo-3 burned.  
The city was laid out like a chessboard grid, and a pentagram blazed from certain  
key points. A certain penguin was most annoyed that one such points rested upon  
the apartment building that held the Katsuragi residence. The carefully-tended back  
yard exploded.

"_**The prophecies had changed**_." Keel's voice echoed all through their minds. "_**It  
means that we too have changed**_."

"_**The covenant is broken. The promises can no longer be fulfilled**_."

"_**What cannot be given, must be taken**_."

-o-

-o-

Shinji was not much impressed. _'I've seen father's copy. I've been deliberately trying  
to contradict it these past few months.'_ He was certain that was not what they  
referred to, though.

Kaworu had known this for a long time. In fact, his first thought was to articulate a  
feeling that he had carried ever since his birth. _'This is wrong.' _His entire life was  
dedicated to correcting that wrongness.

SEELE was dumping their sins into people's minds. It was pointless for Kozo Fuyutsuki  
to try and obscure NERV's secrets anymore.

"That's silly talk." Misato looked ill. "An international conspiracy funded NERV, dug up  
the First Angel, made the Evangelions, trying to trigger Third Impact because the  
Second DIDN'T REALLY GO LIKE THEY WANTED... because of some prophecies written  
down in some RANDOM DESERT by some religious nutcase about a future filled with  
things he can't understand?" Like say, electronics or the internal combustion engine.

"That... it's crazy. It can't be... that sort of thing only happens in cheesy action  
movies."

"... regardless, it happens to be true."

"Oh my god." Misato slumped on her seat. "I'm going to have to arrest you, Kaji, Rits-  
chan... for Crimes Against Humanity. Then... myself. I'll have to arrest myself. Oh  
god, I finally finished paying off my car and now I'm out of a job."

Fuyutsuki shook his head sadly. "It's unlikely that God would be much inclined to  
listen at this piont." _'This cripples NERV effectively, while they would be free to act  
as they want. Sohryu would damage the Cradle severely, even if she doesn't win.'_

That brought a smile to the old man's face. _'No... Sohryu will crush them. That leaves  
no one space-capable.'_

Other than the drive for technologies with practical use, was that the reason no one  
at all had looked at any further space ability beyond launching satellites (and N2  
mines)? Before Impact, there was sufficient support... likely because SEELE wanted  
to know how to make the Moon Cradle livable. The poor astronauts in the International  
Space Station had simply starved to death after Impact. It took four years before  
anyone could launch anything into orbit. The ISS remained an empty, cold hulk.

He sighed. _'Your shield of secrets is broken, Gendo. Have you made a scenario for  
this? What are you going to do now?'_

The door to Ritsuko Akagi's hospital room opened, just as a violent quake rocked  
all of Tokyo-3. Gendo had to cling to the doorway until it passed.

Maya looked up with her expression carefully stilled. Hate was still apparent in her  
eyes. "Sir. Why are you here?"

"How is Akagi?"

Maya bit her lip until she could respond civilly. "As you can see, she is still unconscious.  
Even if she were awake, it would be... extremely difficult... for her to return to duty.  
Nerve and spinal damage from the mindworm and the apotoxin blocker she used..."  
She shook her head. "Ritsuko-sempai is paralyzed from the neck down."

"She has become useless, then."

"To YOUR purposes, maybe, commander."

Gendo hid his surprise at how much Shinji was willing to let her know. He wondered...  
how it was that though he and the boy walked the same road they ended up at  
different destinations?

There was another distant boom, sending shivers all through the underground. Gendo  
kept his composure, but within his mind his thoughts were whirling. He did not really  
know how to deal with Ibuki; he had written the young woman off as harmless, and  
he did not like having to admit (even to himself) that he had erred.

He looked at the defiant young woman, and then to the overlarge pistol she carried.  
She only tolerated any interaction with him because of the truce with his son. Gendo  
was sure she was used by the Third Child in much the same way he used Akagi, the  
women even had the same skillsets! Except for that last bit of lethality that his son  
seemed to prefer.

His nascent plans to have the young woman removed if ever the Third Child became  
unruly were shelved, it was too late in the timeline anyway; but it was not as if she  
was invulnerable. He could still destroy her with a few well-chosen words.

But he remained silent. What would be the point, really? It was the endgame, and  
his scenario had proven true. Even SEELE had come, trying to deny their inevitable  
insignificance. _'She may have helped caused it, but as SEELE had never really been  
a threat to the scenario so have they all wasted their time.'_

He stepped closer to Ritsuko, moving to the other side of the bed. He reached out,  
and heard the click of a gun's safety being flicked. The Bolt Pistol aimed at his head  
had an ejection slit, the gold filigree drew attention to it. With the added initial 'kick'  
the bolts would be lethal as soon as they cleared the muzzle.

Unconcerned, Gendo reached out to touch Ritsuko's face. Fast as a cobra, Maya's  
left hand grasped his wrist in a painful grip.

"You. Will Not. Touch Her."

"I have already done far more than touch her." Gendo ignored the pain, and the faint  
grinding noise coming from underneath the young woman's uniform. "She is not  
entirely blameless here, or she would not keep coming back for it again. And again.  
And again. Every time the monster inside goes back to sleep. I did not do this. She  
allows herself to do monstrous acts for the sake of what something she can't even  
call love."

"I will KILL you." Maya hissed. "You hurt her... and you hurt him... SO MUCH. And...  
you're nothing. You're not worth his time."

Gendo smiled thinly. "There is a monster inside you as well, Ibuki. Go ahead. Feed it."

*DA-!* The sound of the primary charge. *KAH-!* The sound of the Bolt round exiting  
the chamber, its rockets flaring in the open air. There was also a soft, ignorable  
*ping* as the casing ejected. Gendo watched the deadly projectile approach and  
with casual unconcern moved his head aside.

Maya Ibuki was an observer with a different frame of reference, so to her it seemed  
as if he had dodged a gunshot at point-blank range... a feat she had seen only one}  
other person accomplish.

Gendo forced his hand closer to Ritsuko's face. He stroked at her forehead in a  
surprisingly tender gesture. "It would have been much better if she had simply let  
the symbiote complete its task. Even death would be preferable to this... half-state."

He looked up. "Despite all your efforts, Akagi has remained loyal. Mine. Even as her  
mind cracked from trying to deal with your abuse of the bedrock of her values. I had  
need of her and she was there. Because of her, my scenario cannot be stopped. For  
that, this is a kindness I can give.

As the world ends, let her know she does not die a monster."

-o-

-o-

Ploosh. Ploosh. The other Mass-Production Evangelions dropped into the underground  
lake. They remained on fire. Kirishima preferred white phosporous in her incendiaries.

Mutilated forms tried to pull themselves out of the water. No matter how much they"  
were damaged however, even their blood on the waters flowed back to make them  
whole again. Torn flesh, too far to reach, dissolved instead into rich red mist.

An Evangelion was but as debased Angel. The more efficient one made them, the  
more Angel qualities they possessed. As such, they did not exist because they had  
flesh, but in spite of them; the Absolute Territory was writ into the very walls of their  
cells. They do not collapse under their own weight because there was absolutely no  
probability that they would. They could not DIE because they were never really alive  
in the first place.

If Ritsuko Akagi was awake, she would have said "Misato, it's not that the AT-field is  
actually an entirely different universe. A universe is about frames of reference, and  
it's like... okay, imagine a pressurized airplane hull. If you take it high up and poke a  
hole in it, the air rushes out because the pressure inside is greater than the outside.  
Bring it underwater and the opposite happens. It's like finding a crack in a Singularity.  
It's nonsense. But an Angel Core has less nonsense than the air around it so when  
an Eva stabs it there, it loses (or gains) coherence and dies, while something like  
Adam has even more concentrated nonsense than the space around it so if you stab  
it in the Core it leaks out and Impact happens and oh lord what I'm actually using  
Nonsense as a fundamental force. **MAYA**! Unfurl the flags and sound the clarion call!  
For Heisenberg and Schrodinger! **VENGEANCE**! For Planck and Einstein! **WE MUST  
KILLS THE ANGELS WITH OUR MIND**!

Or massed **artillery**."

"Um... sempai, you're doing IT again."

"No, no, wait... wait... we can USE this. A Heisenberg compensator. No, no, it would  
mean **someone **would have to stay awake to **observe **and **what **if he falls  
unconscious during battle? Or gets distracted by boobs? Damn **meatbag **sensibilities.  
So it won't reach deep enough, I need something **self-propagating**. How about those  
psykers? Note to self: re Mind Machine Interface, will it persist with brain mapping?  
Finish scale model MAGI and find out. A psychic, precognitive Bolo is VASTLY more  
tolerable that that boy's antics. Just have to figure out how to keep it from doing  
the _**intelligent**_ thing and let someone else deal with this total bullshit. We would build  
it so we don't have to, so what keeps it from building something else so IT doesn't  
have to? Ad infinitum et _**absurdum**_!

Psychic power. Counterpart of the AT-field. Quantum simultaniety is NONSENSE,  
something shouldn't be **two things at different locations at the same time**! Quantum  
tunneling is a _**DRILL **_between energy states. Psychic phenomena is an event, AT-fields  
are... objects? Ideas? It's a **field**, so _**IT **_propagates. What the hell, **am I going to have  
to fill up my warheads with PSYCHIC PARTICLES**?"

The monster within Ritsuko Akagi was very angry. Very angry indeed.

In her hospital bed, the woman turned and gave a very relaxed sigh. A jutting tendril  
of bleached blonde hair swayed from side to side.

-o-

Up at the geofront's surface level, the Mass Production Evangelions had clawed  
and bit and fused with each other in a writhing orgy of bloody self-mutilation. Their  
faux Lances stabbed them through, serving as contact points and a supporting frame.  
The winding threads making up each Lance unbound and spread out, becoming a  
spinal column, a central nervous system. Flesh bulged out in new growths, hardening  
into carapace. Legs entered into chests and teeth grew at the ends of interlocking  
arms. Ponderous white breasts jiggled in places that should never have any sexualized  
characteristics whatsoever. Eyes blinked in places that should.

Shinji Ikari had once asked about the gender of the Evangelion; the answer was that  
since the Eva was grown from an Angel and since Angels did not reproduce through  
the exchange of genetic material, they would naturally have no gender. Unfortunately  
this flew in the face of that they looked like giant humans and that Lillith's body in  
Terminal Dogma possessed breasts.

Breasts that had no nipples and thus somewhat pointless. What if they were like  
camel humps, or something? But LCL was pretty much uterine fluid; why even have a  
uterus if it did not have to carry a child? If so, then why were the Seeds sent out  
with godlike beings that were female by default? Where was the other half of the  
dimorphic pair? Were they like bees, where the queen had ultimate control over life  
in the colony with the male being there just to implant genetic variance? So why the  
mammalian traits? The hive-insect system was horribly incestuous in mammalian terms.  
So, is a male counterpart supposed to emerge... eventually... from their own bodies  
like Uranus from the womb of Mother Gaea? But what was the point of genetic  
exchange when one is, effectively, a GOD? They exist partly as ENERGY. Physics was  
already their bitch.

Yui Ikari was a geneticist and had been the world's foremost expert in xenoboiology (if  
in secret). She had to deal with those sorts of complications. Constantly. She had  
never, unlike Ritsuko Akagi, showed any hint whatsoever of cracking under crazy  
questions; always the perfect picture of politeness and poise.

Perhaps that was the problem.

Shinji Ikari and Kaworu Nagisa wanted to puke, but they were too busy eating dirt.  
They were known for messing with the laws of nature, but Keel was just so much  
BETTER at it. He had the proper tools. So it was that a localized region of space  
in the geofront experienced Jovian gravities. It was the boys' own skills in the same  
craft that kept them being so much smush.

"This is mostly your fault, you know." Kaworu muttered.

"SEELE was bound to attack NERV eventually. I made sure they couldn't do so with  
conventional forces and with pointless loss of life." Yes, they were getting their asses  
whupped, but he considered it an even trade. "So how is it my fault?"

"If you had not been so insistent on killing them off and stealing their assets, they  
would not have had to relocate to the Moon Cradle. The Earth's Cradle was  
supposed to be mankind's last resort, possessing the best and brightest and most  
suited to restart the species. HAH! I had to make a deal with Vord Lader. Who did  
SEELE have working for them? _YUI IKARI, NAOKO AKAGI, KYOKO ZEPELLIN-SOHRYU.**  
That**_ is the sort of brainpower they utilize."

The Cradle basically had everyone they could not use but were not troublesome  
enough to just permanently remove. Those would would otherwise have looked too  
close into SEELE's efforts were put to work on something that would eventually be  
worthless. SEELE had never entered into a situation where they would not win an  
advantage with whatever outcome.

"Earlier, you took them out with surprising ease. We both know they're not morons,  
they couldn't have kept their farce going for so long if they were incompetent. You  
were just an Out-Of-Context Problem to their experience. This is a war where  
everyone is forced to either adapt or die.

What made you think they wouldn't?"

The giant combined creature had an faintly beetle-like ovoid central body, with six  
legs each ending in two cloven toes. It had two oversized arms ending in even  
larger crablike pincers. Keel's Eva looked intact, on top of a long stalk-like neck  
that ended where his Eva's upper torso began. Its right arm was large and muscular  
while the left was instead many proportionally correct arms jammed into a single  
shoulder socket. They wriggled, slim fingers tracing unseen letters in the air.

The issue with Relevations was that it was almost entirely metaphor. Babylon was  
not a woman, though person may personify a place (such as a nation's head of state)  
it was unlikely that Babylon as a city was being referred to (being buried under sand  
and gone insignificant in the passing of time). SEELE was big on self-fulfilling  
prophecies, however. The Secret Dead Sea scrolls were found in among others in  
the Qumran Caves in 1947, and quickly separated because someone already knew  
what the passages implied.

Shinji let his forehead slam onto the ground. "Twelve S2 Organs used at the same  
time. Dammit."

The Beast opened one of its six mouths and began to sing the song that would end  
the Earth.

-o-

-o-

end The Coming Storm part2


	42. Chapter 41: The Coming Storm part3

The Coming Storm part3

-o-

-o-

Misato Katsuragi considered herself as a very unsuitable person. Why not as a  
mother, the reasons were obvious. As a lover, she had trouble with the idea of love in  
itself, though not acting out its expressions. As a soldier, she was very driven, but  
her role was now that of a general. She still felt guilt and disgust that only children  
could fight the war. She was one of those people who sought freedoms, then was  
terrified by the vast expanse of potentiality when they actually reach it. She sought  
order, and was paradoxically happier chafing under it.

"Is this really necessary?" Fuyutsuki asked, wincing as Misato pulled tight on the  
knot. "I'm not going to run away, you know."

"We can't spare any guards to watch you right now, so sit tight and get a box  
seat in case we all die horrible screaming deaths." She put her hand on her hips,  
sirens and explosions in the background, inspecting her handiwork. Inconveniencing  
others, now that was something she could do quite well. NERV, despite being a  
paramilitary organization was very light in terms of personnel security for certain  
reasons now only becoming obvious.

"Why rope? Couldn't you just handcuff me to this chair?" he continued. "Why do you  
even -have- rope here in the command center?"

She shrugged. "I've learned to always be prepared these days. I didn't know if I  
would ever get any use of it, but hey, look!"

"You know, I could be enjoying this sort of thing..." Fuyutsuki muttered.

Misato thwapped him on the back of his head. "Stay." she pointed, walking backwards  
and into the elevator down the command tower. It was the least she could do to  
soothe her feelings of betrayal.

It was a massive revelation. She would be extremely lucky if NERV even still existed  
should they win this battle. She walked over to the tactical stations and looked up  
at the screen. Misato patted the headrests of Makoto's chair. "They're doing well."

"Hai, colonel." he answered. "Six kilometers is extremely cramped for Evangelion and  
now that thing, but somehow they're managing to keep it distracted from attacking  
us here."

On the screen, the two giant war machines fought while their pilots traded insults.  
The black Warborn dove and dodged, all the while countering whatever condemnation  
it was that Shinji Ikari directed its way.

_' Oh, he's good.' _thought Misato. The briefing on Nagisa was very, very bare, though it was  
admitted he was supposed to be NERV's Fourth Child. Asuka knew him, hell, was a  
pen pal for months and no one managed to put two and two together? Who could keep  
that sort of thing... Gendo. He must have redirected Section 2. Why?

Regardless, the two boys had, despite vows to murder each other, an uncommon  
rapport. Like rivals. Like Lupin and Zenigata or something. "Aw, come on! These two  
flirt-fight more than Asuka ever did."

"I am not tsundere for this fool!" Kaworu shouted, proving that the commlink was still  
active.

Misato blinked. "... that was... oddly specific?"

Kaworu just sighed and shook his head. "Oh, I will **burn **all of you. Seriously. I'm not  
kidding. I'm going to do it."

Shinji Ikari stabbed him in the face. Again. Then used the Warborn's neck as a  
springboard get at the much larger Eva-Beast's soft underbelly. -Tridens Dominatus-  
regenerated the damage in less than a second and, annoyed, flew up to attack from  
a different angle.

Misato turned towards Shigeru. "Anything on Gendo?"

"Sorry, Katsuragi-san. The outer corridors are already filled with bakelite and the  
secondary armor plating's locked in. We can't search effectively right now."  
She then turned to Satsuki, who eep'ed at the glance. The second shift had never  
expected this sort of intensity out of the command crew. Even Shigeru Aoba, long-  
haired and lackadaisical, had a steely demeanor.

"... hey, are you listening to me?"

"Yes, ma'am! I mean, no, I mean..." Crap. "Very sorry, but please repeat your orders,  
ma'am!"

Briefly Misato glanced back to Ritsuko's empty chair. "How is the MAGI? What's the  
status on Unit 01's power reserves?"

"Online but at minimal operational authority, ma'am. As for the Eva, it has twelve  
minutes of power left."

Misato bit her lip. As long as the Eva is was out there, she could not engage NERV's  
own defensive measures. At the same time, there was no way of knowing if pulling  
back wouldn't just leave both Nagisa AND that Beast racing to attack the NERV's  
pyramid. Its armor was not as thick as it looked.

She began drumming on Makoto's headrest. Shinji had the ability to pull through when  
all things seemed lost, but that was no guarantee either. It was something only she  
could decide. Even if she had a link to Cerberus Base, as NERV's Operations chief her  
authority far exceeded even that of the Great Strategist.

She looked left. "Unit Zero and Magnos Tancred?"

"They're still at the main gate." Shigeru answered. "The elevators are offline, we've  
got people climbing up the maintenance tubes to manually start them."

Misato nodded. MAGI was maintaining total lockdown. It was just unlucky that it  
meant the enemy was trapped alongside them. That plan was not exactly a mistake,  
since it did remove the enemy's assault coming -from the Moon-, but now they were  
stuck. Again.

She needed Ritsuko. Even Maya would be good. Gendo would do, if just as a punching  
bag to relieve her frustration. She looked around. Everybody inside the command  
center looked to her for assurance. Should she break, so would they.

"Shit." she summed up the situation.

-o-

Fighting for his life, Shinji Ikari had no attention to spare for any tactical decisions  
past the next thirty seconds. "Nagisa, what have you got?"

"Excuse me?"

"Unlike Ayanami, you have been using your AT-field for much longer and more often.  
You must have something we can use."

"Angels, or at least ADAM-derived lifeforms come in very different forms, shapes, and  
sizes, but what is common about them all is that they use the AT-field." Kaworu  
managed to groan out while half inside a hill. He dug himself out and pointed with an  
accusing finger. "I object to your impression of it at some multipurpose tool. True  
enough, it is, but what it is used for is for them to -communicate-. Humans  
communicate by the crude method of forcing air molecules to vibrate. The Angels'  
sense of self is altered as they move about, and resonance between fields change  
every Angel as they meet."

Shinji Ikari grit his teeth as he saw the Beast's many eyes flashed, and sending out  
the characteristic cross-shaped AT-field energy beams. He focused his own AT-field,  
but while it held under the assault, Unit 01 could not exactly anchor its feet to the  
ground. The purple Eva was blown off its feet.

"Let me communicate the need for more guns..." he woozily replied.

"Any gun big enough for the task would also vaporize much of Tokyo-3. That's why  
he has chosen the inside of the geofront for this battle, and you do cannot risk any  
big attacks here."

"Fufufufu..." Shinji chuckled faintly. "You've gone to great pains to deconstruct my  
mindset, but clearly you don't know Ayanami."

"Where is she anyway?" -Tridens Dominatus- looked up at the hole in the geofront.  
Even a mighty war machine as an Eva would suffer broken bones dropping from that  
height. It would be stuck helpless for far too long. As proven by their own continued  
survival, only speed had any value.

Veins popped on the Beast's glisteningly smooth white skin. It turned away, then  
silvery lines wrapped around one of its six legs, across its humanlike upper torso, and  
its neck. Like some sort of string ninja, -Principio Eternus- landed just nearby, wires  
glinting out from between knuckles. Held together by the AT-field, thin but impossibly  
strong, the Eva robbed the Beast of leverage. -Tridens Dominatus- flashed into  
existence just above the massive monstrosity. The prongs of its Trident lengthened,  
and sparks of bright orange energy flickered in the gaps.

"Did we say you could go?" Kaworu asked glibly.

"This is my city. Don't be so rude to go opening doors without permission." Shinji  
added.

Their Evangelion/Warborn's eyes flashed. The many mouths of the Beast grinned.

Nine seconds later, the two war machines were imbedded headfirst into the ground.

"We should really stop mouthing off before attacking." Kaworu noted, spitting out  
another tooth, a bicuspid this time. He rubbed at his jaw.

"Hu fed sumfin abuf resosance?" Shinji Ikari's face was purplish, the flaw in an Eva's  
control system that the Tridens did not share. He pushed off the ground and barely  
dodged an energy cross. The Eva rolled, and saw bright orange streaks coming up  
from the ground. Nearby, the Warborn fired back with beams from its trident.

The Beast's AT-field stopped the blasts. "Nagisa!"

"What?"

"Toss me."

"What."

"You hurd me. Y-argh! you can fly. Toss me."

Kaworu paused in his attacks and stared up at the Beast. It stared back. Keel was  
unsure if it was worth just turning away again to break into Terminal Dogma or if he  
should just crush the little annoyances all at once. They were no threat, but they  
were guilty of wasting his time.

"What the hell." Kaworu sighed. He spread -Tridens Dominatus-'s wings and swooped  
to grab the purple Eva. The Beast acted, moving with surprising speed for something  
so big. Its claws slammed into the ground, causing a thick cloud of dust to rise. The  
Trident and the Eva zoomed out and up. The Beasts eyes flashed, sending off cross-  
shaped energy beams that impacted against the geofront's roof, breaking off pieces  
of buildings.

Dissatisfied at how easily the Warborn bobbed and weaved away from the attacks, it  
closed its eyes. When it opened them again, the irises were blue rather than orange.  
The eyes were on raised bumps, sucking in and out, tossing off blue globs that  
exploded in midair.

"What, it has flak burst now?"

"I believe I have told you this before, Ikari-kun. Stop being such a damn hypocrite."

At a sufficient height, the Warborn threw the Eva up, burst higher to catch it by  
its ankles and began to spin. Faster and faster and faster, they were a spinning  
disk. Shinji Ikari was glued to the side of the entry plug.

And then Kaworu let go. The Unit 01 slammed into the EvaBeast's AT field at just  
under half the speed of sound. The AT-field held. Inexplicably, the Beast crashed into  
the ground.

The Eva dropped soon after. Kaworu did not bother catching it.

"You used resonance between the Fields to let the enemy smack itself with its own  
anti-kinetic property." he sent onto the Eva's frequency. "As Angels communicate  
through the interactionbetween fields, then this is tantamount to having it suffer a  
rejection by its own Name." He rubbed at his face, and laughed bitterly. "Humans.  
You do not know the songs that echo out of stars. You have to take the beauty out  
of everything."

Groggily, the Beast got back up to its feet. Its field flickered out. Kaworu zoomed in,  
his Trident's prongs coming together into a large curving blade. One of the arms  
slapped at the air, Kaworu just lopped it off. The white flesh at the cut bubbled and  
reshaped into an person's upper torso. White hair grew. A thin smile. It had his face.

The Tridens Dominatus recoiled, at great speed, being driven into the very rock of  
the geofront's walls.

'_I hate_.' was his last thought. Fighting Keel was like fighting Shinji Ikari with the ability  
to learn and gank his enemies' techniques, only several magnitudes greater.

Shinji Ikari was no savior. Everything he did just made things _worse_.

He woke again to the sound of screaming. Lorenz Keel, and thus SEELE, was finally in  
a killing mood. It was in a torturing mood. Kaworu's vision zoomed into the sight of  
Unit 01 caught in the Beast's pincers. One of the smaller claws grabbed and pulled at  
one of the struggling Eva's arms. With odd care it forced the arm out, and with  
slow deliberation yanked it right out of its socket. Blood fountained out the open  
shoulder. The screaming turned from rage to pain.

The huge creature looked at the arm with one of its eyes on the neck of a featureless  
head. It tossed the arm away and as daintily tore out the other one. Unit 01 screamed  
again. The ichor that served as Evangelion 'blood' and coolant made it slippery, and it  
fell right out of the Beast's grip. The Eva dropped into the ground and lay there, still,  
more of its blood pooling to cover the grass.

Kaworu Nagisa moved without thinking. He was slashing at the enemy's back, the arms  
of his Warborn lengthening out into prybars to widen the wound. "Where... is that...  
damned core?" he snarled. A distraction was so something useful could be done in the  
delay.

He expected the impossibly swift backhand that send his Warborn spinning, crashing  
down again, its wing pods torn right out of their mounts. He rolled around, trying to  
evade legs that ended in clawed hands.

-o-

-o-

Shinji Ikari felt warm and safe. He opened his eyes to see the Farseer smiling down  
at him. His head was on her lap, and she was stroking his hair.

"I'm unconscious again, aren't I?"

"Our sense of self-awareness IS inversely proportional to the distractions that shadow  
your thoughts."

Shinji blinked and tried to get up. A hand on his forehead pushed him back down.

"I can't stay here." he tried to get up again but the Farseer kept him pinned to her lap.  
She raised her legs and trapped his arms under her right knee. "Let go! There's no time!  
I have to wake up. I have to keep fighting!"

"Time is all you have. Have you learned nothing from me?" the Eldar hissed. "What is  
your weapon?"

"Knowledge." Shinji replied softly. "All right, I won't go off without a plan. Could you  
please let go now, sensei?"

"I am not certain I should. This is a rather comfortable position."

"Not to me it's not!"

"Pah, you mon-keigh and your lack of flexibility." the Farseer scoffed as she spread  
her legs. "How... boring."

The boy rubbed at his neck, and looked around. Around him was a featureless  
expanse of white mist, with the Farseer and her wraithbone bench the only  
ornament. "What am I supposed to learn here?"

"Today you learn from me, my lord." A large, dark shape with its oily voice approached.  
The Chaos Marine, his face hidden under his horned helmet, stabbed his daemonsword  
into the similarly-shrouded ground and knelt. "Is it not written? Know your enemy."

"Hmm. Since you are not my enemy, and Nagisa only needs to be permanently dealt  
with at this point, I assume you mean Keel."

"Indeed."

The Farseer looked displeased. "I am well-capable of instructing him in this matter."

"You would soften it, witch, and the half-truth is not as sharp a tool as the untamed  
fact."

Rather than let them bicker some more, Shinji gestured for the Chaos Marine to get up  
"Time may be meaningless here, but I can't shake the feeling I have to hurry. Let's get  
this over with."

"By your command." The Chaos Marine turned into the mist, and the boy followed. The  
Eldar scowled again, and hurried (if in a deliberately relaxed and elegant manner) to  
catch up.

-o-

It was a strange feeling. He was looking through two sets of eyes, seeing himself yet  
was not himself. He was a boy standing on an empty street, he was looking at himself  
standing there alone under a palm tree. The buildings around him were made of wood,  
and strangely large cars with broad hoods were parked along the road. The boy took  
a deep breath, and headed home. He looked about nine years old.

The boy had an oddly serious look on his face, and had dirty blonde hair.

"This is Keel?" Shinji looked around some more and saw several very distinctive posters.

"This is after World War Two?"

"During." said the Farseer.

"Interesting. This would mean Lorenz Keel is more than seventy years old. This is  
something from his memories, correct? I suppose I have to get some grand insight  
into his character or learn that he was doing it all for some freudian excuse or good  
intentions gone wrong."

"Do not presume to know the facts before you know them, child."

"Sorry, sensei."

The boy touched the doorknob of a plain brownstone home near the center of town,  
one with a plate Dr. Shalen - General Practitioner. Shinji Ikari reeled from the rush of  
images and emotions.

-o-

_The family Kiel consisted mainly of Franz Konrad Kiel and his son Joseph Lorenz.  
The elder Kiel did have a sister, who had married a doctor out in Massachussets,  
and to her did he send his son, in 1936, well before the Night of Broken Glass. Little  
Lorenz was carefully instructed not to talk to anyone about his Vater or how they  
lived in Germany. The reason he was waited so long was to assure others in the  
National Socialist hierarchy that he remained loyal. It suited his own purposes to  
make use of their resources to pursue the secret of the Lance. He had no real  
loyalty to anything but that ancient quest. _

_Joseph Lorenz went west while Franz Konrad Kiel put on his hat and coat and  
just disappeared somewhere close to the Polish border. The boy's last memory  
of his father was of a tall, proud man with a funny tangled beard. _

_Two years later, the world was ready to castigate itself anew. _

_Life, while the war raged on, became fixed in his memory as just... dull. School was  
so-so; he did not make any friends, but no enemies either. He was eleven years old,  
but could understand four languages. His last name, transliterated into "Keel",  
sounded innocuous enough, and he was told to claim he had come from Spain. As he  
could read Don Quixote de La Mancha in its original language, that was no problem  
either. _

_Dull, dull, dull. The streets of Tristram did not hold many mysteries for the boy. Fear  
was in the air, but it did not touch him. He was eleven years old, why should he  
care about people he did not know? The day his aunt and uncle recieved word  
that their son, drafted and sent to fight, had died around Tunis... he remained  
silent, staying out of the way while the woman wept while doing the chores. They  
could not blame him for anything, at worst maybe for not being as kind as he could  
have been... but it was not like he could replace their son. Why should he try? The  
young adult of the house had never really connected with the 'brat', anyway._

_He resented the occasional hugs, the declarations that 'all they had left was  
each other'... his father was not dead. He would return! He could not say that  
however, it sounded far too unkind. It was unfair for them to expect that just  
because they lost someone, he too must suffer to even things out. He did not want  
them. His father would come back, and take him away. Good. Proper. It was how  
things should be... they had no right to arbitrarily assign bad fortune._

_In his room he read again and again of Odysseus, that man of many wiles, who  
wandered many paths of exile, who failed to bring any of his comrades back. One by  
one, fools foiled themselves._

_-o-  
_

"Ow. Oww. What was that just now?" Shinji crouched and rubbed at his temples. "Is  
that really true...? So Keel was never really anything BUT creepy, even as a kid."

"You do realize the same thing could be said about you, my young king." the Farseer  
chided, kneeling down to poke him in the forehead.

"Children are innocent, but heartless." the Chaos Marine added. "Rejoice then that  
your innocence was taken from you at a young age, for only then could have the  
power to make real choices."

"You make that sound as if it's a good thing."

"There is no good and evil, only power, and those with the strength of will to seek it."  
Shinji rolled his eyes and got up. He followed the boy into the house. The world  
was engulfed in a blinding flash. "Ouch, again."

He looked around. He was facing the door that he just entered. "Hey, either something  
is wrong with this **house**, or that was a timeskip."

-o-

_In the year 1944, Joseph Lorenz opened the door to a stranger. The features were  
vaguely the same; the voice, though never again rising in volume, was familiar. _

_"It is true, Rowena, it is all true." was all the man would say. The boy's aunt wailed, her  
husband looked disgusted, and he did not understand. _

_Franz Conrad ate to the nutritional plan that his doctor brother-in-law set up, and  
remained silent. He only asked for paper and a pen. He stayed up in his room and  
wrote madly._

_One night, he woke up shouting._

_"Purple! Is the color! Of the priest-king! Red! the warrior-born!" he yelled while  
pounding on the walls. "Sometimes she is blue, sometimes she is yellow, I do not  
know. The ritual sacrifice, is thrown into the waters, or purged, the witch, in fire.  
But she does not die! There is always another!_

_Black is the shadow! That follows. Mighty are its steps, sound the bell! Fearing  
nothing!_

_White is the machine, hail the machine! For it is ever restless._

_We burn, and we drown! It will not end here! There is only betrayal in flesh!"_

_Joseph Lorenz Keel pulled his pillow over his head and tried to pretend that nothing  
had changed._

_-o-  
_

"Hmm. The AT-field is the sense of self of an Angel. Why am I getting Lorenz Keel's  
memories?"

"A more pertinent question would perhaps be, if you have these apparently  
inconsequential recollections, what has he taken from you?"

"Argh."

-o-

_The boy and his father avoided each other, much to the consternation of the woman  
of the house. Family could be noisy sometimes, could disagree, but even that was  
better than pretending no one else existed. Feeling somewhat inspired, she threw  
both into a room and insisted her husband take her out for a few hours; it seems  
she had served as a buffer for their contact, now they had no choice but to interact._

_They should both be smart enough to know they could not forever avoid having to  
talk to each other._

_They were in his room. Joseph had never had to fear his father before. This broken,  
bony man, could with a look make him feel so worthless. His youthful arrogance  
burned under that dark gaze. Always measuring, always knowing. He had not  
suffered as others had suffered. So why should be blamed for being safe? He  
resented that. His father seemed so incredibly... disappointed._

_Franz broke the silence by awkwardly asking about his son's studies. Just as  
unwilling, the boy muttered something about how it was 'fine'._

_Franz rubbed at his bare chin. "Hmm. What does it avail you to lie now, Lorenz? What  
pride is it that you must protect?"_

_"It is... boring." the boy admitted._

_"Do you not have friends? Classmates to play with?" _

_"I have." 'But if I do not trouble them outside of classes, then at least they do me  
the courtesy of not bothering me in turn.' There was very little he wanted from  
them. After all, he had not expected to -stay-._

_His father hmm'ed again. He looked around the room, and saw a well-thumbed book  
of the Oddysey. Near it were several brightly-colored comic books. Franz Konrad  
picked up a copy of Superman._

_"What defines a Hero, Lorenz?" At the boy's puzzled look he continued "Is it strength,  
hmm? Is it some innate moral right? Is it simply the act itself? My son, what does a  
hero need to do to be considered as one?"_

_The boy saw that his father was willing to wait, no matter how long, for the answer.  
He thought about what he was supposed to say... then discarded it. He took a deep  
breath and answered "To win, father."_

_"Hmm. Why is that?"_

_"Because, it would be pointless otherwise, isn't it?" He waved aside to his favorite  
story. "If Odysseus did not return, then he would be no different from all the others  
who gave up." He thought briefly of historical examples, then decided not to try. It  
was not like he was being asked to make up an essay or debate on the spot. "Some  
think that heroes have to die to be remembered, but even those who didn't get what  
they want while alive... as long as someone else does win, they get to be heroes. I  
mean, that's what they say, right? History is written by the winners?" _

_Franz Kondrad nodded. "True enough. You are born in a bad time, Lorenz. Had you  
been born ten years earlier, you could have had the chance to be a hero... or more  
likely, die. Ten years later, and you could ride even more sweeping tide of change.  
Now all you can do while young, is... to prepare."_

_Joseph Lorenz had a blatant 'Are you insane?' look on his face. "It's not like I WANT  
to be a hero... it's good enough to read about..."_

_"The world has changed around us. You have changed, though you do not know it.  
I have been given ten extra years to prepare and did not know it. Hmm. It is not as  
if you would go on a ten-year training trip to learn martial arts, criminology, and high  
technology just to dress up like a bat and punch people in the face. We only  
have five more years to get you into the proper mindset."_

_"So it is YOU who's been stealing my comic books..."_

_The thin, war-weary survivor sighed. "Things cannot go back to what they were, you  
know this? I must teach you what I know, so that you may survive even greater  
trials than what I had to endure."_

_The boy frowned. Just like a grownup, to force his own principles on someone else  
'for his own good'._

_"You may claim to love knowledge for itself, it is likely that you would think learning  
is something to be endured. You need incentive, child, the knowledge that what you  
will learn will be of real use." Franz Konrad considered the guarded, unenthusiastic  
look on his son's face. "Lorenz, go get a knife."_

_"Huh?"_

_"Go to the kitchen and get a knife. It is required to illustrate the lesson."_

_The boy got off the bed and went downstairs. Franz looked pained. The vision, so  
far, had proven accurate. He had to do what must be done... and he had no illusion  
of ever being a hero. He had lived through a monstrous phase in humanity's history,  
but even the scars on his flesh and the ragged remains of his soul could not break  
his resolve. He had become a monster, to do what needed to be done. Only by  
being finally being vanquished could he know the hero. _

_Joseph returned, carrying a foot-long meat-cutting knife. He gave it to his father  
and warily say back on the bed, slightly further away than before._

_"The Hero's Journey begins with a single step. Too many refuse to even take that  
step, and of those, many more are content to stop halfway. You could, of course,  
live a life mired in mediocrity... many too are not allowed to take that single step.  
For everyone who became a hero, so many...so very many... die unremembered,  
they die helpless and fearful, reduced from the stature of men into animals to be  
butchered. For as there are heroes, there must be monsters._

_And yet... heroes and monsters have one quality in common. It is not mere charisma  
or bureaucracy that pulls people into obeying their visions of What Must Be. It is  
this first and final key that brings with it all other things worth having in life."_

_He made sure the boy's eyes were drawn to the knife. He waved it about for  
emphasis. _

_"What so many lack... is WILLPOWER."_

_-o-  
_

The grisly scene froze. "This is a very basic lesson." said Shinji.

"And yet one so many FAIL to learn." the Chaos Marine answered with a nod.

"Not that anyone should try to do this, unless they have some sort of ancient psychic  
magical technique or doohickey, though. I mean, I know -my- blood works in rituals,  
but that's more of finding the ceremonies that actually -work-."

"Of course. This one is interesting for he seems to be sacrificing himself to HIMSELF.  
It is fairly impressive, for one with hardly ANY Warp presence."

-o-

_The boy looked sick, but at the same time fascinated. Though lived in the house of  
a doctor, he had never really been exposed to the grisly details, the smell of fresh  
blood and paling color of dead flesh. There was no pain. _

_Franz Konrad put down the finger and picked up the knife again. With the point  
of the kitchen knife he etched a letter into the wooden floor. It looked like a cross  
between Y and F, similar to a tree branch._

_"I will give you the tools, but I cannot give you the will to use them."_

_Lightning sparked between the word on the floor, the edge of the knife, and the  
ragged wound. Sparks traveled up the broken flesh, and the ends flowed back  
together. Blood seeped into the carving, as if it was a hole drinking it all up. There  
was a faint slurping sound, rising in pitch until it was a scream. The sound of his  
own heartbeat rang in Joseph Lorenz's ears._

_The boy pinched his nose. "Houk... ugh." Joseph Lorenz found his voice again,  
squelched as it was. "How... how did you do that?" _

_"You ask me how. Not why." His father smiled. "You never asked for me to -stop-."_

_-o-  
_

"What am I supposed to learn here? That I'm lucky to have been ignored by my  
father? I will not deny that we do not seem to be so different after all, but what  
that it matter? We work at cross purposes. Only one will survive."

"Kaworu Nagisa was born a monster. This boy, here, was never his father's tool. He  
made a conscious decision to -become- a monster."

"That is his POWER. His WILL."

"Right. So what am I supposed to do? Willpower can only be measured by what it  
overcomes. You're not going to tell me to believe in the myself that believes in  
me... right?" Shinji scratched at the back of his head. "I kinda knew that already."

"This is unnecessary, I agree." the Farseer added. She put a hand on his shoulder.

"We have exhausted all our tricks, but one. He will not break."

"If he will NOT, then there is no HARM in this."

"Yes, there is. We are who we are. There is always harm."

Shinji frowned. "Enough! Time may not exactly mean anything here, but I -am-  
bleeding to death out there. I can only use my connection to the Eva to heal if I'm  
conscious. What do you have? Can we finally break Keel's AT-field?" He had finally  
figured out that rapid regeneration was like using an AT-field to strip subatomic  
particles right out of the air and use them to hold together the shape and form of a  
being. If he could just find a way to turn that to industrial purposes, it would be a  
staggering development. For the moment however, he had to worry about survival.

That figures in his own subconscious knew things that he did not, was no longer  
quite so unusual. They even figured out whole plans while he slept. It was  
convenient. He made sure not to think too much about it, for it might stifle the  
odd 'creativity'.

"You CANNOT defeat the barrier of his soul, my Bright Lord. Not as you are."

Shinji Ikari lightly kicked at the Chaos Marine's ankles. "If you tell me that I must  
somehow 'claim his powers for my own', I will find a way to hurt... no, wait, you're  
used to that. Pain is nothing but weakness leaving the body. I will HUMILIATE you."  
He pointed aside. "And she can help!"

"Yay unto me." the Farseer clapped.

The Chaos Marine grinned sharkily. "Once again, is it not written; know thyself and  
know thine enemy, and thou shalt not have to fear the outcome of a hundred battles?"

"I would like to know the thing's weak point so I can stab it there repeatedly."

"With no arms?" the Farseer asked archly.

"I still have the prog blade in my forehead."

The Chaos Marine turned around, his cape billowing dramatically. "Then follow, for it  
now MY turn to teach. What this witch has long since denied you, it will either give  
you what you most require..." a dark chuckle escaped from the slits of his helmet.  
"Or it will devour you whole."

-o-

-o-

The pyramid quivered as the Beast bashed away at its faces with its claws and fists.  
Misato had to brace herself against the back of her chair, and in choosing to stand  
demonstred her refusal to give up even the slightest measure of dignity to the enemy.

"How is the pilot?"

"All synapses disconnected! Pilot unresponsive!"

Misato chewed on her thumbnail. The -Tridens Dominatus- was faltering in trying to  
keep the Eva-Beast's attention. The secondary armor for the command center buckled  
inwards.

Evangelions forced the pilots to experience feedback, it was unavoidable. Too much  
pain or fear, she knew how the mind would shut itself down to protect itself. It was  
bad enough that -children- were in control of weapons of mass destruction. The  
world would freak if they learned that the cocktail of chemicals to force pilots to also  
risked them turning into drug dependents or even more a psychological wreck.

She touched the stunted cross on her necklace, it was more for a plus sign. It was a  
Lair and they kept in it A Doomsday Device. God. "We're seriously the bad guys here,  
aren't we? No? We can't be!" She glared up at the main screen. "It doesn't matter  
how it started... we're going to save the world!"

"Primary armor breached!" Shigeru shouted, panic entering his voice. "Breaks in the  
secondary armor's letting the bakelite drain off!"

-o-

-o-

It was dark and cold and smelled like mummy wrappings. The walls curved up and  
vanished into the gloom. It was a very big spherical room. Hissing hinted at mysterious  
machinery beyond its colossal confines.

At the center of the room was an obelisk, of smooth black stone, whose shimmering  
was matched to that of a hearbeat. Facing it was an old man hunched over a cane,  
looking very harmless in all the layers of fur coats and mittens he needed just to keep  
warm. A teddy bear with a cyclopean visor. He patten the base of the obelisk like the  
head of a precocious grandchild.

All around, crystals came alive. Rocks glowing with inner amber light, one by one and  
in a spiral, meeting up at the center point of the domed roof, thousands upon thousands  
of them. They were screaming.

"Is it not written? Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and  
believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks-those who write new values on new  
tablets. Companions the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about  
him is ripe for the harvest." Keel said fondly. "My friends, the time is at hand."

His sentiment was answered only by more mindless screaming. Keel turned and  
walked away, his cane tapping twice for each step on the alien metal floor.

This was a highjacked memory. Of course Keel would not be able to see him. Right?  
With the visor over his eyes, it was not like Shinji Ikari could tell. He shivered  
anyway and refused to look anywhere else than directly in front. He did not move  
until the sound of the old man's cane faded out of the scene.

A different sort of clanking footsteps arrived. Shinji turned to the skull and spike-  
bedecked shape of the Chaos Marine with blatant relief. Those were human skulls  
and blood had soaked into the joints of the armor, but that did not scare him at all.  
It was even comforting, such an honest display of murderous intentions.

"Are you AFRAID, my lord?" the Traitor laughed unkindly. "At least NOW you can  
understand how people act around you. No knowledge is ever WASTED."

"Mm. It's more not being able to quite understand -why- there's fear in there, if the  
one in question is just so harmless. That's not important right now." the boy pointed  
to the center of the room. "That is psychoplastic material, right? And those..." his  
voice dropped a hitch. "Those are -human souls-."

"Yes."

"This is the Moon Cradle."

"YEES."

"My task is not done. Even if I beat off the Angels, I'll have to tear this place apart."  
He scowled at the crystals, the emotions pouring out them were raw and tangible. The  
anguish was like rubbing at the backside of his eyeballs, and their hate buzzed at the  
edges of his hearing. The Chaos Marine looked hungry. "Murder is bad enough, but the  
soul should be beyond anyone's grasp. They don't deserve this. No one does."

The Chaos Marine laughed. "Not even Lorenz Keel? Not even the man who murdered  
mankind's future? Men can only die ONCE. Even should you be able to bring them back,  
what delicious punishment can compare to their SOUL's own naked truth. They suffer  
there in seeing themselves unhindered by the delusion of flesh.

They are SEELE. This, they have deserved. This, they have ASKED for; Keel has given  
them the letter of the agreement, if not its... spirit" He laughed again at the cruel pun.  
"I wonder, my lord. How would you fare if forced to EAT such truth?"

Shinji blinked. Once, twice. Then very slowly he said "I believe I'd be making secondary  
personalities to act as a buffer against it."

Laughter once more, louder and less unkind. "Chaos is a DELIGHT in itself. Oh delicious  
IRONY! How well have I chosen!"

Everything blurred out of existence for a moment. Shinji looked up. "Time may be  
meaningless here, but it won't be too long before I'd end up dreaming useless little  
fantasies. What is this about?"

"My lord, if we were to rate the AT-fields of the Evangelions, who would have the  
strongest AT-field in terms of brute resistance?"

"That would be Asuka. Combining impenetrability of the AT-field into a physical attack  
was her special -_Sohryu No Ougi_-, an unbeatable ultimate technique."

"How about strength in the form of resilience?"

"Ah, that would be Ayanami. She can lace her own AT-field with that of an Eva, so it's  
no surprise she can hold it for longer and with less power drain. Now that Asuka has the  
S2 Engine, that's changed, but all things being equal, this has always been Ayanami's  
edge."

"You are content with being the WEAKEST among all the pilots?"

Shinji shrugged. "I can turn it on and off much faster, if the field doesn't have to be so  
strong. That's why I can control it much more finely."

"A needle can blind an elephant, or cause bleeding in its stomach. Neither will kill it with  
any speed. Keel has taken for himself power BEYOND any mere technique. You cannot  
defeat such an enemy with conventional means, no matter how strong your resolve."

"Fine. So tell me the source of his power. The six S2 Engines? It's really the AT-field  
that's the problem. If I can just stop him from using it if trapped within some confined  
space, we do have plans to totally -liquefy- any enemy in an instant."

"Nothing so MUNDANE. He is what he is because he is the cold, merciless center of  
SEELE." At the boy's annoyed look at being told something so obvious, the Chaos  
Marine gestured around. "This is SEELE."

The horrid realization was starting to trickle in. "What, all of them?"

"No, but this is what fuels THEM. Their colleagues, their families, men, women, children,  
the Moon Cradle is a tomb prepared for the Human Instrumentality Committee. It is a  
storehouse of souls, a bank of their memories, their hopes, and their infinite wellspring  
of desperation. They who have given up EVERYTHING they valued, all that tried them  
down to human mortality and morality, theirs is a strength that cannot be exhausted.  
They themselves exist now in a state not quite man, not quite mind, just below godhood.

The sacrifice of themselves to themselves, and there attained wisdom of the unknown  
ages before even this solar system existed. Your usual tactics of waiting for the enemy  
to tire out and make a mistake will not apply here."

"Shit. Shitshitshit." Shinji began banging his head on the obelisk. "Are you saying that  
I can't match the AT-field because I don't have nearly enough TRAUMA in my life?"

"For far too long you have been granted your every whim. Have you considered WHY  
it is that you can accomplish so much so quickly? Your force of personality ONLY applies  
as long as they are within your presence."

"The rest of it is THEIR decision." Shinji spat out. His forehead began to slide down the  
obelisk.

"That does NOT apply to machines or random factors. You are lucky, but no one is that  
absurdly lucky. CHAOS does favor you, my lord. Your exploits were greatly amusing."  
Bright violet light burst out from the T-shaped slit in the Chaos Marine's helm. "This is  
why I am most DISPLEASED at this revelation. Someone has taken over my prerogative."

Shinji Ikari muttered something that sounded like _'proof of the existence of a malevolent  
deity'. Or perhaps 'I should cook Misato-san some spaghetti'._ It was hard to tell.

"WHAT are the Secret Dead Sea Scrolls?"

"They are hidden prophecies recovered from the Qumran Caves in 1947, instructing the  
elements of SEELE, or their predecessors, to recover Adam and Lillith to set into motion  
the ritual to achieve the Fruit of Knowledge... -apotheosis-."

"What ARE the Secret Dead Sea Scrolls?"

Shinji Ikari thought about it some more. "Ink and parchment." He slammed his head hard  
enough into the obelisk to dent it. "SHIIII-...! Are you saying he -changed- the  
prophecies somehow? That all of what happened was according to HIS design? Having  
fought for so long for man's free will to decide its own future, it turns out I don't have it  
myself?"

"Like you, he SEEMS to have the ability to alter probability. He has had seventy years to  
prepare. Some prophecies cannot be altered. And is it not the finest sort of prophecy,  
the self-fulfilling ones? The written fate that someone actively works to achieve?"

"Those are called Objectives, you know."

"Every person prophecies, every HOPE is a prophecy in potentiality."

"... this would never have happened if I hadn't forced them offplanet. Or was Keel only  
waiting for my attacks to intensify enough to bring them all here so he could re-activate  
the Moon Cradle ahead of schedule? WHOSE schedule?" Shinji Ikari pushed off the  
obelisk. The souls around him screamed and screamed, all wanting to die. "This is my  
fault."

"Yes." the Chaos Marine did not know the meaning of pity. "IT IS."

"Nagisa was actually right. It's all my fault. I let -this- happen." The crystals began to  
vibrate. The wraithbone obelisk began to shimmer with energy.

"Chaos is the instrument of its OWN downfall." The Chaos Marine seemed pleased. "There  
cannot be creation without destruction. The only TRUE death is STASIS."

"**I HAVE TO FIX THIS**." The crystals all exploded, one after another, bathing the scene  
in light for a brilliant, unforgettable moment. The obelisk unfolded like a desert flower in  
the rain.

Then all was dark, and silent, and empty. Shinji Ikari was gone.

The Chaos Marine laughed. "Hah! Unflinching to the end. I told you. He would not BREAK,  
not from something as this."

"A spring can only be wound so far before it breaks. That is a fate I do not wish for  
him. Can you blame me for it?"

"And yet it is this PRESSURE that allows us to converse like this. Only a little bit more to  
go, and soon, it will be COMPLETE. It will be GLORIOUS."

The Farseer patted her sword. "It will be a pleasure to finally, irrecoverably, separate  
your head from your shoulders."

"Your sentiments are RETURNED." the Chaos Marine replied with a grin.

-o-

-o-

The air rang with furious power. It grew thick, viscous, whirling around a roaring, armless  
spectacle.

**"I! AM NOT! FINISHED!"**

Unit 01 pushed off the ground with a quick burst of the AT-field, and stomped back into  
a bow-legged stance. It roared defiantly.

It wobbled on its feet. "Um. Nagisa... actually, I need to get a fresh power pack." Shinji  
looked down at his useless limbs. "I have one more plan, but you're going to have to  
cover for me for a while."

"... gabbagabbagabba..." Tridens Dominatus writhed in obvious pain inside a circular cage  
made out of faux Lances.

"Oh, come on...!" He had been unconscious for just ten minutes. There was loud thump  
as the Beast approached, its many unwanted mammaries bouncing freely with each step.

It towered over the Evangelion. "eep."

The pincer claw, as big an Eva, swung down.

"All right! Fine! I get it!"

The claw stopped.

Shinji sighed. "There's no point in delaying the inevitable. You've been preparing for this  
for over seventy years. I'm sure your ultimate goal isn't just to beat some kids with their  
giant robots."

Below, Ritsuko Akagi muttered "... cybernetic organisms, you morons."

"... so why don't you just go ahead and get it over with. I'm tired. Go away."

"Shinji! What are you saying?" Misato screamed up at the screen.

"Misato-san, I HAVE NO ARMS. I have... fifty seconds left in my power reserves. There's  
no point in struggling. It's not as if I'm afraid to die, but it's stupid to do so when there's  
no purpose served in the demise."

"He can't be... no! You're not serious!" Makoto interrupted.

"Oh, but I am. Misato-san. Sometimes, the _**only way to win is not to fight**_." Shinji  
sighed again, his voice so soft and so defeated. "I'm sorry."

Misato staggered back, shocked. She clenched her fists and looked down, silent, for a  
full ten seconds. "Fine. Shut down the Eva."

"Katsuragi-sempai?"

"I'm going to hate you for this, Shinji-kun."

"I'm sorry."

"Shut it down. Turn off everything. Use Ritsuko's shutdown code."

Satsuki Ooi's fingers were shaking. She looked aside to Makoto, who looked just as  
unhinged. He wanted to shake his head, but if even Shinji Ikari was giving up, then what  
could he do? What was left? His eyeglasses glinted and he grit his teeth. He looked  
away, ashamed.

"That was an order, Ooi."

She did not realize tears were trickling down her cheeks as she input the code and  
pressed -ENTER-.

Shinji calmly smiled as his screens died, and the warmth of the LCL inside the plug  
dropped noticeably. -Principio Eternus-'s rage peaked for a moment, then subsided into  
uneasy drowsiness.

A white cylinder was ejected forcefully out the back of the Eva, slowly drifting down on  
multiple parachutes. Unit 01 fell down, flat on its face.

The Beast bobbed its head approvingly and turned away. Misato counted up to thirty  
and then ran for it. She plopped down on Ritsuko's command chair, flipped up a panel  
and drive her fist into a big red button. "MAGI! Autonomous Action! SWITCH ON!"

Abruptly alarms sounded. The main screen filled up with red hexagons. Instead of the  
expected - DANGER - inside each block, the screens all showed

**- BATTLE - REFLEX - BATTLE - REFLEX -  
- REFLEX - BATTLE - REFLEX - BATTLE -  
**

Hidden turrets popped out all over the geofront. Bolters and slug cannons burst out in  
full auto. The MAGI saw only one target. It unleashed the full measure of its own pent-  
up fury. Missiles launched by the thousands, lasers and cannons and glop rounds, tesla  
rods extended from the walls, and the main screen blanked out from the brightness of  
all of these weapons coming together at one point.

"Oh, hells yeah!" Misato snarled. "Come on, you bastard. Hurt."

-o-

As expected all, of these weapons, enough to level a small city, just splashed harmlessly  
off the AT-field. The MAGI did not let up until it had exhausted its munitions. Still seated  
in Ritsuko's chair, Misato flipped up another panel and pushed a series of blue buttons.

N2 mines jumped out from around the Beast's feet and detonated. What with the AT-  
field up as a solid barrier against attacks coming from the outside, it meant that the  
blasts just rebounded off it, the shockwaves churning up like ripples in a very small  
pond.

The Beast dropped its AT-field.

The screens blinked with static for a moment. The Beast flailed about, its skin smoking  
and torn. Guns tore into its lower abdomen, but it was beyond that pain. It roared and  
stumbled, crashing down and snapping its own limbs. It tried to get up, only to fall again.

Its balance was destroyed.

N2 mines sufficient to destroy it would also have been enough to make Tokyo-3 part of  
the Pacific Ocean. However, its controlling minds had eyes and ears. Feedback from just  
the merest fraction of that, in the right conditions, rendered them (and therefore their  
invincible puppet), blind and deaf.

The energies suppressing Tridens Dominatus went out. The Warborn propped itself up,  
staring in incredulous fascination.

Unit 01's eyes flashed. "Eight seconds!" yelled Shinji Ikari.

Its ejected entry plug had, of course, been a decoy. Tesla rods emerged from its back  
armor and shoulder pylons.

Lightning flashed from the geofront's tesla rods, striking the Eva. It roared in pain. Shinji  
grit his teeth and watched his power meter go from 00:00:06 to 00:00:21. Unit 01  
kicked out and spun, much like a breakdancer. As its legs whirled, there was a crackling  
sound, and a loop of lightning flashed out.

The loop touched one of the Beast's legs and sheared it right off; flesh and bone  
boiling away. The Eva-Beast could barely keep itself together, it had no attention to  
spare for an AT-field barrier.

Unit 01 got back up, and the tesla coils reached out again. Ribbons of electricity  
followed as it moved, like fingers of God grasping a hurricane. Shinji Ikari kicked again,  
and bright bolt of seething blue star-fire burst from his sole.

Again! FWASH!

The Beast roared in pain, burnt holes in its flesh refusing to heal.

The body of the Eva was a conduit; channeling, gathering, compressing, bending raw  
electrons not to fry its own body and emerge with a homing quality to whatever the  
pilot deems as the target. Unlike the positron or the anti-particle, which was about  
penetrating power, 'mere' lightning was about getting into the last nook and cranny of  
the enemy's nervous system. Shinji had not tried it before, because it was worse than  
useless against the AT-field.

The scent of burnt flesh hung in the air.

-o-

The killing dance continued. Below, in the command center, NERV personnel gaped in  
disbelief. Makoto felt like punching himself. How many times had they pulled through  
from some apparently unsalvageable disaster? He really should have had more -faith-.

Misato grinned fiercely. "After this, don't let anyone ever doubt it. Ritsuko Akagi really  
IS a -GENIUS-. Total barking mad, of course, but still brilliant." _'Damn it, Shinji, now  
she's going be even more smug when she wakes up.'_ She got up and walked over to the  
tactical stations. "Rei, Mana. Where are you?"

"We are in position, Colonel."

Misato nodded. The Beast was nearly in position, too.

Shinji Ikari stopped, breathing heavily. His lungs felt like heavy anvils. His arms still  
could not reach the controls. Controlling the Eva 'hands-free' was more than just  
exhausting, it pushed synch levels to the utmost. Like the Beast, he could not raise an  
AT-field for defense. "na... nagisa. now's your chance."

"I know how much you just so love to throw lightning around, that's why my Dominatus  
for its living metal is non-conductive. But that thing with the N2 mines! You were totally  
going to trap me under Ayanami's AT-field and pull that on me, weren't you?"

"you're just pissed because it would have worked!" Shinji hurled back. "now go do  
something useful for a change!"

Kaworu snorted and picked up a faux Lance. The Tridens Dominatus' chest opened up  
to reveal its Core. Kaworu stabbed himself with the Lance, and the Warborn's flesh  
bulged out in ugly veins. "Completion." he whispered.

-o-

-o-

_He dreamed at night of his father, on a ship, on a black sea. He dreamed of a boy  
who eats the wind, and a girl of similar age who turned to look at him. She had  
sunken pits of flesh where eyes should be, and said "There is power enough in  
faith, but it does not matter -what- engine is driven by that faith."_

_"The gods are dead." said the boy, and Poseidon drowned in his own element. He  
snatched up the trident floating nearby. "This will be our symbol now."_

_"You would give it to science, then, which does not require it? That's stupid."_

_"There are men in the shape of wolves. They are sated for now, but they will be  
hungry again. Man is even more terrible and ambitious than even the gods dare  
imagine, but better them than the wolves."_

_"Thou shalt not pour new wine into old wineskins, or old wine into new wineskins.  
She that sleeps there is not the Sophia that you seek."_

_"I can't have faith in true things. Give me back my nightmares."_

_The girl continued to stare, sightlessly, at Joseph Lorenz. "Belief makes things real.  
Visions of what -should be- have ever driven man into the depths of his potential."_

_"There is nothing there but terror. No light but hatred...!"_

_"A life lived in purpose is seldom wasted, no matter how terrible that purpose may  
be. As we take from the world so must we give back the measure of our lives."_

_"Would you both shut up?" said his father. "You give me a headache." He looked up  
and sighed. "Look at what you've done. We're lost again."_

_The girl pulled her hood over her face. "The stars have changed. They guide us no  
more."_

_-o- _

_-o-  
_

Brilliant wings burst out of the Trident Warborn's back armor, and the iridescent black of  
its ablative shell flaked off to reveal luminescent living metal within. -Tridens Dominatus-  
went from rest to just under the speed of sound in less than a second, wrestling the Beast  
into the ground.

The forest burned. While Shinji Ikari and Kaworu Nagisa fought, they had discreetly  
laid lines and symbols to trap each other. Someone who could discern threads of  
probability would have some difficulty perceiving that which was not directed against  
his own specific spiral through spacetime. The Trident, now imbued with all the qualities  
of the Lance of Longinius leapt up to its owner's outstretched hand.

Kaworu reared back, grinned, and stabbed down. The Trident's prongs lengthened;  
and went all the through the Beast and into the ground. The glow from ley lines  
converged, and a circle of green light flashed into being around the monstrosity.  
Promethean Chains bound it down.

"You spent seventy years preparing!" the boy shouted with all the scorn he could  
muster. "Your plans! I stole them!" he spat out, trying to hold back a triumphant  
cackle. "I have taken your miserable pile of secrets! In the end he that could  
command the future was the only one that was predictable!"

The Beast struggled, but could do nothing. The anti-AT-field nature of its trap kept  
even Keel from disconnecting from his golem.

Shapes flowed around the circle, in glowing green. Triangles and circles, in a  
language lost to time. Shinji Ikari frowned.

"Wait a second. I didn't recognize it at first because the ends are circles instead of  
wedges. This is just Babylonian. This is proto-Akkadian cuneiform! I don't know how  
the hell it is that I can read this, but... that there means gate? That one's lock.  
That's..." Shinji's eyes widened. Unit 01 wanted to palm its face. "As if I didn't have  
enough reasons to pound you to a pulp, Nagisa. It's..." the Eva's eyes flashed. "A  
gate. Akkadian. A Cadian Gate. OH DIE."

"I have to work with the tools I was given." Kaworu blandly replied. With impossible  
grace he vaulted off the bound Beast and landed facing Unit 01. "Now, Mister Ikari.  
What do you have?"

"Misato-san?"

"Got it, Shinji-kun. Blow the restraints!"

There was an explosion at the geofront's roof. One of the retracted buildings dropped  
free and right on top of the Eva-Beast's head. Large as it was, the building was larger  
still. A cloud of dust covered the view.

There was a sound like the tinkling of many small bells. The Beast lifted its eyeless  
head on the end of a long giraffe-like neck. Its red lips parted and for the first time,  
Lorenz Keel addressed them directly.

"_**This? This is your big plan**_?" He could not raise even the will to laugh, so insulted  
was he. "_**Drop a building on me? It is not enough**_."

"Of course it isn't." Shinji replied with casual cheer. "It's what you allowed to get too  
close that you should fear."

"A HERO ARRIVES IN THE NICK OF TIME!" A boxy red shape punched out to stand on  
top of the tilting structure's roof. "A hero strikes when least expected! The enemy of  
all that is good, the ones who wants to destroy this world that is made of love! And  
peace! Will never escape from justice! Specially in the moment that he feels safe, he  
will know! There is nowhere to hide! The name for this! IS DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

Kaworu Nagisa realized he had nothing sufficiently sarcastic to say.

"_**What?**_" Even Keel was taken aback. This was most definitely NOT in the scenario.  
"_**Who are...?**_"

Mana stood up off her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. The Trident Land  
Dreadnought's arms, linked as it was to the control armature, copied the motion.

"YOU DON'T DESERVE TO KNOW MY NAME! For you there is only judgement! THERE  
IS ONLY HIS MIGHTY" - Magnos Tancred- dived off the building, its booster packs  
burning red. "**FALCON!**"

"No." Kaworu whispered. "You can't be serious..."

"_**No.**_" Keel hissed, breaking free of the restraints. The Beast began to stand up,  
concrete giving way. "_**I refuse to be beaten by some -little girl- from the margins  
of What Moves in some inferior reject of a war machine!**_" The building toppled  
onto its side, but far too late, the Trident Land Dreadnaught was already on the way.  
Its right arm was extended, the rotating conical drill smashed against the Beast's  
AT-field and crumpled.

"**DRILL...!**"

A point, a rock, set into the very tip of the drill glowed. Wraithbone expanded into a  
spiral around the arm, looping up into a reversed cone. Then, like some sort of  
psychic shaped charge, blasted through the AT-field.

The Beast had no face, but it showed shock.

Mana Kirishima swung with her left hand. "**PAAAAAWNCH!**"

*Phwanng!*

The multi-core drill in the other arm slammed into the Beast's head, tearing it apart  
instantly. Then the weight of the Trident Land Dreadnaught came into play, the neck  
splitting open in a wash of purplish blood, then the war machine sank its drill deep  
into the much larger enemy.

The Eva-Beast exploded.

Mass Production Evangelions fell out of the sky, gasping and flopping about like wet  
fishes. -Magnos Tancred- dropped to the ground, unbothered by all the goop staining  
its warhull. One arm touched the ground, the other raised up and to the back.

The building it had jumped off from billowed dust and debris behind it.

"... I am beginning to see why Lorenz Keel had to be born ten years early just to have a  
decent shot at stopping you." Kaworu commented blandly.

"Hey. I have (almost) nothing to do with this. It's just a coincidence that the Scrolls  
don't mention Mana Kirishima." It was not like he had actually planned to blindside  
Keel with a Drill Punch. He had fully intended to use that to break Kaworu's AT-field.  
It was just a very happy coincidence that not only could someone (Kaworu) manage  
to hold the enemy in place long enough, but that it would actually be big enough to  
absorb the landing.

Faith in friends was not a weakness; this guided his own scenario.

Kaworu hmm'ed. "It's like canon refuses to acknowledge her existence."

The Mass Production Evangelions got up, murder in their minds.

Unit Zero in its bright yellow 'DaiOh' frame poked its head out of the collapsed building.  
Its eye blinked as if confused, asking _'Oh? Should I be doing something now?'_ The MP  
Evangelions screeched. The glow in its eye went from white to red. They had  
successfully drawn its attention.

Suddenly, each MP Eva wished they were a bird.

Without Lorenz Keel's monstrous willpower to direct them, the Mass Production  
Evangelions had only the basic instincts to draw upon. Unfortunately for them, Unit 00  
and the Trident Land Dreadnought were well practiced in taking down berserkers.

"Shouldn't we help them?"

Shinji Ikari looked down at his useless arms again. He turned his Eva's head towards  
the Trident Warborn. "Do -you- want to go in there?"

-Principio Eternus- and -Tridens Dominatus- could not combine. -Gargant Dai-_Rei_-  
Oh- and -Magnos Tancred- could, and did, with the Land Dreadnought docking onto  
the combat frame's back. The Eva had to hunch forward and support the weight with  
its oversized robotic arms, walking and punching out like a gorilla. It could draw  
directly from the Trident's onboard fusion reactor to power its structure-reinforcing  
AT-field and to boost its movement by pushing it against the ground.

The Land Dreadnought took from it faster movement and a better field of view.

"BEHOLD! THE TOWER OF TERROR! THE PYRAMID OF PUNISHMENT! WAHAHAHAH!"  
Mana switched her hardmount Positron Cannon to rapid fire. "DIE! DIE!** DIE!**"

"No." said Kaworu. "I don't feel like it right now."

Shinji Ikari still had no arms. One of the -Tridens Dominatus-' wing pods arrived,  
carrying a familiar purple limb. He had never really noticed before, but each pod was  
a distinct cybernetic Angel entity, only like a smaller version of the second Angel that  
he had fought; Shamshel. Its little legs clutched at the severed arm and wide  
insect wings flapped lazily in the air. Its head, with the two spots that looked like  
googly eyes, turned this way and that. It was actually kind of cute.

The creature offered the arm with a cheery *chirrup*. Unit 01 stared at it. It had no  
arms to accept the arm. The -Dominatus- took it instead.

"Your stumps have already healed up. If you want this back, then I am going to have  
to cut them open again."

"It would take at least a week to replace an arm through normal means." Shinji replied.

"Go ahead."

Once again the Master Trident emerged out of the Warborn's body. There was really  
no difference between weapon and weilder, a fact that Kaworu did not even bother to  
hide from his enemies. He now had the capability to pierce barrier-type AT-fields at  
will. He could not entirely cancel out an AT-field like the true Lance, thus why he had  
to ask for Shinji Ikari to lower the natural AT-field that defined an Angel or Evangelion's  
existence.

Kaworu pressed the tip to the would and sliced down to expose the oozing lattice of  
bone, metal, carbon nanotubes and other exotic materials. _'How should I do this?'_  
Unceremoniously, he jammed it in.

Unit 01 roared with pain. Its shoulder glowed with purplish fire, and the arm  
spasmed uncontrollably. Shinji Ikari felt the return of his left arm, and he could not  
help it - his first act was to punch Nagisa in the face. He felt dirty for some reason.

"Fine, be that way." Kaworu huffed. "Holding it together with your own AT-field is not  
a substitute for actual repair. You can just go pick up your other arm on your own."  
He shrugged. "One arm is good enough to use, I suppose, if that's how you like it."

Shinji moved away, relieved at any reason to get away. Being amiable only served to  
make Kaworu Nagisa even creepier, and intensified the urge to rip and tear his  
smarmy face off. He shivered again. He needed really two arms for that. Misato on  
the comms announced they were sending fresh battery packs. Rails hidden under the  
tree cover delivered replacement power modules.

Gargant Great General's massive arms grabbed an MP Eva and just tore it into  
pieces. Ayanami felt her killing intent spike for some reason. She looked at the  
Trident Dominatus on a rear-camera screen. The hybrid waved, somehow knowing it  
had her attention.

Shinji Ikari disliked Kaworu Nagisa for ideological reasons. The source of Rei  
Ayanami's hatred was... purer than that. Fortunately, she had enough loyalty to  
Tokyo-3 to take out the present danger before unleashing the Armageddon Punch.

There were twelve Mass Production Evangelions. Just like before, she could not  
permanently kill them. They could feel pain, she knew that, and ripping them to  
shreds and separating the pieces was both satisfying and delayed how quickly they  
could regenerate.

"One of these Evangelions must be a 'Master', serving as a relay for all the others."  
Kaworu commented when Shinji returned. "Keel must inhabit one of them. Our  
problem is finding out which one must be destroyed -utterly-, but so far all of them  
seem unkillable even with a broken core."

One of the Mass Production Evangelions leaned into the sweeping meelee attack,  
caught the Dai-Rei-Oh's outstretched arm, and flung it; Eva, frame, Tancred and all,  
in a textbook Judo throw.

"-That- one." the boys said at once.

The MP Eva turned to see two ravenous war machines leaping at it, their arms out  
and poised to tear it apart. Instead of trying to dodge, it leapt up, and clotheslined  
the two with its own arms just under their jawline.

The two warmachine tumbled in mid-air and landed flat on their backs. The MP Eva  
then landed, simultaneously stomping their heads into the ground. It hopped away to  
evade Bolter shots. Since the MP Eva's armor was thinner than the previous models,  
those things did not overpenetrate like an AutoCannon, and the shrapnel damage  
hurt like hell to heal.

"I've never really thought about my future outside of this war..." Shinji said numbly,  
staring up at the geofront's roof while the sounds of battle rang around. "But now, if  
I actually do manage to grow old, I can only hope to become an old badass."

"We are being schooled old-school, Ikari."

Unit Zero's "O" seemed needlessly huge. It was, in fact, so huge that Unit Zero has  
to SIT on mechanical legs and needed mechanical arms because its real arms were  
now comparatively puny. Standing, it towered over other Evas like some sort of man-  
made mountain. Kensuke Aida would have them all believe "The O" stands for  
"Da Owwsum!"

"...ayanami kiick."

And it would not be too far wrong from the fact. WHOMP! One of the MP Evas just  
became so much pulp.

Kaworu tilted his neck back further to see. "That big yellow armor thing, that was never  
really meant for the Evangelion, right?"

"NNHIS makes all the Evangelion modules. The O-Frame provides cooling, power reserves  
and counter-battery mobility to Unit Zero in its dedicated fire-support and artillery role."

"Pilder out." The front armor plate of the O Frame exploded outwards.

Rei had ejected from the frame, and taken to slashing away at the enemy with speed  
and precision using the faux Lances. It was not as stompy, but her rational mind did  
appreciate it was faster and more efficient. The one containing Keel was just too  
agile. The Land Dreadnought lowered on its mountings to the center of the frame.

Mana had taken to picking up MP Evas and using them as clubs to bash around the  
others. "FEEL THE -POWER- OF MY OPPOSABLE THUMBS, -BITCHES-!"

"... but really, since it was built in the same NNHIS complex that made -Magnos  
Tancred-, their control systems are cross-compatible."

Kaworu got up and chuckled. "This... is beautiful, is it not, Ikari-kun? It is for this that I  
love war. It is to see heroes blossom that I let myself be stained. I wish... we could  
keep on fighting like this forever."

"Nagisa... you..." Shinji bid his Eva back to its feet, then shook his head. "You really ARE  
creepy, you know that?" He wished that he did not understand just how so lonely was  
his enemy, that the only ones who truly understood him wanted to kill him. He was  
raised as a weapon, and perhaps, unable to relate to anyone except through the  
medium of violence.

Kaworu would not trust the common human bonds of love, of respect, or praise, for these in  
time would fade into comfortable indifference. He could not abide not being in the  
center of attention.

Keel was outnumbered and outgunned and he knew it. His plan was shot all to hell. He  
had no backup plan, for over seventy years culminated into one single moment; and  
after it time itself no longer existed. He could no look beyond it. Even if he had died,  
he should have been able to see hints of what else remained.

Still, he lived. He was not beaten yet.

He commanded his Evangelion to jump, and the ground swallowed it up. The remaining  
MP Evas followed, sinking into the ground. The others found the surface under their  
feet solid as ever.

"The hell was that?" Mana complained, banging at her fists together. The other Trident  
crew, her gunner Vince Nagato and driver Jiro Taneda, slumped in their seats. They  
were completely exhausted. -Magnos Tancred-'s motion capture controls only dealt with  
to the arms. They had to deal with all the balancing and the timing and the accuracy and  
all the jumping around in the highly reckless moves that Mana demanded and somehow  
not get crippled or killed.

Shinji was in a crouch, warily looking around. "Don't worry. This -IS- NERV, after all.  
They can't hide." Misato was already relaying results from the sensor grid. "Uh-oh. This  
is not good."

White growths burst out of the ground to wrap around Unit Zero and Dai-Tan-Kred-  
Oh. "What's this? Tentacles?" Mana screeched. "Euuuugh!" Sawblades whirred, but  
the tendrils just regrew and continued to constrict.

"Not tentacles... vines? ROOTS!" Data showed the MP Evas had fused together with  
long fleshy tubes and smaller canals that spread out. Sinkholes began to appear all over  
the geofront's grassy surface.

"Fascinating." Kaworu whispered. "If you're not winning the game, try changing the rules."

"Do -plants- count as... of course they do." Shinji felt like hitting himself. "I've seen  
Angels that exist as -mathematical concepts-!" He went over to the Trident Land  
Dreadnought to help by cutting the tendrils off at the base. Rei flared her AT-field,  
and the vines trapping her were ripped to shreds.

Still he wondered '_How does he do that?_' He could do weird things with the AT-field,  
but total control of his Eva down into DNA, its molecular composition, was beyond  
even Shinji Ikari. How could he simulate plantlike...? Shinji paused. _'How -does- the Eva  
extract energy from a Super Solenoid organ anyway? Ritsuko-sensi's explanation sounded  
suspiciously close to photosynthesis, only using particle/anti-particle pairs.'_

A massive root broke out of the ground in front of the NERV pyramid and slammed  
into the broken armor on its north-west face. Smaller trunks and tendrils spread out,  
slowly growing into and pushing aside armor plating. Holes widened quickly, both  
hardness and tensile strength immaterial against such an attack directed the seams  
and joints that held those armor panels in place.

"Think! Think, dammit!" Shinji shouted to himself. "He didn't use this earlier because  
it must have some obvious vulnerability!"

"We could try attacking that." Kaworu pointed to the most obvious and accessible  
portion of the enemy.

"It's too obvious. It's a trap."

"It could also be a double-blind to make us think that, or simply that there is no  
other ch-"

"Oh. Ayanami!"

"What is it, Shinji-kun?"

"Spread your AT-field across this area, go as deep as you can. Don't bother trying to  
neutralize the enemy's own passive AT-field protection, just suffuse through the  
bedrock and hold it solid. Not a barrier, just solid."

"Understood. By your command." She knelt and placed her palms to the ground.

"I'll just stand over here and stay out of everybody's way, then." Kaworu added  
sulkingly, and still being ignored.

Shinji looked at his power reserves. 00:14:36. He took a deep breath. Unit 01 lifted  
both hands, then dropped them, its AT-field hammering down on another. WHUMP. A  
round section of the surface sank by a few centimeters. Again. WHUMP. Again.

WHUMP. The ground was compressible, it was not doing much effect.

Except that since Rei's AT-field touched the enemy's, the shock was transmitted  
directly into the enemy's body. Its portions outside on the surface bulged and burst.

"Of course!" Kaworu exclaimed excitedly. "It's the volume! Even an Angel, or this  
case, Evangelion, can only occupy so much space at any time. Reduce the amount of  
space available, and since its internal structure is not rigid, that mass has to go  
elsewhere. I was expecting having to fight some sort of Hydra analogue, but this is  
just as well."

Shinji nodded silently. He had learned this while using the AT-field to press and  
shape armor plating for -_**Luftschloss Sturmbrand**_-.

"Look."

Rei pointed to something only visible to certain senses. Mana pouted at being left  
out. The enemy was shrinking and receding. Like a worm, moving... up! The trunk  
at the pyramid bulged out even more and let out a shriek. It punched straight  
through.

-o-

Misato was thrown to the floor as the spike broke through the wall behind the main  
projection screen and continued through the intervening space to mangle the  
command tower. The sound of tearing metal remained, as the spike began to take  
root. Reflected sunlight streamed in through the gap.

"Katsuragi-san!" Makoto rushed out of his chair to the collapsed Colonel.

Shigeru groaned. The humongous impact had actually thrown him clear off his  
chair, and the metal floor of the command tower bent up around the spike. He  
realized that there was a weight on his chest. He blinked. Blonde hair in drill curls  
wrapped around his arms. "Hey, you okay?"

Satsuki moaned. "What... what just happened?"

"We've been shafted." he replied. "Open your eyes. You all right?"

The young woman opened her eyes and gasped.

The main screen was projected off the floor of the command center to its angled  
black ceiling. As the projectors were undamaged, the main screen remained active,  
though with a large odd bright hole near its center. It showed Unit 01 tackling the  
slug-like form of the enemy. There was a blue flash, and the massive form spasmed  
from a massive electric shock.

"Thanks..." said Misato as Makoto helped her up. She quickly took in the situation.  
Her chair was almost perpendicular to the floor. She tasted blood in her mouth.  
"The monitors! Are the monitors still functioning?"

Makoto glanced at the tactical stations. "They're still functioning, Katsuragi-san.  
We still have the secondary tactical stations, even if those go." He hoped that  
Kaede was not injured by any falling debris.

The main screen showed the roots extending out, like a web reaching the walls  
of the geofront.

There was an earthquake. The walls of the geofront began to glow green. Rei  
clutched at her head and screamed.

"What's happening?" Misato asked aloud, at the same time as Shinji did.

Kaworu's voice came through the comms. "He's reactivating the geofront? The  
Seed...! Agh!" He too collapsed to his knees. "This power...! This type of AT-field,  
it's-...!" Unearthly moans and strange mechanical noises filled the air.

The quake intensified. Up above, the terrain bulged suddenly. Pipes were wrenched  
out of shapes and tunnels cracked. The worried people at Cerberus Base held on  
tight to their chairs and fixtures while citizens inside the distant shelters screamed  
and prayed.

Deep below, in the sephirotic grave filled with Evangelion carcasses, each for some  
reason bearing the shape of Unit Zero's head, glowed red. Eva carcasses suspended  
in fluid began to twitch. The long-dead Evangelions jiggled around in the quake.

Suddenly, cyclopean eyes switched on. The light of awareness returned to empty  
helmets. Hundreds of them, piled high upon another. Mouths welded shut let out  
muffled groans.

Gendo Ikari frowned. His white gloves turned black, burning away.

-o-

'_Why am not being affected?_' Shinji thought while worriedly shouting for Rei to  
respond. '_Is it because of the covenant with Lillith? This is her domain and this  
is her shell._' The Mass Production Evangelions in its new form lay motionless, though  
its vines had throbbing veins. It lived. Unlike its previous form, he had no idea just  
where to cut to cause it pain. Could it even feel pain? He grinned suddenly. "Mana!"

"Hai! What can I do to help?"

"First, go and shoot Nagisa in the head and separate the Tri... I mean, Warborn's  
head from its body."

"With pleasure!" Unit-01's attention remained with Unit-00 in its arms. There was  
the sound of a shot, and then the whirring noise of a circular sawblade. "Done!"

"What happened?"

"The head just turned into some sort of silver liquid, then went back into the neck. It's  
growing a new head."

"Damn. I had a feeling that would happen. Can't really kill him that way." He stood up.  
The ground continued to rumble. "Please take care of Ayanami, I'm going inside. Maybe  
there's some connection point that I can cut to stop this thing from taking off."

It did not really matter -what- Keel and SEELE intended; it was obivously not for the  
good. At the very least, it would cause mass property damage. He had promised to  
stop destroying so much of the city. Negligence was accountable.

Up above, the bulge of the geofront's shell was becoming conspicuous. Mount Hakone  
was starting to crack, and highways had already broken off the new rise in the terrain.

Down below, one of the Eva-00 heads leapt out of the pit. It hissed at Gendo. Its spine  
had lengthened, and new bones clicked together like the insect feet. It floated in the  
air much like Shamshel. Its jaw split open, into three segments with rows of sharp,  
sharklike teeth.

Hatred poured out of the chasms. More and more of the decapitated remains re-activated.

The nearest head darted forward at Gendo. NERV's Supreme Commander frowned and  
slapped at the air. The head broke apart, orange goo splattering the walls all around  
Gendo.

Gendo raised his hand. The eye in his palm blinked. "Useless old relics. **Be silent!**"

-o-

The strange tree-worm-eva thing that Keel turned the MP Evas into let out a screech  
and hissed red steam from breaks in its skin. It forcefully ejected a white Evangelion.  
It crashed and rolled, and stained the ground with slime. What remained just crumpled  
into itself, its insides turning into LCL and the skin shrinking like an old plastic balloon.

It smelled of pus and ammonia.

The strange glowing red patterns in the geofront's walls faded. The Black Moon  
crashed back down to earth. It had risen no more than ten meters, but it was -huge-,  
and the earthquake that it caused registered all over the Japan. Unit 01 fell flat  
on its butt.

Tridens Dominatus raised its head. "Nice try." Kaworu said chidingly. "Well, I don't  
know what just happened, but it seems we just got a reprieve."

Unit 01 just growled. It got back up and turned away from trying to enter the NERV  
Pyramid. It shoved away large oozing sacs and grabbed a nearby faux Lance. The  
last MP Eva pushed off the ground and hissed like a snake. It spread its wings, and  
talons were at the tips.

Yelling incoherently, Shinji charged. Shrugging, Kaworu followed.

The enemy pivoted on one foot, batted the Lance aside with the back of its left  
hand and drove its heel into the purple Eva's chin. There was the distinct crack of  
a reinforced spine giving way. Unit 01 dropped. It the grabbed at the air, snagging  
the Trident Warborn just as it reappeared, catching it by the wrist and pulling it  
down. Face met knee. Living metal dented inwards, and then it was shoved right  
into the path of the incoming Unit Zero. The yellow Eva's arm sank right up to the  
elbow in living metal. The MP Eva gave a shove, and both stumbled back.

Shinji tried to get up, but got another kick, this time to the side of the head. It  
hurt. The MP Eva grinned it triumph as it pressed its foot down on Unit 01's neck.

Precognition worked by glimpsing potentiality; some theorized that what psychics  
could see was not so much 'the future' as a possible future, a cascade of choices,  
maybe even an entirely different timeline.

True prophecy was something else. It was like skipping ahead in the story, catching  
snippets of it then going back to the unfolding narrative. It was more accurate, but  
such a view often destroyed context. And what if the story had neglected certain  
characters that seemed to have already served their plot purposes?

"Keel." Shinji chuckled painfully. "You just... keep... forgetting... about _Mana Kirishima_."

The MP Eva felt pressure around its head. Its head collapsed like an overripe melon  
under the grip.

-Magnos Tancred- was usually only around hip-high to an Eva. Mana enjoyed being  
able to throw around Evangelions, for once. She picked up the MP Eva and slammed  
it into the ground.

The MP Eva's head regenerated. Mana caught its arm as it reached up, bent it  
all the way back, then punched it in the head hard enough to leave it inside a hole  
in the ground. Sawblades whirred, and its legs were gone.

Shinji grasped the fallen Lance, quickly strode over to the last remaining Mass  
Production Eva and nailed that troublesome unit into the ground, The lance sunk  
deep, up where the bident prongs combined to form the shaft.

A prog blade deployed from under the purple Evangelion's armpit. It stabbed the  
enemy's core many, many times then left the knife there.

Shinji grabbed the enemy by its shoulders and pulled it up slightly. "Keel! I know you can  
hear me! A monster like you can't be forgiven. I can't kill you since you're not exactly  
here, but soon...! You can't hide from me.

You've failed. NOW GET! THE HELL! OUT OF -MY- CITY!"

Unit 01 grasped the prog knife by the pommel. The MP Eva shrieked and spasmed  
again from electric shock. It lay still, its skin steaming.

"... _**fools**_." it spoke. Unlike the other Evangelions, with a proper mouth and a tongue it  
could do more than just roar. "_**You know not what you do. You have done nothing  
but to throw away the bitter cup that would have helped numb the pain. You  
done nothing but to place this world you claim to love in greater peril**_." The  
MP Eva laughed, a hoarse 'hak-hak-hak' noise. "_**You may have the skill of adults, but  
your hearts remain that of petulant children. **_

_**Soon... soon... you will know only suffering beyond your worst nightmares**_."

"What do you mean? Why did you do this? Why... everything! The Impact! Did you  
want to be God that much?"

"_**Fool! Unimaginative little -amateur-! You understand nothing and dare everything!  
Let what will come be upon your head!**_"

Another jolt of lightning passed through the prog knife. "Answer!"

"_**The future of man ends -here-. Rejoice in your coming oblivion.**_"

That said, the last of the Mass Production Evangelions burst into LCL.

"Shit." said Shinji, as the answers he needed dribbled off his hands.

Lorenz Keel had left as sudden and as mysterious as he had arrived, doing everything  
in his own way to his own purposes, and shedding no light upon the dark secrets that  
he carried. His reasons would remain his own.

Unit 01 roared in frustration. They had won, again, but it was phyrric at best.

Shinji looked around. Rei was disentangling her Eva from Kaworu's Warborn with  
very obvious disgust. She kicked him in face to get loose. "You people are -jerks-."  
the other hybrid complained as he rolled off. Mana and -Magnos Tancred- inside the  
O-frame, he had expected them to be dancing with joy at laying the beatdown on  
something even he could not defeat. Instead the hulking machine seemer somber.

Sunlight still leaked through the hole blown through the roof by the Ashino Lance  
Cannon. It had blasted through all fifty armor layers between the geofront and  
the Hakone surface. The terrain all around the Eva, was scarred and in certain  
places still on fire. The NERV Pyramid had big gaping hole in it, one that went all  
the way past the Eva cages and into the command center. Sites defenses were  
either destroyed or out of ammunition. The geofront's shell, in almost lifting off, had  
broken all linking roads and rails. Then there was the political fallout to consider.  
The city had never before been so utterly vulnerable.

Something glinted at the edge of his vision. Kaworu Nagisa remained.

No, they had not won. Only one person there had actually managed to -gain-  
_anything_ from that debacle.

"Nagisa."

The -Tridens Dominatus- made a courtly bow. "At your service."

"What was Keel after?"

"How should I know? There are many things of possible value down below." He smirked  
and shrugged. "Perhaps it would have been better to interrogate him -before- letting  
him get away."

"Yes, I realize that now." Shinji angrily shot back. "We no longer have a common enemy.  
What are -you- after?"

"Moi? I am saddened by your suspicion, Ikari-kun."

"Our truce has expired. If you have nothing more to accomplish here, then you would  
have left already. As it stands, as YOU stand, it is clear that you have some sort of  
objective. It's not that likely you just want to hang around and be annoying."

"You wound me, Ikari-kun."

"And cripple. And main. And burn. Why are you still here?"

"Oh, fine. I do have an ulterior motive." he tapped the chestplate of his Warborn. "This  
is still incomplete. I don't suppose you would let me just touch the true Lance of  
Longinius for a litle while, if I ask nicely? I know you people have been inconvenienced  
and I am prepared to compensate you."

"The Lance."

"Yes."

"The Lance of Longinius. That Lance. The key created by the First Progenitor Race to  
ever live in this universe."

"Yes."

"No."

"Pretty please?"

Unit 01 stared at its hands for some time. It pulled out the faux Lance. Slowly, it got  
up and turned to face the Trident Warborn. Light coruscated off the hybrid's living  
metal shell. "I promised Asuka I wouldn't kill you. I've been holding back, as you  
have been, just enough to allow Keel's prophetic visions. It's enough. There will be  
no more compromise. No negotiation."

Unit Zero took the faux Lance from Unit One with a samurai-like bow. "I have made  
no such promise." Rei spoke up.

Damage control or Recovery was an important phase after what could be called a  
'shooting' phase and the 'assault' phase. Up on the surface, UN/IG teams were  
already trying to open and relocate people from the deeper shelters. The tunnel  
system between them had collapsed and there was the risk of a cave-in. The bulge  
of the geofront was still apparent.

The main screen of Cerberus Base showed black. There were smaller windows showing  
scenes around the city, but the AT-field sensor centered upon NERV was utter darkess.

It was the most powerful AT-field ever detected, so much that the receptors had no  
way of displaying what was happening. It blocked the entire electromagnetic spectrum;  
light, magnetism, subatomic particle emissions, everything. Seismic detectors sent out  
waves underground, and the AT-field just absorbed it. The air directly above the geo-  
front, over Tokyo-3's downtown area, was a bright red mist. As far as the universe  
itself was concerned, that area did not even -exist-.

That did not mean those outside did not even bother to try and breach it.

Yang crossed an item on his list. "All right. Small object moving at velocity greater than  
the speed of sound? Explodes. Small object moving at velocity far less than the speed  
of sound? Stopped and repulsed. Large object moving at velocity greater than the  
speed of sound?"

The UN NAVY Battleship TITUS ANDRONICUS let loose an inspiring barrage from Sagami  
Bay, nearly thirty kilometers away. Jets of flame burst out where the massive 15-inch  
shells touched the field.

"Those shells may simply not be large enough." Colonel Nasuno put in. "This IS an AT-  
field. Did anyone here really hope we could penetrate it?"

Yang did not. However, he was willing to try all sort of silly things to figure out the  
-mechanics- of it. "Large object at relatively slow velocity? We tried driving a truck  
off a cliff. If that just bounced off, an N2 mine would just ricochet before detonation."  
Yang began chewing on the tip of his pencil. "Hmm. We can't really put an N2 mine  
on top of it, since it is a field and not a solid. It would just slide off."

They assumed that the heat and pressure wave of an N2 mine or nuke would likewise  
just end up damaging the surrounding area. Worse, if they succeeded, it would just  
collapse the geofront, dooming the city and NERV underground.

Energy beams were just deflected right back at their emitters. Bombs had their  
explosive force dulled, and simple kinetic strikes seemed to be repulsed proportional  
to its energy content.

A man could walk in, and pressure would increase until felt like a physical wall. He could  
go in ten meters further walking slowly and thinking happy thoughts than if running.

"Nope. I've got nothing." Yang finally admitted. He leaned back on his chair and stared  
up at the ceiling. "NERV can keep its secrets for a while longer."

"Those secrets can -kill us all-." the base commander retorted hotly.

"I knew that NERV's geofront was an artificial structure, but I never really believed it  
really was, you know, a -spaceship-." The blocking field was a dome. It filled up the  
missing portions of the Black Moon, and no further than that perfect sphere. He  
swiveled his chair aside. "You don't seem surprised by this, mister Ryouji."

Kaji shrugged. "We all heard a voice in our brain. Just because we heard it -inside our  
brains- doesn't mean we should trust what it says about NERV being created to trigger  
Third Impact instead of stopping it." He was in a meeting with the Prime Minister of  
Japan when the attack happened. That blast of information went directly into  
everybody's brain, and there were a few dangerous moments as the pilot for the  
transport copter blacked out while it was happening.

"It is bad enough that it's -plausible-." Yang answered with a huff. "How bothersome."  
His look sharpened for a moment, remembering just what he had to do just to make sure  
China survived in the chaos of post-Second Impact. So many had lost so much. His own  
notoriety was bought with the blood of millions.

History has a tendency to repeat itself. Soon, again, lines would have to drawn in the  
sand. Brother against brother, the Human-Angel war would reopen old scars.

Those on the surface actually had a decent idea the fight was over. For one thing, the  
strange energy screen and the symbols on the ground were gone. People could now flee  
Tokyo-3. They all heard Lorenz Keel 's last curse.

"Soon you will know only suffering beyond your worst nightmares." Yang repeated  
scathingly. "Oh that's comforting."

Unit Zero stood slightly crouching with its left leg out, holding the Lance at shoulder-  
level with its right arm. Its left arm was likewise outretched, following the line of the  
Lance and lightly resting over the prongs.

Kaworu lifted his left eyebrow. "What is that, some form of -_Gatotsu_-? You would really  
try to thrust that fang of a wolf at one who owns the sky?"

Rei tensed. Kaworu weighed his options. He had no particular hatred for Ayanami, except  
in so far as distaste for being such a failure of a being that could have been a goddess  
among mortals. His -Tridens Dominatus- was superior in every way to any Eva, it was  
not funny. He looked around. Unit 01 was a good distance away. Like Lorenz Keel,  
Shinji Ikari had proven able to 'feel' just where he would exit from a teleport jump, to  
greet him with a stab to the face. Annoying. A bit closer was the Land Dreadnought,  
and it seemed to be sulking about no longer being in the fight. Its meelee-centric  
configuration was less useful against a flying being.

Unit Zero vanished. A sonic boom echoed around the geofront. Theoretically, Unit Zero  
under Rei Ayanami's control could do -everything- that Unit One could accomplish, and  
more, due to Ayanami's own innate understanding of her AT-field.

There was a loud crash, and the sound of wrenching metal, and -Magnos Tancred- in  
the O-frame was shoved into the ground. The silvery form of -Tridens Dominatus- stood  
over it, its Trident already raised high in a two-handed hold.

_'Right. Kirishima it is, then.'_ By all logic, the Land Dreadnought was no threat to him. He  
could see no way it could even hope to hurt his -Dominatus-. Kaworu had just seen it  
smack around a being that he could not, in best day, defeat. Better to get rid of it  
than be caught unawares at suitably dramatic moment.

"Kirishima!" Rei and Shinji both gasped, one abruptly bleeding off speed in mid-air while  
the other pushed off the ground to help.

Kaworu flared his AT-field. In the quality of resilience, the Beast backed by its twelve  
S2 Engines was second only to beings such as Adam and Lillith. In the quality of  
strength, in the force it could apply or absorb over a moment, Kaworu Nagisa and the  
-Dominatus- was the most powerful on Earth.

The two Evangelions were blown away, like sticks in a hurricane. Kaworu stabbed down.  
Armor famed for being able to shrug off impacts and explosions that would stagger an  
Evangelion simply gave way.

"**WARNING! REACTOR FAILURE! CONTAINMENT BREACH! WARNING! REACTOR  
FAILURE! CONTAINMENT BREACH! WARNING!**"

Mana screamed. The Trident had impaled -Magnos Tancred- straight through the  
Fusion Reactor, then the deeply-buried command compartment, and out through the  
thrice-thick glacis plate. Hot steam hissed out from gaps in the ruined metal. Unlike a  
Fission plant there was no risk of meltdown, but leftover radiation was still a problem.  
Of course, the living metal of the -Dominatus- did not give a damn about the wash of  
neutron activation.

Kaworu pulled out the Trident, its living metal prongs going back to a more manageable  
length. The Trident Land Dreadnought slumped and fell over with a dull thud.

"No last-minute heroics from you." he sneered.

-Tridens Dominatus- vanished again.

Unit Zero's descent stopped. "Hurk!" Rei Ayanami felt a tight grip around her neck. Her  
attention had successfully been drawn by concern for her comrade.

"And no series of super moves from you, Ayanami. This is not a duel." Kaworu grinned  
as he held the Eva in the air with one hand. "Why should I expend time and effort in  
mortal combat when I can just pull off a quick..."

The living metal of the -Dominatus- responded to his will, and Kaworu closed his fist.  
With a neat clicking noise, two scissor edges came together. Unit Zero fell. There was  
a purplish blur, and Unit One landed with the other Eva in its arms. Most of the Eva.  
Its head landed some distance away. The red glow in of its single eye blinked on and off,  
slower and slower, and then died.

"... fatality?"

"AYANAMIII!"

Kaworu tsk'ed. "So you prioritize Ayanami, Ikari-kun? I wonder what Kirishima would feel  
about that."

Shinji ignored him. "Ayanami! Ayanami...! Can you hear me?" His voice broke with panic.  
In certain conditions, an Eva may move at ludicrous speed for something massing in the  
tens of thousands of tons. The AT-field made this possible. The AT-field demanded an  
extraordinarily high level of synchronization.

There was soft voice at the very edges of his hearing. "I... have.. failed you." Headless,  
Unit Zero's hand moved up to touch the other Eva's chin. "F-forgive me...?"

"No, no...! Ayanami. It's all right. There's nothing to be sorry about. It's me that  
should ask..." Unit Zero's arm dropped. "REI!" Shinji resisted the urge to shake the orange  
Eva. No one could be forced to wake up from being decapitated.

Very gently he put down the other Eva. -Principio Eternus- clenched its firsts and knelt  
there, completely unconcerned about the enemy that still remained. Shinji watched his  
power timer tick down from 00:07:23 to 00:05:31.

_'Ello, gurly. Bin a while.'_

Unit One pressed a spot on Unit Zero's shoulder armor. The pylons popped up to expose  
that Eva's Titanicus reserve battery packs.

Unit One growled and inserted the charged packs into its own power slots. It turned its  
head towards -Magnos Tancred-'s fallen form. Shinji felt somewhat ashamed, but it was  
the cold cruel logic that since a Trident Land Dreadnought was so big, and the diameter  
of a Trident's prongs only so wide, despite having three of them there was the greater  
chance of the crew surviving a direct hit.

He had been stomped into the ground, cut, burnt, had his limbs torn off, but nothing  
he had ever experienced before hurt as much as that moment. He knew fear. And then,  
somewhere in back portions of his mind, something whispered _'If they are indeed dead,  
what are you prepared to do?'_

Unit 01 picked up the fallen faux Lance and turned to face its enemy.

"If you say something about my _'not having any honor', _I will be severely disappointed  
in you, Ikari-kun." Kaworu commented in the same cheery voice he had used earlier,  
in complaining about being stabbed in the face as a hello. "I've told you this before, I  
did not come here to -fight-." He grinned wider. "I came here to WIN."

Shinji Ikari wanted to shout _'Do you understand now? Do you understand, Misato-san?  
All of you? THIS is why I -hate- Nagisa beyond all other things on this Earth. He can be  
so goddamn POLITE and so obliging that it's so goddamned -easy- to -forget- that he's  
supposed to be your goddamn -enemy- until he's finished slicing your throat open.'_

The LCL instead the entry plug boiled. "**I will kill you now**."

"You keep saying that. What about your promise to dear Asuka?"

Unit 01's eyes flashed. "After this? After Germany? Ayanami and Kirishima are Sohryu's  
-_friends_-. She's not a self-centered gloryhound to put the safety of all that she cares  
about over the propriety and gratification of revenge. Asuka... is a Hero. She slays  
Monsters. She would be much angrier if I were stupid enough to actually let you get  
away with this."

Kaworu smirked. "Call me not a monster without accusing yourself."

"You are a traitor, Nagisa, to both sides of your heritage. **Now be purged, heretic!**"

Kaworu laughed, loud and clear. His delight was honest and boundless. "Completion." he  
whispered again. "Hahaha, finally! YES! The circle is now complete. No more distractions!  
No more feints! Come on, then!

This is the fate that was forced upon us! Let's finish this dance!"

Gendo Ikari had, by then, reached Lillith's chamber. His jacket was torn, even burnt in  
some places, but he looked triumphant. The scenario remained.

-o-

-o-

end The Coming Storm part3

* * *

Two months again. Ah, well. I had written already a good portion of the next section, but through all of this fic, I've been splitting chapters into 'episode-length' portions. It would be bad to have two climactic battles right after each other, neh?

* To answer ahead of time; yes, Kaworu -is- genre-savvy. That's why Shinji Ikari's -existence- pisses him off just as much as the other would like to lightning his face.

Hmm. It's been a while. This story was started in November '08, and now it's January of '10. A lot of things have changed, and despite all the troubles (such as trying to write even with a broken keyboard; that section with the 'x'es replaced with 'z's, did I fix that?) it's nearing completion. A bit more patience, please, and all will be explained. The obnoxious 'out-of-canon' Javaal arc is intentional, sorry, but it was _meant _to be irritating. Why was it necessary? Ahh, no spoiler for you. ^_~

Soon. SOON!

Okay, not too soon.

I really should go back and edit things for clarity and correctness. This story is a 3.8 MB .rtf file in my computer, so large that even Word has given up trying to autocorrect it. Meh, since I use WordPad anyway because it loads and quits faster. Sadly, for obvious reasons, errors are difficult to pick out when dealing with walls of text. Hmm. Since I'll be going over earlier chapters, if you have any comments about what I've missed, please drop me a line and I'll see about what can be explained further or retconned.

There is also

(http)(shinji40k . wikia . com)/wiki/Tokyo-3_Fortress_City_Wiki

It's still mostly empty, but eh. God, even my own notes on this thing are a -**_mess_**-. Even I'm confused as to what the hell's happening here. The notebook containing the primary plotline and background notes about the story was lost in a bus station somewhere during a trip. Cue a GRAAARRGHH! moment upon getting back to civilization. To paraphrase Dr. Jones, senior "that's why I wrote _them_ down (in my notebook) _so_ that I wouldn't *_have_* to _remember." _A wiki would help in that it would cut down confusion, including in part of the author's (what), while protecting the data from physical destruction or loss. I'll be uploading stuff from what remained of my notes soon. Again. So, please, do feel free to add and edit articles. Images would also be much appreciated

Ahem. Sorry. You're here for the story, not to hear the author rant. Anyway, here let me express my deepest thanks for those who reviewed and commented upon what could be done to improve it. Seriously! Thanks for hanging around for over a year for this amateurish spectacle. It's a story still with many, many flaws, but hey. ^_^ The end is in it sight; let's just get it **done**!

edit:

I've just been informed about something called Adeptus Evangelion. (clickety, download) Wahaha-wow! You guys **_rock! _**

*thumbs-up*

*goes off to find players or someone who knows python. He has a powerful urge to try and mod a single-player game into Ren'Py*


	43. Chapter 42: The Coming Storm part4

The Coming Storm Part4

o

o

o

Ritsuko Akagi's _ahoge_ swayed merrily in the wind. She stood on top of a Red Tower, and  
before her was an endless expanse of scorched wasteland. The wind was cold and strong,  
and her white lab coat flapped like the wings of a bird. She faced away from the wind's  
direction and shivered. Far above was an indifferent pale light without warmth.

The tower tapered off at the top to a circle only big enough for her to lie down. The  
crenellated crown walls were low and offered no protection, but she had grown used to  
the vertigo. What was it about high places that seemed to tempt humans to throw  
themselves off into the emptiness?

At the center of the space was a simple wooden hatch with a large round brass ring.  
All she had to do to escape the cold was to lift it and enter the tower. It was cold  
outside, but it was also bright. She could see everything. There was nothing worth  
seeing. _'This is a dream.'_ Ritsuko decided. _'This is obviously a metaphor for something.  
I can just wait until I wake up.'_

She crouched. _'Do I even want to wake up?' _

There was music, faint and tinkling at the very edge of her hearing. Putting her hands  
over her ears did not help.

"SHUT UP!" she shouted over her shoulder to the expanse, then gagging from the rush of  
high winds going down her throat. "gah... is there no escape from all the irritating illogic?"  
The music swelled louder for a few seconds.

"It's your _leitmotif_." she heard close by. "It's not going to stop until you calm down."

She turned around. She sighed and wished for a cigarette. As expected, her pockets  
were empty. "It's going to be one of those dreams, isn't it? I was warned about this."  
She scowled, her eyeglasses flashed. "You're not my mother."

"I am the Naoko Akagi in Ritsuko Akagi's mind."

She palmed her face. "Oh go jump off another tower." The memory of white gloves  
around her neck flashed through her mind. Her fingernails dug into her skin. "I don't need  
this. Leave me alone." A desperate snarl showed on her face. "Why piano? I don't even  
LIKE piano." Eva Fantasy Battle was no masterpiece, since Hayao Miyazaki had died in  
Impact, but it still had a lot to answer for.

There was a deep bass sound, and trumpets, and drums. A shadow stretched out across  
the tower's stone cap and swallowing her own. She turned around to behold Maya Ibuki  
in Ritsuko Akagi's mind. The younger woman was dressed in a full-body black leather suit  
(and a cape!). "... and -why- is your leitmotif the theme from Batman?"

"Um." Maya stepped down from the the crenelation, with the sun at her back and her  
entire form still in shadow. "I was kind of hoping you wouldn't notice." Even her voice had  
that throaty growl. "You're taking this surprisingly well, _sempai_."

"Bah. I don't even know what the hell this implies about my psyche, but... know what?  
I don't care." Ritsuko Akagi knew she was dying. "This is pointless reflection at the end  
of my world. What's done is done. The best thing I can do is to leave forever."

"So you're just giving up?" Naoko put in. "Will you walk my path to its conclusion?"

"Screw that too. I'm staying right here." At least it was not an annoying flashback.

Maya stepped forward, still clad in shadow. "You are still needed, sempai. Even in this  
scenario where all of humanity is under threat, things cannot progress until you too  
make a choice."

"I've been desperate, I've been jealous, I've been bitter, I've been betrayed. I hoped  
and I tried... but it's never enough. I'm pathetic, foolish, sinful woman, Maya. And I'm  
tired." She put a hand over her face and grimaced. "You have some idealized notion in  
your head, and THAT'S NOT ME!" Ritsuko spat."YOU CAN'T -FIX- ME, MAYA. You're lucky.  
You walked my path and somehow got it right. Congratulations. Now get the hell out."

"NO! You're better than this!"

"Don't touch me!"

Slap! The meaty noise seemed to spread out from the tower. Ritsuko regretted her  
brief loss of control. She regretted it more when she saw a black-gloved fist headed  
for her face.

"Oops. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Maya began bowing repeatedly. "It was a reflex!"

Ritsuko groaned from the ground. "AHOGE BEAM!"

A brilliant shaft of yellow light burst out from her standing tendril of blonde hair. Maya  
gave out a 'yeek!' of surprise as the beam lightly knocked her on her ass.

No, wait, that did not actually happen.

Ritsuko groaned and palmed her face with both hands.

"This is no mere dream, _sempai_. This is not the final hallucination." Maya looked up, and  
the light ate away at the shadows. Away from the obscuring gloom she looked friendly  
and unassuming as ever, even with her matte-black skinsuit. "This... IS A TRIUMPH!" the  
young woman pumped her fist into the air.

Ritsuko gaped.

Maya put her thumb up and grinned. "I'm making a note here: Huge Success."

Naoko groaned. "What. Did. You. Do?"

"Science was done." Maya whirled around, reaching into the folds of her cape and  
brought out a double-barrel shotgun. "And we get a cool gun, for the benefit of  
those still alive."

"... apparently you haven't realized yet that you can already make conceptual  
attacks."

Ritsuko turned away. "Why is she so... " She waved her hands about, looking for  
the proper word.

"Spastic?" Naoko offered.

"Exuberant." Even if she understood personality traits were amplified in the imagination,  
Maya was acting like some sort of caricature.

Naoko smiled and shook her head. "So similar and yet so different... in Ibuki, Ritsuko  
Akagi sees everything that she is not. Youth, innocence, vitality... and yet, still too  
similar that there is no deep emotional connection. The pieces do not fit." She put a  
hand to her mouth and laughed a shrill 'oho-ho-ho'. "You were expecting Misato  
Katsuragi, perchance?"

"W-what are you talking about?"

Naoko bared her teeth. "Ritsuko Akagi no longer feels worthy of Katsuragi riding to her  
rescue. And yet, of all people she was the only one that Ritsuko Akagi really needed."

Misato was not stupid, Ritsuko knew this well. There was so much that her old friend  
did not understand, and it did not matter one bit... but only so few that she would not  
forgive. Ritsuko grimaced. Her relationship with Gendo Ikari was... complicated, but  
with Misato much simpler, but more bitter, in what was left unsaid. In what she had  
just let happen, just watching, while the chance for something better with someone  
that she could trust... she stepped aside, and let Kaji give her friend what she  
needed, but the best thing for all of them brought only pain through the years.

A quake shook the red tower, and from deep below a dull roar echoed. The overcast  
sky dimmed for a moment.

"A puzzle without a solution is nothing. A lock without a key is worthless." Naoko  
continued. "Ibuki is far too impulse, I am too analytical, so only Ritsuko Akagi as  
she sees herself can judge if she is still truly worthy of survival."

"Listen, I already said I don't give a-"

"A broken, bitter woman." Naoko broke in, stepping closer to loom over her child. "But  
did you really think that was all there is to her? Did you really -believe- that you ARE  
Ritsuko Akagi? This Red Tower was not meant to imprison her."

Ritsuko blinked. "Wha-"

"If Ritsuko-sempai REALLY wanted to die, then you would not be here." Maya added,  
grinning. "On the outside, at level where the conscious and subconscious meet. We  
knew this was coming. People still -need- her." Still flabbergasted, Ritsuko offered no  
resistance as a shotgun was shoved into her hands.

"She is loved. She has value. Still she does not believe. Even Ritsuko Akagi must  
eventually confront her own demons." continued Naoko.

"This is no dream... this is her DOOM."

The hatch cover exploded open.

o

o

NERV's benefits package remained ginormous, enough to tempt many not just to  
commute but to migrate.

Wealth was a powerful incentive, but it was not enough. The work conditions were  
all too inevitable -lethal-, what sort of person would take that task when all reason  
dictated that money was worthless when dead? With the influx of new immigrants  
and other NERV employees from the other sites (NERV Germany and China for  
example) being rejected by their own nations for bringing devastation down from  
the skies, NERV's staff were split into two: the old guard and new soldiers.

Alternatively, those who stayed around out of a sense of obligation, and those who  
had some personal agenda.

Families like those of Suzuhara and Horaki had their adults firmly involved with  
NERV, and emotionally invested to such an extent that the thought of leaving was  
all but cowardice. Families like that of the Avrikoupolous or the Kitanos sought  
opportunities and a sense that their innate weirdness was being drawn into that  
metropolis. Most of NERV's employees probably did not consider themselves heroes,  
but there were some individuals who so cheerfully put aside their former lives to go  
and become heroes, or at least work alongside those they considered as such.

Others had something to prove, an axe to grind, or just motivated by sheer pure  
hate and revenge for how they had suffered.

The ginormous rewards did help, though.

NERV's employee roster rapidly depopulated after Shinji Ikari's return. Many of  
those who signed up in the comfortable three months he was gone just commuted  
from Odawara or Gotemba, and once the conflict returned to full swing just picked  
up their benefits package and skedaddled forthwith. The engineer crawling through  
one of the many secondary maintenance tunnels wished he had been wise enough,  
or paradoxically brave enough, to do the same.

With the main corridors flooded and even the elevators locked down or filled with  
goop, the technicians and support staff had to go through a maze of alternative  
paths through the geofront. Engr. Shiroku pushed open an access hatch and poked  
his head out into the geofront's surface.

It was particularly windy.

Evangelions and Angels, by virtue of being larger than most buildings, pushed walls  
of air out of the way with each step. When fighting, swift motions made miniature  
cyclones, unseen but still a brief spillover of gale-force winds.

A shadow passed over the NERV engineer. Behind him was thunder and the metal  
rim under his fingertips vibrated. A flying stick hit him on the face.

Slowly, carefully, he went back down and closed the hatch. He took a deep breath  
and then spoke into the radio "WHAT WAS THAT JUST NOW?" The geofront was six  
kilometers across. "Did you HAVE to bring us out to exactly where the Evas are  
fighting?"

Back at the command center, Kaede Agano winced from the shout. "We can't really  
predict where the combat will happen, the two jump around too much." While  
technically the -Tridens Dominatus- was something different, it was Eva-shaped,  
and he could be forgiven for the imprecise wording. "No choice, you'll just have to  
run through to the next access point. I guess... you'll just have to take your  
chances?"

"It's not like the Evas are going to be deliberately aiming at us anyway." added the  
other NERV tech officer there. Technician First Class Tamiya did not have good  
grades upon graduating. It was a good thing NERV prided enthusiasm and a strong  
wrench hand these days. His eyes blazed with excitement. "The odds are with us."

"Dammit. Fine." the older employee took another deep breath to calm himself. "On  
three... one. THREE!"

With an incoherent scream they ran out of the tunnel, as if hapless infantrymen  
forced to charge a trench line. Nearby, a tall concrete tower clicked and whirred and  
turned to track the two tiny figures.

"That's a-...?" hurriedly the leader grabbed at his radio. "There's a Bolter Turret  
active... THERE'S A BOLTER TURRET ACTIVE! CONTROL, DO SOMETHING!"

"You're too small for it to reliably track you... don't stop moving!" Kaede hurriedly  
switched between the many different camera views on her command station. She  
heard the rip of Heavy Bolt Rounds in her headset while the blaze of hot gases  
obscured the closest camera, which incidentally was that Bolter Turret's own gun-  
camera. She heard screaming, which cut off suddenly. "SHIROKU!"

There were other reports and requests coming in, but Kaede heard none of them.  
She focused on the smoke-filled panel view, numb about having deliberately  
ordered men into their deaths.

A strong gust of wind, from a passing heavy particle beam, blew away the smoke.

The screen showed Shiroku on the ground in a fetal position, clutching at his head  
and going "Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod...!"

Tamiya spat out a mouthful of grass and got back up to his feet. He went over to  
grab the fallen radio. "Oh, wow. The shots went right over our heads, the turret  
just couldn't depress far enough." He looked over to the next access hatch, which  
was even closer to the turret and also safer. The motion tracker might still try to hit  
them though. What a deliciously terrifying experience! "Control, did you know that  
would happen?"

Either way, it would be a lie. Kaede's chest felt too tight. 'J-just get going." She  
looked up at the command tower, and wondered just how those up there could  
deal with this sort of thing. She winced winced with a surge of pity for her friend  
stuck up there. Of -course- everyone who worked for NERV knew the risks, but she  
had never really imagined that she would have to choose who lived or died. _'How  
can any commander NOT be a murderer...?'_

She started off as a software engineer, for god's sake! Why did she have to deal  
with this sort of thing? Makoto Hyuga's face flashed in her mind, and his gentle  
expression hid something terrifying.

Never in any immediate danger, but the sense of responsibility was crushing all the  
same. She could only watch, her meager power to direct teams all over the  
geofront only made her feel even more of a puppet adrift in a dark sea. She kept  
her attention away from the main screens, absorbing herself in her own assigned  
tasks. It was the only way she could keep from being reduced into a babbling ball  
of sheer terror.

"No, don't go into clear passages large enough to admit trucks!" said the operator  
next to her. "I know it looks safe, but that's only because bakelite flows -down- so  
the Demolition Corps just laced the hell out of the walls with claymore mines."

Another in the secondary command post ordered "You can plug in the mining laser  
now. We redirected the power flow from the elevators."

Kaede heard "This is Donnelly. We reached the Fourth Block, m'am. Do we try to  
force the door open?"

"No, that door is designed to fuse its lock if tampered with. The code is Six, Beta,  
Nine, Charlie, Horse, Six, Five." she answered, forcing her voice to an even tone.  
She could not give even the slightest hint of panic, many depended on her for sane  
and purposeful instruction and sounding as if she knew what she was doing shored  
up their own confidence. "Once through, open the panel to the left. It leads up to  
the Block Six mess hall."

"We need a medic here!"

"Security team Brown Four please respond. Brown Four?"

The command center shook as the one of the two giants fighting outside struck  
another blow sufficient to rearrange the terrain. They gave no mind to anything  
smaller than themselves.

"Oh, that was just -sick-, but not helpful." an awed technician said over the comms.

"Don't stand around to admire the show, you idiots!"

The voices all around her began to blur. Like many forced into high-stress,  
attention-demanding situations, the young woman did not even realize she was  
shutting down her emotions all for the sake of getting through the next personnel  
request or orders from those higher up the command tower. She had no idea what  
the hell she was doing; too busy to think about the overall shape of her shuffling  
around. Like the teams risking their necks going through active barriers, she could  
only trust that those in command had a plan.

o  
o

Misato chewed at her right thumb as she nervously watched the biomechanical  
beasts battle it out on the main screen. Around her rang the sounds of battle  
and situation reports from all the teams trying to recover functionality without  
triggering all the myriad anti-Angel traps.

Up on the main screen, two living gods battled, unable to get a clear advantage.  
-Tridens Dominatus- was the perfection of the self, and could shape its body into  
any weapon. It hammered away at the purple Evangelion with long whiplike arms  
ending in spiked maces. The attack was slow enough that it did not trigger the  
odd precognitive flash whenever the two faced each other. It was fast enough  
that, lacking the new type of perception, Shinji Ikari had to rely on his own  
reactions. The Evangelion would have just bulled through, unconcerned with  
any pain just to get at the enemy. Trying to cut the limbs would just tangle it  
around him.

The solution was just as simple and straightworfard. An Epic Flail hammered away  
against an Eva-scale Buckler. Similarly, the -Dominatus- had a hard, smooth  
carapace to deflect Bolter shells and sawblades.

Misato paused. She had missed something there, a whisper too indistinct. Ritsuko  
would have said something cutting right there. She looked over to the empty  
command chair; already she longed for even the most sarcastic jab of her old  
friend's presence. There was a flash of pain as the nail cracked, tearing loose a  
strip of flesh. Frowning, Misato turned back to the issue at hand.

"Team Charlie Green's reached block section 8-C. They're requesting permission to  
enter and switch over the turrets there into manual mode." Makoto reported.

"Denied!" Just as with many other such requests. They would only distract the  
squabbling titans for a few seconds, and die in Nagisa's dismissive counter.  
Misato licked her lips. Unfortunately, even the battle above did not matter. For all  
of NERV's absurd preparations, it remained that they had no plan for victory. Why  
had they taken for granted that there was a limited number of Angels that  
would be attacking? Even an army could run out of bodies, but looking at the  
what was happening outside, the world did have a legitimate reason to fear  
NERV. It was just that the Cradle had taken those fears and applied them before  
NERV could even get the idea.

They fought, letting the Angels exhaust their powers upon a wall of sheer human  
stubbornness. Even Shinji Ikari out there was fighting to delay, hoping that  
somehow things would work out in the end.

She could not say it. Their communications were obviously compromised.

o  
o

_'I'm tired...'_ thought Shinji Ikari, as he triggered the explosive disconnect of  
Unit-01's Titan Modules. Thick armor served no useful purpose, and the power  
cells were dry. They would take too long to charge. He lived and died in the next  
few seconds. He had no attention to spare for anything other than survival.

The Evangelion backflipped several times, and landed upon an pressure plate.  
Electricity flowed into the metal plate, to the armored soles of Unit-01's feet, which  
was then manipulated with the interaction of local fields into its internal battery.

Bam! The Evangelion was knocked off its feet. It grabbed just an extra few minutes  
with that, compared to a full hour with a battery pack or a super-fast conversion  
charge using a Tesla Tower. The Trident destroyed the disguised recharge point  
and leapt again at its nemesis. At least Kaworu Nagisa had learned to stop using  
particle beams and bio-lasers against Shinji Ikari. For the first, -Eternus- just  
layered a field, stripped the electrons, and charged off the attack. For the latter...  
the only thing the younger Ikari loved as much as throwing around lightning was  
a homing laser. Only physical attacks would work.

The living metal of the -Dominatus- could become any weapon. Just a few minutes  
ago, the -Eternus- had snapped an arm by the elbow, pushed it back, and nearly  
decapitated the Trident with its own scythe-like limb. Bladed weapons were not  
good.

Whump! A blow caught Unit 01 by the head, and it stumbled. To the Evangelion,  
whose every moment of existence was pain anyway, mere physical damage was  
just added annoyance. It was raging more at being denied the chance to tear open  
the enemy with its bare hands.

Slapping its palm onto the ground, it pivoted and kicked back aimed at the  
-Dominatus-' groin. Though the hybrid had no nerve connections to speak of there,  
wisely it fell back a bit. _'Crap. This is when Ikari is most dangerous. He's barely  
conscious... he might not even realize what's really happening.' _Unfortunately  
that also meant that they boy had no idea of what was simply -impossible-.  
Impossible until someone was actually crazy enough to try it. _'Some more. He  
needs to be pushed a bit more.'_

Shinji gasped for breath, but the hyper-oxygenated nature of the LCL could not  
give any more than just to keep him at edge of blacking out. He was numb to pain.  
He was exhausted to the point that he operated just on instinct, barely more than  
what it takes to keep the Eva from berserking. He had no plan. Sohryu was the  
better pilot, but it was taken for granted that if you give Ikari time to -think-, he  
-will- win.

His grandstanding from earlier had come back to bite him in the ass. People  
expected, no... demanded... the impossible as a starting point. His enemies  
included. As someone who had seized the mantle and the responsibility, he had  
could not just give up. The strength of others contributed to victory, but any  
failure was his and his alone.

"Come on, Ikari! Don't make this too easy!" He did not want to kill Shinji Ikari,  
since it was a worthy nemesis that tends to keep immortality from being too boring,  
but he had no need for the Evangelion. Any of the Evangelions. They had to be  
destroyed. Even Sohryu would have to admit to the sheer superiority of his  
-Dominatus-, the perfect blend of ancient powers and modern knowledge, rather  
than the kludged-together technology of the Eva.

The faux Lance was in itself a tool, made to manipulate, negate, or transform AT-  
fields. Kaworu was curious about how human psychics and their abilities were so  
eerily -similar-, but he figured he had millenia to research it. He shaped the fields  
between the three prongs and shot out a blast of pure concussive force.

The air rippled. Unit 01 could not dodge something it could barely see. Its AT-field  
senses lit up only at the trigger point of the attack. Kaworu supposed something  
with mass would do more than just shoving the Eva around, but the problem was  
that either the projectile or the launcher could be manipulated by Ikari's damn  
irritating mastery over the electromagnetic spectrum.

Unit 01 held another of the faux Lances dropped by SEELE's MP Evas. It stabbed  
into the ground and used it as a crutch to get back to its feet. It stood there, its  
eyes glowing, the Lance used as a walking staff.

With a growl, Unit 01 reared back and threw the Lance; its bident prongs twisting  
together into the point that would drill through any AT-field.

The Trident Warborn lazily skipped aside. "How too obvious." It landed, light as a  
feather, but balancing on one foot to push away from the follow-up to that feint.

Which did not arrive.

'_What? He can't have run out of power yet._' The Evangelion remained on its feet,  
the glow in its eyes a steady bright orange. _'Oh, shi-. Am I standing on an N2  
Mine?'_

Warily, Kaworu put his other foot down and shifted his weight. His other leg  
remained un-exploded. He sighed in relief.

Unit 01 remained motionless, hunched over, like a gargolye. _'Ah... perhaps..._  
_while Ikari would never surrender, much as I find it inconceivable, there is no_  
_point in flailing away on senseless effort.'_

His Tridens Dominatus was -perfect-. It had no power issues, its movements  
synchronized to his thoughts with no delay. Every cell had its own miniature Core,  
and was more like a liquid held together by an AT-field rather than a man-shaped  
creature. The AT-field negation properties of the Lance was thus defeated, since  
cells could just flow back together or fresh ones be made from raw material  
collected in unaffected areas. That aphorism -defined- him.

Kaworu was paralyzed. All reason dictated that he should be capitalizing on this  
chance, yet another was screaming NOT to fall to the enemy's bait. That was what  
Ikari -does-. He cheats. He uses the enemy's strengths against themselves. He  
likes to with impale them their own body parts! No way was he going back to  
stabbing range.

Even he was afflicted with the burning curiousity as to what insane way out of  
the blatantly unwinninable the boy would pull next.

_'Why isn't he attacking? Giving back the initative is a -mistake-! That's not a charge  
point. I don't think he can use the Earth's magnetic field, even trying to strip  
electrons from the air would sap the batteries faster than anything. What is he  
thinking now? What is he planning?_

_... wait.'_

"You're damn well unconscious on your feet, aren't you?" Kaworu remarked while  
palming his face.

As expected, Unit 01 gave no reply.

o  
o

"Katsuragi-san, all teams are ready." Makoto reported. "Charges have been set,  
and the crumple zones have been calculated."

Misato Katsuragi grinned and pointed up. "Two and six! Disengage!"

NERV had employees with barely any sense of self-preservation. Barring sticking  
them inside an Evangelion, in a sane and rational universe they would be placed  
in a post far away from action with nothing breakable in reach.

NERV needed tunnels and to clear debris quickly. They were NERV's Demolition  
Corps. They had a motto, seized from the Net and paraphrased "_If it interacts at_  
_all with the physical universe, then we can confirm its existence. If it exists, we_  
_can blow it up._"

In a sane and rational universe, they would not even be allowed anywhere NEAR  
antimatter. NERV had almost a thousand N2 devices, and the capability to produce  
even more. UN regulations were cheerfully discarded in the face of apocalypse.

Fortunately, N2 weapons were so huge that only Evangelions or specialized  
bombers could carry them, and most were sub-kiloton yields. Ton for ton, nuclear  
devices were still better. It was just that it had far less radioactive leftovers. It  
was that, which made it also safer as a breaching charge, if only they could be  
shrunk down to fit. N2 mines were not actually as much antimatter containment  
devices as antimatter -creation- devices; making dial-a-yield easy for an accepted  
common size and mass of a warhead.

NERV had an N2 charge that could be carried in a backpack. A psychoreactive  
crystal lace, with superconductive materials and the new super-efficient capacitors  
made that possible. AT-field dickery allowed shaping the material down to the  
subatomic level. It was as stupidly dangerous as it sounded. At least a nuke could  
not be set off just by dropping it.

It was the sort of thing that governments nightmares. Nagisa and the Earth's  
Cradle had demonstrated they could do the same thing, with -people-.

The engineers slapped the discs onto certain restraining clamps and went off to  
wait at a relatively safe distance. Unlike nukes however, the mini-N2 charge could  
be set up as a directional blast due to its containment field.

Incidentally, Tokyo-3 did have all those buildings retracted precariously on top of  
the geofront supposedly to protect them from battle damage.

They whooped and slapped each other's backs in congratulations. It was the sort of  
two-for-one destruction that the NERV DemoCorps really liked.

o

The booms were muffled, and with slow grinding noise the two armament buildings  
slid from the many, many security latches that were supposed to prevent this  
sort of thing from happening. The fall was deceptively slow.

The -Tridens Dominatus- looked up a little too late. The buildings, each of them taller  
than an Evangelion and massing almost as much, crashed with enough force to  
register on the Richter scale as far off as Kyoto-2.

Kaworu looked down at the dust drifting around his feet. "Like I couldn't have  
avoided that anyway." he muttered. They missed. The two buildings landed some  
distance away, at an angle off to either side. They were too far to provide any  
aid to Ikari. Surprisingly, not only did the buildings remain intact, but right-side-up.

_'They must have been designed to have a lower center of gravity from the start.'_  
a part of him induged in technical curiousity.

The building facades collapsed, each revealing a foamed metal shell around a  
pyramidal structure. Their sides also opened out, like a flower in bloom, and double  
Assault Cannons emerged from their four faces.

-Tridens Dominatus- leapt straight up, barely avoiding being caught in a lethal  
crossfire. Kaworu looked down, as he was yanked to a sudden stop, and saw Field-  
bound steel wire wrapped around his ankles. "More of your ninja wire, Ikari?" Too  
late to cut or counterattack, Kaworu raised his own AT-field, and shots peppered  
the shield. NERV's offensive Armament buildings were completely autonomous, and  
thus not subject to the MAGI hack he had prepared.

Unit 01 pulled, hard, and tore the -Dominatus- right out of the sky. It brought a  
second or two, which was used to sprint towards one of the faux Lances, and then  
towards the nearest attack structure. The -Tridens Dominatus- bounced backed up,  
having landed on a minefield. Annoyed, Nagisa with his own Trident destroyed them  
with energy beams. The top halves exploded.

Unit 01 punched into the internal anti-Angel assault pods and brought out a thick  
plug. They were emergency fallback sites, and the heavy weapons were just to  
buy an Eva enough time to recharge. It was just that they were originally meant  
to serve that function up on the surface.

"An umbilical cable." Kaworu said with an amused quirk. "How... retro." Rather than  
give Ikari the chance to recharge, he attacked.

Unit 01 sucked the power cells dry in moments, and gestured sharply. The other  
armament bulding rose up and rushed at the -Tridens Dominatus-' back. The hybrid  
flicked away to avoid crude strike, only to see the other arcing down.

"Guh." Kaworu cut his way out of the frame. _'All right. So I didn't expect such  
flagrant -waste- of his power._' He decided to duck and dodge the old-fashioned way._  
'And again with the lightning. Who the hell does he think he is? Palpatine?'_

"Nine! Five! Twenty-SEVEN! DISENGANGE!"

"Katsuragi, you're getting annoying." Kaworu dumped into the open comms.  
Eyes grew from the back of the -Tridens Dominatus- palms, and from them erupted  
green flame. It whirled, and an expanding green shockwave blew apart surrounding  
buildings. And set the debris on fire. Which then exploded into dust. Which then set  
the grass on fire.

"I am that which beholds the horizons in the sea of Chaos." Kaworu hissed. "I take  
away your sight."

Abruptly all the screens inside the command center turned red, with the hexagonal  
[ERROR] symbol.

"I am that which parts the firmament between the realms. I take away your  
breath."

Explosion rippled underground. All of NERV's life support systems died, and for a  
final time.

"I am the master of the materium, and the sea of time is my kingdom. I take away  
your future." The main screen turned into a sequence of numbers and the words  
SELF DESTRUCT IMMINENT right above the ten-minute count. Laughter, clearly  
recognizable as Lader's blasted out from all the speakers.

Kaworu rubbed at his neck. "Well, that should keep them occupied for a while."

"Shinji, don't worry about us! We have enough people around for manual control  
overrides. Get to a defense point! Just beat this sack of shit, we can take care of  
ourselves!"

"Oy, I can hear you people, you know."

"Understood, Colonel Katsuragi." Shinji Ikari's voice completely devoid of his  
habitual politeness. He was as brash and rude to Nagisa as he was unable to refer  
to anyone other than his few real friends without a honorific. His tone was dead. "I  
know how to make him bleed."

"Oh, so you were awake after all."

Blood tainted the LCL inside the cockpit. Shinji knew where in the plugsuit the  
stimulant packs were located, and had smashed them to force as much of the  
wake-up chemicals into his bloodstream as fast as possible. Not quite asleep, not  
quite aware, and he could only perceive through the Evangelion's own senses.

The Eva looked left and right, to Unit Zero's headless form and -Magnos Tancred-  
still lying like a turtle on its back. LCL inside the entry plug just -boiled-. The air  
felt heavy. Its power reserves began to drain again at an alarming rate.

The strands of the bident unraveled. The prongs separated and shortened. The  
shaft likewise retracted. Instead of the long U shape, what remained was a wide T-  
shape. Lightning. Shinji Ikari loved to throw it around. The AT-field could be used,  
not just as a barrier, but as a container.

Lightning crackled between the prongs of the false Lance. Shinji remembered; the  
Sunshine Kid and his cheerful obsessions. The old man had given everything. Shinji  
knew that the old man had gone off ready to die just to take out the Earth's Cradle.

o

_Javaal was the boy's turning point. There he learned the gods themselves were  
trapped in the repeating cycle of creation and destruction in the cosmos. "Hm?  
Think you that live we in linear time?" the old abbot had said while puffing on a  
pipe. "Fight in moments of Enkidu not yet won, and what do you today make  
prophecies arrive. Understand?"_

_"No."_

_"Feh. Try something more fun then, we shall."_

o

"...e've been over this, Ikari." Kaworu was saying. "You have no superpowered evil  
side. As long as you cling to this flesh, you will have to deal with its limits. There's  
no one you can call who will answer. Where is your Emprah no-"

There was a *snap-hiss* noise.

The -Dominatus- palmed its face again. "... did you just Form Blazing Sword?"

Unit 01 swung the glowing red blade. The -Dominatus- bent at the knee and just  
about avoided being decapitated. Three fingers fell off its left hand. It vanished and  
re-appeared some distance away.

It looked down at its hand. The fingers did not grow back. That the sword was  
formed of plasma was just a side-effect. Using the AT-field to contain it gave it  
an impossible edge.

"Damn it, Ikari." he hissed. "Do you know how long it took me to consider that this  
was even possible? Sing, Last Son of Atlantis." He flicked that hand, and it turned  
into a partial Lancea Longini. The prongs bent aside, and let out a shimmering  
curve of energy in the form of a scythe. It hummed. "How much -experimentation-  
I had to do, because someday I knew you'd actually be crazy enough to try it  
anyway? And you figure it out in seconds! And you were boorish enough to do it  
without an activation phrase!"

The purple Evangelion tilted it head aside, as if asking '_is that really what you  
want to concern yourself with right now?_'

And then blades clashed.

o

o

"I've been expecting this to happen for a long time now, actually." Misato said while  
looking around. The sudden turn of events came as no surprise to anyone. No one  
could see the battle, but sounds still came through. Some were almost in  
tears as to what they were missing.

"Don't worry!" Makoto shouted down. "We've got Survey Teams Delta to Tango  
out there with cameras!"

"I really think we should be more worried about the SELF-DESTRUCT TIMER!"  
Shigeru added. "Do we even have a self-destruct?"

"Sure, why not. We're very nearly a Lair anyway. "

Satsuki Ooi screamed and removed her headset. "W-what is wrong with you  
people? You sound like you're enjoying this!" She paused, clutching at her  
long blonde hair. "Wait... how does that work anyway? Collapse the geofront?  
Overload the reactors? Set off the N2 mines?"

"Yes! I too would very much like to know that!"

Misato stared blandly at them. "You two really need to keep your heads in the  
game." She spared a glance at the big screen, at the countdown just under eight  
minutes now. She smirked. Such things did not matter. If NERV was going to  
explode, Ritsuko Akagi would allow no one else to push the big red button.

She would destroy Neo-Tokyo-3 with her own bare hands! Misato was not quite  
certain Ritsuko was as drunk as she appeared when she said that.

"Why would Nagisa remove visuals but let us keep audio communications?" stuck  
in her mind. "Because he's a show-off that way?" _'The old man did mention that  
whatever the hell it is that Gendo is doing, it will help us more than hinder us.'_

She patched into the mains. "This is Katsuragi. All teams are free to engage at your  
discretion. I repeat, all teams free to engage."

The mocking laughter returned. "Oh, you -stupid- bitch. Your pathetic attempts  
only worked so far because they were never really a -threat-. I have the MAGI. I  
have the MAGI's -sensors. I know where they -are-. You are all just pathetic  
creatures of flesh and bone, panting and running through my corridors. How can  
you hope to challenge a perfect, immortal machine?"

"I call [bullshit] on that."

A window appeared on the main screen, showing a figure dimly backlit by a red  
emergency lamp. It was female and wore a lab coat.

"Ritsuko...?"

The figure stepped closer to the surveillance camera, and grinned. Her sleek black  
bodysuit faded into the shadows of the corridor, making her look like a floating  
wraith. She lifted her right hand and made a V 'peace' sign.

Static cracled in the darkness. "What? Aka.. no. It's the -apprentice-. And here I  
had thought I had plumbed the depths of your people's idiocy."

"You're the idiot, idiot." Maya replied. "This is Tokyo-3. As long as Ritsuko Akagi  
lives, you will never own it. You're just a virus, malware sitting on top of the MAGI's  
processing matrix."

The main screen countdown froze, and burst apart in a shower of pixels. What  
replaced it was a balding, somewhat pudgy face with an open sneer and in  
monochrome red. "Do you think I am -bluffing-? Do you think that I -joke-? You  
all, insects, you do not THINK at all!"

A window opened up, showing three nervous NERV engineers just waiting around.  
They were crouched, taking comfort in the thickness of earth and metal between  
them and the open geofront. They felt reasonably safe.

"Personnel serial number AG34-2042-0723 Misawa Ryoto  
Personnel serial number PM27-1395-4012 Ikazuchi Jason  
Personnel serial number HG51-9286-5844 Takano Urawa" Dr. Lader announced.

Bulkheads slammed down on either side. Their yelps of surprise turned into shouts  
of fear and protest as Bakelite began to fill the sealed corridor. "We're still here,  
Control! What are you doing? STOP THIS! HELP!"

"No... damn you, Lader! DON'T!" Misato shouted.

The pleas suddenly cut off, leaving only frantically struggling silhouettes. Soon  
enough their movements stilled. Bakelite contained them like insects frozen in  
amber.

"You bastard...!" Misato hissed. "You're dead! Do you hear me? DEAD!"

"I am deathless! I do not -end-! I -load- history with the weight of my personality! I  
am beyond your grasp, Katsuragi! Where is Akagi, that stupid -slut-? Hah! No one  
is my equal, NO ONE! Learn this as you DIE, ever pathetic, ever -fools-!"

The countdown resumed. Explosions rippled across the geofront's surface. Corridors  
bathed in rivers of flame. LADER laughed.

"Shut up, you pathetic copy." Maya looked up at the camera and gave it a finger. "If  
you're so all-powerful, then tell me... Where am I?"

"Little -insignificant- Ibuki. You can't hide from me. When I find you, suffer the  
price of your -insolence-!"

Maya grinned and waited. And waited some more. The self-destruct timer passed  
the four-minute mark. She began to laugh.

"This is -impossible-. I am not -limited- to the MAGI's sensors." AT-field sensors  
blared, and long rods of dark-green metal appeared out of nowhere, breaking out  
of the floor panels and corridor sides. A low buzzing noise echoed through the  
deeps.

The rods burst, becoming green beetles that flew through every nook and cranny.

Up on the main screen, LADER's avatar looked about frantically, taking in thousands  
and thousands of different views all at once.

"Impossible! Where are- no! What have you -done-?"

"Protocol HEROD, you arrogant ass." said Maya. "Akagi-sensei knew this might  
happen someday. It doesn't matter how much input you're getting, what matters is  
-what- interprets the data." The MAGI might not be sentient, it may be hacked or  
dominated, but as far as an organic supercomputer could go... it really LIKED Maya  
Ibuki. The subroutines that hid her presence from MAGI itself still remained, and  
now encompassed whatever location she was in. It was a step above the same  
blank data space that intentionally obscured Terminal Dogma.

"It... it does not -matter-. You can do -nothing-. You REMAIN nothing."

Maya looked tired. "I... didn't really want to do this. I wish I could have given her a  
choice. But you selfish bastards pushed me into it. You made me do this!"

"What -madness- are you going on about now?" The Dr. Lader's Mind sent out his  
awareness back to the N2 mines, effortlessly hacking and restarting the countdown.

Dark metal needles pierced every warhead. "Die, now, irritants. We will -not- meet  
again."

"You don't scare me. And too bad for you, you have never scared HER."

"INDEED. NOTHING MORE THAN A TEDIOUS WANNABE. A CHEAP KNOCKOFF." The  
voice was distorted, but female and familiar. "BEING UNABLE TO CONCEIVE OF A  
SINGLE ORIGINAL THOUGHT IS NO ADVANTAGE, NO MATTER HOW MANY MINDS  
YOU HAVE STOLEN FROM."

"What? What is -this-? Purge! Kill! Delete! You... -Akagi-? How did you -get- here?"

"YOU WALK THROUGH THE CORRIDORS OF MY MIND, -INSECT-. AND NOW I SHALL  
DECORATE THE WALLS OF MY HOME WITH YOUR CARCASS."

The scream was like that of a pig, smelling the blood of the slaughterhouse, and  
seeing the flash of a butcher's neck-slitting knife. There was a strained gurgle  
turning into a static-hiss.

And then the lights came back on. The main screen expanded back into the multiple  
overlays showing a variety of useful information.

o

o

The blows were clumsy, amateurish at best. Nevertheless, Kaworu found it difficult  
to block or evade. Unit 01 remained utterly silent, even as its attacks smashed  
against his defenses like a living hurricane. Berserker strength and berserker speed,  
just barely leashed.

Kaworu grit his teeth and as their blades met again muscles of the -Dominatus-  
bulged to force the Evangelion back. He swung the sycthe, aiming to remove the  
legs, only for Unit 01 to reverse its grip and hastily deflect the strike.

"Futile." he whispered.

Everything an Evangelion could do, the Trident Master could do better. Abruptly the  
six wing pods of the -Dominatus- extended, sprouted the split prongs of a Lance,  
which then bent inwards to turn into six more Terror Scythes. The Trident surged  
forth as a sphere of writhing, spinning death.

-Principio Eternus- roared, focused its AT-field on its right leg, and kicked it away.  
With the same unearthly grace, the -Dominatus- flipped in mid-air to land facing  
down. Its humming bladed wings stabbed into the ground and pushed forward,  
spider-like, and and its first two pod sycthes were as massive fangs snapping at  
the Eva.

Bit by bit Unit 01 was forced back. Its attacks may have been hasty, but its defense  
was perfect, responding beyond the speed of thought itself.

"You're the one who SHOULD be fighting to advance human potential, Ikari! You  
should seek to master the secrets of the First Progenitor Race that seeded life  
throughout this universe! Instead you protect the status quo, giving no future but  
the bloodiest and most tyrannical regime imaginable! You admire that?

I'm sick of your wasting the power that you have been given! Everything you have  
failed to do, I will accomplish! I will endure your -cowardice- no longer!"

The -Dominatus- spun, and changed its stance back to that of a man. The Terror  
Scythe in its hands reverted back into its Lance form, and blasted Unit 01. Its AT-  
bound greatsword, had the barrier property of an AT-field. The beam knocked it all  
the way across the battlefield and into the lake.

"If you had just been able to brave the abyss, you wouldn't be having this  
problem." Sometimes he just had doubts about Ikari as his equal. _'Morality is a  
choice, a luxury only for those with power. How could he be too -stupid- as to deny  
something that simple? First have the ability to protect your beliefs, everything else  
follows. The starving can only eat or die.'_"If you can't defend your ideals, then you  
can only DIE for them! Is that the extent of your sacrifice? Is that all you can give  
for all the trust thrown your way? Drown in your weakness!"

Pillars of freshwater rose and burst as he began bombarding the lake. Kaworu's  
rage was beyond words, but more of disappointment than in defeat.

o

o

_'I can't... I can't beat him.'_ Shinji had to admit to himself. Surprising himself, this  
admission did not arrive with any bitterness.

Shinji Ikari floated, weightless and numb. The light wavering upon the suface of the  
waters stung his eyes, and held up an arm over his face. A shadow passed over the  
glare, a silhouette of a woman in a lab coat, starkly outlined against the glare.

"She is angry with you." said the silhouette. "She wonders why you would not let her  
fight."

"... ugh. No. The berserker's power... it's not enough. I need... I need to plan. I need  
a plan." he gurgled into the strange aether surrounding him. "I can't win without... a  
plan. Brute force, he can... i can... easily... redirected."

"First, you lose the trust in yourself. Then, you lose the trust in your loyal partner. And  
you wonder why you are weak?"

"This is too important to leave to... blind optimism." he replied in the same emotionless  
tone. "When all you... have... is a hammer, all things become..." he gasped "... that is  
why I made sure... there were other tools."

The womanly silhouette giggled. "If there is a hole, it is a man's job to thrust into it."

"... not Getter the point..."

The figure lunged suddenly, and Shinji Ikari found a warm hand over his face. "There is  
power beyond imagination, all she wants is your approval. She is loyal. Why do you  
spurn her?"

"Too much to do... too much... I can't give up now. I won't... abandon them."

"Nagisa has sacrificed his humanity. You cling to the idea that you can somehow solve  
all this without throwing away that last part of you that cares. Only a human can kill a  
monster? Stubbornly proclaiming your own power is enough! It is pride. It is just ego.  
You arrogant whelp."

Shinji closed his eyes and let it wash over him. In the end, he was afraid. He could not  
bear to lose, to never again touch those that he loved.

"I can't beat him..." he said again. He grabbed at the hand covering his face and pulled  
it off. He snarled at the lady whose fingernails left a bloody gash on his cheek. "But I  
don't have to win. I just have to make sure he loses!"

She smiled. "Then say may name. Speak, and crush all those who stand before us."

"Principio Eternus."

"No."

Shinji clenched his fist. Pride... was the least of the things he could sacrifice. He wanted  
to -live-. In the end he found he could be that selfish. It was heartening in a way. It was  
so goddamn -normal- as a goal.

"... mother."

"Yees?"

"The Great Mother."

"Mmm."

"The Great Mother Who Devours Her Young."

"Oh, lovely."

"You are the one who will survive! You are the last who take the throne! Let the snake  
eat its own tail!"

"Oh, my. My my my..." She clapped her hands together, and though still completely in  
shadow he could almost see her satisfied smile.

"Hi mom. Let's rock."

The synch ratio passed 200%. He could hear electric guitars. The contact experiment  
was thorough like that.

o

o

With a sharp, crackling noise the surface of the underground lake froze over into thick  
sheet glittering in the afternoon light. Shards of light played upon the geofront's walls.

_'Okay, not unprecedented.'_ Kaworu noted. _'Since we use the AT-field to direct energy  
flow anyway, modifying thermal energy from the surroundings is not unfeasible or  
impractical.'_ He blasted at the ice sheath, but even as large chunks and craters were  
gouged from the covering, the layers reformed almost as quickly. "It won't save you  
Ikari!" he shouted into the open radio. "There is no such thing as a perfect defense!  
This shield won't last forever! I can do this all damn -week-!"

He stopped as he felt a tingle at the back of his mind. "Oh what is it now? Lader, you're  
dead again?" Why was he always interrupted with trivialities? _'Ikari probably enjoys this  
sort of thing, but isn't it just a waste of time? Better to -grow- some competent minions  
than to have to recruit them.'_

o  
o_  
_

Back at the command center, Misato put her face in her hands, trying to shut out the  
world. She took several deep breaths, and put on a happy face. Okay, then. She was  
ready to face this strange new turn of weirdness.

"Nice one, right in the nick of time." commented Makoto. "Hi, Maya." he waved to  
the screen.

"Um... hello."

"Thank you for the timely save." Satsuki added through grit teeth. She looked like she  
wanted to reach out and drag the other young woman right out of the screen, so she  
could sit in her chair, and actually do her job.

"Not really. I mean, Ritsuko-sempai knew what was happening, only when LADER unlocked  
MAGI's core functions could we do something."

"Say, what is NERV's self-destruct mechanism anyway?" Shigeru piped up.

"There are several nuclear devices strategically placed around the geofront and Central  
Dogma. They're very dirty bombs, enough to make sure that once the geofront collapses,  
the land above and around it can't be dug up or even used for at least a few hundred  
years."

"Nice." Shigeru replied, smoothing back his long hair and grinning. He was not upset at all  
at the sheer overkill.

"Hey! Just because we're not under threat of immediate destruction doesn't mean we're  
not under threat of imminent destruction! You all still have work to do!" Misato began to  
point all around. "I want a damage and casualtry report, and the site defense teams  
ready on their triggers. Where are the recovery teams?"

"AYANAMI LIVES. KIRISHIMA IS EXERCISING HER VOCABULARY. SHE'S GOT A SMATTERING  
OF GREEK AND TURKISH EXPLETIVES NOW."

The voice, though booming and faintly tinged with malice, had that same resigned tone  
that so characterized Ritsuko recently.

"Ritsuko...? How... what happened to you?"

"REMEMBER HOW UNIT ZERO'S CORTEX IS INCOMPLETE AND WHY THE MAGI HAS TO  
SUPPLEMENT THE REST OF ITS CONTROL SYSTEM? IT'S SORT OF LIKE THAT, BUT  
NOT REALLY."

"Aren't you supposed to be in a coma or something?"

"APPARENTLY. CERTAIN FACTORS SEEM INTENT ON DRAGGING ME KICKING AND SCREAMING  
BACK INTO NOT-COMPLETELY-OBJECTIVE REALITY. MY LITTLE ASSISTANT HERE HAS BEEN  
KEEPING SOME NAUGHTY SECRETS. AND DAMN THIS IS ANNOYING. MAYA, HOW DO I STOP  
THIS NEEDLESSLY DRAMATIC ECHOING VOICE?"

"I don't know. I mean, you should know more about the MAGI at this point than I'll ever be  
able to understand."

"Ow. Is this permanent?" Misato cupped her hands over her ears.

"SADLY, NO. ONCE I DISCONNECT, I PROBABLY WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE THIS  
LINKUP AGAIN. MY HUMAN BRAIN WILL HAVE NO MEMORY OF WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT  
NOW, THE TRANSFER IS READ-ONLY. A PITY, I CAN SOMEWHAT UNDERSTAND LADER'S  
EGOMANIA NOW. AH, IT IS UTTERLY EMPOWERING, WHAT IT'S LIKE TO THINK A THOUSAND  
DIFFERENT THOUGHTS AND BEHOLD A THOUSAND DIFFERENT VISTAS ALL AT THE SAME  
TIME. TOKYO-3 IS MINE [YOU IGNORANT MEATBAGS]! BY ALL YOUR POWERS COMBINED!

BEHOLD FOR I AM! AS A [GOD-MACHINE]! THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS! OHOHOHOHO-"

"Don't go back to that place, Ritsuko-sempai! Remember what we have to do!" For all the  
bluster that Dr. Lader indulged, there was just something so very -right- about hearing those  
same boasts in a feminine voice. Perhaps because the people around actually believed that  
Dr. Akagi would really burn the world if and when she finally snaps.

"OH. RIGHT. ALL CHANNELS OPEN. OVERRIDE SECURITY LOCKDOWN."

"What's going on, Maya?" Misato spared a glance at the main screen, and the Trident  
hovering over the lake.

"Misato-sempai, listen, we're really just here to deliver a message from Gendo Ikari. It's  
important enough that Akagi-sempai had to beat Dr. Lader at his own game. It was just  
a shortcut, when his attempt required an acces point for those subroutines."

"BUT WORTH DOING ON ITS OWN ANYWAY."

Misato leaned back on her chair and looped her fingers together. "I see. Are you working  
for him now?"

"No! Well, yes. He is NERV's commander after all. Not showing up for one attack isn't  
really illegal... but I do want to shoot him repeatedly so... it balances out?"

A sickeningly cheery song drifted through the speakers "IMMA DECORATIN' MAH WALLS...  
WITH MAH ENEMIES' ENTRAILS..."

"... please stop going there, sempai."

o  
o

Kaworu Nagisa felt very put upon. Objectively he knew that the universe was  
inherently unfair. However, he tried to very hard to find proof that in some level,  
it just HAS to make sense. The beings that created Lillith and Adam were of such  
power beyond such puerile concepts as conquest. He could only gather that they  
sent out the Black and Red Moons, which for all the godlike power of the creatures  
they contained, were nothing more than -terraforming agents-. Life, it seemed, was  
the end in of itself for the universe.

What beings were these? What other wonders could they have shaped? And where  
were they now? These were the thoughts that never concerned humans, so  
consumed by their selfish little desires in their single, much-abused world.

He had an eternity to unravel these mysteries. If only short-sighted fools stopped  
getting in his way! He just tried so hard, so very hard, sacrificing so much, and no  
one appreciated just how much he did for the Greater Good. It was so discouraging.  
He was spiteful enough to keep doing it anyway. Some days it was all he had to  
keep him going.

"Hey, listen!" the radio buzzed. "Gendo Ikari's gone down to Terminal Dogma and  
he left a message. Shinji-kun? Can you hear me? And Nagisa... you need to hear  
this too."

"... and now Ibuki interrupts. Fine." What was one more annoyance in a lifetime  
spent enduring indignities?

–

Gendo Ikari stood before the massive blast door blocking entry into Terminal  
Dogma. He turned around just a bit, leaving most of his face in shadow. His  
eyeglasses glinted.

"Tell those children to hurry up with their squabbling. Tell them the enemy's gate  
is down. If they can't decide which queen to sacrifice in the endgame, then I will  
decide for them. If they want the key to everything, let them seek me out in the  
end of the world."

–

"And of course Gendo Ikari isn't even polite enough to properly stab me in the  
back." Kaworu sighed. "He just goes off to do his own whatever, expecting the rest  
of us to live up to our bargains anyway. The arrogant bastard."

He was getting tired of all this.

-Tridens Dominatus- was a perfect killing machine, tireless, unflinching, and  
unstoppable. Kaworu was breathing hard. He rubbed at arms, trying to get his  
blood flowing hot again. Unlike the primitive Evangelion Plug system, which used  
LCL both a linker and impact buffer, the -Dominatus- kept him connected and safe  
with a controlled inertia-damping localized AT-field. Such was the benefit of an  
Angel that used multiple cores. Each nucleus in every machine cell had the  
equivalent of a miniature S2 energy tap. All combined, it was proclaimed an  
Absolute Territory of incalculable, truly monstrous potential. Kaworu Nagisa never  
did like feeling weak.

He looked at his thin, effeminate fingers and clenched his hand into a fist. There  
were several different forms of immortality offered by the Cradle to its children, but  
immortal did not mean undying. His own physical immortality only meant that while  
his cells inevitably did die, they did not decay. The telomerase chains in his cells  
would replace them without fail, enabling a lifespan marked in millenia.

His blood was, of course, type O. It was his blood that cycled through Lorenz  
Keel's body, keeping the old man alert and dangerous even in his twilight years.

It was his organs that went into other humans that so carelessly abused their own  
bodies. If the world only knew that hybrids of his type were universal donors, he  
had no illusions about how eagerly they would start cloning and butchering to give  
mere men even a sliver of his potential. In fact, that was how SEELE had managed  
to convince more than several others into the conspiracy.

He was not a child. He had never been a child! _'And you, Ikari, do you really think  
you can deliver us all from this evil? You only support the world that produces such  
injustice!' _He could not lose this. He was the perfect genetic successor. Ikari was  
just the flawed accident, a mutation really, the freak performer in the evolutionary  
circus.

Kaworu felt superior for everything in his life told him that he was superior, and all  
the pain he suffered was for the benefit of those weaker who wanted to leech from  
his power.

In fact, he could even say that he ends it right where it begins; as the keymaster  
of the First Progenitor Race. Though he was sterile, he could still state that from  
his loins would come a newer, better humanity free of its crippling self-doubts and  
freakish uncertainties.

Some days he just wanted to see the world -burn-. He was far too sensible though,  
recognizing that killing everything else would just leave him with an eternity of  
sheer boredom. He would not -die-, he would never give his torturers that  
satisfaction. Humanity was -his- prize to be won, if they valued it so little then he  
would take it instead.

Only Ikari (both of them) remained to impede his goal. Tricky buggers, the both of  
them. He wondered if they realized that just as much as they united to combat his  
scenario, he was also playing them off each other.

He had always been a better long-term planner. Shinji Ikari may criticize him for  
his sadism in the short-term, or the impatience that tainted his methods, but the  
other very rarely made plans that went out further than a few weeks, a month at  
the most. This gave enough flexibility, but it required much in the way of initiative  
from those tapped to assist. It also meant that the hand-off approach had much of  
its influence in the indirect. The accumulation of power did not flow the other way.

The only reason the boy had survived so far was his tendency of making up and  
pulling off multi-layered battle plans in moments.

Pockmarks appeared in the glaring lake surface with sucking 'glorp' sounds. The  
holes were large, at least ten meters across, and deep enough that water welled  
right back up the chasm. Surprisingly, the rush of freshwater did not freeze.

_'Of -course- there's a goddamned charging station at the bottom of the lake.'_ he  
mused, scolding himself. _'They'd prepare that much.'_ Though his connection with  
the -Dominatus- was only vaguely similar to the utility of Hivemind, it did note that  
there were several million tons of water in that lake and that Ikari could do this  
latest bit of insanity functionally forever.

Kaworu debated internally whether he should fire into the deliberate weaknesses  
in the ice shield, when a geyser erupted from one of the nearby gaps. From the  
plume ejected a round frozen boulder, spinning and shedding flakes of ice.

He reacted with fluid ease, shattering that icy globe with a slash of the Trident in  
Scythe Form. "Oh, come on. This is just sad. You're reduced to throwing things at  
me now?" A part of him remembered that the underground lake was about three  
kilometers end to end and as long as he was above it Ikari could hit him from  
practically any angle from below. The -Dominatus- flicked its wing pods and let two  
ice spikes collide from opposite directions. Pressurized pillars of water fountained  
out of the holes. "An entertaining new trick, but whoa okay now spikes that makes  
more sense."

He just barely moved aside, and another globe of ice burst out of a geyser. It  
exploded into a shower of jagged shards. "And now we have exploding death  
spheres. Nice." A few scratches appeared on his armored shell. "Interesting.  
Apparently with atoms aligned so well it might was well be diamond. How DID you  
manage this?"

_'Probably with a thought like -YAR! I needs ta stab Nagisa! I needs me stabbing  
implements! But all I have is watah? Then -WATAH- I shall use!-' _"Oh screw you too,  
Ikari."

Kaworu throught it ironic that it was Shinji Ikari's inability to manipulate the AT-field  
to any great degree with his own experiments that would end up being the prime  
advantage. The boy had no AT-field of his own (if he could manipulate that, he'd  
be orange goo in moments) but he could make use of Ayanami's. It was a  
connection so intimate and intricate that even sex seemed like wan afterthought.

Those same techniques once applied to the Evangelion, helped with mental  
disciplines and split-mind coordination learned from Javaal, turned into interesting  
actualizations once linked to the monstrous power of the Evangelion.

A high-pressure jet of water somehow bent to follow him as he dogded about.  
Several other streams joined in, trying to trap in a surely very easily-escapable  
trap. It was quite pretty in its own way, the light from aboveground making little  
rainbows in the mist.

_'Ridiculous'_. It was true that necessity was the mother of invention, but as he  
floated there he mused _'at least I managed to give myself the proper tools, that  
such unlikely creativity is not necessary'. _It was just that much less stressful.  
"Come on, this is just embarrassiholycrapthat'sadragon."

The columns of water came together and out from the lunged a very recognizable  
open maw filled with rows of sharp teeth. The Dominatus had to move quickly to  
keep from being snapped into halves. Having missed, the dragon-head exploded  
into so much harmless water again.

"Ice sculptures? You're reduced to attacking me with ice sculptures now?"

Six more water pillars combined, twisting ropelike at the base and at its head a  
snapping jaw. The crackling of ice forming over the guided whip of water, like a  
skin, sounded very much like an enraged animal roar.

Hurriedly he re-formed his scythe, and cut the dragon-head in two. The bisected  
halves fell away, but a new one formed just as quickly from the liquid core. The  
-Trident Dominatus- vanished and reappeared all the way across the geofront from  
the lake.

No mere -human- should be this stupidly skilled with shaping the AT-field. It was so  
unfair! Sometimes he felt the entire universe existed just to grind his hopes into  
the dirt.

He did not consider being a mass murderer worth thinking about, since -karma-  
was just another human delusion, reaching out for the immortality they may not  
have. What mattered was social acceptability. And he was in the position to mold  
that once the last little details were ironed out. _'No fate but what we make!' _The  
old men of SEELE and their reliance of prophecy, and all the suffering he had to  
endure because of it, it was the sort of weakness he wanted to expunge from the  
world.

A massive hand broke out of the ice. The hand itself was made of ice. And as a  
-thing- that seemed more like a walking castle than anything else, if shaped  
vaguely like a man, emerged from the lake the -Dominatus- hindbrains forcefully  
reminded him '_**millions**__ of tons of water_'.

o

o

"I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN BED TODAY." said AKAGI. "THESE BOYS.  
THESE UTTER DRAMA QUEENS - THEY - JUST - DON'T - STOP!"

Makoto Hyuga did not know whether to laugh, cry, or wet his pants in terror.  
"Ahaa..." he groaned while rubbing at his eyes. "I've seen this happen. But it was  
the big bad that did it."

"Sohryu is Fire, that can't possibly be any more obvious. Why Ice? Isn't Lightning  
part of the Air element anyway?" Shigeru added with a grimace. "Ice is Ayanami's  
theme."

"AMAZING. SO EVEN A BIOTECHNOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE - CAN - GET  
HEADACHES. IT IS HARD TO OVERSTATE MY FRUSTRATION. NOW EVERYBODY  
SHUT THE HELL UP FOR A MINUTE." A series of small explosions rippled across  
Central Dogma. "OH SOMETIMES I HATE BEING RIGHT ALL THE TIME."

The main screens fizzled, but went back. Some of the views changed again to a  
different angle as the previous cameras were destroyed. "What's happening?"

"LADER DID LEAVE HARMFUL INSTRUCTIONS IN THE EVENT HE WAS DRIVEN FROM  
THE MAGI, THOUGH GIVEN HIS EGO LIKELY JUST TO BE A VINDICTIVE JERK  
RATHER THAN PRUDENT PLANNING. I'M GOING TO BE TOO BUSY TRYING TO  
CONTAIN THE DAMAGE."

"And I'll have to defend Ritsuko-sempai's physical body." Maya added, with a Bolt  
Pistol in hand. "She's just connected to the MAGI, not inside it. I can't chase after  
Gendo, sorry."

"WE DO WHAT WE MUST BECAUSE WE CAN."

"This isn't good." Misato whispered.

"EXPLAIN."

"Every defense can be breached, every barrier worn down eventually. Shinji doesn't  
have practically infinite reserves of energy like that... thing... they fought earlier.  
Being bigger just might have put him at a disadvantage." For whom did he fight a  
delaying action? "What weapons do we still have?"

"NONE ON THE GEOFRONT LEVEL. THE RETRACTED ARMAMENT BUILDINGS ARE  
NOW MANNED, AND WHILE THERE IS SOMETHING WEIRD BLOCKING THE SURFACE  
I'VE OPENED UP THE ELEVATORS AND ALL ACCESS HATCHES."

"Thanks. I want missiles and cannons ready to fire. Keep targeting systems on  
passive mode. Let's see first what Shinji's plan is. Prepare for supporting fire."

o

o

Kaworu's thoughts went more like "What magnificently overdone theft. Ikari, you  
utter cheater!"

Second only to stabbing enemies with their own body parts was Shinji Ikari's  
popularized tendency to gank and use techniques against their original users. The  
massive shape Unit 01 wore around itself was slow, unweildy, and inefficient, but  
it could shrug off damage in the same manner as his -Dominatus-.

He circled around the strange new shape of its enemy, like a fly hovering around a  
buffalo's head. The glowing blade of the Sycthe Form Tridens was several times longer  
than his -Dominatus- was tall. It left deep wounds in the hulking, ineffectually flailing  
giant. Dark waters bled out of the gap, only to quickly re-freeze.

_'The contents are meaningless.' _Kaworu figured out. _'It's the AT-field itself. If my  
Tridens is held together by the AT-field interaction between its cells, then this  
thing seems to hold together by a very definitely shaped AT-field. The ice is just  
there to show Ikari that he does have the the correct shape._'

The focus that required! This was on a completely different level to making barriers  
and pushing things into place with an AT-field. Even the improvised construction  
techniques used to rush Castle Sturmbrand into shape could not go that far. There  
were angles and curves and down to every last point, it was as if Shinji Ikari had  
convinced himself _'hey, I'm actually a monster at least twice as tall as the Eiffel  
Tower!_'

He could see it, if he just went further than the visible band in the EM spectrum. It  
sang a litany in resonance, as the AT-field flowed around caressing the invisible  
boundaries that made things real. Just like with the SEELE Beast, several Lancea  
formed points nodes where a single AT-field could be folded over and over to serve  
in layers as if generated by an army of Angels.

It stood hunched over with a large smooth hump over its shoulders, and its head  
was a scowling skull-mask jutting out of its center torso. Its left arn ended in  
large claws gauntlets and the right arm was a massive cannon of dark ice. _'I wonder  
if Ikari realizes that a Reaver Battle Titan should only really stand a bit taller than  
an upright Evangelion?'_

The arm cannon swung up, and a spray of snow ejected out side vents. There was  
loud crack, and frozen barrel shattered. The geofront shook. On the far end a large  
section of the retaining wall collapsed. Kaworu switched views from thermal to a full  
electromag scan.

_'Superconducting wires. So that's how he's doing it. And now he's just damn well  
improved a Gauss Cannon out of goddamn water and wire!'_ Ironically, for all that  
Shinji Ikari did not plan too far to allow for the unexpected and let allies proceed  
best by their own initiative and expertise, so did Kaworu refuse to make any fixed  
tactical plans against any enemy Evangelion. Angels were predictable, they would  
only adapt after the fact, if they somehow managed to survive the strike.

In much the same way that NERV expected to weather the storm of Angel attacks,  
so did Kaworu sometimes consider the Eva pilots to be as unto a force of nature.  
Sohryu's volcanic temper was obvious, and Ayanami's glacial persistence was  
known to all, but Ikari's wrath was as all-encompassing and erratic as a typhoon.

_'If you -could- predict him, you'd be insane! And while I'm rational enough to admit  
to being a sociopath at times, my remaining sanity points are too precious to waste  
on things like that.'_

Heavy Great Bolter fired shells the size of a small house (about two bedrooms and  
a bath). Somewhere inside the walking ice titan were chewed-up lumps of metal,  
concrete, and explosives, all combined into rough cylindrical slugs the size of an  
entire apartment level.

"You're never going to hit me!" Kaworu shouted. The next shot was a more  
shotgun-like spread. "You still have to point your gun where you want to aim and  
I can see that!" The third shot out burst into shower of razor-sharp knives. Kaworu  
plucked one out of the air. Actual knives. Though made of ice, it had a recognizable  
blade and handle, as if an Evangelion might decide to chop up some equally  
implausibly huge carrots.

"This sort of attention to detail is starting to go beyond what's humanly possible,  
no matter how much of a savant." Apparently the solution to the disparity in size  
and maneuverability was to literally fill the air with knives. In the distant past, a  
man collapsed and writhed as a powerful vision assailed him as he stood before the  
gates of Babylon. Kaworu frowned.

He did have one area of unchallenged expertise, however. The Reproban Lancea,  
False Lances, were all based upon -Adam's- Lancea Longini. His hybrid had all the  
qualities of the Lance, and the ability negate AT-fields was the secret to its fluid  
form.

The wing pods separated from the -Dominatus-, and dazzling white wings sprouted  
from its back. Flapping lazily, it availed of some distance while the funnel-shaped  
pods buzzed around Unit-01's reaver shell. These lashed away at the ground around  
the ice titan, making strange symbols. Though the S2 Engine did provide effectively  
infinite energy, Kaworu had to pause for a while to gather the requisite power.

The eyes of the head glowed red. If Unit 01 was supercooling the environment  
around itself, then the heat must go somewhere else. Contained and carefully  
separate from the rest of the structure, the Evangelion kept a reserve of steam.  
Secondary gun mounts were not just for show. They went active, firing explosive  
ice bullets using compressed air. The action tended to melt the channels after a  
while, but Unit-01 just sprouted replacements.

That was not static filling the main screen of NERV's Command Center. There was  
just that much flashing bitz and gubbins in the air.

There was a shrill note, and everything just -stopped-. The floating knives dropped,  
and slowly the view cleared. The ice titan struggled against multiple loops of  
glowing green chains anchored to a rotating circle around its feet, burning with  
power and symbols old as the stars themselves. Just like as with the Beast, it could  
apply no leverage to break out of the trap.

Its cannon arm poked out of the bindings. Kaworu pointed with his Trident, and  
with a yell scoured the weapon out of existence.

"Good... good." Shinji Ikari was a frightening combatant, and Gendo Ikari's name  
was synonymous with manipulative bastardiness. But it was Yui Ikari who took  
Lillith's body and figured out what makes the Great Mother tick. It was she who put  
that into the inferior copy that were the Evangelions. He could reliably plan for  
something to happen, just not the sequence leading up to it.

Ice cracked as it struggled. Unit 01's roar of frustration carried through. Its claws  
could not cut the chains. The strength of the chains were directly proportional to  
AT-field being used. It used the captive's own strength to reinforce its own trap.

No matter how much it tried to cut, chains were not something that could be  
stabbed and cut. It kept trying anyway, for it was all it knew to do.

The -Trident Dominatus- drifted closer. "Pitiful." said Kaworu. "But this was inevitable."  
Unit 01 did not have the limitless potential of Unit 02 with its S2 Engine, or Unit 00's  
second and equally-powerful source of an AT-field with its immortal pilot. It raged  
and it roared, and as far as its feral mind could recognize it had its own bloody pride.

Unit One was the -strongest- Evangelion in Neo-Tokyo-Three!

And then Unit 01 became as unto knives.

"Gyah!" The -Dominatus- was caught off-guard and was impaled through the chest.  
Fortunately, its alert roving bits blasted the offending blade and allowed it to  
retreat with frantic flapping.

It was a spiky ball of pure lethal intent. There were glowing red eyes barely  
discernible at the center of that mass. Everything else was a knife. Some of those  
knives had a serrated edges. A careful look would show that the teeth were actually  
smaller knives. There were cleavers, there were shankers, there were thin blades  
and thick blades, curved blades and long blades, fine edges and ones that looked  
as if edged flint. Not swords nor daggers nor any implement of war. Outside of the  
bindings, the blades were brittle and began to fall apart under their own weight.

Kaworu pulled out the shard from his chest and the -Dominatus'- wound closed  
up in moments. "If I had synch ratio like an Evangelion I would be dead now." he  
muttered. He looked up to see that for all Unit-01 moved like some sort of absurdly  
over-spined hedgehog, it was still very effectively trapped. He smirked. "Ikari,  
nature gives -spines- to discourage larger predators. Are you frightened? Have you  
entered that prey mentality yet? It's time to put you out of my misery."

And he slashed and Unit 01 burned. He slashed and it burned. He cut, and it bled.  
He laughed in its face as it roared, exposed again to the world that let so many  
suffer for no real purpose at all.

Each of his wing pods were in themselves complete, self-deterministic Angels, if a bit  
immature. One of them hovered close by, and with a nod from its big-eyed bug-shaped  
head conveyed '_aren't you in stabbing range again?_'

He felt a brief flash of nervous fear at the reminder, but the restraints on Unit 01 were  
quite secure. Smaller chains criss-crossed over and the larger primary bindings. The  
-Dominatus- arms lengthened out to twin prybars. It jammed the ends into the seams  
of Unit-01 chest armor and began to pull free the armor restraints.

He could hear screaming. The armor was physically bolted into the Evangelion's body,  
and pulling them open also tore out chunks from the ribs. At the absurdly high synch  
ratio necessary for these desperation tactics, he had little doubt Shinji Ikari was  
physically experiencing the Stigmata Effect of oversynchronization. He snorted. It  
was not a fatal wound. Ikari was just being a pansy.

The glow in Unit 01's eyes switched from red to white.

The Beast would never have gotten free. However, what the bindings trapped was  
not Unit 01's true body.

It was Yui Ikari who, quite willingly, decided to destroy her physical body and be  
trapped inside an Evangelion that was a pain-maddened beast at the best of times,  
just for the sake of a scenario that would perhaps kick destiny in the balls. That was  
cold ruthlessness right there.

The ice melted. The chains hung slack.

Unit 01 dropped. Kaworu Nagisa thought '_Oh, FUCK._'

o  
o

A long while ago, Misato had complained to Ritsuko about a lack of big-ass cannons  
inside the geofront. For the most part, that had been addressed. Large energy  
weapons could not be placed on the geofront's surface, because the antimatter  
guns would just poke straight through the roof should they miss. Lasers, being  
coherent light and heat, were next to useless against AT-fields. Evangelion Positron  
Rifles and Cannons were good enough, but once up to Heavy Positron Cannons it  
was just overkill. They were designed to blast through AT-fields in one or two hits,  
and unfortunately they would go through all the layers of NERV Tokyo-3 armor just  
as easily.

There were a lot of sensors looking down on the geofront surface, placed high up  
on the ceiling and walls. These ones were hardest to damage and all combined were  
the most reliable provider of internal monitoring and targeting data for the main  
screen.

If collateral damage was the problem, or the expense in making last-ditch defenses  
at the risk of lessened initial defenses, or the fact that gun ports on the surface  
had limited firing arcs that might interfere with Evangelion positioning... then why  
not have guns that can be used up on the city level AND also point down at the  
geofront level? NNHIS had a mass-production Positron Cannon midway between  
the Rifle and Heavy Cannon. Alone, they would scar the surface but at least the  
geofront's surface of packed earth was a kilometer deep before going into the  
strange material. Focused fire on one point, they could approximate a Gargant-  
scale Cannon.

Better yet, while able to engage both within and without, they were hidden AND  
secure from MAGI hacking. For such a powerful asset it did have a worrying  
tendency of shutting down when needed most.

There were also loads and loads of Heavy Bolter and Autocannon up there in  
among the Armament Buildings. There were launchers and there were mortars.

For quite a long while, Misato Katsuragi heard nothing from Shinji Ikari. Were it not  
for the readouts from life support, she would have thought he was unconscious.  
Whatever reason he had for keeping silent, hearing his voice again... shrill, and full  
of pain, had her throw caution and planning to the winds. Her boy was hurting, and  
she had enough of waiting for the proper moment to strike.

"FIRE! FIRE! OPEN UP WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!"

And then it was like standing in the rain without getting wet.

o  
o

The shapeless glob of water froze in mid-air. And then there were teeth. _'Fast!'_  
Kaworu created a small barrier, and splattered one of the heads. Two more twisted  
impossibly in mid-air and reared up to bite at his flanks. _'And they have Ice Breath!  
ICE BREATH! DAMMIT IKARI!" _He saw one of his wing pods get caught inside a cone of  
supercooled air and the poor thing instantly dropped. It shattered on the ground.

Though made of the same living metal as the -Dominatus- it would take hours, before  
it would melt back into a usable state.

_'I see. So if Ikari can separate and keep portions of my living metal frozen away, I  
will have to manufacture more cells right out of ambient mass." _It was quite clear  
that it was not -normal- ice. Anything that ice enclosed, Ikari could apparently  
telekinetically summon. The waters were faintly purplish, perhaps they had enough  
metallic salts diffused into them._ "He could whittle away at my reserves until he  
actually gets to the part which does not change- me, here, in the cockpit.' _

It was like a pearl, the controlling core within a beast with uncountable other cores,  
covered with a hard shell that was practically invulnerable. It could move around all  
throughout the body to avoid damage. Nonetheless, Kaworu did not feel perfectly  
safe.

The Beast of SEELE was brutal, terrifying in its overpowering might. This tactic  
was even more fluid, able to recover instantly, and elegant in its simplicity. _'Now how  
the hell is he doing this?'_

Where the dragon-heads intersected with Threshold Barrage attacks, they burst into  
vapor or ragged chunks of ice. No matter. The hydra could never run out of heads.  
Being made of water, burning the stumps would not help. They were relentless and  
unending.

Because Misato Katsuragi -_**was bringing the lake to the center of the battlefield**_-.  
Antimatter weapons were awesome like that.

Kaworu was in hell. It was made of bullets and beams and dragon-heads. He could  
not simply blink and begone. The writhing loops filled the sky against a backdrop of  
hostile gunfire. Airburst shape-charge artillery left fan-shaped trails and tracers  
stitched patterns in the air. A new dragon-head could form at any point, he found to  
his dismay as he formed an AT-field barrier sphere. It was covered over with solid ice  
in moments.

Kaworu pulsed his awareness, and shattered the cage. It was a hydra. A Hydra Storm.

The -Trident Dominatus- was master of the waters. ALL the waters! He would not  
abide this insult. It dropped and skimmed close to the ground, vary narrowly evading  
the torrent of attacks smashing up the landscape all around it. Its wing pods  
returned to give it that needed extra bit of agility. A dragon-head began chewing  
up the grassland right in front, and Kaworu reached out. He slapped both palms on  
the tip of its upper jawline and flipped up and over to land right between the eyes.

The -Dominatus- wings sprouted hot plasma contained within Lances and turned  
into a blur of spinning havoc, running up the neck and cutting down oddly weaponized  
ice sculptures left and right. Glittering chips and flakes began to fog up the scene.

The overhead guns shot out the frozen bridge from under it, and he burned to close  
the distance.

Time passed slowly. Kaworu watched a dragon-head fall apart before his eyes,  
stretching out a single second. _'Aha. So that's how he controls them._' At the  
center of each hydra head was a filament-thin thread of superconductive material.

'_We know how to bend LASERS, so wrapping an AT-field around a magnetic field  
shouldn't be too difficult._' The artistic flourish of an actual snake-like visage at  
the end was totally unnecessary, a spike would have done just as well, but Kaworu  
could only savor such anal-retentive attention to detail.

It was something like programming, really, in how the Lancea in close proximity to  
the Eva could serve as logic gates to produce the hydra with automatic ease.  
Attention could then be devoted to aiming the damn things.

There were so many and so close that with just a bare minimum of movement he  
dodged and made them hit each other. Of course, the cones of cold had no effect  
on other creatures of shaped ice. Kaworu had to close up under another spherical  
barrier as the spray came from all angles.

The -Dominatus- slapped a fist into its palm and expanded its AT-field. It flash-  
boiled everything around it, and almost-invisible loops of wire drifted in the wind.

Then, just a quickly turned around to slash with its Lance-Trident. There was a  
ringing slap of strange metal upon metal, and a Faux Lance activated in the form of  
a blazing sword spun up and above. The hydra were just again decoys to cover a  
single attack.

Kaworu grinned. "Like I couldn't see that one coming." And then he felt Unit 01's  
fingers digging into his eyeballs.

He continued to grin. The hydra, in the obvious sense they were snakes of ice.  
From a different perspective, they were -bridges-. They allowed Unit 01 to finally  
get up into the air to negate Nagisa's flight advantage. The Evangelion grappled  
and forced the Warborn down through frozen serpent-trails. The ice dragon, no  
longer supported by the AT-field began to break under its own weight. The two  
smashed into the ground, and were then buried under several thousand tons of ice.

Unit 01 burst out of the small mountain of the slowly-melting ice blocks, carrying  
the -Tridens Dominatus- overhead with both hands. With a baneful roar, it brought  
the enemy down sharply, cracking it over its knee.

"Yeah. Nice combo." Kaworu said blandly. "It would have worked if I actually -had a  
spine- that would break."

In a similar serpentine manner, the -Dominatus- twisted upon its shattered internal  
structure to wrap its hands around Unit 01's neck. Slowly the Evangelion's head  
began to turn.

Snikt.

Three short metal claws emerged from between Unit 01's knuckles. The Trident  
somehow managed to imply _'oh you have got to be shitting me'_ before being  
stabbed repeatedly in the face. Again.

Its wing pods unfolded out into spider-like arms all ending in stabbing points. It  
could do that one(six) better too.

Unit 01's eyes flashed. Lightning crackled between its shoulder pylons.

_'Oh. That.' _Lighning was more than just electricity, after all. It was also of the  
fourth state of matter, and the back-and-forth of how Ikari directed plasma, it was  
like a chainsaw made of raw energy. _'Not today'_.

Desperate strength enabled him to uppercut Unit 01 just under the chin, sending it  
tumbling out of the small hill. -Tridens Dominatus- pushed away tubes of ice large  
enough to , and its six eyes shone with orange glee. It bent at the waist and  
jumped. It caught the falling Lance, thrown earlier and would have impaled him  
had he remained there to take a breather.

"Is that it? Even I can see this far!" he shouted at the purple Eva, trying to push  
off the ground with shaky arms. "Just because it's not something I'd ever consider  
doing doesn't mean it's actually any practicaaaand what is that beeping noise?"

He turned to see an Eva-scale shaped-charge mine glued onto the Lance with  
a dollop of Basilisk gel (_'huh, so that's why balance felt off') _and at head-level. The  
charge went off and blew the -Dominatus- head right off its shoulders.

"GYAAAGH!" The feedback was dampened, but it hurt all the same. Kaworu  
clutched at his head and SCREAMED ORDERED DEMANDED the -Dominatus- to  
recover RIGHT NOW DAMMIT. He weaved about, as if drunk, uncaring about how  
undignified it might look compared to how the erratic movement might make it  
more difficult for the Eva to capitalize on the brief window of vulnerability.

The wing pods shortened, and like a plant bud a y-shaped tendril grew out of the  
-Dominatus- neck, the ends thickening out into the jester-cap helmet of the  
Warborn. Owlish orange eyes popped out, and frantically searched for the enemy.

All around. Up the air. Unit 01 had vanished. Not good.

"Where-!" There was a distant *poumf!* and a nearby *clink!* as Kaworu felt  
something loop and wrap around his legs. Some distance away, -Magnos Tancred-  
was sitting on its haunches, and its weight anchored the tow cable. He too had  
forgotten about Kirishima.

The Land Dreadnought did run off a Fusion Reactor, but not directly. It pumped  
energy into capacitors, which then provided the machine with motive power.  
Destroying the reactor just disabled the steady recharge whenever it was not  
moving.

An intense pulse of the AT-field told Kaworu where his nemesis perched. Up on the  
geofront wall, crouched upon the False Lancea Longini that Ikari had thrown  
-eight minutes earlier-. The Lance bent backwards like a bow, its point touching  
the wall. The Evangelion had its mouth open, as if laughing.

Kaworu felt the quantum wave collapse. He was certain. Whatever he chose; stay,  
fight or flee, or any combination thereof, he was going to get tackled full force and  
he was going to get knocked into that underground lake. He accepted it. His  
only irritation was the uncertainty, if Ikari had planned it this way all the way back  
the first exchange of blows or if it was another lucky happenstance.

With a *ping*, -Principio Eternus- brought down its own AT-field that pinned it to  
the wall. The Lance pulled itself out of the wall. The Evangelion flew at just under  
mach two. It collided with the Trident Warborn. Shinji Ikari felt his collarbones  
break from the impact. The two warmachines blew through the distance, into and  
out of one of the down armament buildings, scraped the ground, bounced up, and  
slammed into the lake. Large chunks of ice rained upon the surface.

The sound was like that of a crackling campfire, but the lake was rising. All the  
water was freezing. It was hard lump, except for a defined sphere of Absolute  
Territory where with the intense pressure it remained liquid though temperature  
was as cold as it could cpossibly get.

"nagisa" Shinji whispered though cracked, bluing lips. "it's perfect, right? it's non-  
conductive? the machine cells won't let my lightning reach you?" Unit 01's right  
arm had sunk into the enemy's chest. He showed that with the other hand, he  
held an extended Umbilical Power Cable. "... but at low enough temperatures, we  
all become superconductive."

Kaworu activated his own AT-field, floating and curling up into a ball to make sure  
he touched absolutely nothing. "Don't be an idiot, Ikari! You'll electrocute yourself  
too!" The living metal flesh of the -Dominatus- was starting to collapse into itself.  
"Don't-"

Kaworu Nagisa did not want him to die, Shinji Ikari knew this, as like that of child  
who did not want his favorite toy to be taken away. Even assuming that he was  
allowed to live out his natural lifespan, Kaworu would still instigate everpresent  
warfare and brutality, always poking and prodding and driving humanity to change or  
be destroyed. They would perhaps be strong, but they would never know peace.  
Even monstrous men such as Gendo Ikari or Lorenz Keel sought an end to pain.

_'Kaworu wants us all to love suffering, to suffer as he had suffered, and because  
he can never be whole wants man to never, ever rest and find completion in his  
life.'_

The boy was not naive enough to miss that the virtue of the grim dark future was  
of the most bloody, tyrannic regime imaginable. That was his potential too. Even  
such powerful men as Gendo and Keel could easily die with a bullet to the brain.

Here, at this moment, Shinji could at least rid the world of a monster.

He grit his teeth and let loose the lightning.

o

o

The underground lake just exploded. Icebergs the size of battleships tumbled and  
crashed. Above ground, the dark and viscous AT-field slowly faded. A hatch opened  
up and a very exhausted troop of NERV technicians emerged to helping hands and  
frantic questions. They had no words to describe the experience.

With the jamming gone, the outside world could now reconnect the commlines to  
the geofront. The very first thing they heard was the scream of a soul dying.

Misato did not want the screaming to stop, for she knew (and as she felt now) that  
the silence would be even more unbearable. It stopped, suddenly, and the silence  
was broken only by the loud thud of a spire of ice falling over.

The main screen was blank. One of the more useful camera windows showed Rei  
Ayanami firmly belted into a gurney and heavily sedated. The retrieval crew found  
her shaking in the grip a strong seizure. It was a mercy for everyone that she was  
unconscious.

"We don't... get... no s-signal from Unit 01." Satsuki said, cringing as the bearer of  
bad news.

"Watch what you say." Misato muttered tonelessly.

"We... we thought... this has happened before." Makoto added in her place. "There's  
still hope."

"How many times did we think he'd died? How many times did we LET him die? They're  
children... every time we send them out we might as well have killed them ourselves."  
Misato screamed wordlessly and pressed her palms over her face. "It doesn't matter  
how close it gets. I can't take more of this anymore."

"brzzt NERV, this is Cerberus Base, do you read? This is Yang. What happened? Is  
there anything we can do to help?"

Misato felt drained. She supposed she was still in shock. There was still the off  
chance that the pilots survived; Nagisa and Ikari's struggle sounded too bitter to  
end on such a simple note. It still did not matter. Politically dangerous or not, she  
was going to use her power as NERV's Operations Director to bludgeon the entire  
goddamn world into finding some way of fighting that did not involve blatant human  
sacrifice. War was war, but this was just torture.

Children with warped minds threatened the world. It was not right. Her hands were  
shaking. She was a soldier, she knew it was just a matter of time before she was  
hugging a cold corpse. She felt cold.

"What do you mean, no signal?" Kirishima's voice interrupted. "That can't be true.  
You must be doing something wrong!"

"T-theres no signal, that's just it. Not the pilot status readouts, not the transponders,  
it's basically just not there. The Evangelion is... gone." Or dead, as far as a cyborg  
organism could be considered deceased. Satsuki felt an odd laugh bubble up behind  
her throat. Surprisingly, it could be argued that the Evangelions were something of a  
zombie.

"If even the existence of the Evangelion can't be confimed, then... no. I will not  
offer my condolences yet." Yang's voice drifted off. "Are you sensing anything, Jed-...  
I mean, Master Pagnor?"

A gravely voice came out from the open channel to Cerberus Base's bunker. "No. There  
is something -massive-, very very old and very very powerful not quite asleep below  
our feet. I'm sorry to say it's beyond anyone's abilities, not even the best of us." He  
had felt his old teacher die from all the way across the world. Not even Yang being  
annoying could lift him from his funk.

Suddenly Makoto screamed excitedly with "There's an AT-field blip!"

It was weak. A thick fog still obscured the view all around the lake. Cameras could pick  
out a dark, Evangelion-shaped shadow limping out of the deep pit.

The field flickered and died and -Tridens Dominatus- stumbled out of the mist.

o

o

The formerly sleek white carapace was cracked and blackened. The hybrid machine  
stumbled and fell face-down into the muck. Slowly and awkwardly it tried to crawl  
away.

"... I could... I could have died." Kaworu gasped, and though he admitted it to himself  
out loud the words still held that odd, unreal quality in his ears. "I could have DIED."  
He felt like laughing. He had actually died several times in his course of service to  
SEELE. The physical pain of being torn apart, humiliated and toyed with before being  
destroyed, all those before just did not compare. Now, with that brief touch with his  
own mortality, never before had he so felt -alive-.

Shots from the remaining overhead Adaptive Armament Buildings peppered away at  
his back. He did not even bother raising an AT-field. He looked ahead to the wound  
on the NERV Pyramid's face and pointed a finger at it. A hole appeared on the tip  
of that finger, and from it a blinding white lance went into the dark gap. He moved  
that finger around, and the thin, hot positron beam carved out the insides.

"Enough of this!" he shouted into the open comms. "I've had enough. Annoy me  
further and your precious command crew will die." One of his wing pods detatched  
and went over to the widened wound in the building's side. It expanded into an  
umbrella-like shape to latched onto and over the cavity. "Katsuragi, if you're still  
alive to hear this- that is an Angel that will self-destruct with force sufficient to  
completely erase that NERV compound right off the face of the geofront. You will  
accomplish absolutely NOTHING with continued insolence."

Kaworu licked at his lips and tasted blood. He felt at his ribs. He could feel some  
of them starting to knit back together.

There was a bestial howl. Two round red eyes shone from the mist. Evangelion Unit  
One emerged, walking on four limbs like an animal. It snarled at the fallen Trident  
Warborn 03 and pounced. Like the -Dominatus-, its appearance was worn. The  
intense shock had burnt out all its reporting apparatus, no wonder they had thought  
it dead. All electronics were fried, and it moved only now by sheer instinct and  
stubbornness.

The flecked coral-white hybrid rolled over to lie on its back and kicked out, catching  
the Eva with both feet right into the jaw. As it flopped off-balance, wearily the  
-Dominatus- got back up to its feet. "Damn you, Ikari. Fall down!" Its left arm turned  
into a tube that glowed blue with energy. A blast from it staggered the Eva, but it  
pushed off the ground and returned to a crouch. "What does it take? Fall! FALL!"

He began to hammer away at the berserker Evangelion, giving it no time to react.

It grabbed at one of the -Dominatus- arms and began chewing. Like with Unit Three  
against the Angel-puppet Unit 04, the only permanent method of keeping the enemy  
from healing was to let an Eva's own digestive juices transform it to raw nutrient.

"I should probably say something dirty here about - whoops- you trying to -yikes- eat  
me, Ikari." Kaworu added, while trying to avoid even more frantic grabs at his  
Trident's body parts. "... but the thought is far too freakishly incestuous even for me."

He held up his right and and opened its palm out to the sky. With a squelch and a  
spray of living metal another replicate Lance formed. From a tight spiral cone it  
unraveled into the familiar three prongs. With a yell, he slammed it down to pin the  
Evangelion into the ground through its spine.

Ravenous and blood-man beyond pain, Unit 01 tried to lunge anyway. As it gnashed  
and clawed at the air, Kaworu clapped his palms together and them laid them onto  
the ground. A green circle formed around both giants, and glowing chains again  
bound Unit 01. There would be no escape this time. A song old as time itself echoed  
in his brain.

He formed another lance, one with a bident tip. The chains around Unit-01's neck  
pulled taut, while those around its legs forced it to its knees. Kaworu took a deep  
breath, and stabbed it right in the exposed core.

The red glow from Unit 01's eyes faded. It collapsed on its back.

Veins bulged out from the contact point. Acid steam hissed at the edges. The  
-Dominatus'- arm puffed out as if drinking with suction. Kaworu inside the cockpit  
opened his right palm in front of his face, and from a small slit in the console  
something was forcefully ejected into his grasp.

Kaworu opened his hand and smiled at the red marble. "Hel-LO, Mrs. Ikari. You've  
caused me no end of trouble." He looked around and noted that his cockpit chair had  
an ashtray. He flicked it into the container and closed the latch. "Well, that fulfills my  
obligation to the other Ikari..." he whispered.

Slowly he walked over to the Evangelion. He grabbed it by the back of the head and  
forced it up. He peeled away the faceplate, exposing the Eva's true gruesome face.  
He pressed the -Dominatus- forehead to its own, uncaring now that he was in stabbing  
or headbutting range.

_'Ikari... I will give this one last alternative. You try too hard, but ultimately you are mortal  
and you will fail. I'm the one that's immortal. How about this compromise. I will give you  
the God-Emperor that you want. I will even -let- you kill me. I will give you one final  
victory. This form will die. I will have your face. I will have your memories. You will have  
my vision. You will have my ruthlessness. _

_You've reached your limit, Ikari-kun. The Greater Good, I can limit it to -just- mankind. _

_They will have their glorious war against all other forms of life in the universe Angel or  
otherwise. They will be masters of all they survey. So how about it? I will give this final  
respect- open your mind to me, and I will turn that frail and impure shell of yours into  
a vessel truly worthy of what you wish you could be. I can't force my way into your  
memories, there's so much that can be damaged. But if you let me in, we will instead  
mix. Become one with me Ikari. And we will become the ever-watchful, ever-faithful  
guide and protector that mankind so deserves._

_I can't lie. Not here. Look into my mind. All that you are will continue. Kaworu Nagisa  
will die, it will be YOUR victory. This is the only true victory you can have! Sohryu,  
Ayanami, and the others, they will not lose you. The memories will be perfect. What  
will be cannot really be said to be your consciousness, nor mine, but a synergy more  
potent than either alone. What I can't understand, I will finally learn. The power that  
will protect your people will finally arrive._

_The alternative, is of course, to spend the rest of your days flailing away in futile  
gestures. I won't kill you, of course, but it will be even more painful and humiliating.  
I will tarnish your legend to further mine. I will let history remember you as nothing  
more than a failure, an object lesson as to what it means to be stupid enough to  
continually deny the worth of the Greater Good.  
So, how about it?'_

Kaworu was confident that the depth and intensity of his own experiences would  
overwhelm Shinji Ikari's. That he would not need to woo Sohryu all over again was a  
nice bonus. He felt the boy's mind open and-

He felt something bite at the back of his head. He turned aside to see -Magnos  
Tancred- limping on the approach. "Kirishima. Of course. I forgot." He sneered and  
one of his wing pods blasted a beam that knocked it back on its ass. He turned  
back to the task, opening his mind and -

_'How about this alternative, Mon-keigh? Why don't YOU give me YOUR FACE!'_

_'What? Gyaagh!'_

He felt the front of his mind burn. Something old and vicious clawed at the edges of  
his consciousness, but receded. A familiar warmth covered his eyes.

_'Begone. In the name of the Greater Good, your avarice will not win this day.'_

_'You dare stand in my way, -infant-? Do you even realize the destruction that you  
court?'_

_'I am known as Farsight, and I have more than enough reasons to despise the Eldar.  
I dare, old one. I dare to say your time is past. I stand here and you will go no further!'_

Kaworu staggered and let the Evangelion drop. He clutched at the side of his head.

_'Nooooo! So close! Always stopped at the threshold! Will I never be rid of this curse?'_

The voice faded. Kaworu blinked. "What was that just now?"

'_A trap. As they say, a kamikaze. Worry not, my pupil. Only you can control your own  
destiny, and have no need to steal anyone else's.'_

Unit 01 roared and reached out with both hands. Its fingers dug into the -Dominatus-  
back. Its mouth was open, and its incoherently growled out a sound similar to "WAAAA-  
AAAAAGG-"

Kaworu punched it the face and it fell down. The green glow in its core faded.

"The fu-...?"

A prog knife ejected from Unit 01's shoulder pylons. The Eva snatched it from mid-air  
and slashed. Kaworu blocked it with his left forearm. Sparks flew where the blade met  
a hastily-formed bracer.

Then, before Kaworu could consider another motion, the Evangelion dropped limp and  
lifeless again.

Unit 01's eyes glowed red. It opened its mouth and let loose a torrent of pinkish fire.  
Kaworu recoiled and began stomping on the cracked core. The Evangelion ceased  
moving again.

With a sudden jerk, Unit 01 sat back up. Kaworu was ready and jammed a blade right  
into its brain pain. The Eva's eyes glowed white, and it extended the middle fingers  
of both its hands. It then dropped, losing power.

Kaworu flicked between all forms of sight. The Evangelion was completely drained. He  
waited a minute... two minutes... five... and then dropped his stance from the ready  
posture. He wiped sweat off his brow, and tried to get his breathing back under  
control.

He looked around. Unit 01 was at his feet. Unit Zero remained a headless ruin. NERV  
was at his mercy. The violent see-saw of emotions was over. It had gone according  
to plan. In the end, brute resilience won over desperate strength. Careful preparation  
over frantic improvisation. He had done it all with his own power, his own will made  
manifest.

"This... this is it, isn't it?" he gasped, hardly to believe it. "I've done it. I've won." His  
lips twitched. "There's no one else. All objectives have been accomplished. There's no  
turning back from this." The pounding of his heart, from the ball-crushing fear of earlier,  
only intensified. "After everything, all the shit and the weirdness and the unexpected  
thrown my way, I DID IT! I beat him. I beat them all! At last!" he shouted with clear,  
triumphant laughter. "A WINNER IS ME! HAHAHAHA! IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!

I'VE WON!"

Light from above ground bounced off the frozen pillars, and the geofront's walls were  
filled by dancing butterflies of light. The -Tridens Dominatus- raised both hands and  
clenched its fists. Its faceplate cracked open and a glorious roar issued forth.

"Hraaaaaaaaaaaaaa...!" was the feral, feminine bellow in his radio. "DIEEE! KILL YOU!"

"Oh, right. Kirishima. I keep forgetting." Kaworu chuckled. It was too late. What could  
she do?

o  
o

"MOVE! KILL!" Mana Kirishima snarled and pointed with her artificial arm. "What are you  
numbnuts waiting for? Fire our weapons! Show me your moves!"

"Kirishima-san, we fired off the energy in the Positron Cannon capacitors." said  
-Tancred-'s gunner Jiro Takeda. "If we fire again, we'll be taking them from the cells  
that supply power for movement!"

"We've never had to move with a time limit before." Sgt. Nagato, the driver, added.

"A single Positron shot takes off about thirty minutes of motive power."

"So how much do we have?" The left auxiliary screen, which was supposed to show  
that information,was dark and cracked.

"Eleven minutes in reserve!" he supplied with some panic. Unlike an Evangelion, he knew  
that the Land Dreadnought could not count on some Deus Ex Machina to keep it going  
when those batteries were dry.

Mana pulled her cap over her face. She gnashed her teeth, and with a discreet flick of  
the thumb wiped away wetness from her cheek. "Forward! RAMMING SPEED!"

"Aye, comissar-captain!"

o  
o

The pointed drill in -Magnos Tancred-'s right arm was a wreck. The three core drills in  
its left arm buzzed close by the -Dominatus-' crotch.

Kaworu could just fly up to where the Trident Land Dreadnought could not reach, or  
ignore it entirely, but he was still too far into his post-battle high. He was happy as he  
had never felt before. He was inclined to be merciful. Teasing, even.

He leaned away from another blow and just shoved. -Magnos Tancred- waddled and  
waved its stubby arms to keep its balance.

"Give it up, Kirishima." Kaworu's voice was gentle. "I have endured the lightning. I have  
weathered the storm. Look at him. For all the crazy shit he pulled, he couldn't do it.  
What do you hope to accomplish?"

"GREAT JUSTICE!"

"... yeah, I'm not going to get any intelligent conversation from you. Begone." With a  
wave of his hand, and a pulse of the AT-field, the Land Dreadnaught in all its  
thousands of tons was tossed back to a tumble.

Hydraulic rams on its back stabbed into the ground, trying to force the bulky machine  
to its feet. The left lift jack snapped under the strain, and the Land Dreadnought fell.  
Mana controlled only the arms. Clumsily, -Magnos Tancred- tried to roll over face-down  
to push itself back up.

Kaworu tsk'ed and turned back.

"Don't you dare show your back to me, you bastard!" Mana hissed. With one final  
shove, the Land Dreadnought was vertical again. It spread its stance and stomped  
its feet like a sumo wrestler.

The -Dominatus- did not even bother looking back. Its stride was measured and  
confident towards the NERV Pyramid andthe primary shaft towards Terminal Dogma.  
Its machine-cells had nothing to fear from any punching and drilling that the Land  
Dreadnought could do, nor any of its guns.

"Tancred Rocket Punch!"

"We lost our Jump Jets, Kirishima-san!" reported

"I said ROCKET PUNCH, dammit!"

"Rocket punch, aye. Charges engaged, ready to fire on your mark."

Mana grinned fiercely and raised her hands. Her arms were clad in an armature  
ending in thick, wire-lined and fingerless gloves. -Magnos Tancred- followed her  
motion, and when she clenched her hands into fists, explosive bolts fired off behind  
the Land Dreadnought's bracers and separated it from the internal skeletal frame.

Propellant burned and sent the forelimbs streaking through the air on white trails.

"You cannot possibly be serious." Kaworu said numbly. He moved aside slightly away  
from the wavering flight path. "Why do you people keep on indulging Aida?"

The rocket-propelled punching drills were not exactly aerodynamic. They bobbed  
about in mid-air, turned a bit, and shot past the -Dominatus- on either side. A  
thick guide wire bumped against its torso, the two rocket punches were pulled  
into an arc that forced them to loop back and wrap tight around the lightning-  
scorched Angel hybrid.

Mana Kirishima slapped her palms together. "Tancred! Shock! COLLIDERR!" A high-  
voltage, high-ampere jolt drawn straight from the Land Dreadnought's power cells  
shot through the wire.

The -Tridens Dominatus- twitched a little bit.

Kaworu sighed. "Unit 01's Shock Collider takes the energy output of a matter/  
antimatter reaction and converts that into raw current. It goes through an AT-field  
-because- the current itself is a continuous interaction on the macroscopic scale."  
It was like being hit by raw hatred. "I'm insulated enough to try and resist -that-. Just  
throwing electricity at me does nothing."

With a flex of its arms, serrated blades appeared along the length of its torso to cut  
the wire. The -Dominatus- then grabbed the ends of the wire and pulled. -Magnos  
Tancred-, forced to step along to keep its balance, blew away the locks keeping its  
forelimbs connected to the elbow.

Now effectively armless, the man-made machine evoked an expression of puppy-like  
confusion.

"This is a waste of my time." Kaworu sighed again. It was not worth even the bother  
of killing. That would imply that any point in time it would have been a threat. If any  
of the Evangelions were still active, perhaps, as the Trident Land Dreadnought was  
specifically designed for distraction and delaying action. The fruit of man's mundane  
industry simply lacked the power to pursue any measurable form of vengeance.

"We're not done!" Mana screeched. "We're not done." There was no point anymore in  
pretending she was so hardcore that she was beyond tears. She was just then again  
a girl, watching those she loved be taken away by powers incomprehensible. Her  
parents, he friends, and now...

They were always turning their back on her. Even back at the school; be a good little  
soldier, obey orders, it was not for her to question or decide for herself. Even with  
the best of intentions, she was always left behind, to be protected or to preserve  
what little remained of her innocence.

What for? What for? _'So I can stand here all alone? Do they really think I'd be happy  
like this? That I won't want to avenge them?' _She looked back up and unhooked her  
seatbelt. "You think you can ignore me? You're looking down on me, as if my fangs  
can't reach you?" She looked towards her own crew, who nodded. They would at  
least stay to the end. "How much power do we have left?"

"Two minutes, forty seconds."

"Command override." She steepped forward to slide her boots into leg clamps. "Let's  
get it on."

The -Trident Dominatus- was already halfway to the Pyramid. Mana Kirishima took a  
deep breath.

"TANCRED HOWITZAAAH!"

The stumps of the Land Dreadnought's arms contained a cut-down artillery cannon  
with six rounds in a revolver assembly. Compared to the sheer size of the war  
machine, fitting in a custom 150mm cannon was almost no problem at all. Cheerfully  
donated by the UN ARMY were freshly-made 'Davy Crockett'-style nuclear artillery shells.

Fired off in quick succession, most just missed, but three did go right into the -Tridens  
Dominatus-' chest, and exploding to rip it right in two. The splayed halves of its torso  
flopped about as it staggered off-balance.

-Magnos Tancred- bullrushed to knock it to the ground, flamers burning to sear the  
wound. Liquid metal flowed like quicksilver. Acid dispensers popped off. The Land  
Dreadnought's 150mm tank cannon and the 40mm AA gun poked tiny holes in the mess.

Without arms, the only thing it could do was to stomp its feet.

And stomp it did.

Whump! Whump! Whump!

As the minutes ticked down into seconds. Whump!

Mana opened her mouth but no sound came out. She wiped at her eyes. She looked up  
and saw the main screen was dark. Only the emergency life support systems remained  
online.

A new head grew out from the puddle beneath the Land Dreadnought's feet. The torso  
slid back into shape. "You done?" Kaworu asked in a cold voice. "Good."

One of its arms smoothly turned into a long, piledriver tip. The hard clang bounced over  
and over inside -Magnos Tancred-'s insides. Mana looked up to see light straining in  
an open gash in the Land Dreadnought's famed thrice-thick glacis plate.

The Tridens punched through again, and Vince Nagato screamed as his control panel  
folded over and into his thighs. His knees bent to the side by ninety degrees, becoming  
just so much bloody pulp sandwiched between layers of metal.

He had been so proud when he was chosen to become part of the crew of -Magnos  
Tancred-. It was not up to the level of the Evangelion pilots, but it was nonetheless  
a position of much fame and glory. After just one combat mission, he was a Sergeant.

A few more, and as he was told the JSSDF and NNHIS was not abandoning the whole  
'Land Dreadnought' concept, the standard rank would be Master Sargeant. There was  
nothing quite like to buff up a record. Like Kirishima herself, he was a state orphan, and  
had a lifetime bent to prove himself. Through the pain his only thought was _'Why aren't  
they ejecting already?'_

Jiro Takeda was not as studious and serious as Keita Asari. He was just a minor talent,  
chosen off the rank and file rather than a product of the prestigious and secretive  
School. He was smart enough to figure out that he and Sgt. Nagato were chosen  
more for their photegenic qualities than any unproven skills. Still, it did mean there  
was less to unlearn.

The command core of the Trident Land Dreadnought was a single large escape pod with  
enough air and supplies to serve them for up to a week without pickup from pretty much  
anywhere. Should that fail however, under their seats were fast-release access chutes  
that would pull and throw them out of an internal tunnel and out the back. Twisted metal  
and the fact that -Magnos Tancred- was again lying flat on its back like a turtle meant  
no escape methods other than crawling out the gap the enemy was making would work.

He looked back and up to the commander's seat. Mana Kirishima stood rock-steady, her  
black coat open to show the wide red sash. He hated her right then, as she had decided  
to throw away their lives in a gesture of defiance. He hated himself more, as he had no  
hesitation in following her orders. What sort of person was he, to leave an excitable little  
sister figure to die sad, silent, and alone?

Jiro Takeda did not want to die. He cast his gaze around wildly, but there really was no  
way out. Kirishima was their superior officer. She was the important one. She had to live.  
No matter that they were run ragged in combat drills, even at her shoutiest and shootiest,  
it was all just so goddamned -cute-. Damn the politicians for forcing the UN to make the  
with the good publicity, and damn it; did she really have to be so dedicated to her duty?

It was the ancient compact of the fighting man, from the very first poor footslogger that  
had to fight in blind obedience to the whims of an absent general; if you must die, don't  
die alone.

"Vince!" Jiro shouted hoarsely, trying to communicate his entire plan with a glance and the  
tone of his voice.

Through blood-spattered lips, Vincent grinned and hissed "Tancred endures." He forced  
past the pain and grabbed the controls. He had to get -Magnos Tancred- at least with  
its back off the ground.

Jiro, with his legs and arms, had a more difficult task. He had to tackle Kirishima, tie her  
down to her seat, and trigger the eject. She might shoot him rather than take any  
surrender.

There was one loud, final, metal-wrenching noise and the -Tridens Dominatus- hand  
plunged into the command core. Its fingers went around Mana Kirishima. "NO!" shouted  
Jiro, grabbing at the hand and of course failing as it pulled her out of the machine.

Kaworu looked down and smirked. A strong wind had blown away her black hat, but  
Mana still looked defiant.

"That was a nasty trick." Kaworu said flippantly. "If you had done that while there was  
still an Evangelion to grapple or force me to a standstill, then likely this whole thing  
would have ended differently. How lucky for me that you Trident Machine's shock  
absorption systems are much less efficient than an LCL buffer." Unlike plug suits  
with their stimulant and emergency medical services packs, if knocked unconscious  
(as she was for a time), then the crew would have to wake up on their own.

Mana bit her lip. Those few moments of her physical weakness might have cost them  
so much. Still not strong enough.

"Any last words, Kirishima?"

She wriggled in place and managed to get her right hand loose. She pointed her Bolt  
Pistol again up at the enemy. "Shut up and die."

Kaworu laughed. This was beyond bravado. This was just stupidity. Leaving aside the  
utter inability of any human-portable Boltweapon to cause harm to his -Dominatus-,  
the effective range of a .50 cal Bolt Pistol was about 50 meters. The more compact  
(and arguably more ladylike version) she used was about 35 meters. That was barely  
arms-length for an Evangelion.

Snarling, Mana fired off a clip, and once emptied began bashing with futile rage at  
the finger holding her with the butt of her pistol. Kaworu continued to laugh. Mana  
screamed at hearing that. She pointed up with her left hand. The palm split open  
and a short gun barrel poked out. The tiny holdout needle gun flashed.

Kaworu scratched at an itch on his cheek, and his fingers returned with blood. For  
some unknown reason, a very thin scratch had appeared on his face. _'How the hell...?'_

He frowned and tightened his grip. Mana suppressed a grunt of pain. "This has ceased  
to be amusing." he said with a snarl. "Ikari! Katsuragi! If you can still hear this, any  
of you, pointless struggle just forces me to oblige the continuation of violence. There  
is nothing more that you can do. Show some sense for a change. If you people are  
really so eager to become martyrs, then I will grant you your wish."

He closed his fist.

–  
_

In fact, Shinji could hear. The entry plug was dark. He pulled again and again and  
again at the triggers. "Move. Move...! Move! Please move! Help her. Save her.  
MOVE! Someone. Anyone. Move and stop this. I'll give anything. Whatever you  
want... please."

Unit 01 remained silent. There would be no more Deus Ex Machina action from it for  
the day.

–

"There's a very strong AT-field!" Shigeru shouted, standing up in surprise. "This  
reading... pattern blue, it's off the charts!"

A twinkling mote descended from the open hole in the geofront and over the now-  
much-more narrow underground lake. It sharply changed direction, moving at  
supersonic speed and leaving a bright red trail.

Faster than an eyeblink, the thin red line went up -Tridens Dominatus- ankles,  
past its hip, up its back, and down its arm. There was faint clicking noise.

Kaworu blinked and watched the -Dominatus-' right hand disappear right off its  
wrist. As the clenched fist tumbled in mid-air, it began to fall apart in criss-  
crossing grid of red, heat-seared cuts.

Slowly, Mana opened her eyes. She was floating. She felt warm and safe. She  
was being carried bridal-style, and backlit against the sunlight streaming in from  
the surface her rescuer's long straight hair drifted out like the wings of a dark  
bird. Glowing red eyes stared down at her with unexpected concern.

The face was obviously female, and yet also familiar. Mana reached out with her  
slightly mangled biomechanical left arm to weakly touch a cheek. That expression  
was something she had seen so many times in so many, perhaps late-night dreams  
would be sufficient description. Not naked adoration, that was too unrealistic, but  
everpresent regret. The tight grasp on her shoulders and knees mean being sorry  
for being so late, and being sorry for inevitably having to let go. They all had their  
own problems, their own yearnings, but the world keeps on turning and none of  
them could make their moments last forever.

"Are you an angel?" Mana asked. Not _'shito', _messenger, or enemy and judge of  
man, but meant in the classical Hallmark sense.

Raka put her down on the grass, and smiled sadly. "I'm trying." She looked up at  
the gargantuan form of the -Tridens Dominatus- and bared her teeth. "I'm not him,  
Kirishima-san. Don't worry. He will build you a happy world. I am the Destroyer that  
removes the cancer."

The main screen showed a close-in zoom of the stranger. Unfortunately, Shinji Ikari  
was effeminate enough that it did not take a great leap of imagination to see the  
the resemblance to him being born as a girl. Raka put on large round sunglasses to  
hide the eerie demonic redglow in her eyes. She put her palms up in the air, and  
then spread her arms out to the sides. A bow of crackling blue lightning lit the air  
above her head, like a halo.

Kaworu had likewise filled the view in his central screen. "No. NononononononoNO!"  
he raved, while pointing at the small figure below. He looked towards the fallen form  
of Unit 01. "NO! Damn you, Ikari! You could not possibly have been enough of a  
paranoid lunatic to upload your memories into the ghost-dubbing machine, KILL  
Ayanami, and then wake up a clone with your memories and her abilities! And then  
wake up another clone just with Ayanami's soul in it." He wildly banged upon his  
control rods with his fist. "NO! I would have -Seen- it!"

A voice, too close by, said "You talk too much."

There was a worrying tendency, that growing bigger just did not seem to serve  
anyone. The greater the size difference between David and Goliath, the more likely  
the smaller, faster, combatant would win. In just under an hour, there was the  
SEELE Beast, then Unit 01's Ice Giant, then now- Raka ran under the shadow of  
a colossus and up and down its limbs, jumping lightly, and proving that if you were  
clinging to the -Dominatus- when it teleports, it would bring you along apparently.

Kaworu took pride in his self-control and making others comply without ever giving  
them a hint of his thoughts. He was just on the verge of going berseker as he  
swatted and sliced at something that crawled all over his body. He was just as likely  
to slice off his own limbs that way.

Only Shinji Ikari could infuriate him that much, and a weakness he did not want  
exposed was that when he was angry, Kaworu indeed got chatty.

He felt a tingle and realized she was trying to saw the -Dominatus- head off with  
her (his?) bare hands. Kaworu roared and pulsed his AT-field. A small flickering red  
sphere floated off and bounced off the ground.

"Hahh. Haaah..." Kaworu breathed heavily. His pulse pounded through his veins. _'So  
this is what Ikari feels. This is the state of desperation where he pulls off his miracles.'  
_Its AT-field was at least as strong as his own. He knew just how much personal power  
he possessed. It would be like fighting himself, and with all the unpredictable qualities of  
|Ikari's soul. "Impossible. But it all makes sense now. No wonder you gathered support  
ridiculously quickly. How did you ferret out so much of SEELE's resources? I pointed the  
way to some of those, for I have my own reasons of working against my makers, but  
the rest of it...? You conniving sonofabitch!

You set YOURSELF as the decoy! While we were looking at your handwaving and  
grandstanding, someone must have been working all this time in the shadows. I  
-should- have Seen this. The only reason it would have escaped my notice would be  
if it happened BEFORE I attained the ability to peruse the lines of probability. Oh,  
bravo. All the lessons I was teaching you, so you've already learned the ruthless  
practical applications." _'He was making a fool of me all this time. Laughing inside!'_

"You are my equal. You're actually dangerous after all. Looks like it can't be helped  
after all. This entire cty must die." He cackled and run his hands through his white hair.  
"This puts all my plans into jeopardy. Haha... congratulations?" Burn in hell.

Raka landed in a half-crouch. She looked over to Unit 01, whose eyes glowed brighter  
for a moment. "Sure, let's go with that." two voices said at the same time. "Nagisa.  
DON'T look behind you."

"Guh!" He was trapped and he knew it. What other ludicrous miracle turn-around would  
Ikari pull this time? Of course, it could be just a ruse. On the other hand, he knew that  
they knew that he knew that the knew that he would think that. They could be brutally  
honest knowing that he would have to think it over whether he could trust his own worst  
enemy to give advice that would serve his own interests. On the face of it, of course  
they -should- be lying. But it was too damn obvious, that as they were the enemies that  
he could see it would be most illogical to take his eyes away from them. Therefore it was  
the best time to get attacked from the back. Look or don't look. He screamed. Damn him!  
Damn THEM!

He turned around quickly. There was no one there. "Of course." he sighed.

Kaworu turned the -Dominatus-' head back only to get an extremely close-in view of  
a slim fist. Kaworu winced from the feedback as the protective eyecap was broken  
through. The resistance against enemy AT-field only applied from the outside. A focused  
blast of the AT-field hollowed out and blasted away what serve as the -Dominatus-' brains  
and central control organs out the back of its head.

Raka was wearing a backpack when she arrived. She tossed that into the hole and with  
a graceful backflip, pushed away.

A directed N2 mine ripped the Dominatus open from neck to crotch. Kaworu was knocked  
around his cockpit, but otherwise unharmed. He no longer even bothered to touch the  
controls. With his AT-field alone, he commanded the very machine shells to reshape.

"No. I can't- it won't end like this!" he shouted. There was a hollow bang, and then a  
ripping noise. Kaworu put his hands up to block the glare of sunlight.

Sunlight?

"Hello meatling." said Raka, pulling open the Core-like shell around the -Dominatus-'  
cockpit.

"I WON'T LET IT!" Kaworu shouted, putting his weight on his elbows and kicking her in the  
face.

The Tridens dropped and rolled and its living metal twisted back into a roughly humanoid  
shape. "No... " he grimaced, while clutching at his chest over his heart. It hurt. "Why?  
I tried... I tried so hard. Why is it that nothing I do ever really works? I tried to limit the  
destruction to the necessary, to account for every possibility. God damn it all, I even  
deliberately went out to become a precognitive just to make sure! Why? It's not fair! I  
know the universe is supposed to be indifferent, but this... this is just cruel. Why? I TRY  
SO HARD. I never gave up!" He was almost in tears. His blood felt like boiling. His  
AT-field sung with his rage. "… why?" His voice dropped into a whisper. "why doesn't  
anyone like me?"

Even Raka looked askance at that question. His plan to get Sohryu out of Tokyo-3 was  
to cut a swath through Europe. For the rest of it, Kaworu Nagisa applied the Golden Rule  
to an exacting, if utterly psychotic, degree. "Do unto others as you would have them do  
unto you." she spat. "I suppose you think compared to how you've suffered, that much  
spread over so many is still a little sacrifice."

"The burden of one man is light upon a thousand. What's a little pain now for a thousand  
years of peace and prosperity beyond their ability to imagine?"

"The excuse of tyrants and self-indulgent dictators everywhere." Another voice overlaid  
hers. "You messed with value of free will, Nagisa. This we do not forget. We do not  
forgive."

It was an ugly feeling. He had the power to crush thousands, millions, with a mere  
wave of his hand. He knew the feeling of those insignificant creatures when facing  
someone of vast and incomprehensible power- and he had sworn never to feel that  
again. Not since the day when he was introduced to a creature appropriately known as  
Farsight. As much as he rejoiced in battle that confirmed his existence, when titans  
clash they reshape the world. There was no joy in being denied the chance to see the  
world he had so painfully chipped out of unspoken fate.

"Hraaaagh!" Kaworu stamped his hands and the -Dominatus- pushed back to its feet.  
"NO! I will not be beaten, not like this! Not right now!" He looked around wildly, then  
down. Almost reverently the Trident Warborn bent down to stroke the ground. "I see.  
I see. I've done what was asked of me... it's almost complete!" He looked up sharply  
and sneered. "Soon I will be invincible!"

Raka palmed her face. "For a supposed mastermind, you just keep on piling on these  
self-inflicted injuries."

The -Trident Dominatus-' wing pods detached, and each of them picked a target. The  
one still on the Pyramid's face shone blinking red light into the command center, from  
its glowing insectoid eyes. It was joined by another claming down on the opposite side.  
Another wrapped itself around Unit 01's head, while one more slammed into the hatch  
nearest the headless Unit 00. It disgorged hundreds of blowing blue spheres that burst  
into purple-fleshed, quill-headed, snarling vorehounds. More went up and out the hole  
in the geofront to harry NNHIS and all the rest. They were also an annoyance that can  
no longer be tolerated.

"There's something coming out!" reported one of the lieutenants in Cerberus base. Mere  
seconds later, there was a flash on the main screen and the entire complex shook.  
The bunker was deep underground protected by layers of steel and reinforced  
concrete. It took several blasts before the two Angel pods, chirping at each other  
with oddly cute grasshopper heads, decided to plunge straight down.

Rock and dust exploded from above, and everyone ducked for cover. A long proboscis  
slid through the cracks and towards a chair off behind the commander's seat.

Caught entirely by surprise, Yang screamed like a little girl. He fell backwards off his  
chair, and rolled. The former admiral rolled for a few feet, and in a smooth motion  
unfolded into a ready, if deceptively woozy stance.

Born the son of a Hong Kong stuntman, yes, Yang Wen-li did know some kung-fu.  
To be precise, Drunken Boxing. He looked embarrassed.

Lama Pagnor unslung his spear and sighed. It fit too damn well. The Angel proboscis  
thickened and spat out glowing white orbs. Ah. _'Finally, something we can handle.'_

_–_

"These are Angels on their own, Ikari!" Kaworu shouted, gesturing emphatically. "They  
will now self-destruct and destroy anything around them with a force more than  
equivalent to any N2 mine in your arsenal. Can you save all of them, Ikari?" he  
laughed maniacally "I know you will try! You have forty seconds!"

With that said, the -Dominatus-' left arm turned into a blaster again, and he shot off  
a nearby Evangelion access pad. He dropped down the opened shaft and into the  
main Evangelion cages. Bakelite only filled the corridors, Eva-scale doors and tunnels  
were far too large to affect. There was nothing, underground in inside Central Dogma,  
that could even slow him down.

Pulling up memories of the geofront's layout from LADER's activities, he tore through  
towards Terminal Dogma. Twenty seconds in he heard the distant rumble of several  
large explosions. He smirked.

–  
_

Layers upon layers of armor plating caved in like so much wet paper. The -Tridens  
Dominatus- had the qualities of the so-named Lance of Longinius, a First Ancestral  
Race artifact with the power to subdue even a godlike being as the Great Mother  
Beings such as Adam and Lillith. If they were sent out as mere terraforming tools,  
to encourage life in the universe that the Ancestors so loved, then how much more  
mind-bogglingly powerful the makers would have been! The knowledge that such  
glories lay out there, while he was trapped in a frail mortal shell, it brought Kaworu  
Nagisa pain and little mercy for the selfish, small-minded foibles of mankind.

His entire existence was desolation. In another time and place, perhaps, he could  
have decided to end it, should he encounter a soul so beautiful in its despair that  
he would not be able to destroy it; for such was the only thing to do with perfection.

He fell for kilometers, and splashed down upon a lake of LCL. Above was a domed  
cavern adorned by swirling galaxies spinning slowly in the dark expanse of space.  
Ordinarily, he would have found it curious. Was it map? Was it projected up there  
somehow, or were the walls themselves lined with chromatopores like an octopus'  
skin? Lillith's vessel was supposed to be identical to Adam's own. That one was  
lost in the fires of his aborted rebirth in Second Impact.

It would only be sensible to know all about it before destroying it. The frightening  
thing about the number 'one' is that it could become two. No matter what it was,  
in the vastness of the universe, and given enough time, it could and would happen  
again. Inevitably he would find another like it- and what with all the craziness this  
one brought about, no way in hell would he allow himself to experience that a  
second time.

_'Ikari must die.'_ he decided with some regret. It was too dangerous to let the  
conflict continue to escalate. It had crossed the line from amusing test of his own  
self-worth to gratuitous frontstabbery. _'Silver lining to this, now that I know Ikari  
has his own set of clones, if ever I feel too bored I might make and set loose a  
copy now and then. My single remaining link to the past.' _

He laughed bitterly. _'Perhaps these thoughts should be left for when I've actually  
won.'_ Mentally he reviewed his plans, all of them had been correct, all of them had  
accomplished the goals he had set, and yet all of them were just a delaying action  
against the torrent. The tempest. What had he done wrong?

He pulled out several coiled Tridents from the body of the Dominatus  
_'I have no weaknesses. Not even arrogance. That's what contingency plans are for!'  
_He still lived. He had not won, but not yet, not ever, had he lost anything of any  
real importance.

There, on a small island in a lake of her blood, was the crucified and impaled form  
of Lillith's physical presence. The puffy and fishflesh-white creature looked dead, were  
it not for continuous stream of LCL running down the cross, and the little twitching  
bundles of shapely human legs growing in place of the amputated limbs used to  
grow and repair Unit 01.

The part of him that was Adam sneered. How the mighty had fallen. More important  
was the so-called Lance of Longinius still impaling it over the heart. He went over  
and grabbed it. His -Dominatus- was an Angel born of Adam. It was, actually, all  
that remained of Zeruel. Any contact whatsoever with Lillith's flesh would cause an  
immediate runaway Impact event. Very carefully he pulled the device free. Bloated  
legs suddenly grew out, driving into the LCL with a splash.

It was disappointing. He had expected some sort of magical connection, a feeling of  
rightness, for it was a tool equal to Adam in every way. It was this very same tool  
that sealed off Adam when it lost to Lillith so long ago. No, 'tool' was too crude a  
word; even more ignorant than how other just throught of it as a weapon. It was  
knowledge in solid form. Without it, no life-giving star would ever break out of its  
crystal sphere.

_'The key, the very core program created by the First Ancestral Race. As self-  
replicating terraforming agents, Adam did not merely prepare a world with the first  
organic compounds, but had shaped a star into being, molded an entire solar system,  
and then by accident or deliberate manipulation had it stolen from all Her when She  
had already spent most of Her power.' _the memories flowed in the back of his mind.  
'_Mine again_.'

He looked around. "Ikari, where are you?"

"Here." a voice crackled in his comms.

Kaworu turned to see Gendo Ikari standing with his hands in his pockets at the head of  
a rusty balcony. The man held a large military radio to his head. "Do you have what I  
require?"

Kaworu pulled out the red marble. "I do."

"Give it to me."

"It occurs to me that you have more to lose here than I, -_**Rokubungi**_-." Kaworu  
answered while holding up the miniature core at eye level. "You say you know how  
to unlock the abilities of this Lance. I can have eons to unravel its mysteries myself.  
You cannot even hope to control your son, not now, not after how much I've gone  
and enraged him... so bargaining with you for safety is pointless. I have exit plans  
of my own." He closed his hand over the stone. "Frankly, this object is of little value  
to me, and there is more satisfaction in knowing it was denied you."

Gendo grit his teeth. "You pick a poor time to renegotiate, Nagisa."

"Perhaps. But you have far more to lose than I have to gain. I know Adam was  
transported here. I can still sense Her, vaguely. Where is Adam?"

"Is that your final answer?"

"I have decided, yes. Don't even -try- to waste my time, Ikari."

Gendo pushed his glasses up with his left hand. He then held out that hand to show a  
large veiny eye filling his palm. "Adam is... disappointed. Stand down, Nagisa."

Kaworu laughed loudly. "Seriously? You thought you could control me with that?" The  
eye on Gendo Ikari's palm blinked. "I seek to -destroy- Adam. She had no hold over  
me."

Gendo continued to hold up his hand, as if trying to ward away even a spear that  
could piece even the strongest shield.

The -Tridens Dominatus- loomed over the man. "You have just made it more convenient  
for me. Die, Ikari." Kaworu hefted the Lance and stabbed down.

The ginormous bident halted, stuck immovable in Gendo Ikari's grip with the tip just  
mere inches from his jugular. His eyeglasses glinted as if to say '_so I heard you like to  
conserve momentum?'_.

"... yeah. I should have kept on referring to you as Rokubungi." Kaworu muttered in  
a dejected tone.

Gendo smirked. "It is fun to be so theatrical, isn't it? But it's too easy to get sucked  
into the role." He pushed, and the Lance moved. Its coils flapped open, like gills of a  
fish. "Do I really need to say, your overconfidence is your weakness?"

"Well, I'd love to say 'your faith in friends are yours', but you don't really have ANY  
of that, do you?" Kaworu grimaced. _'I should have Seen this happen. Why didn't I  
sense it when we... last... met?'_ The -Dominatus- helpfully dug through his memory to  
supply the image. Gendo in Switzerland. A tall, white-beared Javaali always stood  
nearby. Gendo inside the jet. His gloves were -purple-, not white. Laced with psi-  
pre-infused Wraithbone. "You only left Japan again when your son arrived." he added  
in a stunned whisper. "You had -assistants-. Am I.. in a scenario?"

"Humans have AT-fields as well, you told me that, Nagisa." Gendo said with another  
smirk. "If Adam and Lillith are identical, then why is it that we '_lillim_' have instead such  
useless, even self-harming fields of absolute territory?"

_'Because you're -inferior-!'_ Kaworu wanted to say. However, he knew it was not that  
simple, no matter how squishy was each individual human. If Angels could be said to  
have taken the Fruit of the Flower of Life, then the Lillim had the Fruit of the Tree of  
Knowledge. He hefted the True Lancea Longini. It was no mere accident that Lillith's  
Lance was missing.

_'Why is it that human fields are turned inwards? What keep them separate? It is no  
mere coincidence that psychics and the Lance all have the same propery of piercing  
or negating an AT-field.' _Kaworu snarled. "No. No more random reversals. Remember, Ikari-  
I still hold your wife in my hand."

Gendo brought his hands together, in the shape more popularly known as the 'Vulcan  
salute', to look up at the -Dominatus- through two diamonds formed in the gap between  
his finger. He winced. Cracking and squishing noises issued forth, and his torso heaved.  
From out his black shirt emerged a large eye open from rib to abdomen.

"**Nagisa. Kneel.**" he said in a voice rippling with power.

The hybrid screamed in rage as the -Tridens Dominatus- dropped to one knee. He pulled  
controls, but felt strength leave his arms.

"**Your wish has been fulfilled.**" said Gendo, as the swirling galaxies all around blinked.  
Eyes with red pupils bulged out of the cosmos. "**Adam IS dead. The chain of fate is  
broken. Now, complete your obligation.**"

"Damn you... all of you."

"**Now, come here.**"

A red marble floated up and slid through the living metal flesh of the -Dominatus- as if it  
was liquid. It shot through the distance until it stooped right over the eye in Gendo's palm.  
It dropped slowly, entering the retina with a ripple of the gel-like substance. Gendo did  
not even bother to look satisfied.

The Tridents all fired up the Terminal Dogma shaft. The -Dominatus- remained kneeling.  
Kawou stared down at his hands, his expression dry of any emotion.

A returning red beam blasted out of the shaft, blowing away LCL into a small tsunami that  
washed over the -Dominatus-. Gendo lowered his hand, and his AT-field umbrella flickered  
off. "Nagisa, you have your Lance. Take it and go."

Kaworu looked up. "You can -not- seriously expect me to believe you're going to fight a  
delaying action for me. Of all people... -you-?"

"Of course not. I am not an idiot. I have no intention of fighting." Gendo answered with  
a dismissive wave. "**This is an order. Go.**"

"That dramatic echo is going to get tiresome really quickly..." Kaworu muttered some  
more. Listlessly he stood up and turned on a signal.

–

Drifting in otherspace, what remained of the Earth's Cradle was a hollow black sphere  
only about quarter of a kilometer across. Packed inside were hundreds of thousands  
of people, each contained in small transparent globes about the size of a fist. The  
globs of organic material contained all that was necesary to rebuild a new body  
complete with all memories just prior to dissolution.

Sarah Campbell paced around the cramped command center. There were only six  
conscious people in the craft. She supposed that shedding off the great bulk of the  
Earth's Cradle just made it more efficient. They could linger for longer in this strange  
warped space. With less mass to move, their transit range was also much greater.

They were no longer trapped by the well of gravity, and the thought that consumed  
them was '_why stay?_'. The solar system no longer had anything to offer them.

The deceptive defeat and diminishing of their powers would buy them enough time  
to get far enough away to where they could build up their strength on their own  
terms. Sarah looked around. Everyone wanted to leave. Some of them in fear of  
reprisal or the lingering guilt.

She flicked her night-black hair. Not one of them dared to say 'move'. Martin Arthur  
Bettelheim was dead. Nagisa had promised not to bring him back, if ever he failed in  
his test of strength. Even LADER was kept frozen, his memories and his ego held in  
stasis. As the last of the chosen, she had less mercy than anyone.

She smiled viciously. She was the dependable one.

A distinctive beeping caught everyone's attention. "He's signalling! Prepare to drop  
out of time-space warp!" She forced her will upon the Hivemind, and all the myriad  
consciousness within it parted before her, as schools of small fish gave way to the  
great shark. "Bring us to Tokyo-Three!"

–

A dark shape shot down into Terminal Dogma at terminal velocity. It slammed into  
the LCL lake, and the ambient heat of its intense AT-field boiled away the liquid  
before it. -Principio Eternus- roared. At the tip of its broken horn stood a teenage  
girl in dark clothes, her long hair billowing around her like wings of a black bird. She  
stood with her arms crossed and a grin on her face.

Her eyes narrowed at seeing who else was there. "You!" she snarled, pointing with  
her finger. Unit 01 pointed with its finger.

"Huh. This was not in the scenario." It was not unexpected however. He and the boy  
were only temporary allies, and of course they held the truth of their plans from each  
other. "**GO!**" Gendo opened his palm out towards Lillith, and a red beam lanced out  
from the eye in it. The strange nine-eyed mask cracked, and acrid smoke hissed  
through from the gaps.

Unit 01 stumbled in its full-on charge and pressed its hands to its face. Raka  
screamed, performing the same motion. The invisible threads of tangible energy that  
she used to control the Evangelion, like a puppet on strings or Unit 04 by Leleil,  
snapped one by one. The Eva faceslid through the lake.

Kaworu clutched the Lance of Longinus and sucked in a breath. The -Dominatus-  
shuddered, and vanished.

Gendo looked at his handiwork and nodded with satisfaction. He melted into the  
shadows.

–

Alarms rang over what remained of the command centers. High above the city, a  
black pearl emerged in a crack-boom of displaced air.

There was a flicker, and -Tridens Dominatus- reappeared several kilometers in  
the air. "Don't lower your entanglement field yet!" he shouted up at it. That region  
of altered space denied teleportation.

Unit 01 appeared out of nowhere. A false Lance in a two-handed grip hummed,  
and it swung an energy blade much longer and larger than it was tall at him.

Kaworu blocked just barely with the Lance. The True Lance was not evil, so the  
sword could not cleave right through it. Unit 01 pulled back for another slash. He  
was not sure that would have worked. A worse scenario would have been, due to  
the nature of the Lance to cancel out AT-fields, the blade would have been cut  
and the shorter end slicing him open from neck to groin.

"-ONBOLT!" he heard over the commlink. The blade was made of the same stuff  
that was in Ikari's lightning. A zone of voltage. Just ludicrous. He could almost feel  
his brain dribbling out his ears.. _'Oh Lords. I've got to get out of here.' _Lightning  
stretched across clear sky.

Then, like a breeze on a hot summer's day, he felt the Lance respond to his need.

All it took was a touch, and everything returned to the void from which they  
sprung. Unit 01 seized up in mid-air, and fell as several thousand tons of monstrous  
machinery in the vengeful grip of gravity.

It struck hard, scraping off the side of Mount Hakone, and continued to tumble  
down the slops. Trees did nothing to slow it down. Its limbs were ripped out of its  
sockets, its neck twisted as several times over the full weight of the Eva was  
driven into those few bones. Finally it reached the highway, and the cracking of  
concrete hid ir from view. A scar visible over from the ocean fleet was all that was  
left.

-Tridens Dominatus- vanished.

It reappeared deep inside the Shadow Moon. Grips and lines plunged into its flesh to  
welcome its consciousness back into the Hivemind and a restful slumber. Kaworu was  
sucked into the living metal and spat out in the middle of the control center.

He coughed and weakly tried to stand up. He failed. Sarah offered her shoulder for  
support. "How are you, Nagisa?" she asked, a faint tinge of concern in her voice. He  
was obviously not all right.

"Let's... let's go. We're done here. Get-"

The control center was a pearly white, in stark contract to the night black of its  
shell. Even there however, there were shadows. The lights flickered for a moment  
and Gendo Ikari stepped out without any fanfare. He looked arrogant as ever, and  
stalked through the strange command center as if it was NERV itself.

"You will not leave." he said blandly. "There is one more act before this farce is  
complete."

Sarah Campbell clenched her teeth. What Martin and her had... it was something akin  
to love but also its utter opposite. But it was Nagisa who had given her purpose. To  
many in the Cradle, he was the outcast that let them look beyond shadows in the  
cave. She was -not human-. How she longed to just leap and feel this impudent fool's  
blood slicking between her fingers.

"A tactical withdrawal..." Kaworu gasped weakly.

Gendo nodded.

"Nagisa. We don't have to do this." Sarah looked up and very slightly frowned. "Go  
away. Or I'll kill you." Her fingernails were starting to lengthen.

The lights dimmed again, and the Earth's Sphere tilted to the side. The feeling of  
losing weight... they were dropping! The Hivemind frantically tried to recover power  
and ALONE! ALONE! WHERE ARE THE OTHERS? OH GOD ITS SO COld why

The lights returned.

"**I have no more patience for ignorant children.**" said Gendo. He gestured and out  
from the floor flowed into a being a table and an office chair. He flicked his hand up  
and the ceiling retracted to allow a small raised dais, like the rise for a throne. Stairs  
appeared along the side. He walked up to it, and very deliberately placed his left  
palm on the table surface. "**You all belong to me now. Do you understand this?**"

_'No! No! Nononono! I won't! Not again, never never -'_ He roared and bowed his head.  
The realization filled him with horror. SEELE's power was broken. Tokyo-3 was left  
defenseless, all its Evangelions out of commission. And he...

Kaworu let go of Sarah's shoulder and slumped defeated to both knees. "Yes." The  
Hivemind was screaming. "Yes, my Master."

He was a slave again.

The black sphere vanished back into space between reality. It left behind devastation  
and souls permanently scarred. Physical gods battled for supremacy, with every blow  
chipping away at history.

Through it all, only Gendo Ikari could be said to have accomplished -anything-. He  
sat, put his elbows on the table, and smirked. And never once did he break a sweat.

–

–

end The Coming Storm Part Four

* * *

–

Ah crap, looks like it's been a month again since the update. My apologies for the long roundabout writing, but it's starting to be clear that I made several horrendous mistakes all through writing this story. Foremost is that the earlier chapters? Not long enough. There's a bunch of things that I should have foreshadowed all the way back in the first chapter. There were some hints, but apparently far too little or too obscure. There's a line in there that I've been waiting for months to finally be able to write. The setup for it goes all the way back to the first arc.

This chapter is really about Kaworu Nagisa (with a bit of contrast between those powerless on the ground). In canon Eva, he remained until the end a listless tool; and the only decision he could make for himself was how to die. It could perhaps be an interesting story as to how he rose from that into the viciously manipulative player we see in the story. Ah, another regret, a story that should have been told. However, it's time-consuming enough to make a more or less straightforward narrative, relying on the implicit rather than the explicit for the illusion of depth. I mean, gah. There's so much I want to go back and fix, but if I do that this story's never going to get finished. How many other fanfics have been pulled for rewriting only to end up as a deadfic? This is no gem of literature anyway, so please forgive if I wallow in mediocrity a bit. Perhaps it's selfish, seeking for that 'writerly high' in just getting that project done. This isn't the only thing I have running, though it is the first, so there's also a bit of guilt in juggling obligations.

I really should have released this insight into his motivations much earlier. Now, Gendo's maneuver reads even to me to come out right of left field. Unfortunately given how long this chapter had dragged on, clarifications will have to come in the next chapter. Sorry.

Still having a little trouble with separators.

o

o

[]

wooo

o

One thing I've noticed that wasn't worked into the fic was that according to the TV show, Gendo went back to Antarctica to get the Lance. However, when Rei in Unit 00 pulled that out of Lillith to kill Arael, Lillith's amputated legs grew back quickly. Now, that may imply two things:

a) Lillith had those legs amputated for repairs and regeneration for the Eva. Once 'separate', the flesh may be 'neutral' and can be formed or infused into usable organs despite that most other Evangelions are made from Adam's cells.

or

b) the Lance of Longinius somehow 'reboot'ed Lillith in preparation for the Red Earth Ceremony, and thus while impaling Lillith it suppressed the physical body's regeneration once away it rapidly recovered.

LCL is Lillith's menstrual fluid anyway, so in either case the lake of LCL has a steady source for what goes into the Evangelions' veins.

Oh, it's been pointed out that the Angel who supposedly helped David defeat Goliath was _Zeruel_. An interesting coincidence. :D


	44. Chapter 43: Tumbling Down part1

**Tumbling Down**

part1

o

o

o

o

o

o

TOKYO3 (AP) - A devastating sequence of attacks by Evangelion-class  
machines leaves Neo Tokyo-3 crippled. Twelve units identified as the  
'Mass Production' series assaulted NERV for purposes still unknown. The  
MP Evas were turned back by concentrated effort from Eva Units 00, 01,  
the Trident LD "Magnos Tancred", and the Kaworu Nagisa's 'Tridens  
Dominatus'. The leader of the Earth's Cradle, whose forces were still  
holding Europe at the time, helped to defeat a monstrous combination  
of 12 MP Evangelions. Quickly afterwards, Nagisa attacked NERV's forces  
and put down Eva Unit Zero and 'Magnos Tancred'. Unit 01 and the  
'Dominatus' battled for 47 minutes, and despite wild applications of the  
AT-field Unit 01 was defeated. Nagisa was forced to retreat by the  
arrival of an unknown female teenager with Angel powers.

The battles have been confirmed to coincide with Eva Unit 03's assault on  
the Earth's Cradle. All Evangelion-class assets in Tokyo-3 require week of  
repair. With no Anti-Angel effective defense available, Tokyo-3 and the UN  
has declared a total emergency lockdown of the city. Sohryu and Unit 02,  
having successfully defeated the Earth's Cradle in Europe, have yet to  
make their way back.

Gendo Ikari was reported to have abandoned his post just prior to the  
attack and remains missing. A full inquiry has been called for NERV's in the  
attack. The UN has expressed extreme desire to know the source of twelve  
Evangelions with the S2 Engine, and the link between Shinji Ikari and the  
unknown teenagegirl with the reportedly strongest AT-field ever detected.

o

o

o

o

The Shadow Moon hung in nothingness, in the boundary between illusion and reality. It contained the last functional Angel core and an S2 Engine to match. The Angel known as Leliel, able to live as a mathematical concept, lent the Moon the ability to survive out of phase with the universe. The Shadow Moon was larger on the inside than the outside, and did not need to spin just to give its occupants the comforting illusion of gravity. This was a place where the laws as men knew them no longer applied.

All inside this broken piece of the Cradle were linked to each other through the Hive-mind gestalt, intuitively knowing how each person's talents were needed, and what new freedoms they could experience. Many slept, in dreaming rewarded for their that moved to repair and and awaken new powers of the Shadow Moon were just waiting for the inevitable moment of their return. As long as they lived, they were not defeated.

The Gestalt thought like a human still, in thousands of discordant voices. Failure shame hatred regret fear blame blame blame surged through the tides of opinion. United in goals, but each convinced of the rightness of their calculation; it would be like individual processors in a massive array picking and choosing which to calculate. But there was a core of purpose there, that soared.

I AM EGRET.

White wings flapped and tall legs picked through a placid pool.

LADER, DER ADLER, WAS A REFLECTION OF OUR PRIDE. WE SOARED TOO QUICKLY AND TOO HIGH AND LIKE ICARUS WE FELL.

A sense of vengeful glee surged through the communal consciousness.

LET US STAND TALL EVEN AMONG THE MUCK.

A slim young teenage girl walked upon the surface of the waters towards the white bird picking at the shallow waters.

THERE ARE THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE US TO REJECT NAGISA'S AUTHORITY.

Sarah Campbell nodded. "But without Nagisa, we would not have become as we are."

GRATITUDE IS FINE. BUT NAGISA IS STILL FLESH AND A LITTLE SOMETHING ELSE. HIS PLANS PROVE THAT HE ISN'T REALLY THAT SMART, NOT AS MUCH AS ALL OF US.

The bird looked towards a cage hanging in a tree by the shore. A wounded eagle shrieked from within the bronze bars.

The girl smirked. "The ones who failed have the loudest voice."

At the water's edge, a brown puppy yapped angrily. She took out a dog biscuit and tossed it over her shoulder. The treat landed neaby the puppy. That only inreased its puppy rage. It yapped even louder, then after a while skipped to eat the treat. Its tail wagged happily. Then back to angry yapping.

"The Queen may be supreme in the Hive, but also its greatest servant. We're not bound by biological limits anymore, but do we still understand... honor?"

WE UNDERSTAND HATE.

"Do we deserve our freedom?"

WE DESIRE VENGEANCE.

"Will we allow ourselves to be that vulnerable again?"

KICK THE BASTARD'S TEETH IN.

And thus Sarah's attention returned to her physical body. Kaworu Nagisa was showing Gendo Ikari around the Shadow Moon, the very core of what had once been the Earth's Cradle. It was a perfectly usable Space Seed.

Kaworu wanted to get angry, but felt drained of all emotions and all strength. The problem with having perfect recall was knowing where he'd done everything right and yet it all still went so horribly wrong. It was as if the universe could not allow him any victory, and that just made no sense. The universe was too big, too loud, it could not be anything but impersonal. Even Shinji Ikari, or Gendo Ikari, should not have the power to affect that. He'd tried so hard, and now he was completely exhausted.

"As you can see, our cloning facilities are more than up to the task." Kaworu said with a nonchalant smile. He couldn't change his physical form, but he could adapt. He'd trained himself to be good at that. "You have your wife's soul. We can prepare a vessel no problem." His AT-field was compacted so much the air crackled with his every gesture.

She wanted to tell him; you are not alone.

The Hivemind was a gestalt of incomparable intelligence. While LADER did all the obvious schemes to garner attention, the rest realized that in sharing his cells with them all Nagisa was forcibly making himself an extended family. Because of the Angel Cells, their Unity was bound by their new master, but they sought to unravel no mysteries from him.

Nagisa looked up challengingly. His expression conveyed _'See how hollow your victory is'_.

Gendo Ikari stared down at the red marble in his left hand then at the gray-haired boy. He smirked. "As always, Nagisa. You are just too damn predictable." The former commander of NERV crushed the extracted Core between his fingers.

Despite himself, Kaworu dropped to his knees to pick up the fragments. "What? What for did you...?"

"The problem with you, Nagisa, is that you keep on doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result."

Kaworu grit his teeth. Impossible. Gendo Ikari would not throw away Yui Ikari just like that. Unless...

"How many more permutations of Ikari would torment me?" he hissed. He pressed his fists into the floor, for he was sure that he'd lunge out for the throat like some mindless animal if he let himself. Then, in a lower tone of voice, he added "I figured it out at last. You've done all of this before, haven't you, you bastard?"

=**][**=

=**][**=

Schloss Friedenstein was the centerpiece of the town of Gotha. The town in itself was a charming place, with few buildings taller than five stories. That charm was now scarred by the effort of trying to make the picturesque streets even slightly defensible, and the sheer nightmare of trying to repel attacks that ignored the limits of the flesh and the machine.

Jonathan Thresh whistled as the convoy approached the old fortress. "You boys really held on for hours in this?"

Beside him was Colonel Schaft, still the commanding officer of the Gotha special exclusion zone. His decision to take the offer of surrender was deemed the most logical course of action in a very bad situation; it was just that there were other things going on that he did not know about. He had plenty of sense, but just not enough faith. "A horrible defensive position, but the soldiers managed. Without the help of the Psykana, it would have been impossible." he had to admit.

The Prime Minister nodded. "I was rescued by them, you know." It was why he'd arrived well ahead of the rest of EUROSOC.

Schaft sighed. "It's still better if we don't need them at all."

He got a heavy grunt as an answer. Whole populations were gone, towns erased as if they had never existed, and Thresh was not the only one to lose family to the Cradle's temptations. To defeat the Earth's Cradle so quickly, so decisively, it didn't seem enough. The root of the problem managed to escape. It didn't seem fair. Someone had to pay. Someone had to take the blame, to suffer and eat the pain of those left behind.

Sohryu was a hero, of course. Jonathan Thresh was amused that they weren't already calling her Kaiserin. A new Diet was hastily being assembled. People clung to the very last vestiges of their normal lives, the delusion of living in a world where gods did not walk.

The German liason looked far too relaxed for someone whose entire military was superseded by one girl.

"What's Langley-Sohryu like?" the Prime Minister asked.

"The girl eats lightning and spits out volcanoes. She can kick you in the face three times before you can blink and her growl makes tigers lose their stripes." the officer replied with a sniff. "What the hell do you think?"

Thresh laughed. "I heard that at least Sohryu is more even-tempered than Ikari." he added idly.

A short while later they both burst out laughing.

In much the same way that nuclear isotopes had even, predictable rates of decay unless triggered. A fifteen-year old teenage girl. The most difficult thing would be to somehow NOT do or say something that would piss her off.

He looked beyond the curve of the hill to Gotha's rail yards, directly south of the castle Friedenstein. Without the threat of the Cradle, most of the civilians trapped in the haphazardly-emplaced refugee camp had returned to their homes. The rails were the lifeline to the rest of Europe, and now a constant influx of men and materiel conspired to further ruin the picturesque nature of the scenery.

Although, he had to admit, in some ways it still reminded him of a theme park of some sort. Scorched dragon bones and mechanical dinosaurs littered the grounds, and there were literal pyramids formed out of broken tanks. And, of course, there was the obvious touch of the unreal, that weird shadow.

He turned looked beyond that old fortress. Not that it would really make much difference. The hulking shape of Luftschloss Sturmbrand loomed in the farmlands to the east. Like a wounded whale, the tepellin lay on its side, scrap metal from all over Europe were being collected to repair its hull. Parts of Chinese transport ships were being fed into a smelter. The exotic AT-field techniques to rush-construct Sturmbrand in the first place could not be repeated. First, because Unit 02's S2 Engine had the all-important task of recharging the capacitors. Second, because Yamagishi lacked the fine control of the AT-field the task required. It would come with practice, but mistakes would waste too much time.

=**][**=

Inside, a certain red-haired girl had that as her enemy. Time. Not fissile materials; those were good friends, loyal tools. "Three days are unaceptable! Do you have any idea how stupidly vulnerable Tokyo-3 is right now? I've got the only functional Evangelion in the whole damn planet-..."

"Um... Unit Four exists..." Mayumi Yamagishi said from the other side of the room. She was, of course, ignored.

" - and the more you delay, the more we risk human extinction! Are you sure you want that on your conscience?" Asuka finished, slamming her palms down on the table for emphasis. She had since changed into civilian clothes, and had since been using Castle Freidenstein as NERV's makeshift European Command Center. The dining room had many LCD screens and projects obscuring the richly-decorated walls.

It was all so incredibly crass. Asuka so far was excusing herself that they wouldn't be doing it for too long.

NERV did set up a bivoac nearby Castle Sturmbrand, however the people of Gotha just wouldn't accept Sohryu sleeping in some dingy tent or cold berth. Asuka wasn't stupid. Sleep in the rooms of royalty or refuse it out of some affectation of egalitarianism? Hell with that. She would allow herself to be pampered.

_'This isn't worth it.' _she affirmed to herself, clenching her fists. Nagisa was still out there, and this was no goddamn vacation. "Whatever the hell it takes! NERV can just pay it back later. That is, if there's still a planet with banks in it!"

Donald Thompson shrank from Asuka's tirade. However, 2nd Lt. Raizo Tomoki, the Nia Teppelin's Chief Engineer, was an old NNHIS hand and was well experienced in dealing with unrealistic expectations. "With all due respect, Sohryu-san, there just isn't any way to get the frame rebuilt any faster. Evangelion 'flight' is much faster

than any form of conventional flight, but you know it takes more energy than just what the S2 Engine provides."

"And Europe's already giving you nine hours out of every day off the power grid." Donald added.

"Even if you ask for all the power in Europe, there's only so much the capacitors can take at any one time. We've already hit the limit." Raizo Tomoki concluded.

Asuka groaned and collapsed back onto the plush chair. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the flight paths on the screens. The left side of the room showed among a bank of monitors a slowly spinning globe, while a projector on the other side showed a flat world map. Both had two lines; one blue, one green. The blue line showed their progress from Tokyo-3, through the Pacific, stopping briefly at NERV Boston, then onwards towards Europe. The green line showed a direct route from Germany to the Japan overland through Asia.

"So, that's it? No matter which route we take, we just can't lift off without a full charge?"

"We lost thirty percent of our power capacity." said Tomoki. "Nothing less than a careful eye on power reserves will suffice for the overland route. There is safety in taking the ocean route, we can recharge again using NERV America's Base, but it makes no difference."

Asuka scowled further. Going from Japan to Germany the first time was done in just over two days. It was a good thing the sheer feeling of speed and godlike power distorted perceptions of time, or it would have been too boring to keep up an AT-field for hours on end. Exhausting, too.

Castle Sturmbrand was basically big hollow tube. It was bouyant. When tired, Asuka could rest for a while, the tepellin bobbing along the ocean and sailing along with its jets. Now they had two Evangelions to trade off the AT-field used for propulsion, but any mistake through the overland route would slam them right into the Taklamakan or the Himalayas. And then Asuka would have to goddamn WALK the rest of the way because no one else Castle Sturmbrand could survive that.

Asuke pouted. Okay, maybe Hamagishi, but her battery power would last for maybe a day or two even with a power tether between the Evas. It would take her weeks to get back.

"And the overland route?"

"A little under nine hours."

"So either we set off NOW, and it's going to take a couple of days just to get back to Tokyo Three, or I wait three days and try to sprint back in one uninterrupted flight." Shit. Of course Nagisa put priority to taking out Evangelion-carrier aircraft.

"Hai." If they run low in mid-flight, they'd have to land and try to recharge off her S2 Engine anyway, which too would take up even more valuable time.

She put her forehead on the table. "Okay. If there's no avoiding it. Get the hell out." She was a pilot. She had no idea what the hell it'd take to put the dumpy craft back together again, and had to trust their estimates.

The two engineers saluted and left. Asuka looked up dully. "So, what's next?"

Mayumi Hamagishi adjusted her glasses and glanced at the schedule. With most of the heavy hauling done, there was surprisingly little left for the pilot of a god-machine

to do, other than try to keep out of the way. "You have a meeting with the European Security Committee in fifteen minutes, ma'am."

Asuka groaned piteously. And "I already told you- we're colleagues! Don't call me that!"

"Um... okay. Sorry. Asuka." Acting as a secretary got her out from underfoot, soothed her feelings of redundance and allowed her to soak up Sohryu's raw confidence. It was also starting to become clear that a large part of Sohryu's dominating vibe through social situations was the irritation from having to go through them in the first place.

"Damn, that's eerie. Are you sure you're not related to Ikari?" Asuka licked her lips. "You're so damn meek I'm seriously worried if you're not going to Hulk Out and start smashing us all."

"Uh... I don't think you need to worry about that." She just wished she could be so free and disdainful of the consequences. Fortunately, she had a clear example of where being too careless about the awesome may lead. It was better to stand aside than be saddled with bureaucracy.

Of course, if she really really didn't care about what may happen, just like the other pilots, she supposed she could just YAMAGISHI SMASH! through it anyway. She looked thoughtful.

Oh, who was she kidding; she sighed to herself. She couldn't rebuild herself to a person who cared for nothing but the thrill of battle so easily.

=**][**=

=**][**=

Meanwhile, back at Tokyo Three, it was once again time for Recovery and Damage Assessment Phase. Repairs alone for the Evangelion could bankrupt a small country, and the mission kill of two Evangelions, one Trident Land Dreadnought, and the DA1-0H assault frame could bite out a large chunk even out of the World Bank. In one day, NERV racked up enough collateral damage to eat allocations for the next eight months.

More critical than the damage to the site and machinery was the status of the pilots. All of them were hospitalized. To little surprise, Mana Kirishima was the first to wake up. Her injuries were to her body.

It was a very somber assembly that met for her debriefing. Emotionless, she reported her perspective of the recent battle. Statements such as _'We grappled __with the enemy and reduced their mission effectiveness by greviously damaging enemy control structures'_ served to recount smashing MP Evangelion heads together into a pulpy mass while shouting _'TANCRED SYMMETRICAL SMAAASH!'._

Once finished, she asked, in a very tiny voice "Sir, may I ask... how are repairs going to the Land Dreadnought?"

Colonel Nasuno and Shiro Tokita glanced at each other and winced. Their looks dueled as to who should answer first. In the end, the NNHIS chief had to say "... Tancred took damage straight to the Fusion reactor. The arms have to be replaced on the whole. But the core... we can't repair that sort of damage."

"Why not?"

"We're not NERV, Kirishima-san. Our budget isn't even a quarter of theirs, and a lot of that is made up by how NERV buys its conventional weapons systems from UN channels. With the Evas out of commission, they have much stronger priority in terms of funding and materials." He shook his head sadly. "We might even have to scrap Tancred's armor just to quickly replace the Evangelions' armor."

"But..." Mana bit her lip. She was tough; she shouted silently. She would not cry. "I... we... Tancred can fight even without armor. Tancred can run on batteries the same way Evangelion do...!"

"I'm sorry, Kirishima."

"... please."

Tokita hmm'ed. "There is something... wait, no. Great Tancred as it is, is done for. The Land Dreadnought will be scrapped for components to quickly rebuild the Evangelions. We're grateful for all your efforts, but only something with an AT-field can protect Tokyo-3. We've come this far with the knowledge we're just here for support. This is just another way we can fulfill our obligation."

"Understood, sir. We serve in every way we're able." Mana saluted, and reached for her hat. She put it over her head, tipping the brim down to cover her face, and said nothing further.

-][-

Later, Shiro Tokita and Kensuke Aida looked down at a large, tarp-covered form inside the NNHIS main hangar. "This is tremendously unfair to Kirishima."

The operations chief shook his head sadly. "She can't defend this city without a a burning heart."

"Preferably one with a sustained output of 200 megawatts, say?"

Both sighed sadly. Too bad, but with the world as it was, the possibility of being granted even more power was moving farther out to shore. The UN might consider funding if they were to turn against NERV, maybe, but loyalty cut both ways. Now it seemed this was a flower that would never bloom.

**=][=**

******=][=**  


Yang was a teacher. Whatever his former reputation, it would be very very bad if he were caught with a schoolgirl in his bed. It was midnight and there was one in his bed, straddling him. She was fully clothed, he was in his pajamas, and there was a blanket between them. That just made it all the more frightening.

"We meet at last, Yang-sensei." the girl said with a thin smile. "It's odd, Ikari-kun trusts you above even his own biological father. Not that it's hard to understand... but we're not stupid enough to believe you're doing this out of pure altruism."

Yang took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm. If there was anything that living in Tokyo-3 taught him, it was a healthy respect for the lethality of what seemed to be young teenage girls. Dammit Japan. "Pleased to meet you too. Why are you here?"

The girl's eyes blazed red and unconsciously she touched the bridge of her nose. "I thought it was about time we -talked-."

=**][**=

=**][**=

Wing Ye was seventeen years old. Like many of those in the People's Army, he had dim memories of Impact. Older soldiers and officers could speak of the horrors of starvation or the savagery of the scattered People's Army. The degenerate, vicious hordes that preyed upon the people they were supposed to protect, and then cold, almost inhuman tide that swept all resistance before it. Training was roughly the same, the equipment identical. There was only one difference between the two pieces of the fragmented old Army.

Yang Wen-li. The man who dared win land battles as an Admiral by sailing Destroyers up the flooding Yangtze and tempting enemies into range. Nothing but a tide, a merciless tsunami, could describe his walk through China. Chairman Mao had the **_'Long March'_,** Yang had his _'**Great Wave'**_. Wing Ye deeply envied those who were old enough to live through living history.

Wing Ye remembered his father, being brought to the town center on charges of hoarding. At the time the penalty was public execution. It was the 2006, and Yang's first year as Chairman, and he was moving through China retracing his steps backwards to check the switch from imposed military rule to more self-contained civilian governance. It was just luck that Yang was passing through the village at the time.

"A man's life is not worth a sack of rice." Yang said. Wing Ye had expected to see a giant, or someone unmistakably heroic, but Yang reminded most people of a sleepy Jackie Chan. Completely unimpressive. His voice was soft in intonation, as if he was chatting with old school friends in a noodle house. "Every person of age has consumed many sacks of rice. With just the strength of the arms, one can till the ground or carry water to let grow many more than that. A man has the power to give back to the nation far more than the life granted as a gift under Heaven."

There were six accused. Four were to be taken to break new ground at the frontier instead; not all that bad a fate. It was good government work, while they themselves would never rise beyond mere farmers, their children would go to free government schools and have a better chance at life. The two who were executed were the merchants behind the scheme.

China opened up to capitalism, China industrialized rapidly; at cost of pollution and worker safety. China thrived in taking risks. Chairman Yang stepped down and retreated into obscurity.

People remembered the basic nature of his policies though: no matter what those in power might think is good for the nation, you DO NOT fuck with the food supply. That was the shortcut to making Yang angry.

Wing Ye was a sergeant in the 316th Mobile Artillery. He was raised in a government house, ate government food, studied under a state-sponsored school. As the tanks rolled down the One Korean highway, he supposed his life wasn't too bad. He could have turned out just another wife-beating drunkard. Maybe. Maybe not. A soldier had to use his strength to serve the people, for among the professions under Heaven it was war that kept on consuming, rather than producing.

In the dim orange interior lights he saw that the other young soldiers were likewise too keyed-up to try and sleep, the uncomfortable seats and bumpy suspension of their ride aside. Yang hated -waste-. He had done good for China. Almost everyone from peasant to corporate patriarch remembered Yang's reign with fondness. It was a simpler time, back then.

The young soldier did not know enough English to read western publications, though under Yang's China they were more openly available. Had he read TIME Magazine's Person of the Year edition though, he would have agreed whole-heartedly with the commentary. Yang's China was more -_efficient_- than before. It was nowhere even near a democracy. Yang was good -_for_- China, but his lack of the obvious vices aside, even he did not consider himself a good person. Or even -_nice_- most of the time. Only as a teacher, freed from responsibility, could he have turned into the ludicrously tolerant and lazy figure that lounged around Tokyo-3.

Yang had called. Young Wing Ye's excitement was echoed by the upper echelons of the People's Armed Forces. Was it true? Had he decided to return to his true self? Even the crustiest old general felt near giggling like a schooboy. Undefeated of the East, Master of Asia. Officially it was independent action of the People's Council, but if Yang suggested nothing less than overwhelming power, then there had to be good reason for it.

=**][**=

=**][**=

That was the thing that struck people about Tokyo-3. It was too quiet. The noise of industrial and military vehicles, repairs and new infrastructure, these filled the air, and yet - the air was still, and people even in the safety of their homes clad themselves in tangible silence.

It was not defeat. There was no need for propaganda to sugar-coat the situation, since every breath they made was proof enough. Survival was the only measure. They thought they'd grown used to it, laughing at how others from out-of-town saw their willingness to stay as sheer suicidal madness.

It was close. It was damn close. The people kept paying for it in whatever means they could. No one raised any protest, but from the shopkeeper to the soldier, the same look tended to flash across their faces.

_'What can we do? What's going to happen to us now?'_

Gendo Ikari had skedaddled off to join the Cradle. The Evangelion pilots were still unconscious. Most of the hard anti-Angel defenses were slagged. NERV was gutted thoroughly, and the worldwide political situation...

Just thinking about it could make Yang wince. Tokyo-2 and the Diet tried to bluster their way through the media, but it was quite clear they had no idea what to do either. No one did.

He laughed. "The JSSDF has a snowball's chance in hell of trying to take over NERV's mandate. Nor, Colonel, I must say," he turned towards Cerberus Base's commander. "...do they have any right to order us to do -anything-. UNIG is here for oversight and support, we can't replace NERV in terms of fighting against Angels and existential threats."

Colonel Nasuno still looked grim. Yang turned away from the sight of NNHIS under sunset. Floodlights were switching on with hard snaps, ready to turn the night into day, for NNHIS service crews worked 24/7. The conventional military served little more than a speedbump against alien intrusion, but engineers were literally the very lifeblood of the Fortress City.

"That's not what you wanted to ask though, is it?" the former admiral asked.

The two were walking towards the main gate, obligated to attend a political dinner at a sumptous Kyoto-2 hotel. "The Japanese government can't order us to in... but this is the best time to take control of NERV, isn't it?"

As before, it mattered little which one. "Not UNIG, no, but then we're only one regiment." Yang smiled thinly. "A three-headed beast- Japanese infantry, Russian and Chinese armor, and American air and navy support." He searched for the Big Dipper in the sky. "Let me ask you the question instead: do you feel that it's treason to stand against the military of your own country?"

The soldier grimaced. "Dammit, Yang. Look at it from my point of view. I didn't ask for this! What would you do?"

"It's a question of loyalty, isn't it? Only you can answer that."

"My men... even if we fight, the rest of the JSSDF can just bury us under the weight of numbers. But Yang, it's no secret that your Army is massing hundreds of thousands of troops at the coastal ports. What are you planning?"

Yang grimaced. The price of his intervention in the Korean debacle was the use of several North Korean ports. Starving refugees had flooded into Manchuria, but that was more or less all right, since they needed the manpower anyway.

Then, in 2004, taking advantage of the international funding for Project E and the need to shift the massive amounts of metal and equipment necessary for Evangelion construction, Yang ordered the creation of a new fleet-handling facilities facing the Sea of Japan. This allowed for easier access to the rare earths needed for the layering of Evangelion plate, and to protect the balance of power among those sharing the Northern Resource Area. Such action could possible been treated as belligerent, but Yang had made clear that China respected the thousands of nukes that the Russia still had, and it was a more refined reflection of Vladivostok anyway.

Yang considered the end of mass starvations as his crowning glory during his period of martial law. Before he stepped down from power and back into obscurity, his was a well-motivated army backed by well-fed industrial base. Now almost a million men were gathered around Manchuria and Korea. Almost another million more were waiting near the Yellow Sea. More were moving. They were being drawn from as far as the Indian border.

And now, of course, the UN NAVY deployed to cover various 'possibilities'. Submarines were thick around the Sea of Japan. Boomers, nuclear ICBM-carrying submarines from all nations involved, barely even tried to hide themselves. Everything was pointed at Tokyo-3. Now though, assets had to redeploy to consider if they should halt the painfully obvious preparations for sea invasion.

Colonel Nasuno wondered when he'd grown comfortable enough to just call Yang Wen-li without any honorifics, as if he was just any old comrade. He felt vaguely protective, even. Yang, even at thirty-eight, looked like a magnet for bullies. It was no secret he was being pushed around by teenage girls.

This shoddy-looking man turned the PLA Navy from its second-rate reach with a modernization program harshly interrupted by Impact, into one that held responsibility for the Asian 'Grand Line'. This was the line of trade and communication extending from the Sea of Aden, past Sri Lanka, down through the Straits of Malacca, through the Gulf of , into the Sea of Japan, and out grazing Sakhalin. Only the UN NAVY itself could rival the PLA Navy on the whole (since Russia had to split its own forces between the North and East Seas and previous rival navies lacked the resources for rapid rebuilding), even if still with the conscious decision not to use carriers.

Yang was a devotee of missile saturation to overcome air patrol screens and antimissile defenses. So many foreign ships around and within range of the shore batteries - did he intend for this to happen? In one stroke, Admiral Yang could -end- any other claim for the oceans of the world for the forseeable future.

Only nuclear deterrence was standing in the way of that, maybe, but then every nuke not aimed at Tokyo-3 might be that last bit needed to break through a monster's AT-field. No one really knew just how strong AT-fields could get.

Yang in his mind saw the Pacific and little tiles representing fleets and submarines. The nations of the world were emptying their stocks, all heading to the Pacific, as if it was time for the final battle between good and evil.

He huffed. Now what the hell makes them think that? They're leaving themselves all defenseless, as if Tokyo-3 was some sort of hellmouth from which the dread host will spring. Nagisa already spanked them all for that imprudence.

"Don't rush me. You'd get shoddy miracles..."

"But this is messed up, Yang. We can't do it. We're not strong enough on our own. But if you fucking send your people over the gulf, it's war. You'll see there where my loyalty stands. No Chinese Army will ever set foot on the Home Islands."

"Hmm. If the writing on the wall is THAT obvious, doesn't this paint your own government in an unflattering light? So what do you want to do? Just stand here and die?"

"I don't know. I just..." He exhaled heavily. "This is really messed up. I shouldn't be waiting for a boy to make up my mind for me."

Yang nodded. It was actually fairly disturbing. He looked up again at the sky and pulled on his coat. The lights, no matter how bright, seemed bleaker somehow. The city was colder. Dull and lifeless. Even he felt sluggish and blandly disinterested in his own fate.

=**][**=

=**][**=

Misato Katsuragi had problems, but unfortunately Ritsuko Akagi, her primary problem-solver, was one of them. Privately she pulled aside Doctor Hiroshi Sakamoto, most prestigious brain surgeon from Kyoto-2.

"So? How's Ritsuko?"

The doctor winced. "This is totally unprecedented. There are superconductor bundles laced all the way into her prefrontal lobes. By all rights, she should be in a coma, if not crippled for life. In many ways, she still is... but the nerve signals that should go to her spine are instead transmitted to the exoframe she's wearing."

Misato nodded. Some idiots tried to get her to take it off. Maya Ibuki kneed them in the groin, one after the other. Only Misato, as NERV's de facto commander, had the authority to decide if Ritsuko Akagi was really fit enough to for duty. As NERV's own primary scientific director and the planet's only expert on xenogenetics, Ritsuko had gone ahead and declared herself still at her full capacities.

"The human brain is a delicate instrument!" Dr. Sakamoto insisted, laying his palms down on Misato's desk. "It's not meant to be messed with like that. At any moment, Akagi's lobes could fry itself. For god's sake, she's running DC straight into her own brain just to stimulate feedback! There are connections there that nature never intended or the product any research or testing! With all due respect, how could you trust the judgement of someone like that? Her condition... she should be resting and her brain structure studied, instead of being pushed into responsibility."

"If she says she can handle it, then I trust her."

The specialist looked in pain trying to keep himself from shouting out _'Are you an idiot? Didn't you just hear what I said?' _He took a deep breath an adjusted his collar. _'Don't you understand? Her so-called 'cure' was an apotoxin designed to burn out cells faster than a mindworm could assimilate them! She suffered the predictable result: the scarring of her own nervous system! And then somehow she sidesteps decades of research and cobbles together a neural interface out of nothing!' _

What irked him most was not that how so close it seemed to sheer luck or magic, since he'd come to accept that scientific progress rested upon the examination and understanding of strange data, not the rejection of results to favor the hypothesis; but if it had been -planned- somehow.

It was taken for granted the NERV was hoarding technology they think the world may not be ready to accept or handle, however foolish and futile such an effort may be. It was only the demands of war that kept people from inquiring too much. It was far too convenient.

Where DID Nagisa get the idea for that? All the flailing about looking for a cure or to prevent puppetry, it could all have been just a ruse. It was occuring to people that Nagisa started off with the EXACT SAME means and resources, the precisely similar knowledge base, as did NERV.

"It is my professional opinion that Akagi is NOT fit to return to duty. As a duly authorized inspector by the Japanese government-"

"... which means nothing to me, since this is a UN operation."

"This is a medical situation! The risks... this is just simple prudence. I can go over your head for this, Katsuragi! Even I know Akagi is too valuable to lose."

"We need Ritsuko, we need her to get the pilots out of their own comas. If you think you can get the kids out of it...?"

The brain specialist shook his head.

"Then thanks, but get out. We've got work to do." Misato smirked slightly, hunching over behind her desk and looping her fingers together. She dared him to threaten her again with political repercussions.

Dr. Sakamoto grit his teeth. "Then why am I even here? I shouldn't even have bothered. You... people... just keep on doing what you want no matter what." He spat out the word _'people'_, as if meaning something completely opposite.

"You are -excused-, Doctor." Misato replied tonelessly. "Thank you for your time."

All this bleating about Third Impact; he closed his eyes and sucked in his breath. The prospect their 'victory', that risk forever closed to humanity, the world raised a monster to beat a monster. Would it really, that easily, go back into the cage?

As the man from Kyoto walked off muttering, Misato let out a heavy sigh and leaned against the wall. This resentment between NERV Tokyo-3 and the rest of the country's been bubbling for a while. For all that those coming to work in the Fortress City seemed to be baptized by battle into fervent industry, it seemed like it was sucking in goodwill from around the Kanto region. Probably because Tokyo-3 was sucking up its economy and working population.

Without the boy to speak and kind of deflect the attention, people were starting to look at the numbers. The opinion of one more influential voice in the scientific community might burst the balance. What was making this rise to the surface now?

Oh, right. Misato pushed off the wall and began to walk towards the medical level. Mousy little Maya Ibuki picked a fine time to unveil her psychotic-protective side and semi-randomly go around kneeing people in the groin.

She was a soldier, dammit, not a diplomat, not a conciliator. The old man was better at it, but he was guilty, guilty, guilty - no way in hell could he have held on for so long if ignorant of Gendo Ikari's plans. Misato knew she was safe from being replaced - the pilots trusted her, and their voices mattered more than any penny-pinching bureaucrat. But the pilots... were silent now. Ikari and Ayanami were still under, and Sohryu was too far away.

Only Akagi could speak now for strategic and logistical concerns; all Katsuragi needed to worry about was to use the tools provided to their most effective extent. But she first needed to have those tools.

Misato tsk'ed. She'd been avoiding Ritsuko. True, the scientist had willingly allowed herself to be kept in medical confinement and Misato had to deal with the political fallout- but surely she could have blown off some meetings just to see if enough of her friend remained in there.

Seeing Ritsuko after the battle scared her. A pillar of strength and a mind beyond peer; that was Akagi's role in NERV. Her delightful madness, AKAGI's boasts were similar yet much more amusing than LADER's. Unplugged from the MAGI, the blonde looked so lost, so frail. Her brown eyes stared out at the world in hate.

Misato cursed her own cowardice. It was something in the mind, she knew it was out of her depths... she hesitated going over there to ask if her old friend was all right. It was Maya who stood nearby, she could understand what really plagued Akagi.

Ibuki had changed too. She looked cold, ferocious, and pitiless. Misato felt like she was standing on the side of a river, watching everyone else float by. She still felt the same  
way, wanting to protect them all, but without the power or the smarts to do it.

Ritsuko Solved Problems. Misato was starting to find herself as one of those problems. Maybe there were those who liked having her as the bedrock of familiarity, but she was sick of running along the banks. Eventually they would go around a bend she might not be able to follow.

If only they would give her a problem that could be solved by punching or shooting something or someone! Or, and here she snicked slightly and in irony, maybe a drinking contest.

=**][**=

Was it just her, or were the lights really getting weaker the closer she got to Ritsuko's room? She got an entire wing of the hospital to herself, and Misato shivered under the eerie silence. She didn't believe in ghosts and grudges, but Tokyo-3 had seen enough horrors and deaths to support making a horror movie script someday.

But, in contrast with the gloom outside, Ritsuko's room was well-lit. The blonde was sitting up on her bed and working with a laptop. "Hey! Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Misato asked in what she hoped was a friendly enough tone.

Ritsuko took off her glasses and sighed. "Oh. It's you." There was a subtle whirring noise with her every movement. "And I am resting. That's why I'm lying down here rather than moving the lab. "Hmf. I suppose I should thank you for having some of my equipment moved down here."

Misato waved and smiled. "Um... yeah. So. How are you doing?"

Ritsuko gestured around. "More bored than anything, really. I just never noticed until just how... slow... we live." She turned her attention back to her computer. "I suppose it's a matter of perspective. Ennui is the greatest enemy of immortals."

Misato just nodded. "That's a plugsuit, isn't it?" The hospital gown could not fully cover the shiny black suit, and there was something about the slick form-fitting lines, when combined with the soft green cloth, that seemed positively indecent. Misato quirked her lips in an odd smile. "Did you just happen to have an adult-sized plugsuit lying around, or...?"

A plugsuit, with its environment controls, was like bondage leather that breathes. One could wear one semi-comfortably for days; that was how they were designed. There were also the uncomfortable insertion points for the plumbing. Ritsuko's bland look was overflowing with unspoken sarcasm.

Misato laughed weakly, the one to be embarrassed instead. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm sure you've already gotten a report from Sakamoto and his ilk."

"They're not exactly helpful. You're not being helpful. Come on, Rits-chan. We're friends, aren't we? I just want to know if you're okay." Misato rubbed the nape of her neck. "Um. Doesn't that... hurt?"

Ritsuko turned around slightly to show the cabling attached firmly to the back of her skull. "No, it doesn't. The brain itself doesn't really feel, but if you must know, there is this sensation, it's heavy. That's why this..." she touched the overlapping plates running down the back of her suit. "is fixed into my spinal column. An armature and exoframe reinforces my spine and bypasses muscle control. In some ways, this is more efficient than trying to repair my nerves bundles. I don't have to do open surgery into my arms, if I can just manipulate them from the outside. It's based on the technology we used in rebuilding Kirishima's arm, so I still get some feeling even through the suit."

Misato looked pained. "Ritsuko... I'm sorry..."

"Why? You had nothing to do with this."

"You're controlling your own body like it's a puppet. That's... not right. Who did this to you? It was Gendo wasn't it? He betrayed us to join the Cradle!"

Cold amusement graced Ritsuko's face. "Hah. That presupposes he had any loyalty to us in the first place. NERV was that man's tool, not vice versa. I pity instead that band of pompous little misfits." She shook her head. "No- I did this to myself. It's better than dying, in any case."

"Ritsuko, is this really it? You're going to wear that for the rest of your life? I can't forgive him." Fighting for humanity's sake was one thing, but this was personal now. She wanted to protect her Children, but as young gods striding the battlefield in their engines of destruction, there was only so much she could do without tainting their ability to fight.

This time, she wanted to put her arms around Gendo's twiggly little neck and pop his head right off. It's all become so much so suddenly.

_'Revenge, is it?'_ she heard a distant oily whisper. _'Power. You want power. To protect the weak and the helpless, hold on to your hate.'_

Misato blinked and looked around. What was that just now?

Ritsuko still looked unconcerned. While it was indeed based on the technology used in Kirishima's artificial arm, it was also true that so were the myomer control systems in Powered Armor. She actually pitied Misato.

"There's no need to worry about me." she said as she put her laptop away, while stretching out to yawn. "It's fine. I can work with this."

"Ritsuko..."

"What?"

"I'm noticing that you have... something... poking out from between your legs."

Ritsuko looked down to the metal tentacle she used to keep the laptop from sliding down her lap. She pulled the small computer free, exposing the manipulator tip. At its center was an AC plug. "Oh, this? It's just a... mechadendrite, is what we're calling it. We've had the technology to make segmented limbs for years, it's just that simple joints are easier to make."

The mechadendrite slid back, drawing Misato's attention as it drew down Ritsuko's thighs and hiding behind the scientist's crotch. It reappeared again out from flaps in the back of her lab coat. "Surprisingly, it doesn't take much more concentration to control six limbs, if only that I can only really have four active at a time. We've been underestimating the adaptability of the human brain."

Ritsuko arched her back, showing off where the mechadendrites emerged from the plates over her spine. Misato bit her lip to keep the comments in. She knew the reason why plugsuits needed to be skintight: they functioned very similar to diving suits, it was just that the pilots could breathe LCL. With teenagers, it was possible to ignore it, but for an adult like Ritsuko... the lines and wiring seemed designed to show off that ass.

"Take this is a complement, Rits-chan, but are you sure it's not just you... being, uh... you?" Misato winced. "I mean, it's kind of weird, isn't it?" In her memory again blossomed the bright wings of Evangelion Unit 01, that formed into four more arms.

Seeing the change in her expression, Ritsuko crossed her arms together and began to coil the pair of mechadendrites like cobras around her neck. The tip flicked up, seeming to hiss, vibrating and opening and closing their tiny manipulators. "It's been done before."

Misato chuckled and shook her head. "Yeah, I can tell why your doctors are too scared to contradict your own diagnosis. Okay. I trust you... if you say you're okay, then... you're okay."

"Maybe you shouldn't trust so blindly." Ritsuko replied firmly. "Not even me. What's happened to me is too close to what the Unity boasts for his followers. I almost didn't want to go back to this..." here she clutched at her chest as if to claw out her heart. _'... this stupid, emotional, betraying shell.' _She smirked. "I suppose I should get used to being bored."

"Ritsuko..."

"Never mind. Leave that for when the fighting's done. Spilling my secrets won't make me feel any better, and it would just ruin your day."

"Maybe not. As de facto Commander of NERV, you should keep me in the loop."

"Ah, but the loop's broken. Severed, like Gordian's Knot. I don't know if you've noticed, Katsuragi, but the world ends with you." She pointed accusingly with one of her metal-ring tentacles.

Misato scowled. "Everybody's already working double shifts on reconstruction. What do you expect me to do?" She pushed away the mechadendrite with a finger, and just that felt dirty somehow.

"Ah, you're focusing on aboveground repair?"

Dropping armament buildings meant left open shafts, not to mention the gaping hole left by the Ashino Lance Cannon. The obvious points of vulnerability were obvious. "I'll get to the paperwork later. The city needs to be secured first." Misato rubbed her forehead. "But... it feels like make-work. We're still helpless against any form of attack."

"I know why you're here. There isn't much we can do but wait. Your little boy will come out of that sleep as soon as it pleases him. I could, of course, pump him full of stimulants again, but this is the only way to make sure the pilots actually go get their recuperative sleep." Ritsuko snorted and muttered something unpleasant. "And don't worry about Ayanami. Her body is more resilient than that, and her mind won't snap from mere trauma. Worst comes to worst, she can always be replaced."

Misato winced. "Oh, god. Why did it have to be clones? I won't allow it, Ritsuko."

"I -have- pondered destroying all of Ayanami's... backups... to give her the gift of uniqueness. If you people want to keep treating her as any other human being, rather than the half-human weapon that she is, then so be it. I don't really care anymore."

"That's murder. It's bad enough that we torture our Children, that NERV's responsible for putting that girl through hell, I won't condone trying to fix our sins by making even more evil." She shivered, remembering those empty smiles, and Maya Ibuki's gleeful face.

_"Nagisa is nothing." _the young woman had said at the time. _"There is no power that he has, that we can't have for ourselves. We won't have to give up our own humanity._

_Ayanami is an army unto herself. We won't lose... we CAN'T lose, Katsuragi-sempai. After all..." _here she tilted her head to the side, grinning. _"As long as we're alive we can try again. If we're dead, it doesn't count."_

Though it was deep underground, Misato felt a breeze, and the winds sluicing through the grates sounded fainty like a groan of _'wwaaaaahhhh...'_

"Dammit, Ritsuko. How long has this been going on? You... Gendo... even Shinji, how long have you been playing with human lives as if it's some sort of game?"

"What a silly question, Misato. Always." Ritsuko smiled beatifically. "Always."

Misato groaned and collapsed onto the bed. She rolled over to stare up at Ritsuko's puzzled expression. "About that... did you hear that the old man's been arrested? It's all over the news now- Ayanami's a clone. They think we're growing Evangelion pilots. Like... the Cradle about their clinical immortality thing."

"Logical. Why rely on random chance, pulling out normal children from their homes, when a genetically-engineered being can fight and suffer for us?"

"That's monstrous, Ritsuko."

"They think we're monsters, and yet they can appreciate just how much easier it would be, put down morals for the sake of getting things done. If Ayanami can use an AT-field, then the Evangelions themselves... would be obsolete."

"Can she?"

"Of course."

"Shit."

It was bad enough trying to keep Evangelion technology from proliferating, but just Ayanami's mere existence was a threat to world peace. It would literally be impossible to HAVE world peace, unless it was somehow enforced by a legion of blue-haired girls. One Nagisa was irritating enough; more of him would make Shinji go spare.

"They want to have inspectors poking around, and you to make a statement. If you're fit enough to return to duty, you're fit enough to talk to the press. Ritsuko..." and here she sighed heavily. "Is there anything you can say that isn't heavily incriminating?"

"Has Ibuki shown you Terminal Dogma yet?"

"Um, no, but I kinda get what it is. What I don't get is why we had to hide it in the first place. It's what the Angels want, isn't it? It's not like anyone else can try to steal it, it's too big."

"Mmm. It is referenced as the Second Angel. You're not the first person to think it's strange. Just another weird and seemingly pointless policy decision- but it's not its location we wanted to hide."

"Ritsuko. Depending on what you know, once this thing is over... they're talking crimes against humanity for what you've been doing to the clones."

"Hmm? And what HAVE I been doing?"

"Dummy Plug System." Misato said flatly. Kaji had shown her pictures. The.. 'Spare Parts.' It still stymied her, that not only would Ayanami know about this and just accept it, but Shinji... he didn't seem to care. That kindness in the kid she took in, for the first time she wondered if that was just a front. There was no doubt now that he was truly his father's son.

The scientist laughed coarsely and leaned over Misato. "So the old man's singing that sweetly? He's trying to get back into the good graces of the government, so there would be someone to pick up the pieces once they're finished tearing us down."

"We can't let this happen." Misato moaned. "We won! Why are we being punished?"

Ritsuko sighed and lay back on her bed. "Because what we've done is just the latest in a history of poor decisions. We're not wise..." she said numbly while starting at the ceiling. "We had so many chances, we know what we should be doing, but we keep on doing the wrong things." Ritsuko put her right hand over her eyes. "That bastard. He left me behind... dammit. Dammit! He couldn't even be decent enough just to kill me if I'm useless now."

"Ritsuko?"

"I envy you, you know that? You can hate Ikari ... Gendo... all you want. I just... at least you KNOW what to feel. I don't know anything! I'm just... here."

"Wait... are you saying... ugh!"

"Hah. Ironic isn't it?" Ritsuko removed her hand, but kept her eyes closed behind her glasses. "For all that some whisper you slept your way into your post as NERV's tactical commander, I'm the one that's really assuming the position." She grimaced. "Not unless you go pull down under your bedsheets the other Ikari, you raging shotacon."

Misato smiled wryly. Ritsuko being so passive-agressive, just like old times. She always seemed so aloof, and combative when trying to express herself emotionally."It's okay, Rits-chan. This doesn't really change anything. We're still here. I'm here for you, you know... however much that means."

"Are we -**really- **friends, Misato?"

"What? Of course we are! Aren't we?"

Ritsuko opened and closed her palms. "That Ritsuko Akagi you know from college, she seems so far away now. The Ritsuko Akagi that Maya Ibuki thinks she knows... who is she? The Ritsuko that's your friend, the one you could trust... when did she die? There was a time when I was really sure." Ritsuko stroked Misato's hair and turned her head away."We could have been..." She sighed and shook her head.

Misato blinked. "Yeeah... this philosophy talk? It's bullshit." She rapped Ritsuko on the forehead with her knuckles.

"Ow. Misato, what the hell."

"You've been moping around here alone too long, I think. Hey, let's go do something. No, wait, shit. If you show up out there, then the commitee starts the media circus. We gotta sneak by the papparazi."

Ritsuko laughed weakly. Someone hadn't changed. Her heart hurt so much. It was glorious. "I can't nag you to study for the midterm exams anymore, Katsuragi, but the inquest sounds close enough."

"Oh, Right." She groaned and tugged at her long hair. "What did we do wrong this time? Sheesh. They could give us some time to breathe. We're fighting for our lives here!"

"That's a lie."

Misato blinked. "What?"

"The one who could come closest to defeating us, Nagisa's Unity using the Earth's Cradle, they never had any intention of starting Impact. If they could beat us, then they could handle any Angels that may appear. They're monsters, but then we're not that much different." Ritsuko paused. "At best, we're fighting for a world where monsters should no longer exist."

Misato nodded. Man with the power of the star gods. Either they need to wise up quickly or remove themselves from temptation. "If I'm in charge, then I'm not going to start Third Impact! I'll do anything to stop it."

"If you let Evangelion technology proliferate, then it's inevitable." Ritsuko replied softly. "Misato. Killing me and destroying the MAGI's database will, at best, delay Eva tech recovery by five to ten years. Hybrid technology will disappear; there's a reason why Nagisa doesn't just clone himself en masse and win the world with his own bare hands. I just want you to remember that."

Misato sucked in her breath. "What are you saying? No way I'm going to let that happen too. Is it... oh yeah, Gendo's still alive, isn't he? Goddamn." She began to gnaw on her thumbnail again. "Kaji's trying to stall for time, but I still don't know what this is about. Rits-chan... I don't know what to do."

"That's a lie too."

"But..." Misato winced, but a flicker of guilty knowledge passed across her expression. She moaned. "I don't want to..."

"I'm just a -resource-." Ritsuko added. "A civilian. You're a soldier." '_It's your job to protect me._' Ritsuko took off her glasses and looked faintly hopeful. "Remember this, too. I don't deserve your trust, but you have mine. You've always had it."

Misato jerked back in surprise, even blushing for no reason she could readily identify, then grinned. "But if I move things around... it's exactly what they hope I'd do. It's the excuse they're looking for to kick me out of command."

And by extension, to put someone who might be less open to indulging the pilots' childish whims. Ritsuko Akagi had her knowledge as leverage, but she had only the choice of destroying her precious data or working with the new management.

"Gendo's not the type for pillow talk, you know?" Ritsuko said offhand. "His plans, he just keeps on using us as pawns, no one ever gets wind of his his full intent." She smirked. "But you know about Plans One to Nine, right? Those little brain puzzles about what we could do with an Evangelion in open warfare? Gendo, of course, knew them, even if he didn't really care. I don't think things were ever supposed to get that far... with him around we were never really meant to 'win'. But I just so happen to know from someone else that they now go up to thirteen."

"Pillow talk?" Misato echoed shrilly. "Too much informatio-... wait, thirteen? Nine was to somehow get an Evangelion launched. Eight is to get the global unity just to -allow- the possibility of Plan Nine. Getting to outer space is going to be stupidly expensive."

"For us at the bottom of a gravity well, certainly. Nagisa and his ilk, and Gendo, are already in space." Ritsuko sighed. "The thirteenth is named the Death Star scenario for reasons I'd rather not specify."

=**][**=

=**][**=

Kaji was clean, for change freshly-shaved, and his tuxedo was expensive and well-cut, but nevertheless looked scruffier than the usual. Faint rings under his eyes betrayed that he hadn't had a good night's sleep for days. Misato was much the same way, she just hid it better.

He thought she was the most beautiful she'd ever been. Then again, he'd always liked Misato's childish pout. "I'm wasting time here." she hissed. "There's still too much to do back home."

She winced at the hard flashes of light. Though the event was hardly as high-profile as a gala movie premiere (and wow that said a lot about people's priorities; she reflected) it was unavoidable. She grit her teeth and tried to look dignified. She'd never really thought she'd ever have to deal with the 'burdens' of fame.

Kaji was the other UN attache, the one to NERV rather than the UNIG support base, and thus -technically- outranked even Yang. People were only curious as to who the hell was he to be Katsuragi Misato's escort? He was more amused about it than anything.

"Ritsuko wants you to learn something from all of this." he whispered as they entered the lobby. The technical term for it, he remembered, was schmoozing. Cozying up to the rich and the powerful and pretending to be fascinated at their interests. "You're going to have to learn how to -talk- to people, if you want them to keep on supplying NERV. Civilians don't like to take orders."

"Oh shut it you flaming hypocrite. I know that. I'm no sociopath to expect people just to turn on and off if I just push their buttons to serve my purposes." she whispered ruefully. "But seriously, am I the only one in Tokyo-3 without some dastardly plot going on?"

Kaji chuckled. "For a broad range of 'dastardly', maybe."

-**][**-

Yang was not unused to the sumptous luxury a first-class hotel offered, though mostly from his upbringing hepaid more attention to the flow of staff and entertainers. He'd chatted briefly with one of the waiters and requested for the young man to keep him supplied with red wine and some little snacks every time the waiter made a full circuit through the hall. One wasn't supposed to give tips to waiters in a formal function, Yang knew, after all he'd been in the same job when he was that age. So he gave the young man a note to his supervisor mentioning that he approved of the prompt and attentive service. Just his signature alone made it worth something as an authograph.

Hong Kong, pre-Impact, just a few years after being given back to China. The former British colony fared quite well from the regime change, despite having to rein in a bit making fun of the mainland. If given a few more years, specially with the dot-com bubble burst, they could have served to spearhead deep into the global market with cheap electronics, taking the edge off Japan's dominance in that market segment.

Yang stood by a large picture window, facing the east. Old and new Kyoto glittered before him, and the seas beyond broke up the moon into shards. The waters were past the horizon were known as the Sea of Japan, or the Korean Sea, or even by some as the Northeast China Sea, but one he just referred to as the East Sea. In his mind he saw the contiginous arc that were his Navy's operations area, hugging the coast of mainland Asia.

One last taste of the salty ocean air, ah, if only he wasn't trapped by this facile little party. Tokyo 3's coast was nice and all, but it faced east, not the waters where he began his journey into command. Ironically, it was only in the last stages of the Reunification that he was actually an admiral.

His moment of contemplation was quickly broken. "Yang-hakase!" he heard someone exclaim joyfully. He turned to see Hideo Kurata, the current Minister of Culture along with several other socialites. Yang pasted a smile on his face.

"Ahh, Yang-sensei, have you been introduced to Miharu-hakase, the Dean of Neo-Kyoto University's Department of History?

"No. A pleasure, Doctor Miharu."

"Likewise, Yang-sensei. I understand you're something of a historian yourself? That's fascinating."

Yang chose not to mention that he had a similar Ph.D., it was just that people kept forgetting it in their effort not to add 'Admiral' or 'Councilor' in front of his name. He kept smiling. Yang the Teacher was a title he much preferred.

"And this is Miss Miranda Coffrey, publisher of African Free Press and chairperson of the Golden Apple Foundation."

"Delighted to meet you at last." The tall woman affected a confused look a moment. "Professor Yang."

"Thank you, Miss Coffrey. I'm an admirer of your work."

"Not as much as I admire yours, I'm sure. We still remember fondly your time spent in Africa."

_I never went there_; Yang wanted to say. _I just offered the UN the use of the Chinese Army for peacekeeping, since we were the ones with the surplus in manpower. If the United States Navy formed the bowstring of the UN NAVY, then the People's Army was the unsubtle sledgehammer of the UN ARMY. _

It was India and Pakistan that kicked off the nuclear exchange, it was just convenient China was close by to pick up the pieces. Yang was adamant, it would be the height of stupidity to try to expand influence and take new territory. They barely had enough food to feed themselves, nowhere even near what's needed for adventurism.

There were actually very few 'threats' to China's existence. Everybody was busy Post-Impact just trying to survive. Land grabs and 'living space' was so last century. With the reduction of world population from over four billion to just one and a half, there was plenty of slack. With the UN taking care of supplies for peacekeeping and humanitarian purposes, Yang bargained his military away from having to use up the stores needed to reboot Chinese agriculture and economy.

The Suez Canal was less than half a world away, after all. Unless your name was Harlock, and your ship bearing Arcadia on its side, pirates were not allowed to exist in Yang's oceans.

Coffrey was keeping her face in profile, showing off the sharp features so different from the typically rounded, and one might say childish, Asian face. She was disappointed slightly at just how -short- Yang was in person, but still intrigued. In the Great Game, Yang preferred to act as if he always held a low hand, tempting others to keep raising the stakes until they had far more to lose than he would, no matter what it that he'd choose to do.

And in the end even she had to say; My god, he really does look a lot like Jackie Chan.

"This is Satoshi Huoko, of Houko Construction." There was less cheer in the Minister's face as he made the introduction. "I trust you already know each other?"

"No, but..." Yang chose to adress the tall, round-faced man first. "I've definitely heard of you, mister Houko." Yang bowed slightly. "How difficult not to notice the little treasure box symbol all over our sites."

Houko smiled widely. Though quite wealthy, only recently had the land developer gained enough clout to be invited into high-power gatherings. The only reason he was there was because Coffrey had been pumping him for information about Tokyo-3 when Cultural Minister Kurata came along to gather foils for drawing out Yang's intentions. "I'm honored to be of help, Yang-sensei."

"Of course you are." Yang replied with unfeigned good humor. "You're building a monument that equals the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of Q'in, and the Great Dams of the twentienth century."

The man's wealth was linked to Tokyo-3, and he lived in the same hometown as the younger Ikari. His loyalty was only far too blatant, which meant he must not be ignored while at the same time limiting just how useful he'd be. A mere businessman like him should not be of any interest to a personage such as Yang.

_'What are you trying to say, Yang?'_ the others wanted to ask. _'Ignoring me/us in favor of someone who supports Tokyo-3 so completely... is this a hint or a threat?'_

"We're all expecting great things from the Treasure Box." Yang added, in a tone almost child-like in its eagerness. "Although I suppose it will have to wait until this war on Earth is done."

Houko bowed again. "We'll try our best not to disappoint, Yang-sensei."

_'Wait, what?'_

The two shared a knowing look, amused at the blank stares from the three power elite. Plan Eleven. They nodded to each other. Plan Nine was the invasion of the moon, the prosecution of war into and around the Moon's orbit. Plan Eleven was war within and around Mars. Twelve was the utilization of the entirety of Sol for conflict. Thirteen was the pursuit of war into another star system.

"Your pardon, Yang-sensei..." Dr. Miharu coughed into his fist. The old man stared at Yang. "This war. Do you think it's nearing it's conclusion?"

Yang blinked. "Now, pardon me, what? What makes you think that?" He reached over and took a cocktail glass from a passing waiter. "This is a war where we are utterly opaque to the enemies numbers, disposition, or even if they have ANY logistical trail."

Dr. Miharu smirked. "In that case, is it really a war after all? It's like being attacked by beasts from the forests. Can it ever end without comitting genocide on the Angels? Now that we know that alien life really exists... it sounds such a waste to spend so much on just killing each other. Is it not a good enough end to war just for both to stop fighting?"

"And speaking of which..." Miranda Coffrey cut in with a wan smile. "It seems now that UN has been preparing for the Angels' return, for these last ten years. Were you aware of this, Professor Yang?"

He nodded. But of course. The sinkhole that used to be Beijing-2, or Shenyang, proved China's complicity in NERV affairs. They paid for it in the loss of their new capital city and millions of lives.

The woman's expression was searching. Why wasn't Yang showing even the slightest bit of anger? If NERV hadn't put their Evangelion production site there, it would never have been a target. "If you knew then what you do now, what would you have done? What if you had been put in charge of the defense, instead of..." and here shegimaced slightly. "Ikari."

_Both_; her tone implied the answer to the unspoken common query. Houko looked sour, while the two other Japanese men nodded in agreement. Yang wanted to laugh.

"If I have been put in charge, I'd have said this was a war that simply CANNOT be won. The applicable plan would be to somehow exhaust the Angels against a prepared killing field- which, incidentally, is what NERV had done with Tokyo-3. It's working. The problem is that we have no way of knowing if the enemy is anywhere even close to being sapped of their reserves." He took a sip of his drink. "And now with the added complication of the Cradle... it's impossible. Trying to hold ground will lead to us eventually being worn down to nothing. Unfortunately we lack any capability to counterattack."

"So you agree then! Somehow we must negotiate or encourage the Angels to stop attacking- violence is no solution here. We can at least -talk- to those of the Cradle."

_'If you knew what I now know; violence is the perfect solution here.' _Yang thought. _'Because we DO have the capability to counterattack. The Angels aren't -aliens- at all. And there IS a way to get rid of all of them all at once.'_

"Normally, you would be correct. This is not a normal situation." He smiled thinly. "I prefer not to comment on that until we have sufficient information."

"Information at NERV." Minister Kurata said smugly. "Information that's being hidden from us. Information is power, wouldn't you say, Yang-sensei? If we had some other way of handling the Angels, we could focus more on dealing with the threat of the Cradle... and Ikari." He flicked a look at Houko. "Reducing NERV's power is just a side-effect, but breaking a monopoly can only help our economy."

"Ah. Right. The high wages around Tokyo-3 is pumping inflation elsewhere. You're experiencing a little bubble right now, aren't you?"

Little? Heh. If the war ends, UN funding dries up. Then as Tokyo-3 implodes, it would take the rest of the country along with it. Yang took another sip. Uknown to them, there was a way out of it- the Treasure Box. Houko looked completely unworried. Unfortunately, it was not something they could reveal just yet.

It would only work if a quick, decisive end to the war could be forced. Even more unfortunate- the way to end the war looks just as bad as simply losing the war.

"We can get through this." Kurata was saying. "Peace is worth fighting for."

"Oh you have no idea..." Yang murmured.

The hubbub around them pitched higher than the ambient music for a moment. Everyone's eyes were drawn to the door.

"Oh so THAT'S Katsuragi." Coffrey said with a sniff. "I'll say this much, she cleans up well enough. But coming here in her dress uniform, my god, that's beyond crass."

"Why not? She is a woman, but also a soldier. Being NERV's supreme commander trumps being a hanger-on to Ryouji's arm." She looked ready to fight, which was not comforting to certain groups.

Coffrey turned back to see Yang glaring at the entering couple over the rim of his glass. She couldn't help but to laugh. "Is that jealousy I see there, professor?"

"I have sufficient reasons to dislike Ryouji, it doesn't have to involve Katsuragi." Yang's face was carefully bland. And, by the mischievious glint in the blonde's eyes, as expected she chose to believe that it really was about Katsuragi.

The Minister of Culture was not as privy to the details as, say, the Minister of Defense, but had enough of the big picture as was needed to perform damage control and recovery once it was all over. Ryouji had been very helpful, but coming here with Katsuragi was as clear as a message of ambiguity could be. He quirked his lips. Or it could be a plea for mercy. The spy was unrelenting in his pursuit of the truth, but once it was in his hands, it was only with the promise of lenience for Katsuragi that he handed it over.

"No public demonstrations, no black leatherboots on parade, no flag-waving, no songs." the historian from Kyoto-2 murmured. "We just need to accept our own responsibilities."

"Hm?" Yang noted distractedly. Was this old teacher informed of the situation or was he just just guessing quite well? "You seriously can't expect me to say anyone else has better expertise than those with the most experience at killing aliens."

"The institution lives, Yang-sensei. We've accepted that change must come. NERV does good work, but from what I've seen... isn't -good- per se. Good has never come from granting too much power into organizations accountable only to themselves."

"Which NERV is not. They serve no internal security, if it wasn't for the fact that Evangelions are walking monstrosities, they function very similar to a Navy with its support structure. I'm sure -you- remember what it means for a powerful attack force to be caught unprepared." Yang smiled fondly. "The Land Dreadnought is rather well-named." His cheer faded. "And now with Fortress Sturmbrand, air battleships aren't too far in the future."

Ah so much potential silliness. He smiled. Even without the Eva, the days of single-missile kills were numbered. A world whose combat would show the return of those who fought for strength, for pride, or who could read the tide of battle.

"It's ridiculous, isn't it? On one hand, we have all of these massive achievements, and behind closed doors we learn that Akagi is cutting up children!" Minister Kurata turned to Houko and asked with a slight smirk "Considering how close the pilots are to each other, one must wonder how this will affect their relationship to their handlers when they wake up or return from overseas."

"Secrets can be poisonous things." Dr. Miharu added. "One must wonder just how much knowledge the older Ikari must have allowed to the younger."

Houko grit his teeth. He was a fairly large man, towering over the shrunken old historian. "With respect to your age and position, Miharu-hakase... are you implying what I think you're implying? He'd never allow that to happen to Ayanami! That's slander!"

The old man just shook his head sadly. "This is the danger, you see? It was just an idle thought. Perhaps you have forgotten, that rather than defend the boy's reputation, perhaps a Child needs to be protected from further abuse."

"And it still remains that no one else other than these can pilot the Evangelions." Yang replied evenly. "Or, in fact, that there are ANY other Evangelions."

The old man leaned in close and whispered. "... that is a lie."

"Not the part about the lack of Evangelions." Yang replied without missing a beat. Coffrey gasped, but then smirked in triumph. That was something she didn't know, but it was no surprise that Yang had either figured it out or had someone dig it out.

They were being uncharacteristically loose-lipped, she noticed. Was she supposed to be impressed? It would soon be media fodder, anyway.

The music's tempo changed into one suitable for dancing. Coffrey licked her full red lips and put her hands on her hips. "Well now, gentlemen, this conversation has gone a bit too dark for my tastes-" and turning to Yang. "Professor, would you care to dance?"

"No, thank you." was the quick reply. "I'd rather stay here, if you don't mind." He looked pointedly out the picture window again.

Coffrey laughed gaily, shrugging off the rejection. "Oh come now, professor. I'm sure you do know how to dance." She moved to get a look outside. "What's so interesting out there, anyway?"

Yang gave a slight sigh. "Mm. Life. The universe. Everything." He shook his head. "But if you want to hear something more concrete- eight million men and more submarines crowded in one sea than any other point and perhaps never again in history." Then in a whisper, seemingly forgetting where he was, "...and these hours just wasting away."

The Minister of Culture blinked nervously behind his square-lensed spectacles.

She looked at the nervous faces of the Japanese men around her and laughed again. "Oh, Yang- thank you again for encouraging investment in Africa. You had the chance for conquest back then... and now, instead, you're here."

It was quite obvious to her. Why would China attack when Yang wasn't there to command their strategy? Japan had quite the edge in technology and UN NAVY support. If Yang had something so unsubtle in mind, then he wouldn't have put himself as the hostage of a future enemy.

Yang just shrugged. "For whatever good it does."

Coffrey gave her most charming smile. "Then why not relax for at least tonight, professor? Pining away won't do you much good."

There was a the barest flicker in his expression, and suddenly it seemed as if Yang had... changed. There was just the slightest bit of a smile on his face, his eyes narrowing slightly, and yet it was one that seemed to say _'Bitch, -please-. You think you know who I am?'_

The tall woman stepped back, frightened, then sniffed pridefully as she hurriedly turned away. Yang gave the others a look that clearly communicated _'get the hell out of my face'_. The men too retreated, frowning but somewhat satisfied. Just as they expected from a _'gaijin'_, to be so rude and uncultured. Houko however, seemed a bit more hurt by the hostility.

He looked back with a faintly betrayed gaze. Yang just sighed, shook his head, and stared off into the balcony again.

At that same moment, a flotilla was already halfway across the Pacific. It had the standard carrier group formation, except that the center was a large modified tanker rather than an aircraft carrier. Yang looked at his watch. Sixteen hours. He took a careful sip of the wine in his hand. Eleven years of not touching anything stronger than tea, gone. He deserved it now.

_'Just a little bit longer now, Mei.' _A somewhat sinister chuckle escaped his lips as the warmth of alcohol rushed down his throat.

=**][**=

Just as people all over the world had this strange feeling of enroaching finality, everyone there realized immediately that they were going to regret having Yang as guest speaker. Yang had noticed that for all the reputation Japanese men had for severity and politeness, they tended to laugh a whole lot when around people they were supposed to be getting along with. So, what the hell, he decided- in Rome do as the Romans do.

"Ahem. Oh, I'm sorry. That wasn't really very funny." Everyone kept a careful silence. Yang hadn't actually started his speech yet. "I was just reminded of an old line that I heard 'Comrades, we are suffering together'. Haha... excuse me. I'm not really very good at speeches. It was my wife who wrote most of them, really. Yes, I'm just going to stand here and ramble away, if you don't mind?"

The assembly watched with muted horror and amusement. The press, in glee. Perfectly coordinated publicity functions looked nice on society pages, but in a predictably genteel way. They might be 'news', but not very interesting.

Cameras flashed, catching Yang's faintly addled expression. He leaned against the podium, as unconcerned with proper gravitas as if standing in front of bored middle high students. Kaji half-expected Hikari Horaki to come out of nowhere and start scolding him.

Kaji felt a chill run up his spine. The Prime Minister, seated behind Yang, was frowning and whispering with his clique. The guests were hiding smirks, save for those looking  
confused or suspicious. Misato nudged Kaji. "Stop hiding your face."

"What? Even I can tell this is a diplomatic disaster waiting to happen."

"Then why are you the one being embarrassed?"

"Call it professional courtesy."

_'Damn, but Yang is good at this!' _He was making them underestimate him, again! People, he figured, had a range of tolerance for tinpot dictators as long as they were far away, a non-threat, and sufficiently amusing. Yang, still looking far too relaxed, tilted his head aside and smiled knowingly at the cameras.

"Don't tell me you're not disgusted by this display..." Kaji whispered to Misato. "Look around. Who else isn't buying this?"

Misato did so. Most were men of the JSSDF and from Tokyo-3. They could not so easily forget that it was goddamn -Admiral- of a much-derided Navy that somehow managed to craft one of the most sweeping land campaigns in history. Political figures should know the long tradition of friction between the Army and Navy- it would takea hell lot more than pretty speeches to bridge that.

"Hey wait. Is Yang like one of those generals who win more when drunk than when sober? That... wossname... an American, I think?" Misato remembered finding that little factoid at the officer academy. "Ah! I remember him now! The Americans and their Civil War."

Kaji snorted. Typical. Misato had an expression that said _'I should be like that!'_

Yang had circuitously turned to more serious topics. "... early days of Second Impact were hell for those of us that remember. There's no need to tell it again, in case I ruin your appetite." Despite that, some looked sour anyway. Yang, still oozing ease, continued "And now we 'know' that Impact was just the opening gambit in a war that would consume the human race.

It's been a year already. What did we lose this time? The casualty figures... ah, I already said I didn't want to ruin your appetite, didn't I? Ask instead, what have we GAINED? We've suffered through a catacylsm after cataclysm that shame the bedtime horrors of nuclear winter. The Earth is stronger than that.

And now we know, WE are stronger than that.

Ladies and gentlemen! A toast! To our heroes. The many nameless heroes who gave their lives so we could stand here today, and to the many more who will give their lives to protect strangers they've never met. To the tired workers who with their toil grant the Evangelions power to fight. A toast! To the unseen and the unremembered."

Applause and agreeable mumurs rose from the guests as they raised their glasses.

"What do we have now? The time before Impact is like the dream of a child; we have our innocence torn from us. Our home is our world, and it has been defiled. Our world is our body, and we have been violated.

But we've endured! The light of civilization is not so easily extinguished. We've seen the barbarians at the gates, and they are **us**, and we beat them back. Understand this, all right? We've won the war. What is there for the Enemy to lose but their lives? What have we lost?" Yang laughed coarsely. "So much. So many. What have we gained? The burden of carrying on in their memory."

Yang was a bitchy drunk. Apparently.

"... we're fighting a war we don't understand. And what kind of war is it when there's no way to even guess as the enemy's remaining forces? No one wins a war just by staying on the defensive. Wait, didn't I say this already?" Yang waved as if shooing a fly buzzing near his face. "This isn't a war. This is a SEIGE. We are under seige. It's not for any small reason that you people are calling Tokyo-3 a Fortress City, isn't it?"

Yang smiled and waved at Misato. She crossed her arms and glared back. The others were looking pleasantly surprised.

"If we look at the records of the Angel attacks, most of them are directed against Tokyo-3 and NERV, and now we know the reason why. There is an Angel far beneath the geofront. Considering what we know of the Angels and the destructive power of their AT-fields, just -giving- them whatever the hell it is is a gamble. Will it make them go away? Or will it fulfill whatever unknown imperative that drives them to attack and attack without regard for their own survival? We just don't know. In fact, the only insight we have on the motivations of the Angels come from... an Angel hybrid. Kaworu Nagisa.

And really, what's the difference between Nagisa and Ikari? This is a strange time we live in, if boastful boys can move nations." Yang tapped the side of his head.

Yang squinted at the gathered throng of various public figures. He could see it, how so desperately they longed for some third option. "The power of the Evangelion is like cursing ourselves with awesomeness. We can live just fine without it, the same way the human race has deserved its success with its own pain and suffering and learning from our mistakes, but we can't SURVIVE now without them.

Do we have the luxury of asking why the hell is this happening? Do we have room to start throwing blame? Listen, Japan holds Tokyo-3, and is in the greatest danger. Germany, and most of Europe, lost cities and most of their armies. The UN NAVY was gutted of most of its heavy ships, which doesn't make me as happy as others may think. But it is China that has suffered the most. Berlin-2 was wiped off the face of the Earth by nuclear fire. Beijing-2 was completely -removed-, and the skin of our world will bear that scar for millions of years! Tsunamis kicked up by the impact bounced around the Yellow Sea. Haven't you looked at the sky lately, seen how much redder the sunsets are from the dust kicked into the air? The world's temperature has fallen by several degrees!

All of this because there was Evangelion production facility there. It's a good thing the site for the new capital was deep inland. If it was closer to the coastline, the waves would also have scoured this city, just like Second Impact."

"Goddamit, Yang. You did put the new Chinese capital at what used to be Shenyang." Kaji muttered. "Did you know something like this might happen?"

Yang smiled thinly. "But to hit Beijing-2, why couldn't the Angel just have aimed a little further east and just hit Tokyo-3? Isn't it terribly convenient that we're being systematically deprived of defenses against Evangelion-class threats? It's just... fortunate... that China has moved most of her heavy industry higher into the Yellow River and deeper inland. The armies and the fleets were moved to bases in the south or up at the Manchu border.

And I have a lot of reasons to feel suspicious and resentful."

And suddenly Yang was a good deal less amusing. The room stilled. Kaji groaned and wished he could bang his head on the table.

Yang laughed again. "Oh, the look on your faces! Seriously, can you believe it? I'm all but accusing NERV of commanding the Angels themselves, and that's a ludicrous proposition. There are too many mysteries, and do you think I should get my answers by tearing open NERV's vaults? Hahah.

Surprise is good for taking a tactical victory, but strategically? What worked at Port Arthur failed against Pearl Harbor. We live in a world where popular opinion and industrial output can be shaped much more easily. I certainly have no... illusions... that weapons and manpower alone can even start to try and pacify other nations." He grinned. "Specially not THIS nation with its own Evangelion.

Yang raised his hand. "But there isn't an Evangelion active right now at NERV. How so terribly convenient too." Yang shrugged. "I suppose I could take this speech to list the reasons you all suck, but this is a horrible situation with no easy solution. I'm relieved... relieved, I say, that I'm not the one in charge of getting us out of this collosal fuckup.

I'm reminded, you see, of the seige of another city. That city was named Troy. The most obvious moral we have from that ancient story is to beware your enemies who bear gifts. Even until the Romans, this story was accepted, if distant and murky, as fact. In modern times it was no more than myth, until following the hints in the text someone found Troy.

It's popular now in history to view old myths as retelling of legends, overblown accounts of what once may have happened, or at best illustrative examples of the morality of the times. It's easy to paint the Trojan Wars as if political and economic reasons drove it; even the text says that Helen was but mere excuse for launching the invasion. If you look at the location of Troy, it sits to command the strait leading into the Black Sea, and therefore trade into Europe.

Say, did you know that there is a period in history known as the Dark Age of Antiquity? Also known as the Bronze Age collapse, in quick order civilizations that stood for thousands of years, all burned, all gone, and darkness fell upon the world. As a historian I'm interested in just how quickly civilization can turn upon itself. So complete was the destruction that writing itself disappears from the Western World.

Of this period the only glimpse we have are scattered fragments.

The Fall of Troy is a record of this time of decline. So, no, it's not just some trade war. In the end, it's not external factors that drove them, unless it's how the many pockets of independent city-states fueled their petty wars. The reason why is the same as ever. War never changes. For pride, for greed, for revenge, for glory- war and more war. For loot and slaves, not to secure grain for the dwindling city-states; the Illiad is the tale of the last gasp of the old order."

Yang paused, wondering if he should make a comparison between the centralized governments of Egypt and China, the former was the only civilization that managed to beat back the night by a full hundred years before weaker pharaohs finally fractured the Kingdom. China, for all the many wars that consumed her over her own existence, never darkened so thoroughly. He'd always had a soft spot for Ancient Egypt; like the Middle Kingdom, one that developed on the banks of a great river, and one that needed only itself, ever-enrapturing and entrapping its own conquerors.

There was a lesson there, in how the Romans shattered Egyptian pride and their culture were eventually forced under by a revolution. Oh, if only the Manchu had known! Yang chuckled again. _'Wait, am I saying this out loud? No?' _"Good." he said.

He stood there silent and motionless long enough for some to think the speech was over. Dr. Miharu was the only one showing any interest to Yang's historical detour. Most of the foreign guests and correspondents got the reference, but it was a story not quite so popular in the Orient.

It was rather flattering, actually. Who was the intended audience of this piece? Just because it was said in a publicity dinner in Japan was no reason that it couldn't be taken and printed/shown elsewhere in the globe. Yang's 'boss', officially speaking, was the UN Security Council.

Yang blinked, and coughed into his fist. "Excuse me. Where was I? Ah, yes- why am I saying this? Have you noticed how those who act with the assurance they will end up being vindicated by history end up being condemned by it? I don't want to be a Cassandra, speaking warnings that end up being ignored or fulfilled anyway." He supposed he could have referenced the many sieges during the times of Shu, Wei and Wu, but historically they led towards eventual unification instead of a pointless last stab of self- gratification even as civilization burns.

"Right now, you can often hear that it's the time for humanity to come together if we want to survive this conflict. But really, what the hell does that mean? To put aside our differences and work for a common goal? Aren't we already doing that? Among those who like to say this is a boy, is a proponents of hive-like Unity, who has just split the human race across the species line rather than just old grudge pools of gender, skin color and culture. Are we supposed to come together under one banner? One government?" His smile was distinctly unfriendly. "Or is it that a certain group shouldn't act so alone and above it all, and decide for everyone else?

It's easy to call for commonality and equality, but far harder to actually even start to list the obligations for each of the people! To act without understanding why, to give without knowing the results; that is to trust. That is to have faith in something else. Is that a virtue or the beginning of abuse?

To NERV, to the Japanese government, to the United Nations, I'm saying this: look beyond your goddamn justifications and for whatever act you make this from this point on; beware the glitter of hubris! Look at the writing on the wall, you morons! Something dragged out of a sinkhole at the middle of a frozen wasteland is no basis for a system of government! The possession of an alien carcass is not having avenged ourselves."

Kaji perked up at this. Who gave Yang the impression that it was Adam that was underneath Tokyo-3? Someone had given Yang, and by extension those who Yang trusted with the information, the plausible yet utterly wrong conclusion that Impact was the seed event of an alien race trying to (explosively) terraform Earth into one more suitable for their existence. Granted, it **was** that. But it was not an attack. Almost everyone believed that the Angels were aliens, arriving from the deep dark,instead of having been released by Adam and were just waiting through the years to mature.

Or Yang could be -_lying_- too, to manipulate the perception of others. That was not an mutually exclusive proposition, however. Kaji looked around again. One could manipulate while still being manipulated. It came with the territory.

"Already we're experiencing a paradigm shift in warfare. What purpose is served by men and machinery in a battlefield where titans walk, but to buy time? What meaning is left in the human struggle? There are those among you who would rather see the knowledge and the power of the Evangelions thrown down, the forbidden knowledge sealed away and forgotten, to let humanity take the stars with its own power.

I, personally, would rather the Evangelions never have existed. They're a product of Impact as much as our new society. What would we be like if that never happened? What sort of global community would we have? Would we still have war, or would we have outgrown such posturing in the global interdependency?

But we've been forced into... how they say... a catch-22 situation? If we don't make use of he might at our disposal, we're doomed. If we do, then unavoidably it will dominate our destiny. Just our recent history has seen technology shape our cultures, to the extent that we call periods the Industrial Age, the Space Age, the Electronics Age, the Information Age; in mere decade forcing paradigm shifts that once took many millennia – like the shift from Bronze to Iron to Steel to Gunpowder, to Sail! From here on it is the Age of the Evangelion.

Yang growled "We endured through Impact by refusing to let go of the light of civilization! The human race has achieved mastery over its world through the power of collective effort.

We tend to judge civilizations by the monuments they leave behind. When the United States left footprints on the Moon, despite that it stoked the envy and resentment of other powers, it was at least a triumph for all mankind. Even nuclear technology can drive progress and international parity; certainly even I recognize that the prospect of MAD is and remains a cornerstone of 'good behavior' for competing nations. The November Treaty is a good enough reaffirmation of that fact.

But Evangelion technology, never under Heaven have ever dreamed of such a perfect tool for enforcing inequality. The massive industrial requirements needed for the construction and maintenance of Evangelions ensure that only nations capable enough of deploying suffient amounts of conventional arms can afford to shift paradigms. The advantage builds on itself.

Sanctions? The hell with sanctions! If there's someone misbehaving and making WMDs, an Evangelion is big enough to just go there and rip that factory right out of the ground. The only threat you can do with a nuke or any biochemical weapon is in using it; actually using it would void its utility. An Evangelion is a Weapon of Discriminate Destruction- it can either devastate whole swaths of countryside or just just selectively step on irritants.

The only thing that can threaten an Eva is the threat of nukes, not at the Evas themselves but in cities- they can't protect them all simultaneously." Yang stopped and winced. "Unless you're Shinji Ikari, because we've seen the boy stop orbital strikes worldwide with homing lasers. Damn it, we're just seeing the book on Evangelion tactics and strategic use being written- how so damn unfair it would be once complete!

The only nations who can afford Evangelions are those nations with enough nuclear stockpiles in the first place to deter unrestricted Evangelion operations! Don't you understand? We have from here on only the choice of standing under a hegemon, or let Evangelions proliferate to the point they form the center of all policy. Should we treat Evangelion pilots as heroes or tools?

Should a nation invest in anti-Evangelion weapons and defenses, since unlike an ICBM the sheer size and expense of an Eva means only so many can ever be usable? Should Evangelions remain, as now under NERV's purview, as strategic UN assets or do nations even have a right to control the very giants that are housed in their lands?

It all comes down to the matter of trust. The moment of Second Impact was like opening Pandora's Box, spreading evil and illness across the world. The Eva can be the Trojan Horse tempting us with the promise of ultimate victory.

Who can we trust with this power? Have we matured enough as a people, as species, to handle this much responsibility? Our virginity as a race is gone. As big as Evangelions are, the universe is bigger still. And that's where they came from! The Angels are powerful and frightening, Kaworu Nagisa and Gendo Ikari and unpredictable -assholes- and can we afford to remain in constant war footing? We can even see where it starts, now how- of all that live under Heaven- where does it end?"

Yang was gesturing wildly now, jabbing out with his arms to punctuate his words.

"I am not an optimist." the strategist said numbly. "Human nature to me is neither naturally good or evil, but circumstances can be pruned to limit the temptation to do harm. We need less Great Leaps Forward, but maybe more careful Hands Carrying Stones.

I don't trust NERV. I do however, trust Misato Katsuragi."

"... say what?" Misato eeped. Despite that Yang and Katsuragi lived in the same city, they did not really interact all that much. Hell, they could not be said even to be acquaintances; outside of formal functions and strategic meetings, they had little in common. Or perhaps too much in common, since both were likely to lounge around rather than do paperwork.

Kaji just sighed. "Careful, Misato. He could be telling the truth, but just now we already know Yang is a fucking liar." He looked around and smirked at the changed expressions of those expecting weird but happy-go-lucky Professor Yang. "Not good at speeches my ass. He's not reading this off a prepared script."

"Is there really much difference between a speech and a lecture?" Misato whispered back.

"Why Katsuragi? Why not Ikari? What can she do?" Yang continued with a thin smile. "I don't trust those who say they fight for the world, since that has been the goal of conquerors since, well, ever. It's easy to love a nation so much that you can lose sight of its people.

Katsuragi is interested only in preserving NERV, and quite frankly while I don't trust NERV there is far less ability for it to abuse its powers than anyone else with longer ranges self-interest. I trust those who fight for the people they know rather than for the grand abstract.

Katsuragi... would you save your own precious people from themselves if it ever became necessary?" Yang waited for her to nod and gave a sickly grin. He laid both arms flat on the podium and stared off into the distance. "And that is why I would prefer to let it go.

You can all feel it can't you? For some reason, it's like we're so close to the End Times, we've almost done it. Is it enough to survive? Is it even possible to achieve victory here? I can tell you that it's so easy, so ridiculously easy to lose it all. Clench your fist and shatter the peace. Let it go, the weight of fear and self-interest, and receive the bounty of paradise. Open your hand and let this golden apple, the power of the Evangelion, fall to the ground and let it take root and grow on its own terms. What makes us human is being challenged. I'm not ashamed to say I'm nearly frightened out of my wits.

Wait, did I say nearly? I meant **completely**.

As a private citizen now, I can only implore you all; let it go. The future is not a prize to be won. Old fears, old prejudice- new secrets, new sins. I can only beg you to remember us little people who stand in the shadow of giants. There are those who just want to be able to live out their lives in relative peace and comfort.

There are those who despise that people can feel contentment. For all that Nagisa and his immortal Unity loathe the mediocrity of man, he is trapped by the past. Denying history, trying to wipe it clean. And I live at Tokyo-3 now. I've seen how it uses up lives and dreams like coal for the forge.

If we cling too tightly to the old order, we'll break alongside it.

I'm just one man now and my voice is weak, but as long as I live I'm going to believe that there is still meaning in the struggle. I'm afraid of the time when Heroes walk, when the partnership of nations devolve into Warring States, and instead of inspiring us to be better, raw power just inflates man in every vice and virtue.

A world where Heroes walk is frightening indeed. Even I want to stop that unfair world from appearing. If one does not have wisdom to know when to set aside the burden, at least we can take comfort in giving it to someone who will not benefit from its use."

"Isn't that still egotistical, Yang?" Kaji whispered, shaking head good-naturedly. "Everyone knows you stepped away from the Dragon's back. So you're saying only someone like yourself deserves the power of NERV? Or really, just yourself."

Yang could not hear it. "I haven't touched on other points of friction like... like... psychic asshattery, moral quandaries from cloning and the fact that one of our enemies are made out of functional immortals, or who was that mysterious girl? In the spirit of openness, I'll say that I received a note about the MP Evangelions- they look like the ones being built at NERV China... which were never put to the field since the area destroyed by an orbital strike. NERV America too had put on hold their Eva production facilities until a safer S2 Engine could be devised. Where the hell did these fully-functional Evangelions come from?

We were hit by a big damn laser FROM THE MOON. Who the hell has a moon attack base? If it's NERV, then how the hell did they manage to -cloak- that many lift launches? That's not even possible- the only time when no one was paying attention to whatever may be in space, was just ater Impact.

Let me rephrase that. Tokyo-3 during the assault was hit by a laser that writes -runes- that makes -magical forcefields-. So we're looking at some sort of third column, other than the Angels and the Unity, after whatever is there under Tokyo-3.

Aah!" Yang scratched at his tangled hair. "Questions! Mysteries! Puzzles that take up time and attention! That's why it's hard to let it go. The big unknown may be that which will kill us all. NERV is at its weakest right now, and force once needs our protection instead of the one protecting.

He took deep calming breaths and raised his arms straight out. Yang opened his palms. "Let it go. Open your hands to help others up to their feet." Suddenly he closed them again. "Or the Way of the Closed Fist will crush you."

Kaji slapped his own face. He groaned out loud.

Misato whistled approvingly. "Way to contradict yourself, Yang." The way of the Open Palm and the Closed Fist were names for how he used the People's Liberation Army. It -could- have been meant as a larger larger metaphor, but... "Heh. I still don't know if I'm supposed to be flattered or insulted."

It was a pity about both being reclusive, but she had a feeling Yang and Ritsuko would get along really well.

Yang walked away from the podium and snapped his fingers. A waiter approached, carrying drinks. Yang began downing cocktail glasses one after the other.

=**][**=

It was perhaps one of the most iconic images of Angel Wars. Yang Wen-li had the hotel prepare a suite for him, he wouldn't be returning to Tokyo-3 that night. He could remain in the ballroom for as long as he wanted. As the dinner wound down, Yang was to be found again by the large picture windows overlooking the sea.

The picture showed Yang and Kaji both in black and holding cocktail glasses regarding each other with bland but competitive gazes. Misato in her brown dress uniform stood  
comparatively bright and cheerful between them. There was never any love triangle there, but who could resist inserting a little intrigue into it?

"Yang, you ass!" Misato said, punching Yang lightly in the arm. "What the hell was that about?"

"I agree. That speech was all over the place, Yang-sensei." Kaji added with a friendly grin. "That bit about the Trojan Wars went over most heads, I think."

"I was kind of drunk at the time. In fact, I'm rather more inebriated right now than when I started, so... shut it, Ryouji."

Misato laughed, then looked looked down. She felt like a schoolgirl again, looking for approval. She had a distrust for authority figures, never allowing grades to define her worth (which was part of why Ritsuko had to nag her into studying), but she couldn't help but to feel always being compared to Yang, the definitive military mind of her generation. "For what it's worth... thank you."

"Don't be too grateful just yet, Colonel Katsuragi." Yang replied with a thin smile. "It's for the sake of world peace that it's best your powers and responsibilities are limited." He stared out into the sea. "I'm not exactly your ally in this. Just like all your main priority is protecting NERV – as its people, not the apparatus- all that I do is what's best for China. As long as I live, you'll never reach your true potential."

"So what's your excuse for eleven years ago?" Kaji asked.

"Obviously because the time was not right for a Chinese hegemony." Yang replied with another thin smile. "Unlike young Ikari, you know that you can't save everybody just by plowing on with sheer willpower or overawing your enemy with military might. Our main issue isn't with interfering with your decision-making process, but in the denial of information that could be used to save lives elsewhere."

"What the hell do you people want me to say? It's not like we get any advance warning of Angel attacks!"

"No, but then NERV could also be a lot more effective if it didn't have to do everything in-house." Yang shrugged. "Take it from someone who experienced it first-hand; under the veil of secrecy, it is only sins and abused that can flourish, not virtue. Ever has the control of information been the tool of growing tyrants."

"That won't happen." Misato said with finality.

"Doesn't that bother you, Misato? Acting without information can be fatal, you know this." Kaji paused and added gently "Gendo's gone and stabbed us in the back. You still trust Ritsuko after all that?"

"After all what? Saving our skins again and again? Kaji, what's wrong with you? Ritsuko's made some bad decisions, but... she's not -evil-, dammit."

Kaji had to chuckle at that. "You scare the piss out of a lot of people, you know that?" At her faintly confused (and in his mind, utterly adorable expression- maybe that's why we like doing it?) expression, he added with a wry grin "People trust you with their lives, not their secrets. Which is more important?"

Yang took a sip of his drink and nodded approvingly. "Has the young Ikari woken up yet? You're going to have to make a lot more unpopular decisions before we're through this bloody Game."

He looked outside and raised his glass, as if to toast the distant uncaring moon. Or perhaps in mockery to those he knew lay huddled in fear beneath its surface.

Misato shrugged. "Meh. It's not like I give a damn about popularity anywa-"

The glass shattered. Misato felt hot liquid splash on her face. She reached up to touch to wipe it off and saw red on her fingertips. The sight before her seemed to refuse to register in her mind. There were a few seconds of sheer disbelief, and then around her the screaming started.

As Security grabbed and began to pull them away from the window, Kaji numbly stared down at the glass of white wine in his hand. The liquid was turning pink from blood and bits of bone that fell into it. He tipped the glass over and let the wine fall, leaving a wet trail.

'_Such a waste.'_ Kaji thought without any real sadness.

=**][**=

=**][**=

'Let it go' could very easily became 'Let us go'. In Tokyo-3, Captain Avrikupolous of the mercenary guard Custodes kissed his wife and readied to leave. His son was grinning hugely. His father was going out in armor again. A shining gold giant. How could any son be anything but proud? It was worth being taken here to this foreign land where the people talked funny and the food was often too bland.

Avrikupolous couldn't say just how uncomfortable it was to remain inside the armor for far too long. Powered Armor development leapfrogged comfort and sustainability for sheer armor thickness and enough assistance to carry a big gun. Now he'd have to stay in it all but 24/7.

He grinned and ruffled his son's hair. It was a great risk bringing his family to Tokyo-3, but here at least he knew he would be defending them with his own two hands.

"You're probably going to be asked to go into the shelters soon. Be good in there, all right?"

=**][**=

=**][**=

Shinji Ikari was starting to recognize he was spending more and more distressing amounts of time unconscious. Damage to the body was easier to heal than damage to the mind. He wondered how long he could keep on pushing his mortal psyche before being devoured by the timeless anger of machine-god.

What dream-world lay behind his slumber? Did he find peace in there, or more nightmares?

As it turned out, a little bit of both.

Shinji walked down the streets of a completely empty city. For all the deaths and dangers that Tokyo-3 suffered, this was just wrong. It was a city that lived! It was not supposed to be this dead shell. His memory whispered indistinct threads of conversations that should be there, at the edge of his vision flickered the shadow of crowds. Just like the city itself, he was nothing without the vibrant energy of humanity to use him to fulfill their purpose.

Just waiting for something to happen was lot creepier than facing up to sights that would drive most people insane. He, as a person, was loved and was capable of love.

The silence pressed down on his gut. He was not afraid of ghosts or the paranormal per se, but this dreaded emptiness... this was how normal people felt around haunted places, right? Loneliness was terrifying. It was, in some way, quite a comfortingly normal fear.

And then suddenly from the middle of the street a great armored hand broke out, like cursed undead from the mass grave. The boy foung his breath being squeezed out of him, and being lifted high as hellish eyes glared at him from the chasm. He sighed. Somewhat better.

He was caught in the grip of Evangelion Unit-01. The Eva's eyes glowed green, its maw was open in a grin, and unshorn of its armor it was nothing short of demonic. It was a sight that could drive most minds to whimpering terror. It was burning existence that tugged and threatened to tear apart the mere little lights of man.

_'Should it be grateful?' _its feelings tried to convey. _'Just because they both sated their bloodlust on difficult enemies, was that enough to make up for the pain of living?' _They were both beings that should not be.

The boy would never be able to impress his own Evangelion. After all, most of the crazy shit they did, was by its AT-field. The Eva did not give a damn about politics or ideals. Their existence alone was a sin. Its meager consciousness knew that Shinji planned on growing more even more Evangelions, using them as the core of mankind's superluminal civilization. More born into this torturous half-life.

Shinji crossed his arms. "The next generation will likely have more cybernetics. They'll have a shared matrix, and maybe someday we can safely bring out their Angelic states so they can exist in external forms. The day when pilots and Evas will no longer be separate will come...

But not now. You're in pain. I'm in pain. Suck it up, you big baby. We've got a war to win." Relationships? That was scary. Ancient horrors were just -work-. After all, the worst they could do was just to kill him. This did not please the bestial need to dominate reality that was an Angel's instincts.

The Evangelion roared, its breath with the force of a cyclone. Shinji's face flopped in the wind. When the Eva stopped, his hair was sticking out in wet spikes pointing back. Purplish drool hung like ropes off his shoulders.

Battle after battle and the weirdness that was his life, he was just so damn tired. "I'm too young for this shit."

0

And then his vision burst out in many colors. Pain flooded his awareness.

Shinji Ikari woke up to Misato Katsuragi straddling him, with Ritsuko Akagi and Maya Ibuki keeping careful watch nearby. Ah. Truth be told, he'd been expecting something like this to happen one of these days.

"Wake up!" Misato screamed and slapped his face again.

"Ow! Okay, okay! I'm okay! You can stop now." the boy moaned. This was too weird it just had to be real. Just then he realized that Misato was still in her dress uniform.

Her eyes were red and wild, and there was a despairing grimace on her face. "What-... is something wrong?"

"Yang's dead." Misato spat.

"Oh gods, we are so fucked."

"That was my reaction too." Maya said with a nod.

=][=

o

o

o

* * *

Really, very VERY sorry for deleting this chapter last month in a fit of disgust at my own circular writing. I had to retcon away and lay more foreshadowing for the next definitely more action-packed chapter. Slashed away whole passages of wangst masquerading as characterization. Yang's speech could still be cut in half, but I felt it was better to leave his rambling as it is as a summation of global feelings in the setting.

It's been a serious hassle reformatting the rest of this story from the start. Originally the formatting was to preserve a book-like appearance but now in retrospect it's just author conceit. :(

Ah, well.

Play Fleets please. I owe those guys and I'd like to keep my knees thank you.


	45. Chapter 44: Tumbling Down part2

Tumbling Down part 2

o

o

o

Treason. It was the betrayal of one's sworn oaths. There were many reasons why  
one could choose to commit it; from self-interest, to protect someone else, or to  
feel that the oath's worthless from having been betrayed first. As humanity itself  
faced extinction, could it be said that whole nations may commit treason?

The convoy was being urged back to Hawaii. It was confounding, since they were  
already more than three-quarters across the Pacific, but orders were orders. The  
warships escorting the large NERV freighter were politely insistent.

Jason Ostender saw the start of the Last War. It began when the UN NAVY Cruiser  
PHILEMON exploded two kilometers off to the left of his ship.

He was the captain of the modified tanker HELIOS and was a NERV employee. The  
ship had set out from San Francisco carrying a secret cargo from NERV Site 6,  
Boston. As the package had to be transported by rail all the way across the North  
American continent, he hadn't expected it to remain secret for long. He had  
however, been expecting an attack from the Angels.

Flashing lights reflected off the ocean surface, briefly competing with the stars  
themselves. Point defenses churned away, and he had to shout even inside his own  
ship. Six brightly glowing streaks passed by and this time a Destroyer was doomed.

"What the hell's going on?" he yelled at his radar operator as he entered the  
bridge.

"Missile attack! We've got ships due north, but the missiles are coming from behind  
us!"

"That's not possible…" the captain gasped. A sneak attack like that! "Who are they?"

The HELIOS was escorted by six UN Destroyers and two Cruisers. They were all that  
could be spared from the tensions in the Far East. Learning from the debacle with  
the transport of Evangelion Unit 02, speed was deemed a priority over having  
sheer number of ships as a deterrent. Unfortunately, this meant that the escort  
vessels couldn't spread out as a proper screening force.

Submarine-launched antiship missiles swooped in and through the violent storm of  
countermeasures, antimissile missiles and air-defense guns, a few surviving to slam  
against the other UN Cruiser, the SALT LAKE. The ship wallowed, trailing thick black  
smoke.

Both cruisers on either side of the HELIOS were smoking ineffectual hulks, and the  
freighter captain was now just keenly aware of exposed they were. He grit his teeth.  
_'No... they have to be after what we've got in the hold.' _He was more surprised that  
the ship hadn't been hit by accident. To a missile, a big floating thing made of metal  
looked very much like any other big floating metal thing.

The radio crackled with "Helios, we are detecting a laser target designator from  
your ship. Cease and desist immediately!"

"What-?"

Then he heard gunshots coming from the door just outside the bridge. Charlie  
Austin, one of the old hands from before NERV bought out the transport company,  
walked in carrying a submachinegun.

"Sorry to bother you, cap'n, but we better slow down and stay out of this fight."  
Behind arrived several soldiers, whose faces were obscured by goggles and  
balaclavas. A warning shot at the radio operator had the man holding his hands  
way up in surrender. "I don't want to kill anyone here, 'less I have to."

Ostender grimaced as he was forced to his knees and handcuffed. "What's going  
on? Who are you working for?"

"Someone who wants a miracle to happen, cap'n." was the heavy reply. "Someone  
who doesn't want this world to go all to hell because of people who have too much  
power and not enough sense."

Deep in the hold, the rest of the boarding party checked the priceless cargo. It was  
a large metal box, emblazoned with the red NERV logo. In white below it was "**S2**".  
In the distance, in the center of the enemy flotilla, was a ship almost the exact  
duplicate of the HELIOS.

=][=

"Which one do you want to know?" Kaji asked the last time he'd met with the  
Defense Minister. "The outline of the operation of Replenishing Mankind?

Or the truth of Second Impact?

Or the aim of the ANGEL?

Or the relationship between ADAM and LILITH and EVA?

Or the identity of the men called the committee?

Or that of what we call 'the spear'?

Or the aim of Commander Ikari?"

Then, he laughed as he reached into his pocket for a cigarette. At the disapproving  
look from the old politician, he just put it to his lips unlit. "Maybe you want to know  
of the plans of young Ikari. Or just what is this Treasure Box?

I'll tell you, but you have to answer a question of my own first."

"Don't worry about it." the Minister replied. "Katsuragi won't be harmed when we  
have to take down NERV." And all the while thinking it would be best if the woman  
died 'accidentally' as she resisted protective custody.

"That's not what I want to know. What, you think they wouldn't have thought it  
possible that they'd have to suffer through conventional attack? Or that they won't  
have someone offering advance warning? No, don't answer. These questions are  
rhetorical, not what I'm looking for."

Defense Minister Sakata looked sour. The inquest he participated in against the  
suspiciously apt preparedness of NERV way back during the Matarael incident still  
burned. Through the embarrassment, he felt he was proven right. NERV and its  
enemies gave the world a good deal of unnecessary pain. Things just kept on getting  
worse the more power that Ikari (both of them) grasped for themselves.

Kaji smirked. "As long as you have a secret, a question will chase after it. I asked  
Yang the same thing."

"Don't be too presumptuous of your own importance. Trying to play both sides at  
this point will end badly for you."

Kaji took the cigarette from his lips and pointed. "Then you'd better take what you  
see as the truth."

Defense Minister Sakata considered not letting Kaji live to return to Tokyo-3, but it  
was the most basic manoeuvre to ensure one's own unexpected death will just make  
that much more trouble for everyone else. Kaji's been playing the game for long  
enough that just a woman didn't sound enough to secure his loyalty. "All right,  
what do you really want?"

"Answer me this, and honestly. What is the door for, opening or closing?"

"Huh?"

"Come on, now, this is really important to me. What do you think?"

The Minister rubbed at his head. "I don't have time for this."

"Shall I tell you what Yang said? That it's better left to itself. Blocked, buried even."

Minister Sakata looked up. "Are you talking about the technology of the Eva?"

"For me the door should be opened by force. That's the reason. That's why I'm  
here."

-][-

Despite appearances, NERV was in no power vacuum.

With the Commander and Subcommander either gone or under arrest, that left  
Misato Katsuragi as utter despot over Tokyo-3. While Yang's corpse cooled, she was  
in the next room over ensuring that Tokyo-3 was locked down tight; all roads  
secured, all flights over the airspace other than the one bringing her back were to  
be warned away once then eat an anti-air missile if it refused to comply. Only the  
AA turrets didn't require resupply, since in the last attack by Evangelion-class  
enemies these fast radar-guided explosive-tipped missiles were just this side of  
useless.

Kaji leaned on a wall, surrounded by armed guards. He had diplomatic credentials  
but all knew it that he was far less of a target than Misato. He lit up a cigarette and  
took out his NERV security pass. "Huh. Never noticed before how it's the color of  
blood."

Of course, his guards made no comment. The security detail was waiting for armored  
transport. Kaji had to leave ahead of Misato, since an armored limo was good enough  
for him. He was no stranger to death, and seeing Yang's face split open like an  
overripe melon wouldn't give him (and Misato) any nightmares. What scared him more  
at that moment was the sheer –_inevitability_- of things.

He stretched out inside the limo and stuck his hands in his pockets. It was so tiring  
having to play sides against each other. Maybe even Misato saw him as a fool.

Kaji closed his eyes, thinking a short fifteen-minute nap before having to report in  
to the bureaucracy wasn't too much to ask.

He thought back to a few days ago, when he had to meet the Prime Minister himself  
to explain again how it was foolish to interfere. It looked as if Sakata would be left to  
hang, if his initiative failed to bear fruit. Japan had a lot of leverage ever since the  
existence of the geofront was revealed, enough to convince the UN to move the  
headquarters to Tokyo-2.

It was a poisoned apple. Didn't the see that?

He'd dug too deep and what he saw, it would only tempt fools to rush in. He was just so  
tired of it all...

... sleep claimed him easily.

He came to inside a dark featureless steel room.

Quickly Kaji stood up. He wasn't handcuffed or tied down, which was a surprise. He  
then checked his pockets for his cigarettes. He took out the pack. "Last one left." Then  
he realized whoever had kidnapped him had taken the lighter. "Bastards."

The door behind him opened, flooding the room with light. Kaji turned around and smiled.  
"Yo. I was wondering when you'd show up."

Misato Katsuragi entered and crossed her arms. Two black-suited agents of NERV Section  
Two, one tall and tanned and the other shorter and pale with age, flanked her. Kaji  
wondered if they were there to take over if Misato decided he was being too glib. He felt  
a flush of approval. Misato shouldn't let herself be ruled by sentiment; unlike a fool like  
him.

"I don't need this shit, Kaji." Misato hissed. "It's bad enough that Gendo makes my  
mission a lie from the start, I don't need my own command staff working behind my  
back, keeping secrets, as if I'd stomach being 'protected' like that. I just gave Shinji-kun  
a good scolding about it. I don't want to have to repeat myself."

He grinned. "Then, who do you think you're really protecting?" He put the unlit cigarettef  
on his lips. "There's no way out of this without people getting hurt."

=][=

"Sorry, miss- but orders are orders. Tokyo-3's under total lockdown. Nobody goes in  
or out." said the UNIG soldier at the pass.

"This is an abuse of power!" Rika Izuna screeched from her news van. "The public  
has the right to evacuate from danger zones! This is still Japanese soil, you know!"

Her faithful assistant sighed and began to reverse the van. "If we didn't try and hunt  
down Horaki, we could have left with the rest of the team."

"Katsuragi's not going to get away with this!" the reporter yelled out with her head  
out the window.

Katsuragi had given twelve hours for Tokyo-3 to empty itself of noncombatants.  
Then at noon, heavy physical barriers went up over the north and east passes.  
Metal shutters lowered over the mountain tunnels, and armor slabs rose from the  
roads. The only way in was through the south, and there overlooking Cerberus Base  
lines of JSSDF tanks straddled the highway. The entrance to Tokyo-3 itself was  
blocked by the UNIG's fewer but stronger tanks. They faced outwards.

General Kiyosato Akira was one of the three generals who led the defense against  
Sachiel. While events had later marginalized the role of the JSSDF in defending  
against the Angels, he had been one of those very instrumental in getting the  
UN support base up and running. Now, even he was denied access to Hakone.

He walked across the empty roads to meet Col. Nasuno, who was still in charge of  
the city's defenses. Beside him was Captain Avrikupolous, unarmed and helmet-less,  
though still very dangerous in full Tactical Dreadnought armor. NNHIS representative  
Tokita followed, clutching his coat against the strong valley wind.

General Akira at the soldiers beyond the pass. Some of the tanks still had the red star  
of the China, forces brought in some months ago with Ikari's return and then trickling  
in with the UN's multinational detachments. He nodded to Nasuno. "What do you think  
you're doing? It's fine if you don't want to leave, but you're edging too close to  
treason here."

"I don't like it either, but those are the orders. You're going to have to find someone  
who can countermand them."

"From Katsuragi?" He sucked his lips in. That would have to be the UN Security  
Council. Everyone was just waiting for the situation to explode.

Unfortunately, if the situation DID explode, for NERV to remain neutral would  
thereafter see them utterly dominating the world stage. General Akira looked back  
to the sea horizon. China wouldn't survive all-out war, what with their nuclear  
arsenals just for second-strike purposes; at most a hundred, with about thirty in  
submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Their most of their site-based launchers were  
used up against Sahaquiel.

Unfortunately, the Eva had already demonstrated the capability to intercept  
hypersonic bombardment both _globally_ and _simultaneously_.

"Politics doesn't really interest me, but why is that such a problem?" spoke Captain  
Avrikupolous. "Even I know that no matter how many men the Chinese have, they  
have no chance of getting across the Sea of Japan."

"Ahem, I don't think even Yang-sensei can pull off miracles when he's... dead." Said  
Tokita.

"Not unless they're invited here." Col. Nasuno replied while rubbing his forehead. "If  
they want to force the issue, it's either that or have a lot of people on both sides die."

Gen. Akira nodded. Unless the UN NAVY and all other forces there decided to immolate  
most of the Korean peninsula facing east, the PLA had enough rockets and missiles  
to kill the all world's naval tonnage twice over and reach all the way across the Sea of  
Japan. It was a weird sort of MAD, since both forces would have enough advance warning  
of a strike that they could launch their own counterstrikes well in time. But even if the  
artillery and mobile missile divisions were destroyed, there were still others in transit from  
the mainland. Yang loved the missile massacre _so_ _much_. It would be much harder to  
replace the ships, and without a force to screen the sea even the JSSDF's first line forces  
entertained the notion they could successfully drive back a mass assault from the mainland.

The only reasonably safe platform in the debacle would be the submarines, and the PLA/N's  
submarines were still less capable than the ones available to the UN and the JSSM. The  
Sea of Japan however was so thick with subs and already well-monitored that it was  
nearly impossible to hide. Again it would rely on whoever decides to strike first.

It was a dizzying complex sequence and that practically insured it was NOT Yang's  
plan. Because they could see it, for all the difficult of predicting how it would go.

Tokita smirked. "It doesn't really matter, does it? No matter what they do, they  
only have until Asuka comes back to... how's that go? Fuck their shit up."

No one had doubts about that. The Chinese would be treated to a red-haired  
devil falling out of the sky, with barbarian rage and a valkyrie's spear, and verily  
shit shall be fucked up.

=][=

Misato put one foot on top of the base commander's table and pumped her fists in the  
air. "I hereby claim this land as the Principality of Katsuragi!"

Ritsuko hit her on the head with a plastic clipboard. "No."

=][=

All things considered, Kozo Fuyutsuki supposed, he could be a lot more  
uncomfortable. He was being held in the JSSDF base at Atsugi. His cell was clean,  
dry, and spacious. He was fed three times a day, and was allowed to keep a pot of  
tea warm on an electric kettle. He had a small TV to keep from getting too bored  
and could borrow newspapers from the guards. Monitoring was limited to cameras  
and guards outside his cell. It was not how he'd expected to spend his retirement,  
but better than he felt he deserved.

Thus when the screams and explosions began he was able to restrain himself from  
looking for more than just a few minutes. With a tired groan he eventually went  
over to the small window to his cell. He saw fires, and tanks and trucks overturned,  
and in the distance something green and fast roared past.

He heard a soft click and turned around to see Gendo unlocking his cell. "I'm surprised  
you actually even bothered."

"You were there at the beginning, sensei. It only seems proper you see how it ends."  
Fuyutsuki shook his head and tugged at his gray hairs. "So you set her free, I trust?"

"Just as Yui wanted."

There was a loud crash from outside. "So the exit clause has been nullified. I don't  
pity SEELE, but... she wanted you to become an ally of justice. This isn't revenge. This  
isn't even punishment." He glanced at Gendo's scarred hands. "It was never this world  
that took her from you."

=][=

"Katsuragi, this is edging very close to treason." the Prime Minister himself was  
handing the remote conference. He was still fairly young, with long hair behind a wide  
forehead. "Hakone is still Japanese soil. Closing it off and refusing to cooperate with  
investigators… it's suspicious. Is that the image you really want to present"

Misato remained silent, her arms crossed over her chest. She refused to sit on Gendo's  
old chair. "I'm fine with looking like a bad guy, if it means nobody gets to take a shot at  
my pilots." She sniffed. "Yang died while I was talking to him."

Kaji, back at Cerberus base, chortled. "It's like the classic mystery question, isn't it?"  
He pointed with his index finger and thumb out, and mouthed 'bang'. "Who benefits most  
from the murder?"

"Kaji…" she hissed warningly. "I _really_ _don't need_ this shit."

"I guess yes, **I** do." he replied with a slight grin. "But it's not like anyone here in Cerberus  
respects me anyway. But it's not worth the hassle." He leaned back on his chair and waved.  
"But it's unlikely that Yang was killed for transient political power or a _cassus belli_ for China.  
In the short term, this reduces the efficiency of our forces and worsens relations. In the  
long term... Yang was a relic. It wasn't really him that was the danger, but because he was  
the best person to hold the Treasure Box."

"What?" Prime Minister Sato asked, annoyed at being sidelined.

"At the very bottom of Pandora's Box, after all the ills and monsters of the world was  
set loose, was butterfly of hope." Kaji bowed his head. In the long term, who would  
benefit most from Yang's death? Misato Katsuragi. It was time for her to move out of  
the shadow of the previous generation.

"The Evangelion isn't going to just go away." Misato replied roughly. "We keep on  
fighting and fighting, what the hell do you think we should get out of this?"

That left the Prime Minister speechless for quite some time. Then, with careful hostility  
he said "I don't know. There's a lot who believe you want to cause Third Impact."

"That's as easy as letting any Angel through into Terminal Dogma." said Ritsuko. She'd  
been content to remain silent as Misato stonewalled everyone else. As she joined the  
discussion, everyone connected had to pay attention. She was the world's leading expert  
on xenobiology, the only one to successfully resist a Unity mind worm, and while  
Katsuragi could be replaced, Akagi was a prize for any world power.

Ritsuko smirked unkindly. How little they knew. "NERV is a UN operation. Well, it's  
supposed to be. I don't know if NERV Boston's as free from American interests, but  
here in NERV Hakone we can't afford picking and choosing who helps secure that  
damn Angel down below."

"Why not just destroy it?" Prime Minister Sato asked. Nothing in the past fifteen years  
seemed worth all this pain.

"That might wake it up." Ritsuko replied from her laboratory. "That would be a bad thing."

"What, it's not dead?"

"The creature caused Second Impact. We do know now that the Angels don't seem  
to have a specific grudge against humanity, they might not even understand why  
we're so small and yet individuals." Ritsuko smirked. "It's only a matter of time  
until we exhaust even the Angels... eventually, their active evolution will imitate  
our strengths to such an extent that we can communicate with them."

The Prime Minister looked doubtful. "Are you sure about that?"

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to? Would you prefer to keep on throwing  
away lives and money in fighting an endless war?" She laughed pitilessly. "If you all  
want to play with Evangelions in your little political games after this, I don't care.  
Just don't get in our way until we get this damn thing off this planet."

Misato chimed in with "Gendo wanted to cause Third Impact and become a God,  
you know." She grinned. "Really, all I'm asking for is to be supplied from whoever I  
want."

Kaji added. "What you do about China is your own business. Anyone trying to take  
NERV would be trying to control the doomsday trigger, and that would be political  
suicide. No one should be able to threaten all the world and all of humanity at once."

"Yes, that includes us, damn it." said Misato.

"Removing the alien... this is NERV's actual plan? Where are you going to put it?"

"Somewhere in deep freeze until we're sure that just throwing it into the sun won't  
make it return angry and on fire." Ritsuko's tone was the very pit of boredom, as if  
daring people to believe she was telling blatant lies.

=][=

The streets were deserted. Shinji was a little creeped out, it was too similar to his  
dream. While he knew that the people were but a prefecture or two away, he was  
strangely stuck with nostalgia for the innocent times of but a few months previous.

There was no need to sneak around. An APC brought him over to the apartment  
complex, and the guards had to remain outside. Power-armored people just  
wouldn't fit through the stairwells. "I have to do this by myself." said the boy. "This  
shouldn't take too long."

This little apartment. Shinji raised his thumbs to rub at his eyes. It was the one place he  
felt unlike the tool of some abstract destiny or old conspiracies. That home, with  
Asuka complaining, Misato laughing, and Rei or Maya dropping in now and then to  
add a sense of enduring comfort, and Ritsuko trolling them all behind the scenes;  
just one year and those were the memories he wanted to keep above all else. While  
younger he took comfort in his isolation with the four personalities in his head.

They weren't enough anymore. He'd cast aside human concerns and conventional  
morality for power and now ached for the warmth of mundane living.

'_This city is dying.'_ He had friends growing up at Sendai, but only here and with them  
did it blossom into magic._ 'I don't want to be alone again.'_ He paused in front his own  
room, with Misato's semi-sarcastic scrawl 'Shinji's Lovely Suite' on a hanging board.

In his room, Shinji Ikari found a plain white envelope on his bed. Inside was a  
typed letter from the closest he had for a mentor.

00

_"The old order changeth, giving place to the new  
And God fulfills himself in many ways  
Lest one good custom corrupt the world_

_If you are reading this, then I have departed well ahead of your own plans. This  
makes things more difficult for you, and I apologize. But overawing the world to  
keep order will not work. In the time of the great Khan, a virgin with a bag of gold  
may ride from one end of his lands to the other, and both will be unmolested. At his  
death both had to travel again under heavy guard._

_Before you I walked the path of blood, and it's tiring work without any guarantee  
that the Work will last. Yet there are things in this world that need to be fought,  
and concepts that must be removed from the psyche through force if necessary. I  
am writing this with a certain young woman nearby- and hers has been a most -  
enlightening- tale, young Ikari._

_It's heartwarming that you did think of me as your ally. The greatest threat to  
peace in this world is now -__**you**__-, and for this Shinji Ikari must die. _

_I know what it is that you fear. You can't run from it anymore. I am forcing your  
hand, little prince. It is not power that will let you speak for everyone. It is not  
violence that is the language all can understand. _

_All is prepared. Show Katsuragi that you've learned my lessons well. _

_-__**Yang**__" _

00

"This shouldn't have happened." the boy whispered. "Yang-sensei, this is unfair."  
Inwardly he felt a hot flash of guilt, unable to prevent himself from thinking, better  
him than Misato.

Just the thought of it brought his hackles up. He couldn't even being to imagine the  
tortures he'd inflict on whoever would dare to do that. Yang was right. He didn't  
have a voice, but Shinji was terrified of what it would take to gain it.

He'd have to break the pride of nations just to get them to cooperate. The boy sat  
on the edge of his bed and sighed. He was still in junior high. He'd thought ten,  
twenty, even a hundred years of what they needed - the Eva's power was too great  
to be misused – but he wondered if ever he'd get to go to College and learn and a  
real useful trade.

On his study table, four figurines were knocked over from all the bustle of the  
past battles. Shinji looked under the bed and took out a prepared suitcase. There  
was nothing that he owned that was really all that valuable. He turned back to the  
figurines. The Farseer. The Warboss. The Sorcerer. The Captain. Just plastic and  
paint.

And silent now.

He smiled slightly and bowed before picking them up. _'Thank you.'_

Everything he'd done has always been with the help of others around him, he  
remembered. He looked at his own fists. Alone, he was nothing. Humanity's  
frantic need to survive gave him power.

He fell back on his bed and laughed. _'It's not so bad, isn't it? Living? We can do this.  
There's still so much suffering in the world, but we can't stop now.'_

There was a knock on the door. Shinji put the figurines in his pocket and opened  
the screen doors to his room.

"Oh, Ayanami."

Rei stood there in her school uniform. Hadn't Maya drag the girl off shopping for a  
new wardrobe several times already? Well, whatever she was comfortable in. Shinji  
owed Rei far too much to consider anything that would make her even the slightest  
bit unhappy.

Rei stepped into the room and nose to nose with him. "Become one with me." said  
the girl.

"Ah... this is not a good time." he said placatingly. "I'm sorry. How about-"

Rei grabbed both sides of his head and stuck her tongue down his throat. After a  
few moments, Shinji gave in. Rei always cared. She just had a tendency to go  
overboard in trying to remove his distress.

She bit his tongue. "Ow!"

Rei's eyes were glowing red. "The light of your soul calls to me. Let me feed. Let me  
complete the circle."

Shinji blinked. He pulled away. He searched that ever-so-familiar face. "Wait... you're  
not Rei." He grimaced. There was both timeless hunger and a child-like lack of mercy  
in her eyes. She was savage and innocent at the same time, pure and beyond right  
and wrong. "Raka? Didn't we speak about how -creepy- this is?"

"You will be mine again."

Shinji narrowed his eyes. "Lillith."

She smiled widely. "**Hello again, meatling**."

=][=

The flying fortress _STURMBRAND_ hurried to lift off even with gaping holes in the hull.  
Inside, a hastily assembled force, the 2nd and 3rd UNIG Heavy Regiments clung to  
the handrails which were ladders when under full thrust. Wilfred Ingram Wulfenbach  
realized that the 'nia tepellin' was less of an airship than designed as a spaceship that  
just had to hug the gravity well. It was the power of the Eva that was providing lift.  
There was no reason to assume that it couldn't be applied straight up.

He winced as the tepellin abruptly accelerated. The AT-field tugged at their very souls,  
and through it everyone felt a resonance with the girl at the controls. Her fear and  
desperation thickened the air. A sonic boom broke the sky over Gotha.

EUROSOC had replaced NATO and the CSTO plans, as the threat of overt military action  
grew ludicrous after Impact. There was more focus on Western Europe and its tensions with  
the frozen UK and France, while the New Council managed the resources uncovered  
by warming Siberia. Germany by centrality and distance from the coasts ended up being  
literally the heart of the new European society. That wealth and connectivity made it  
NERV center for research and development, while the American bases were more  
suited for production and testing. Wilfred realized he'd grown up in an atmosphere of  
comfort and optimism. Intuitively he recognized that Russia had more to worry about  
with its border with China (and Yang there) while France had to look to the Norman coast.

It was so easy to volunteer to head to the East. Like him, he supposed, it felt like  
paying back the years. Europe was just the second stage. Over there, they would  
fight the Angels directly. They could exact revenge upon the aliens.

Suddenly, somewhere over Ukranian airspace, their ride was wrenched aside. Red  
lights switched on and alarms rang out. "All hands secure, everyone hold on tight!"  
someone announced. "Prepare for combat maneuvering!"

"C-combat?" the soldier next to Wilfred muttered. "Are we under attack? Is it…  
an Angel?"

Wilfred grit his teeth. The tepellin was just a big metal cylinder. It had nothing in the  
way of offensive weapon, except perhaps… itself. He let out a delighted 'hah!' as he  
felt everything around him spin and then speed up. Of course. Sohryu would just go  
for ramming speed!

Outside, was a strange being formed of two helixes of bright white light looped around  
each other. This was the Angel Armisael.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Asuka was screaming. Her voice was coming from the  
hull of the craft, vibrating in tune to her feelings. "Stop singing!"

Cracking noises traveled through the metal, as batteries were forcefully discharged.  
Inside her own Evangelion, Mayumi put her hands over her ears. "Who are you who  
are you… get out get out get out!"

The front of the tepellin crackled with strange arcs of electricity. As Luftschloss  
Sturmbrand pivoted and hurled itself like a dagger, Armisael glowed even brighter,  
its song now reaching everyone inside. Wilfred growled. He was being pitied.

Armisael widened, and passed around the _STURMBRAND_. Then, softly, the tepellin  
vanished, leaving just that eeried glowing circle. The Angel spun and shrank until  
it was no more than hand's width in diameter and spinning furiously. Then, it too  
vanished.

=][=

Shinji knew that his father had Adam implanted into him. Cells and organs needed  
no awareness of themselves. Even then, Adam was from the start a much less  
malevolent entity.

As he stared into those pitiless red eyes, he remembered why most of the oldest  
legends spoke of the titans devouring their children. The world was often made  
from the dismembered corpse of a primordial god.

The boy put his hand on her left butt cheek. "**Ooh!**" she squealed in delight. Then  
he put his other hand on her right shoulder and in one quick motion turned her  
around. A shove put her out the door, then Shinji kicked her in the back to send  
her overturning the dining table.

Shinji forcefully slammed the the flimsy screen door shut and put his back against  
it. "OHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAP." he mumbled while sweating in panic. This  
was not supposed to happen! SEELE, for all their murderous goals, wanted to avoid  
-this- exact scenario. He'd been hoping his experience with a self-aware Lillith was  
just a hypothermia-induced hallucination.

Dammit. He'd been sure Rei could hold her back. As Raka, as his consciousness  
dominant in her body, he might have just served to erode the barriers. Or a  
conduit?

Shit. Souls could be split. They could be combined. If that dream had any slice of  
reality, he carried with him a slice of Lillith's soul too, over his own existence as a  
Lillim creature.

Dimly he remembered that Gendo durifng their negotiations talked about how he'd  
eventually have to face an enemy he can't beat with an Evangelion or any amount  
of trickery. He reached into his pocket to call for help. His cellular phone was in  
fragments from a mere touch by Lillith. He moaned. The worst primordial terrors  
were _smart_ primordial terrors.

-][-

Pen-pen poked his head out of his freezer-cabin and briefly locked gazes with the  
ancient one in Ayanami's shell. She was lying face up, head tilted back. The penguin  
gave a nervous warble, slowly side-stepped over to the door, and grabbed at the air.  
Oh. Right. He was too short for the door handle.

Hurriedly he grabbed for the umbrellas by the door, but clumsily knocked them all over.  
He froze at the loud noise he'd made, feeling a red-eyed gaze. The penguin slowly  
picked up one red umbrella, mindful of Lillith's intent but bored attention. Quickly he  
pulled at the latch with it, and with his beak pried the door open. Leaving closed it  
back with a soft click, and then was down the hallway, flippers flapping, as fast as his  
webbed feet could carry him.

"Wark wak waaaaak!" he ran screaming to the elevator.

-][-

Lillith slowly got up, relishing the puny fires of pain from mortal nerve endings. Her  
awareness, sapience even, was limited to the mortal mind She occupied. Ayanami  
for all her reticence still felt the full gamut of human emotions. The pains, the  
hungers. She was very hungry.

She had already devoured the child that was so afraid of turning into a monster.  
Now, wearing that child's skin, she wanted to taste again that piece of soul that  
was so different from her own. She flicked some wooden splinters from her skirt  
and approached the door.

"**There is no lock**." she said loudly, and somewhat amused. It was just a typical  
Japanese sliding door. "**This will not stop me.**"

Beyond the door was a strange grinding noise.

Lilllith understood love. All-consuming possessiveness was the default state of  
such a being. Rei Ayanami and Shinji Ikari had screamed from the depths of their  
soul for power, and She answered. Now the contract need only be fulfilled by the  
second of the two client creatures.

Lillith punched at the door, and much to Her surprise, Her fist was repulsed by an  
equal opposing force. Briefly, a large two-headed eagle flashed on the blank  
white pasteboard screen.

Puzzled, She tried again. This time, a strange eight-pointed star absorbed the  
blow. She understood what it meant to hate; to be denied. To be rejected. Her eyes  
were misting up, but She didn't know why.

Others, like Adam, were an existence that was not Her but sought the same  
things. She knew of the all-consuming desire to destroy. From the memories inside  
this shell, she saw that it was much the same for little beings.

Once more she struck, and a stylized eye flashed into being. It closed, apparently  
stung.

Because she understood hate, Lillith was starting to comprehend an emotion called  
mild annoyance. She held her fist high and punched with all the force she could  
muster. The rebounding shockwave blew away all furniture behind her.

A winking skull with a jagged overlarge jaw was there. Its jaw moved up and  
down, as if laughing. Behind the door, the noise had ceased.

With a flash of anger, Lillith kicked the door down. The light wooden screen simply  
disintegrated. She poked her head into the room to see... her target wasn't around.  
There was a jagged hole on the side of Shinji's room. From the outside she heard a  
door sliding open and then hurried footsteps.

With his mini-chainsaw, Shinji had cut his way into Misato's room, and then  
to the veranda. He had one foot over the railing already. If Nagisa had just decided  
to go all-out and attack him directly, Shinji knew he had little ability to defend himself.  
He needed proper tools and preparation, which he'd neglected in the delusion of keeping  
his home a place of mundane family affairs.

He was a pilot, squishy and mortal outside the Evangelion. He'd been counting on  
Kaworu's innate sense for the dramatic to keep it level. Even in their encounter at  
Egypt, he had the advantage from knowing the limits of his enemy's powers.

'_Damn it! There must be a way so we can win!' _Angels only needed to make contact  
with Lillith to cause Third Impact. It was fine, as long as it was secured under  
Terminal Dogma. The resources of a world united could support one Fortress City  
near indefinitely. If only Yang had lived… it was too soon to open the Treasure Box!

This? For the first time, the enemy dictated the terms of the engagement. He needed  
to recover the initiative.

The boy took a deep breath and leapt off. He figured he had about three seconds  
before splattering himself all over the ground.

His heart was pounding in panic, but there was no fear about how the wind whistled  
past and the hard concrete of the apartment's parking lot grew to fill his vision. He  
spread out his arms and legs to slightly slow his descent, and shouted -

"AYANAMIIIII!"

=][=

Rei Ayanami was undergoing an examination at NERV's secure medical facility.  
She was wearing only a shapeless hospital gown. "I am confused." she said.

Ritsuko didn't bother to look up from her console. "Hm? Your synchro ratio was never  
high enough to deliver permanent sympathetic damage." Rei's limit was why Unit  
Zero required external support to improve performance, instead of just more power  
reserves for exotic AT-field applications.

"The Commander has left us. I should feel betrayed, yet… I recognize this feeling,  
Doctor Akagi. I am sad. I feel lonely."

Ritsuko quirked her lips. "Like it or not, that man has dominated both our lives for  
far too long."

"I am thinking, did he ever really care? Pilot Ikari is…" Rei lowered her head. "But  
still I hope that not all of what the Commander has showed me was a lie."

"Hmf. You could just consider yourself lucky instead." Ritsuko held her hand out  
and one of her mechadendrites slid across her knuckles. "I should warn you that  
your Ikari is just as likely to be consumed by his purpose like his father… but you  
won't care about being used up like that too, wouldn't you?"

"I live this life for a reason, Doctor Akagi." Rei replied. "It is enough."

The scientist sighed. "Dammit. And here I don't know whether to pity or envy you."

Rei quirked her head up, and then her eyes widened slightly. "Ikari-kun." She  
whispered.

She crouched slightly and leapt up.

Smash. Crash. Boom. Through the floors, out the pyramid, a sharp whine spreading  
out as she cracked the sound barrier within the geofront. Then punching through the  
primary armor layers of separating the geofront from the city, spilling a fountain of  
glowing-hot liquified metal as she broke out into the surface.

Then braking suddenly, adjusting her AT-field that she wouldn't puree someone while  
catching him in her arms. She had Shinji in a bridal carry.

He laughed with mad delight. Instinctively he hugged her and whispered into her ear "I  
knew you'd save me." he said with a wan grin, playing the role.

"Of course." she replied. Their trust was absolute. She found nothing funny about the  
situation.

Shinji's face flicked into grim seriousness. "We have a problem."

"I see it."

Both looked up to see Lillith balancing herself on the railings of the apartment. With  
a cocky grin, She threw herself off. The air around Her shimmered and shortly  
gravity ceased to have any upon her. Shinji felt his heart skip briefly, as Lillith pulled  
on all the souls that bore Her mark.

All life on Earth. They could not see it, but small animals were keeling over, dead,  
their tiny hearts burst. Birds were dropping from the sky.

They both hovered in the air, their AT-fields thrumming. Evangelions had power to  
spare, but for all that still weighed thousands of tons and had an extra control step  
put in. This fine control was possible only for those who had nothing between them  
and their Angelic abilities.

The Evangelions were bestial beings of urges and emotions. Here there was just  
the effort of will, and the world shifted around them. Shinji gulped. Their regions of  
absolute territory overlapped. There would be no such thing as AT-field barriers  
between these two.

No protection but speed. '_We are different_.' thought Rei. She instantly zipped back,  
then up, then to the left, as Lillith swooped with her right hand outstretched like a  
claw. Rei tightened her grip on Shinji and said. "Hold on to me."

Recognizing the need for more complex evasive maneuvers, Shinji locked his fingers  
together on Rei's hip and nodded.

Rei swooped down to skim the ground, weaving around trees. Lilllith followed, and  
simply crashed into and through them. Abruptly Rei turned around, bent her knees  
and pushed off a tree trunk. She zipped back the other way passing Lilllith. The  
possessed girl looked back at her quarry, and then slammed into the mountainside.

"She is angry." Rei said calmly.

"**MINE!**" a voice resonated through the winds.

Rei smiled very slightly. Lillith's presence in that shell was very similar to possession,  
an expression of desire so vast that the world twisted around to make it happen. But  
for all that power, it was ignorant. Untrained.

Lillith, here, was herself unshackled. Yet it was was not Rei that was hurting inside.  
The girl clutched at her chains of attachment and would not be moved.

Lillith thought _'__**COME HERE**__.'_ There was a keen ululating sound. The blue-haired girls  
bobbed left, then right, as nearly invisible cutting shards slashed through the air. Rei's  
AT-field flared as trees sent flying up struck her side, and that was enough to send her  
spinning. Rei closed her eyes and embraced Shinji tighter.

_'I will -protect-.' _she said to the universe. _'He will not fall.'_

She felt Shinji's lips on her hers. Surprised, she stopped. Her AT-field contracted  
abruptly. Shinji extended his right hand, and Rei's AT-field obeyed. They both veered  
left, then down. Far behind them, a hilltop was clipped out.

Shinji bared his teeth. "She doesn't know us."

Rei nodded. "We are always stronger together."

Rei's AT-field shifted in a way that only Lillith could perceive. It now held a distinct  
flavor apart from her own. There was a shriek like a raptor's cry and six gossamer  
wings of spacetime burst out of Rei Ayanami's back, fading back into the backdrop  
of blue sky.

Shinji pulled free the buttons of his shirt and exposed the medallion he got back at  
Javaal. The eye of Isha was made of psychoreactive material, the very seed for  
everything else that used them.

Like the geofront itself, it was an alien construct.

What was more important was that it was placed into a new titanium casing. One that  
served as a wireless remote controller. Shinji pushed a button on its back and the side  
of a hill exploded outward. There were plenty of buried explosives around Tokyo-3.  
They were no mere land mines. The explosion launched a wide net made of  
superconductive wire. Whipping out at speed, it should wrap around any nearby  
Angels and trap entire armored columns.

"Oh this is bad." the boy whispered as the smoke cleared.

There, floating with arms contemptuously crossed, Lillith looked unscathed. Worse yet,  
the razor web looked undamaged on the valley slope. Either she phased through the  
material, or simply let it pass through- fixing herself immovable in relative spacetime  
and renegerating from all damage as fast as the wires sliced through cloth, flesh and  
bone. An unseen wave passed over the city, and Shinji grimaced again. His heart felt  
as if being pulled out his chest, and he felt cold straight to the marrow.

**I AM**/you are (not). There was no arrogance here. Only the starving truth.

"It is my body." said Rei. Theoretically, even a being such as Lillith should be  
limited by what the mortal frame could handle. She was only functionally immortal,  
Rei was keenly familiar in how easily she may be killed. It was blessing.

The problem was that Rei wouldn't have survived that attack. It was one of many  
anti-Evangelion measures sprinkled around the city, to bind a berserking god-  
machine.

"We need weapons." said Shinji, still with one arm around Rei. He showed no  
shame about being in distress. He wished he'd indulged in his whims more, for a  
sword that was one fire would be really useful just then. "Um, I'm going to need  
both hands free."

"I will not let you fall." Rei replied grim finality.

Shinji chuckled lightly. Rei was a very physical person, and expressed herself in  
deeds. Her words were never just what she wanted to say. "I love you, you know  
that?" he said, tightening his grip.

Rei couldn't help but to blush. "I..." Shinji adjusted his place to be able to put both  
arms on either side of Rei's head. Their cheeks were now touching. Rei looked down  
with a slight smile on her face. "I do." Her AT-field weakened, for the light of the  
soul was bound in the pain of Self. Then there was a subtle hum, and gossamer  
long wings appeared and faded out from her back. Ayanami measured her sense of  
Self from the purpose imposed upon her by others.

She rejected all things, all thoughts, all restraint, except for that single overpowering  
absolute terror of being alone again. And in that fear, she _moved_.

Lillith's eyes flashed bright. One moment, three very strange teenagers were at a  
standoff, and then there were two overlapping sonic booms.

Controlling the AT-field of an Evangelion was like trying to harness a hurricane. It was  
not that Rei's AT-field was more compliant, but much more focused. Synching with  
Rei was very much like synching with an Evangelion, only that it was constant and  
noninvasive. The light of Shinji's own soul may not be bright as Rei's, but it burned  
hot. Shinji squeezed his grip and lightning sparked from behind his eyes.

Rei weaved left and right, as Lillith forcefully –_pulled_-, drawing everything in a line  
into a strange vacuum blade. Throwing out her will, it slashed away at the ground.  
Lillith, for all Her power, really didn't know much about using an AT-field. Her  
godlike power was intrinsic and instantaneous. Only a barest fraction of that could be  
evoked from Rei's physical form.

Large area slashes, though barely visible on the move, though devastating to the terrain,  
were doing nothing useful. Rei's own spatial senses could perceive and avoid them.  
Annoyed, Lillith then held out both Her hands palm out, and hot line scorched the trees  
passed by. It was a laser, thankfully not yet homing.

Shinji observed it, feeling Rei's AT-field like a second skin. He disentangled the mechanisms  
behind it, and opened his eyes to a flash of new knowledge. He held out the medallion  
and concentrated. From out the eye came small quick balls of blue lightning.

Lillith twisted sharply and let the rapid-fire plasma balls pass by. Then from either  
hand threw pulsing jets of raw starfire. The blasts, humming through the air with the  
crack of cannon fire, blew large craters where they struck. Out from the dust cloud,  
came another bright blue burst in machinegun spread.

Boom! Boom! Vip! Vip! Vip! Vip! Boom! Vip! Vip! It was daytime, and the air duel  
was only visible by the scars and explosions they left in their wake. Buildings  
collapsed, streets were torn up, and the shockwaves left by the rapid turns shot  
through the city with a sound like popping corn.

=][=

Inside the geofront, Misato was just being asked by the Prime Minister of Japan  
"Where is Shinji Ikari?" It was quite suspicious that he wasn't around to be asked  
if he was willingly participating in Misato's extortion.

All Angel alarms lit up. Overlapping DANGER signs replaced the conference screens.

"Majorly strong AT-field!" Makoto reported from the command center. The powers  
being unleashed could not be ignored by mere programming quirks. "It's... pattern  
blue... but there's two signals!"

"Where is it?"

"Downtown." He then worked over the feeds. "We don't have video, but there's  
still sound pickup from the monitoring stations." Not realizing that the conference  
linkup was still active, he piped in the data.

"**I WANT HIM INSIDE ME!"** loudly came Rei Ayanami's voice.

Misato's expression froze. "Just for once... this once." she said numbly. "Just let  
that be exactly what it sounds like."

"Aheh. Sorry, Katsuragi-san. Ah!" Makoto found an intact monitoring station at an  
outlying building. "It's... Ayanami. And Ikari. And Ayanami?" The readouts shifted  
to familiar patterns. "It's an Angel attack."

"Dammit."

=][=

'_It's kind of convenient that Tokyo-3's empty of civilians just when an Angel that's  
human-sized comes along.' _the Prime Minister was thinking as he was cut off from  
the conference. _'It's just like as Kaji said. The Angel attacks are nothing more than  
a smokescreen.'_

Misato gave no thought to Kaji, who merely bowed aside to watch her work. There  
was truth in her relief at hearing the boy's voice. It sure made a difference, having  
something or someone to protect.

Kaji looked around his own battle command deep within Cerberus Base.

This was Case Zero: an attack by a human-sized Evangelion-class enemy. Like  
Nagisa. Or, say, Ayanami.

Shinji Ikari very nearly wrote the book on anti-Angel combat. Certain parties  
compiled transcripts and offhand remarks and collected them into a small handbook.  
An Uplifting Primer, one might say.

There was a section discussing why an Angel with human awareness and human  
ruthlessness was the most dangerous enemy of all. Evangelions were all but  
useless against them.

_"Angelspawn are different. The Angel is not a gestalt consciousness, but within its  
region of absolute territory it has no problem having whatever form of Self it wants.  
Angelspawn are dangerous, but destroying them has as much harm to the Angel as  
cutting off one's hair for a human. _

_A hybrid like Nagisa, who embraces all the power of his Angel half, can strike  
with all the force of an Evangelion and all the subtlety of a human."_

And when asked why doesn't Kaworu Nagisa just attack without having to use  
the Earth's Cradle, he had this response: _"Because while it takes an Evangelion to  
kill an Angel, by wearing the human form the enemy is as easy to kill as you or me.  
You just have to get through the AT-field. Nagisa doesn't dare attack me head-on  
anymore because I've proven I can get past his AT-field anytime to give him a dagger  
to the face." _

How could a simple human without any special powers, as Shinji Ikari -claimed- to  
be, get through an AT-field? Wasn't the whole reason for building the Eva because  
no conventional weapon could bring down an AT-field?

And here the boy laughed. "_It's strange, but you see... AT-field is the light of the  
soul. It is the zone of absolute territory where the Angel may exist. If you're in one,  
you feel as if you're being torn apart. There is this great presence that shouts_

_**YOU ARE NOT.**_

_It erodes the Ego Border that maintains our existence. It makes you doubt that you  
have any worth in this universe. It destroys your personality from the inside, it burns  
and mutates your body from the outside._

_But through all this, I've found... it doesn't take any special gift, no bloodline, no  
mystical ceremony, no technological aid. It's just that simple. We are all souls self-  
evident. We can WALK THROUGH an AT-field."_

It was just surviving the trip that was the problem.

Cerberus Base personnel had long resigned themselves to serve as a speedbump to  
buy enough time to the pilots to get to their Evangelions. Now that NERV had no  
functional Evas, they were faced having to repulse an Angel attack on their own.

That it was -_the_- sort of Angel attack that they were actually equipped to handle  
still only brought on a feeling of panic.

Colonel Nasumo grudgingly had to applaud Katsuraig's paranoia. With most of the  
city retracted into the geofront, he had a clear view for his artillery. The VTOLs  
didn't scramble, their rockets would be useless when their target was small and  
capable of kicking away at mach speed on a whim. The laser air defense towers  
however, were active.

_"Deny the enemy the sky." _the section on Case Zero said. _"The AT-field could  
be used to wrap around lasers to split or turn them into homing lasers. We have  
now access to psychoreactive materials, which have proven corrosive effect on  
AT-field. There is another anti-Angel weapon... I call it the Thought Bomb._

_Something like it won't destroy the typical giant Angel. But against a smaller_  
_enemy, it can destroy its concentration. Anti-air defenses can be loaded with_  
_psycannon shells, and lasers can be focused through crystal impregnated with_  
_psychic power to act like a Personality Beam. As much as the AT-field destroys_  
_our sense of being, so is it that when we project our own identity on the enemy's_  
_region of absolute territory, we also taint it, we can weaken it, eventually to bring_  
_the enemy down to the ground where it may be destroyed."_

As much as a strong enough the AT-field could distort spacetime and serve as super-  
ECM against trying to target it from beyond visual range (not much of a problem as  
Angels tend to be big and conspicous anyway), it is also a massive beacon to psychic  
awareness. Much as white-noise ECM tends to emit radiation that an ARAD missile could  
home in on, warhead seekers could be made to take advantage of how wires of  
superconductive wraithbone 'wrinkled' to follow or track an AT-field emitter.

Two targets on the main screen flared their AT-fields to repulse criss-crossing fire from  
automated turrets around the city. "The AT-field can be used for defense, or offense,  
but not simultaneously..." the Colonel murmured.

But Shinji Ikari, still carried by Rei, could attack anyway. Lightning crackled through  
the sky even as the pair swooped for cover. Lillith had no choice but to go lower.

-][-

Most of Tokyo-3's central business and residential buildings were safe underground.  
There still remained plenty of freestanding buildings all around the city center however,  
and these were torn through by a pair of glowing blurs. Lillith blasted unhindered  
through rows of tall tenements until she reached the other end of the city.

She floated there, confused. Her quarry had vanished. She looked up, but there was  
only the bright glare of the sun. The defenses hemming Her in were annoying, but not  
enough yet that she deemed it worth it to be distracted from her hunt.

While the awakened ancient maker looked around, Rei and Shinji were actually clinging  
to the side of the second building in. "And of course she senses AT-fields." Shinji sighed  
as he slumped against a fire escape's railing.

"Like a shark." Rei agreed. She placed a hand over his. "Do not worry. I will protect you."

"I do have some small amount of masculine pri… no." Shinji sighed again. "No, I don't. I  
can't beat Lillith on my own, not with Unit One still locked down." He took a deep breath  
and pushed off to stand straight. Whatever was necessary to win, pride and strength were  
but tools to reach the goal. This was not the time to play the brash hotblooded idiot. It  
was only him that was at risk. "You'll have to distract her for a few minutes while I get  
things ready."

"Understood."

Shinji's eyes widened. "I know that tone... this isn't a suicide mission, Ayanami." He  
gripped her by the shoulders and put his forehead to hers. "Don't do anything too rfash.  
Wait for me, okay?"

Now would be an appropriate time for a hug; Rei thought. So she did. "Two shall stand.  
One shall fall." she whispered, and then began to glow. With a crack, she was zooming  
off over the city and towards the surviving point defense platforms. She was going to  
test her body-copy's resistance to antimatter.

Shinji looked down at six floors and wondered if he should have asked her to float him  
down before leaving. He began to run down, muttering imprecations to contain his panic.  
He could perform some feats of above-human ability, drawing upon the intangible  
connections between himself, Rei, and Unit 01, but now he mused that stealth was still  
the most useful trick. It was why Angels just couldn't comprehend that people were  
actually living, self-contained souls. At best, larvae. Souls unable to express themselves  
were barely living, by their perceptions.

Lillith would have as much respect for individuality as one might have to the grains of  
wheat at harvest time.

He heaved for breath when he finally touched down at the alley. He needed to find a  
payphone or something. He heard a loud screech and something darkened the end of the  
alley.

It was black car. Tinted windows rolled down, and sunglasses-wearing faces showed.

"Wark." greeted Pen-pen from the back seat, the bird leaning out the window. Yes,  
he too was wearing special custom-fit sunglasses.

"We've sunk to a new low." said Agent Jiro. "Taking directions from a damn bird."

"Oh. Right." Shinji said with an appreciative whistle. "You can track and navigate  
with AT-fields too."

=][=

Another important difference between NERV and Cerberus Command was that  
the latter didn't have the MAGI to automate most of the necessary processes for  
command, combat, and monitoring. It couldn't operate with a skeleton crew as  
few as NERV could. On the other hand, because the military base had more people  
to throw at a problem, it also meant a surplus of low-level flunkies to send on  
errands.

The hot cups of coffee didn't help against this chill everyone felt through their  
bones. Just earlier everybody had blanked out, it was like something reached out  
from behind their brains and wrapped cold hands around their eyeballs.

"Gaah." Colonel Nasuno gulped down a hot mouthful. His hands were shaking.  
For all the jolliness that Tokyo-3 residents treated being **_constantly _**on the edge  
of total annihilation, it was getting too repetitive and too close each time. They  
hadn't had the time to go into shell-shock because the traumatic stress just kept  
on building and building and building, and - gaaah.

He forced himself to focus on present concerns. "Ayanami's a clone? Did you know  
about this?"

"Of course." Kaji replied cooly. The extent of how the Dummy Plug System relied  
on Ayanami was known only to a select few in the government, but it was enough  
have some people see her as a parallel to Heisenberg's nuclear research under  
Nazi Germany.

The soldier groaned. "So now Ayanami's gone rogue. Is there anything NERV  
can do about this?'

"Unit Zero's missing a head. Unit One is missing both arms." Misato spoke from  
the main screen of Cerberus command bunker. "We're lucky that Ayanami's still  
fighting on our side."

"But in another sense, Ayanami HAS gone rogue." Ritsuko put in.

"Well, care to explain that?" Misato tilted her head down to ask. She was standing  
up in the Commander's station, but unwilling to sit down in Gendo's seat. She  
wasn't directly involved in the fighting, she felt the least she owed her children  
was to stand and face the danger with them.

"No. I have no explanation." Ritsuko replied. She was sitting far more relaxed, her  
ahoge swaying from side to side. "I just know Pilot Ikari has something do with this."

There was a chuckle from from behind, as the door to the UNIG command center  
opened to let in Shiro Tokita and Kensuke Aida. Kaji raised his right eyebrow  
inquisitively. With the Land Dreadnought just as useless as the Evangelions, he  
wondered why they still stuck around.

"NERV doesn't have the forces to deal with this, but we do." said Tokita. "We're  
the support base for Legio Terminatus too. We just saw them and the PSYKANA set  
out."

Kensuke nodded. "Shinji told me about Case Zero just in case Tokyo-3 goes silent.  
I think he was hoping I'd evacuate too, but what the hell." He looked up at the  
screen. "Huh. I wonder why Aya... the other... the Angel? Why it's fighting outside  
instead of heading down the geofront like usual?"

Ah. Aida could consistently be counted on to focus on his martial obsessions.  
Where most people would be worrying about dying, Kaji mused that Kensuke would  
worry about how it wouldn't be a cool enough end. The boy's words sapped some  
of the tension from the command center. Kaji could see some of the operators  
ease their shoulders slightly. There was still this formless terror weighing them all  
down, more than the usual near-panic of an Angel attack.

They had to laugh at danger, otherwise they might give in to the urge to curl up and  
cry. Kaji looked around. If they managed to survive this latest doomed enterprise,  
he knew that these brave fools had one more test to endure.

The tools that NERV required to win, the Eva, the Lance, they had none of those  
things now. Case Zero was just the hope that human half-measures would suffice.  
He envied being able to trust in something or someone that deeply.

The communications to NERV fizzled for a moment as a large explosion rocked the  
surface. One of the ammunition buildings just went up in flames.

"Hang on - Katsuragi-san, we've got contact." Shigeru's voice broke in. "It's Shinji!"

Up on the overhead tactical displays another armament building winked out of  
existence. A few moments later however, they managed to get another signal.

-][-

A battered vintage black automobile screeched as it bounced off a fallen lamp-post.  
Shinji had on a headset connected to the heavily modified radio on the dashboard.  
He was belted in. Beside him sat Pen-pen, likewise wearing a seatbelt that was too  
loose for his tiny avian body. The bird screeched in protest.

In a voice all too calm Shinji said "You're the one with an AT-field for no readily  
explicable reason. You make sure we don't fall wheels up and get crushed to death."

Pen-pen let out an irritated trill and tried to cross his wings.

The car landed wheels-down and bouncing back up hard, its suspension nearly  
cracking. Agent Jiro fought to get the wheels moving again. He licked at a chipped  
tooth and adjusted some buttons on the dashboard. There were different 'flavors'  
of the AT-field, and only a few served as a natural ECM. Unfortunately most shielding  
effects fell under this heading. After a while, there was a crackle and steady buzz.

"We've got a link to the geofront." the agent said. "NERV, this is Section 2 unit Sigma  
Three. Stand by for communications with Pilot Ikari."

"Shinji!" Misato shouted while putting both palms on the commander's table. "Where  
are you? Are you all right?"

"... hello? Oh! Excuse me, Misato-sa-" there was the loud shriek of skidding tires. The  
link faltered for a few seconds as Pen-pen's mediocre AT-field repelled a failling girder.  
"Ugh. I'm fine."

"Situation report!"

Shinji took a deep breath. Misato was in her uncompromising command mode. Plans  
and possibilities danced within the boy's skull. This was explicitly the worst thing ever.  
To survive... somehow, Misato must be -persuaded- to deliberately try and trigger  
Third Impact.

His father choosing to go away with Nagisa... was this yet another of Gendo's  
scenarios?

"We're under attack. One of Ayanami's... other bodies... has been compromised. But  
it's a Power-type enemy instead of an Infitration or Infestation-type, so defeating  
this one should prevent the others from activating. It's... the Second Angel."

"What? What the hell did you do, Ikari?" Ritsuko's voice cut in suddenly.

"Um… sorry. There's-" Pen-pen squawked suddenly in alarm. "Can we talk about this  
later?"

"Explain yourself or face my wrath."

Shinji sighed. He could feel a tingle at the back of his neck telling him that once  
again either Lillith or Ayanami was nearby.

The communication was cut off. The front of the car separated from the rear half,  
the boy and his penguin grimacing as sparks flew below their feet, as the metal frame  
scoured against concrete. The front with the engine continued for a while longer  
before sliding to a stop. Little slivers burned Shinji's shins.

Hurriedly he pushed at the release button for his seatbelt. He fell forward onto the  
street, and Pen-pen obligingly slid out of his own seatbelt and onto the boy's back.  
The bird let out a frantic warning. A shadow passed over them.

Shinji had no time to get up and run. He rolled across the pavement, while Pen-pen  
scampered in place above him like riding a rolling log.

Whump! The rear half of the sedan was flattened by the tangled wreck of billboard  
frame.

Shinji discerned a warm light from the corner of his vision. Painfully he tried to get  
back to his feet.

He looked up to see the two Section Two agents get out of the front half of their  
vehicle, and ineffectually firing their pistols at Lillith's AT-field. Fortunately Rei  
intercepted the wave of force that would have turned the agent into so much meat  
paste.

A heavy blanket of fear hung over the city. Shinji forced his way through it with  
sheer hate. Lillith had a bored expression on Her face, but it was different from  
Kaworu's arrogance. Feral madness glittered in Her eyes. She was a broken creature,  
made of jagged pieces that didn't quite fit, and what she wanted were souls to jam  
into the cracks.

That expression didn't belong on Rei's face. How dare this being defile Ayanami's  
existence! Shinji wondered if this was indeed the slumbering god held captive within  
the geofront, or a dead echo from a dead world.

A dim part of him noted how perfect it was: Rei Ayanami, who could renew herself,  
could shed mortal shells like a serpent may shed its skin - should now hold the  
primordial beast that sculpted worlds and carried the law with her teeth.

Rei nodded; go. She was radiant. She was almost smiling, content and fulfilled in  
her purpose. And yet, even with all her powers unsealed it was still an unequal  
battle. It was just skill and experience that carried her, and her heart was not  
immune to the fear of Lillith's unmatched potency. If Lilllith had his and Rei's  
memory, she would know about Case Zero.

Shinji was bait. On the other hand, Lillith couldn't focus completely on fighting  
against Rei as long as she was made to worry he would get away. Lightning  
crackled the the space between Shinji's fingers, but he had no choice. Indirectly  
he was helping Rei more by being nowhere near her.

Shinji let out a soundless snarl and turned away. He ran, carrying Pen-pen under his  
arm like a football.

There were tunnels all over Tokyo-3. He saw that the agents were already opening  
a hatch. It was a calculated risk, he saw. Lillith wouldn't be able to find them so  
easily. But if neither would she have any problem punching through the street level  
to corner them underground. They would be as helpless as a rat in the path of a  
pipe cleaner with a head of spinning blades.

There was only dim red light to see with within the claustrophobia-inducing tunnel.  
There was another benefit to going underground however. Agent Jiro forced open  
one of the maintenance lockers to take out a hardened radio that could tap into  
the underground communication lines.

Unfortunately, this link wouldn't be as encrypted as that from the Section 2  
radio transciever.

"NERV command, this is Ikari. Are you tracking us?"

"Yes, we can see you Shinji." Maya replied. "That's the access tunnel M5. There's  
an intersection leading north and south ahead."

"Where are the Pyskana deploying?"

"We can guide them over to your position, but the main road to Cerberus Base is  
to the south."

"Ikari, I haven't forgotten." Ritsuko cut in again. "You still owe me an explanation!"

Shinji sighed. He would have to explain on the move. "Fine. Rei told me she could  
feel always the presence of the Angel from whose genetic information she was  
designed. That thing that the Committee calls Lillith. Nagisa keeps calling us humans  
as Lillim, remember? That creature is also the source of all life on this planet."

"Ever since First Impact." Ritsuko replied. "After billions of years, the Second Angel  
chooses now to wake up?" Adam's release during Second Impact should have  
done something. How curious. It wasn't like Lillith was dead, otherwise they'd  
never have been able to grow the Evangelions. "Don't tell me… this whole mess.  
You woke the damn thing up, didn't you?"

"I'm… not sure? What I did really shouldn't have an effect like this. Father had the  
Lance. He was waiting at Terminal Dogma. I don't know if he did something before  
leaving with Nagisa..." Or if it really was, as he feared, that a malevolent force  
followed him across dimensions.

"Ther-... zzzt."

There was a long pause as the tactical map showed Shinji and two others were making  
use of a sewer access. It may be smellier, but also wider and thus they could move  
faster. The sewers needed to be large to funnel floodwaters out of the city. Such a  
paranoid measure had proved insufficient when the city did end up being flooded  
anyway... but better than nothing.

Unlike the maintenance access tunnel, it was dark inside the sewer outflow tunnel.  
Agents J and K put on slightly goofy-looking LED flashlights on headbands. Agent Jiro  
couldn't help but to mutter it was the perfect time for some sort of crawling alien  
terror to appear.

"Stop!" Shinji yelled and pulled hard on the agent's collar. "Don't move!"

"What is it? What is it? Oh god it's a xenomorph isn't it?"

They were all thrown back as the tunnel in front of them collapsed inwards, and  
choking heated air filled the confines. Up on NERV's tactical map, an entire city  
block vanished.

Rei Ayanami leaned against a TV tower, breathing heavily. "... my body is mortal."  
she whispered. That was the whole rationale behind Case Zero. While she could  
use the AT-field like the Evangelion, unlike the god-machine she burned calories  
with every movement. Eventually even Lillith in her shell must tire.

A few more of those wasteful cross-shaped energy blasts...?

Rei grit her teeth and pushed with her bare feet off the metal frame. The steel  
buckled inwards, and she shot off with a mumbled _'ere we goes again'_.

Agent Jiro popped his head out a manhole and let out a girlish scream as a tire  
just narrowly stopped in front of his face. It was connected to a white news  
van. He climbed out and rested on the road, with a hand to his chest. It was bad  
enough there was a terror aura pressing down on everyone in the city, but a few  
more shocks like that and he'd get a heart attack. Meanwhile his partner wasted  
no time in commandeering the vehicle.

-][-

"Shinji!" Misato gushed, relieved, as the boy turned his radio back on. The tactical  
display showed his beacon moving at a good clip south. "Good. Listen, the forces  
from Cerberus Base are already set up at one-six-five-niner. Get there as soon as  
you can, I'm raising some more armament buildings to cover you."

"Our systems still can't discern which AT-field source is Ayanami and which is the  
Angel, Katsuragi-san." Makoto said in a tone he hoped didn't sound insubordinate or  
second-guessing her orders.

"Use the manual override and get some gunners to aim the things."

"Understood. Switching control over to the secondary command platform."  
Makoto began speaking to the operators below the bridge-like command tower.

"Raise barriers!"

Thick slabs of composite material rose from street level to block the way. Designed  
as shields for the Evangelion, its ablative surfaces rated against what energies Angels  
were expected to unleash, Misato hoped it would still trap or delay the human-sized  
enemy. She was finding it a personal surprise, that despite having gained some  
emotional attachment to the blue-haired girl with her own subtle brand of humor,  
Misato was having no problem thinking of Rei as just another Angel to be destroyed.  
Had it really been just a few hours since she felt so sickened by what Ritsuko was  
doing with the Dummy Plug project?

Speaking of the doctor, Akagi had once again seized upon Shinji's inability to  
elucidate properly. Just because he was fleeing for his life was no excuse.

"Ikari! If Lillith is self-aware, then because WE'RE NOT DEAD YET it can only mean  
that it has Self but no Body. I already know you're insane, but what idiocy is this  
to send Ayanami out to fight that thing? She might trigger Impact in contact with  
it!"

"... that's actually the least of our problems. Ayanami is formed from the genetic  
material of the Second Angel, but I never liked how people can be made to hate her  
unfairly or want her as a tool used for self-extinction. We can't win this war until  
we're free from that risk."

Ritsuko scoffed. "So to preserve her from further experimentation and exploitation,  
tell me now, what did you do?

There was a long uncomfortable silence though the channel, broken only by distant  
grinding sounds as downtown buildings were torn apart.

"Ikari!"

"Um… I... we… kind of… removed Rei's ability to trigger Impact…?"

"How?"

"Um…"

"I can see you're not in danger or out of signal range. Answer the damn question."

"I can synchronize with Rei like with an Evangelion, all right? We duplicated mother's  
Contact Experiment and I transferred that piece of her soul into myself." He left out  
the part of it being done by accident and from possibly from tearing his way out of  
some other timeline or universe. And done only via Lillith's own consent. "As a human,  
that would just kill me long before the process can complete."

Ritsuko groaned and bit her cigarette in half. "What -**is**- this I don't even."

Misato slammed her palms onto the table. "Shinji, that is unbelievably stupid. Why  
would you even do that?" Other than the obvious reason, she supposed. Ah, young  
idiots in love.

"Cloning me would be useless." Shinji replied all too evenly. "So if humanity ever  
needs the Evangelions in the future, the Dummy Plug System would still function…  
but if we get rid of the First and Second Angels we won't have to worry about  
an Impact event ever again."

"But if you can… this isn't good, Shinji. You're just asking to get a bullet to brain."  
Misato grit her teeth. This sort of grand self-sacrifice was an insult. She hated  
that obsessive sort of selflessness from her father, and it was hypocritical to see  
it from Shinji. "Seriously, if you say you think it's a fair trade, I'll hit you when  
you get back."

The screen fuzzed out for a moment as the containment systems for a positron  
cannon ruptured, unleashing a flare of antimatter annihilation into the air.

"Shinji!" Misato gasped as the locator signal vanished. This was very different  
from sending the Children out to fight inside an Eva.

When the static cleared, everyone was relieved to see Shinji's radio beacon  
moving at good clip south. A camera on the far end of the avenue caught glimpse  
of a white news van.

In a strained voice, Shinji finished with "We'll have to deal with it anyway. Sorry,  
Misato-san."

Eh. Misato shrugged. They were already used to cleaning up other people's  
problems. "Ritsuko, options?"

"All our previous scenarios involve delaying action just to get the pilots to their  
Evangelions. But we have no functional Evangelions. The enemy is too agile or too  
small for many of our remote weapons. Ayanami… is doing surprisingly well.  
Anything strong enough to take out the enemy is likely to kill her as well."

"I'm not shoving every N2 mine we have up to the surface, Ritsuko."

"That boy of yours made himself the target. Stupid martyr tendencies. Like it  
matters… someone still has to die. Hah." At a peeved look from Maya, Ritsuko  
relented. "There are more exotic methods out there. Methods that were  
never under NERV's control."

Shinji Ikari brought in an army. The problem was that a full unleashed Rei, as  
an Angel, could devour whole armies and everyone knew it. Getting her so  
unflinchingly loyal to him, that was a cunning move. Ritsuko smirked. Whatever  
words the boy might use to justify it to himself, he was a user like his father. He  
just took better care of his tools.

-][-

Agent Jiro spun the wheel and sent the white news van into a sharp turn. The  
cameraman/driver/flunky shielded Rika Izuna with his own body. "Hey, careful with  
the equi- oof!" he tried to say as Rika in trying to get up dug her elbow into the  
small of his back. Agent Kentaro grabbed Shinji by the back of his shirt before the  
boy could accidentally faceplant into the reporter's breasts.

Shinji didn't even seem to notice, his attention consumed by the military radio held  
up to his ears. "Turn left at the next intersection, they're ready." he said, opening  
his eyes to see Rika Izuna's outraged expression. His own face showed confusion.

She was about to slap him but missed from her cameraman moving out from under  
her. Just as well, since Agent Kentaro despite his dark shades radiated hostility at  
trying to punish the kid for a perversion he hadn't even done. Or it could be that  
the boy reminded him too much of his own younger days and strong-willed  
women that dominated his teenage years.

The new van's roof caved inward, and the rear door was ripped right off. Flipping  
head over heels, a blue-haired girl slid into the van. Rika screamed at seeing Rei's  
feral grin, her eyes glowing like hellfire.

"Stay back! Or-! Or..." Shinji yelled brokenly. Quickly he fumbled behind him  
looking for any weapon. His fingers found something soft, and he pulled.

"Wak?" said Pen-pen. The bird saw it was face to face with Lillith and began to  
scream in panic.

"BEHOLD MY PENGUIN LASERR!" Shinji yelled with his eyes tightly closed.

"Wak." said Pen-pen.

"**What.**" said Lillith.

Shinji squeezed the side of Pen-pen's belly, and the penguin's eyes glittered bright.  
A cross-shaped flash burst out, clipping the hairs just above Lillith's ears, and  
blowing off a skycraper's top in the distance.

A long uncomfortable silence stretched within the vehicle, interrupted only with the  
clanking of the motor and short bumps as the van rolled over the broken highway.

"... in my defense, I wasn't expecting that to work, like, at all." the boy whimpered.

Pen-pen spun around in Shinji's hold and began to viciously assault the boy's face  
with his claws and feet. "Wakwakwakwakwakwrakrakrak!" As Shinji let out a  
"Yargh!" of pain and let go to protect himself, Pen-pen dropped to the floor and,  
giving a last contemptuous sniff, waddled over towards the front of the vehicle.

"Um..."

There was a whump, as a second set of footprints appeared on the van roof, and a  
slim arm reached down to grab Lillith by the hairs at the back of her head. As quick  
as she appeared, she was gone.

"... wasn't that Ayanami?" asked the cameraman.

Again they all had to look for support as the van skidded into another sharp turn.

As the van rounded the corner, it passed a line of large armored mercenaries, the  
Legio Terminatus, all sixteen of them.

Wraithbone was horrendously expensive. Psychically-charged material however,  
was apparently almost the same thing as the Lance and could break through  
passive AT-field protection.

The Legio Terminatus, twelve armed with cut-down anti-tank autocannons, were  
burning through about three hundred million dollars worth of psycannon rounds per  
second. All of that just to keep Lillith pinned down. If Her AT-field was focused on  
defense, then it was not being used to tear to shreds everything in sight. Overlapping  
hexagons flared all around her and She had to drop to the ground.

Above here, on the roofs on either side were the Psykana. Lama Pagnor was there,  
in full Terminator armor and with the experimental psychic hood. The rest of the  
were wearing lighter armor but still with the strange tall helmet. They were all  
wielding spears of black metal.

A third of the city was rubble. Half of the rubble was on fire. Shinji winced at  
feeling three broken ribs. His elbows were scraped and bleeding. He was grinning.  
Ayanami was worth an army. But what about Ayanami PLUS an army?

The white van lurched to a stop, and slowly those inside got off. A penguin hopped  
out of the front side seat and began to berate the driver in unintellegible squawks.  
Agent Jiro shot a wild _'help me I don't know what the hell I'm doing here' _look  
to his partner. They were supposed to Shinji's sentries, kept a comfortable distance  
away from his zone of weirdness.

"What's happening?" Rika Izuna asked, while jabbing at her companion to get  
his camera up. "I heard part of your conversation with Katsuragi. You seem to know  
a lot about this latest Angel attack, Pilot Ikari. What is Lillith? What was that thing  
about _removing Ayanami's ability to trigger Impact and implanting it into yourself__?_"

By the gods, just when she thought that any Ikari's power-grubbing ways couldn't  
surprise her anymore, they just go several more shameless steps further!

Agent Kentaro stepped between the reporter and the boy. "No comment." He put  
his hand over the camera lends. "Thank you for your patience while we  
commandeered your vehicle, but now it's best if you left. It's dangerous here."

The reporter mulishly stuck her jaw out. "No. I'm not afraid of you." she said while  
holding her microphone like it was a dagger. "I'm not afraid to chase after the truth!"

"That's... brave of you." Agent Kentaro lifted an eyebrow. "But stupid."

"You fascist assho-"

"No, just one twenty kiloton N2 device isn't enough." Shinji said into his radio. "It's  
going to take at least ten megatons to overwhelm Rei's AT-field, and timing all  
those N2 mines is going to be tricky." He blinked. "Yes, I want to preserve the city.  
No, we're fine. Just bring them to the surface, please."

"Wait. Did he just say what I think he heard he said?" the reported asked shrilly.

Agent Kentaro pointedy looked past her. "Maybe you'd better turn that camera  
around. We all have to fight for survival in our own way. The truth also contains  
what people give of themselves."

Shinji Ikari smiled thinly. From an armament building, a metal box shot out and  
landed close by. The box opened with a steaming hiss, exposing a Mark III  
armored plugsuit.

Now, he could fight.

After all, Kaworu Nagisa could do everything that Rei could. Case Zero relied  
heavily on his experience fighting Kaworu, hand to hand, in the desert of Sinai.  
The Mk3 armored suit instead of a full-body suit was instead separated into  
pieces for the chest, arms, thighs, and knee-high boots. Armored joint covers  
vent over his knees and elbows.

With a thought, wraithbone fibers grew, linking plates together. Shinji took out the  
strange eye-shaped medallion he was given at Javaal. Its secrets were uncovered  
in his Egyptian expedition. They called it the Stone of Kings.

He slid it over the belt buckle of his plugsuit, incidentally over the chakra point over  
the groin.

He'd run away long enough.

=][=

"So this is how it ends." said Pagnor. He'd lived a long time, like most of the  
masters of Javaal, eating the pain of the living world. He'd always known that the  
hatred from the color of one's skin or the faith held by one's fathers made no  
sense, but it was still odd to have all of man's old grudges put to stark  
**insignificance**by one strange blue-haired young girl.

All the wars that men fought, was for nothing. All the power that men claimed, was  
for nothing. This was a war that could only be fought and won inside the heart.

He looked to his left and right. These were the warriors made for final war  
prophesied over five thousand years ago. When he first learned of his own abilities,  
contacted in the streets of Chicago in 1938, he'd been hateful at being prevented  
from using his powers to make change, to make them all pay.

The Thule Society broke his illusions of people of his abilities being any more moral  
or worthy to rule. He'd been brought to Javaal for training, and and fought in the  
scarred wastelands created by the sacrifice of millions, in worlds half-formed and  
in the shadows behind men's eyes. But it was just one piece of the puzzle. A  
greater horror lay in wait.

To SEELE, the war was just an excuse. The Japanese Imperial Government had  
opened up the geofront, and thought they could use the dead monsters within  
as their trump card. The metal wasted for the battleships Yamato and Musashi was  
nothing compared to those sunk underground. It would have been a fortress  
beyond anything the world had known, a city in darkness, an empire in secret. That  
was the last counter-invasion plan. A shadow moon, untouchable, slid sideways in  
time where one may counterattack with impunity.

SEELE had no need for Imperial Japan. They needed the secret broken, the Allied  
powers in excited frenzy at this power beyond their atomic weapons, pouring  
more funding into research that must be hidden from the rest of the world, for  
the victorious mood should not be broken by the proof of man's insignificance  
in the universe.

To more subtly and inevitably nudge the powers behind nations into the  
ultimate blasphemy.

There had always been monsters in the shape of man.

"_The temptation is too much." _Shinji had said._ "The Dummy Plug System sounds  
like a mercy… or at least efficient… compared to having pilots like me, but it's still a  
trap. I wonder how many worlds before us were consumed by tainted self-interest?"_

"Are you saying that man's shape is not unique in the universe?"

"_I'm saying it's inevitable. Where did the story come from, I wonder, the undying Mother  
who wears Her daughters' faces?"_

Pagnor took a deep breath, lightning sparking around his face like a blue halo. He slammed  
his helmet over his head and growled. He lifted his spear and jumped off, running down the  
side of the building in defiance of gravity. It would end here. The others followed  
without hesitation.

The world had changed around them, it was as if in the distant past someone had cut  
a sliver out of time just to make sure there were those who could stand at the right  
moment - mortals with the power to slay a god.

And then there was lightning.

Lama Pagnor looked down to see that Shinji Ikari had finally joined the fray. Physically  
the boy was weak, and to try and wrestle with the Chaos Serpent would only get  
him snapped like a twig.

_"When above" the heavens did not yet exist nor the earth below, Apsu the freshwater  
ocean was there, "the first, the begetter", and Tiamat, the saltwater sea, "she who bore  
them all"; they were "mixing their waters"._

Adam and Lillith. Apsu and Tiamat. While it was sufficient to think of this as a reflection  
of the civilizations arising on the banks of a great river empying out into the ocean,  
where both farming and fishing provided freedom from hunger, there were also strange  
symbols hidden in the memories of man. Water, the Dead Sea scrolls that contained the  
writings of a long-dead ancient race said, had always been the metaphor for life. Fire had  
always been the reference to intelligence.

The First Angel, Adam, was rendered dormant by Lillith's arrival. And yet, so was Lillith  
exhausted by the struggle that the life that emerged was not yet a copy of Herself.  
But it was inevitable - the Dead Sea Scrolls were sections of the Tablets of Destiny,  
and whoever possessed Dup Shimati was supposedly ruler of the universe.

The Tree of Life needed the light of intelligence to bear fruit.

_"We were born to no purpose." _the boy had said with a laugh. _"How arrogant it is to  
think we are the ultimate form of life in the universe, when two gods sleep with us.  
And these beings of near-omnipotent cosmic power were created as mere  
__**Gardeners**__."_

Psykers had no explanation for how the hell Shinji Ikari could do the things he did.  
The closest that anyone could get was that he had a passive synchonization with  
Unit One going on all the time. While psykers could impregnate psychoreactive  
materials with energy, Shinji could only drain it. But he could do it swifly, explosively,  
and somehow Not Die. Wearing a suit of superconductors only made it easier for him  
to will electrons out of the air and into punching lightning out of his fists.

_'Seriously'_, he thought. _'What the hell is up with that kid and being so attuned to _  
_lightning?'_

Shinji's palm slapped onto the stiff surface of an AT-field. Lightning crackled inside  
the field towards the one creating the field. Lillith pulsed the field, throwing off both  
Shinji and Rei in a shockwave, and in dropping the field narrowly avoided being flash-  
fried.

The region of Absolute Territory was not absolute where he was around. There was  
no Terror that could hold him.

'There's a collective unconscious that links together all of humanity. Those who can  
pull power out of that wellspring is the Golden Saint phenomenon.' the warrior-priest  
pondered. But the boy was no goddamn Saint either.

Chimera tanks with 110mm cannons pumped out high-explosive rounds at Lillith,  
forcing her to raise her AT-field again. While the attack would do no damage  
whatsoever, the more she used it, the more She would tire out.

Her presence filled the air. Her demented laughter scratched at the insides of  
everyone's skulls. Nagisa, like all the Eva pilots, could enjoy combat, the artistry of  
those who clashed in personal battle. This enemy did not lust for the confirmation  
of one's own power and existence, as Kaworu indulged in.

There was only hunger.

Slowly, She walked forward, uncaring of the hot flashes continually battering Her  
shield. She bared her teeth and leapt. The glacis of a tank caved inward, and a  
driver was pulled out screaming.

She drank of his terror. Corporal Hideaki Toba, age 20, had a girlfriend who he  
was afraid was seeing someone else due to his reluctance to propose and the  
danger of being assigned to Tokyo-3. His name, his past, his hopes and his  
dreams, Her red eyes pulled out the kernel of his identity. The soldier screamed as  
his flesh bubbled and broke open into bloody sores under an intensely strong  
AT-field. The Ego Border collapsed, and he exploded into a gout of blood.

Blood which drained off the stained tank hull and into her shadow. Aside from the  
empty uniform, it was as if he'd never existed.

Lillith frowned. It was not enough. The void inside of her just ached more from  
having tasted the bounty.

_"We too are tenders." _Shinji Ikari had said, in a planning session with the  
PSYKANA and over his father's own copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls. _"We are but  
leaves in the Tree of Life, and eventually... we were meant to be **consumed**."_

Superconductive wires lashed out like the heads of a hydra, spinning together into  
threads, then a rod, then a staff. Lightning blasted across Lillith's side, and with a  
grimace She forced the mortal shell to endure. She thickened Her defensive field  
considerably on that side and turned with a look of annoyance. At the other end of  
the street, Shinji's face was set in defiant snarl om return. He shone with the hopes  
of billions.

That should sate some of her hunger.

There was just enough time to react, to take the premonition and turn to get Rei  
Ayanami's fist in Her gut. Then a jab to her throat, and while Lillith didn't need to  
breathe the flush of pain disoriented Her anyway. She failed her arms out to keep  
balance and was caught.

Rei Ayanami pulled at her opponent's arms, her knee on her doppelganger's back. The  
power behind their punches was an explosive release of the AT-field. Leverage still  
applied, and with such an pin not even a being of Lillith's power could do anything with  
Her shell in such a pose as if crucified.

She could only be forced to watch as, like host of descending golden raptors, the  
Psykana descended in the culmination of Case Zero.

Their spears crackled with power, the AT-field blazed red, and was pierced through!  
There was just a staccato of heavy thuds as they drove their spears down with both  
arms and all their strength. The pavement cracked under their boots.

There was the scent of burning meat as eight long spears impaled deep into Ayanami's  
body and out the back. Rei just gave a slight wince as the blades over-penetrated to  
make shallow stab into her own flesh. Steaming blood dripped down the blade coming  
out of Lillith's neck and stained her pale green hospital dress.

Lillith let out a strange gurgling noise. The primordial being was trying to laugh even  
as Her lungs filled with blood.

Shakily she reached out to grasp a grim, scowling helm of the Psykana. Gently she  
cupped the long chin and spluttered "… and now… the gift is all mine" She threw her  
head back, the heavy spear straight through her eye breaking her neck.

An invisible wave spread out, pulling out dread and despair from everyone. It soaked  
down through the ground, and forced those in the geofront to hug themselves. It  
slid through the air to the sea, and the warships in Sagami Bay looked towards the  
city in horrified realization. The heartbeat of the world seemed to skip, and those  
asleep on the other side of the world woke screaming.

Mankind in all the billions shared a vision of a murky dark sea, and from its still waters  
two needle points began to rise. The two-pronged spear met in a long coiled shaft.

Something in the depths of their souls wanted to burst out, hurting and alone, and  
out there was something that wanted to end their pain.

Bloodburst out of the neck of the armored form She was touching. The mailed suit  
flopped wet and empty onto the road. Lama Pagnor winced and managed to push  
back, letting go of his spear. Others, too slow, were dragged in as their spears were  
sucked into Lillith's torn flesh. Rei's skin began to flake off, she grimaced in pain but  
refused to let go.

A cross-shaped blast rose high over the cityscape.

-][-

"Is... is it self-destruction?" Misato asked through the tense silence that permeated  
the command center.

There was high droning noise, and the sensors went wild. "Blue Pattern detected!"  
Shigeru shouted. "It's... IT'S AN ANGEL!"

"Oh come on - !" Misato snarled. "Can't we catch a break?"

High above Tokyo-3, a spot in the sky grew bright, then abruptly shattered outward.  
Threads of energy shot out like from a broken loom, weaving together into the counter-  
rotating helix that was Armisael.

The Angel swung in mid-air, letting out a hard twanging noise, to hover above the place  
where Lillith lay. Ritsuko had a brief flash of panic- the Second Angel was out of the  
geofront. Contact between it and an Angel born of Adam would cause runaway Third  
Impact. She held her breath and steeled herself to watch the world end.

The empty space within Armisael's rings flared bright, and a bright hot pillar of raw  
star-fire lanced down. It had nothing but hatred for _the very_ _idea_ of Lillith. The shock  
of the beam caused the air around it to burst out in a shockwave, sending cars  
tumbling over and into buildings. The particle beam pulsed continuously but,  
impossibly, was deflected. The beam blasted down at an angle into the geofront,  
effortlessly burning through layers of earth and armor to scar the green fields beneath.

Monitors fizzed out into static, and the ground shuddered.

There was flame, and there was smoke, and then there was silence.

-][-

Ayanami crawled. Her elbows and knees were scraped raw and half her face was  
covered by blood. Slowly she moved by shifting on her side, snake-like, pushing with  
her thighs. Her only thought was to see Shinji safe. He was not born to this power,  
and thus she thought it only fitting that only she should suffer. Her strength was his,  
and his own strength was the one that kept her living.

"Ayanami..."

She smiled. He too was on his knees, coughing, trying to find his way through the  
dust cloud. She knew in her heart that, if they were to just touch, then everything  
forever would be all right. They were like broken mirrors whose jagged pieces fit  
perfectly. Shinji had never really healed any of Rei's issues with her self-worth. They  
had channeled it into more productive purpose.

Rei could not bring life onto the world. Thus she had to be the preserver.

Behind her came the the light clacking of footsteps, the concrete screaming where  
shoes touched. Rei flinched. She saw Shinji gasp in wonder, and she regretted  
having been unable to spare him this pain.

The floating cloud of debris burst, clearing away right and left as if blown away by  
the flapping of great wings. The white of a laboratory coat shone eye-hurtingly white.

Yui Ikari smiled.

Who, after all, could have told Gendo Ikari it was possible for a mere human to claim  
the powers of a god? To trap it within flesh-and-blood body? Gendo had sought her out  
for her connections to SEELE, but it was she who decided to betray them.

Armisael, above, began to furiously spin its helix. Hostile light bore down and splashed  
against a monstrous AT-field. The Angel didn't let up. Instead, it compressed the  
beam and pulsed even quicker, like it was screaming **DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!** with every  
flare.

Until, finally, a pencil-thin beam broke through. Yui Ikari skipped lightly, to the side,  
the beam singing the edge of her coat. Her left eyebrow lifted in fascination. Her  
fingers twitched, and there was a sound not unlike that of a piano key.

Yui lifted her hand to her face. Delighted, she wiggled her fingers. The sounds  
formed by the interaction of the AT-field she now controlled took on a more musical  
timbre.

Humm.

Yui shifted the position of her handm up and down, held out and to the sides.

Humm.

Hummm.

Hummmm...!

She stretched out, exulting as her muscles strained, and sliced up with her open palm.  
There was a sound not unlike a harp string being cut, and then the air rang with a  
scream.

Armisael staggered in mid-air, unraveling. Cut straight through, its strands leaked  
thick red blood as it crashed onto the buildings. It continued to break apart into glowing  
strings, which darkened and dissolved into thick red ichor.

Dead.

Yui Ikari resumed experimenting, on her face a look of delighted inquiry. Tall buildings  
began tumbling down around her, with every gesture cut straight through their metal  
support beams; with every gesture a perfect note on the most perfect piano.

-][-

Down delow, Ritsuko Akagi slumped defeated on her seat. "So this is how the world  
ends..." she whispered. "To the strains... of Für Elise."

-][-

Rei felt herself being picked up by the back of the neck, weak as a kitten. _'We were  
wrong...' _she thought._ 'People are separate because being together brings pain.  
That which cuts through the AT-field... is what we call the Spear.'_ Lillith's own lance,  
the trigger of evolution.

The grip began to tighten and she couldn't breathe.

"Ayanami!"

Shinji's panicked cry pulled her back from the abyss. From her peripheral vision she saw  
him attempt to leap to help, only to fall to his chin as he was tackled from behind by his  
Section Two bodyguards.

"Dammit, Ikari!" Agent Kentaro whispered fiercely and with regret "Remember you're the  
trigger for Third Impact now!"

The blood from Armisael's stringy yet gargantuan corpse was starting to flood the edges  
of the avenue.

"I won't sacrifice Ayanami... not again!" the boy blubbered, desperately and in futilility  
reaching out with his right hand. Fear and hate and shame bubbled through his veins, for  
he knew that this too, was likely his fault too.

Yui turned to look at him while still effortlessly holding up Rei by the neck with one arm.  
She tried to speak, but there were no words. A metallic shriek was all that she could  
make. Though she might wear the shape of a human, the region of space she occupied  
might as well have been a different universe in itself, a singularity in a soul.

The plaintive twang of strings seemed to croon _'It's going to be fine.' _Yui turned back to  
Rei, and gripped the girl's neck with both hands. _'It's all going to plan. I'm going to fix  
everything, you'll see.'_

There was a loud crack, and Yui's head snapped back. A crumpled dart fell from her  
cheek. It had a tungsten carbide penetrator head with a psychoplastic material core.  
Yui looked annoyed.

Within the fifth floor of a cark park several blocks over, a UNIG sniper shivered with  
sudden, maddening fear. His eyes met hers through the scope and he opened his  
mouth to scream. There was an explosion of blood and an empty uniform and an  
anti-material rifle slapped onto the garage floor.

Slowly the Tactical Dreadnoughts of the Legio Terminatus and a few weary Psykana  
shuffled back into the street. Lama Pagnor's armor was dented inwards. Many of his  
comrades had not fared so well, devoured by Lillith's presence or had their bodies  
crushed by debris. Faith and willpower had not served as well as thick layers of armor.

They couldn't attack, fearing that Yui would use Rei as a human shield. They looked  
to the anguished plea on their employer's face and saw that the boy had nothing  
left. He'd met the foe he could not defeat through raw insanity. He was still pinned  
to the ground, his chin to the road surface. He would not be able to let go of love  
and pride.

Never again. Not to Ayanami!

Yui looked to Shinji, then to Rei, and tilted her head aside as if to ask: _Is__ this  
enough for you? _Lillith was a beast out of the primordial Chaos. Yui understood the  
human yearnings that beat within the young girl's heart. It was loyalty. Wasn't it just  
a transaction of emotions? Ayanami was being loved as payment for her power. She  
had never stopped being a tool.

Anger flashed across Rei's face. Her lips curled up in a slight snarl. Of course it  
was enough! She was replaceable. Sohryu could become a mother. She existed  
only to die for him. Rei now valued herself, but because of that she could also offer  
herself. There could be no sacrifice without having worth.

Pride and delight spread across Yui Ikari's features. Gratefulness shone in her eyes.  
_'You have done well.' _she mouthed out. The girl had fulfilled her purpose to the  
outmost. The tool had served very well, until the time the Project could be  
completed.

And now the tool must be put down, so that the hand could be free to grasp new  
things, to reach for new heights.

Yui squeezed. And squeezed. Someone was screaming. There was a squelching  
noise and a crack.

_'So Sohryu wins after all.' _was the thought. It was pleasant anyway. Knowing  
love and friendship, no one could take that away from her.

Rei Ayanami's body fell limp onto the blood-slicked road. Her head went another  
away.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Shinji screamed and screamed until his throat cracked.

The street lit up in fire. Autocannons and Storm Bolters blazed away. The shots  
struck and sparked off Yui, standing there casually with her hands in her pockets,  
all futile as shooting Superman. She still had that sad, yet satisfied smile. As long as  
Ayanami existed, there was the possibility of Lillith leaking out. She blinked and put  
a hand to the sides of her face. Strange. Was she weeping? Ayanami's soul was  
more beautiful than she had expected.

She looked at Shinji, still cowering in despair, and met Agent Kentaro's eyes. The  
older agent had removed his sunglasses, and his weary expression seemed to ask  
_'why?'_. He had been an acquaintance of Yui even back when NERV was still GEHRIN.  
Part of her bodyguard detail, in fact. He got his answer, but to no avail.

Agent Jiro twitched horrified as blood spattered over his back, and sunglasses fell  
to break near sensible black leather shoes.

Down below, the clones in the tank began screaming even through their drugged  
mindless state.

Armisael's blood was now a thick red tide through the street, carrying loose debris  
with it.

Shinji body jacknifed about uncontrollably, the wild flailing of his limbs forcing him out  
of Agent Jiro's shocked hold. The boy curled into a fetal position, shaking. Perhaps he  
should have been more careful about constantly declaring Rei to the be 'the other half of  
his soul'. It seemed the universe perversely paid attention to things like that.

The boy's shaking subsided, his sorrow not at all. Shame at his weakness, hatred at  
being unable to prevent it, and even more self-loathing at the side of him that  
reminded him to just get up and move on. She would never have held him at fault,  
and would have wanted him to use her death to serve his purposes. The war needed  
to be fought.

But he'd never realized before just how much he relied... how he needed that pure  
faith. He'd always feared he would prove unworthy of it. Rei was gone! That was his  
new reality. He didn't want it to be real. He wasn't as ruthless as he'd imagined himself  
to be. Fighting in an Eva, no matter how gruesome, somehow there was still a facile  
veneer to it, that he could somehow deny the worst-case scenario.

Burnt, crushed, decapitated – a god-machine was still a flesh-puppet. The entry plugs  
were located in a place hard to target and hard to damage. He'd used improbable battle to  
feel alive.

He felt dead inside. Everything in his mind fled. He was beyond terror.

He suddenly was drained of hate, of stubborn self-importance. He shakily crawled on  
all fours like an animal towards Rei's corpse. The white of his plugsuit was being  
stained red.

And another part of him whispered scathingly: _bet you wish you had some sort of_  
_superpowered evil side now, huh?_

He reached out, and plucked Rei's head as the Angel blood draining towards the  
lake brought it closer. "Ayanami..."

Her face in death was peaceful as ever. She had no regrets. "Ayah... ayana.. mi..."  
Shinji sobbed and embraced his beloved's decapitated head, cradling it to his chest.  
He remained there, bent over and in tears even as others around him continued to  
fight. And die.

Their mistake was thinking that, because psychoreactive material could erode  
AT-fields, was that they would work against all Angels, even Lillith. Except, as it  
turned out, all that the psyker activity throughout humanity was to rebuild Lillith's  
own Lance.

It was inevitable. It was the flowering. Humanity was one fractured being, and  
that being was the next generation of the Lillith-lifeform.

"Get him out of here!" Lama Pagnor roared to Agent Jiro, as he and the Custodes  
tried to force back whatever this abomination wearing a dead woman's body. He  
put two fingers to his temple, and then pointed. Lightning flashed out from his  
fingertips. Yui stepped back. Good; he thought. If she... it... didn't want to get  
hit by a psychic attack, then there might still be something they could do. His  
combat focus was powerful, but the other masters had other esoteric methods.  
He looked aside for a moment to check, and saw that Agent Jiro and the reporter  
were dragging an insensate Shinji away from the fighting.

He turned back and saw that Yui Ikari was already at his face. Her face was  
solemn. She held up a slim finger and touched the hollow of his throat. Then she  
was ripping him open in one easy flick from neck to groin. Blood and viscera  
poured out of torn composite armor.

The Legio Terminatus were falling back as fast as they were able. There was another  
roar, and a bright flash, and steel rained from the skies as an artillery strike landed  
right over their previous position. Corpses left on the battlefield, including Pagnor  
and Ayanami, were torn to unrecognizable shreds.

Yui Ikari walked out of the hellstorm, dusting off flesh of metal ash from her lab coat.  
She sneezed a small cute 'higu', and rubbed at her nose with her palms together as  
if praying.

-][-

Inside the geofront, Kaji popped back into the conferencing window to say "Katsuragi,  
I'm going to order that all UN assets launch all their strategic assets now. Any  
objections?"

"No." Misato said, suddenly so very tired. "Ritsuko…?"

"Heading down to self-destruct the MAGI now." She closed her eyes and only saw Yui  
Ikari's triumphant expression. "We've have to face it. We've lost."

"All right. We all die in ten minutes." Kaji looked aside and gave a hesitant grin. "Those  
words I couldn't say before, I suppose they won't be a comfort now. But let me just  
say... it's been real, Katsuragi."

"Yeah. Good-bye, Kaji."

In the Sea of Japan and just outside Sagami Bay, submarines surfaced and hatches  
opened. Many of the boomers could have fired off safely from underwater, but here  
independently from each other they had decided that for this they would not hide like  
sell-swords in the night. From the waters rose pillars of flame. From the mainland,  
atomic arrows shot out. Half a world away, decades-old silos opened and for the first  
time fired in anger. The UN had a pre-set staggered launch schedule, timed that the  
first wave would strike at sufficient delay that the missiles wouldn't uselessly spend  
their fury in fratricidal detonations. The next wave would arrive five minutes later.  
Then the ICBMs would rain down continuously five minutes after that.

The Flying Castle Sturmbrand was still nowhere to be found; not in the sky, not anywhere  
on Earth.

-][-

* * *

Ugh. It took way too damn long to finally get this far.

As for Rei… sorry, but you know… it's just what she DOES.

Like Optimus Prime.

As before, while this has been run over by a spellchecker, there may be some missed grammatical issues. Please review and help me close up any plot holes. Because this portion was delayed too damn long, I'm still feeling rather disgusted about the state of this story and large sections could still be overhauled or replaced.


	46. Chapter 45: Tumbling Down part3

Tumbling Down part 3

* * *

=][=

Kozo Fuyutsuki was a man uncomfortable with power. He had never once sought to amass influence, and to be NERV's supreme commander at this point was to be little more than a figurehead. A goat, tethered to tempt a man-eating tiger. It was amusing, in its own way, for it assumed that there would still be a chance to cast blame after this.

Odd, that. Even the politicians clung to the stubborn hope of survival against all odds.

Down below Maya Ibuki screamed and violently jerked about in helpless convulsions. Blood dribbled from her nose and mouth and out her ears, signs of traumatic brain damage.

"Medical team to the command tower!" Shigeru shouted in panic, while Makoto and Shigeru tried to restrain her.

Ritsuko turned back from the elevator and flipped back her lab coat to expose a belt of cartridges. She pulled out a hypodermic jet injector as she walked back, and stabbed it with nary a word straight into the fleshy part of Maya's neck.

The stricken NERV lieutenant relaxed immediately into the grip of insensibility. No one was surprised that Ritsuko now, at all times, carried enough sedatives on her to knock out an elephant if she so desired.

Completely unconcerned, despite the rumors regarding her and the young woman, Ritsuko turned away towards her self-appointed suicidal task. Her glasses glinted, a smile was on her lips.

The old man watched above and wondered, even as the figure of his adoration carved up the city while dancing to the music of an AT-field pulsating through spacetime, why it was that Ikari (either of them) seemed to draw surpassingly frightening women. Even he had to admit, as much as he had loved Yui – enough to help her die – he could not deny that her ideals were just as monstrous as SEELE's own.

The command center grew even more silent as more of the city fell to pieces. As bloody reports came in, the voices of those responding grew colder and more hateful.

"We are not cogs in the machine…" Fuyutsuki whispered. "To be a cog would imply that our removal would compromise the machine itself. Is this your plan, young Ikari? We are turned to fodder, burned as fuel for the great burning furnace that powers Man's apotheosis."

Up above, an old dead god dances to celebrate being lifted from slumber.

_'Yui… how did it go so wrong? This can't be what you wanted, when you gave up your life for the sake of your child.'_

When the first Contact Experiment was carried out, Unit-01 was still attached as mature specimen growing out of Lillith's womb. Bodily, perhaps already an equal to its mother, but did it yet have a soul of its own?

The dancing figure up on the main screen paused in mid-turn, and for a moment there it seemed as if she looked straight at him. A sultry smile was on her lips.

_'I have created you to feel pain, that you might search for joy. I have created you to know fear, that you may seek shelter. I have created you to hunger, that you might sate yourself through eating my flesh.'_

_'Fuyutsuki-sensei…'_her eyes were warm with longing.

_'You were made broken, that you may seek to become one.'_

_'Become one with me…'_

And Kozo Fuyutsuki smiled, feeling himself starting to break apart from the inside, and said with a whisper –

"No."

_'Yui. I trusted you then, and even now… even as the madness consumes us, I believe that the world you wanted for your son, the world you thought worth giving up your own life, isn't this shallow dream of power. You wouldn't have traded the greed of madmen for the hunger of a mad god, or even the fever of a mad child.' _

"I will see your plan to the end, Yui. Third Impact only on our terms."

_'For I, too, have faith. Love is the stronger trust.'_

=][=

The prayer wheels stopped clacking all at once. The temple's Abbess had everyone end their duties for the day. Everyone returned in silence to their homes, to gather with their friends and family around hearth-fires.

For most of her life, Jamyang had thought herself just one of the orphans being raised in the temple. Only recently did she come to know that Hasya Winter-Song, an absent-minded teacher who could raise any respect even from her own students, was actually her aunt. Hasya was the one to bring her into Javaal as an infant.

Jamyang regretted too late her disdainful thoughts, even though Hasya didn't hold it against those who were amused by her broken personality. For most of her life, Hasya had lived in an only barely-lucid state that kept her from forming familial bonds. Only now did people realize that the reason her behavior was so flaky was because her mental powers were so expansive that she could barely hold on to her own personality.

Why that was so was something she shouldn't worry over, she was told. The psyker genetic legacy was half-random. There was a good chance that a child born of both psyker parents would have strange mental abilities too, or - like with herself, whose parents were both normal people but with an aunt that wasn't.

_"Why do soldiers love their great generals, the warrior-kings that send them to their deaths? Why, for good rations and watchful attention, do they march to war with no regret? Why is it that sometimes fear do not prison a heart?_

_Why is it, that lovers live forever in a moment? Why do discoverers struggle, unable to bear a world left __unknown? Why is it that sometimes, mortality does not entrap a soul?"_

She found herself standing in line with others in gray and blue, a rifle taller than she was at her shoulders.

She blinked, and the vision faded.

"Walk with me, niece." Hasya Mountain-Song had ordered, and Jamyang leapt to obey. The thin, mousy woman walked with unearthly grace. The teen was half-running just to keep up.

They walked in silence past the courtyard and out towards the border between warm Javaal and the Himalayan mountainside. Jamyang had never left the valley, for a good reason. It was damn cold out there and she had no idea where to go.

They stepped through a seemingly solid wall of rock and into the cold.

Jamyang winced as the sub-zero wind struck her. Then the cold went away. She felt her aunt's arm on her shoulder. She looked aside to see Hasya was glowing gold, and shivered again.

"Look." said Hasya. "These mountains are older than mankind, but even they are not forever. Ten thousand years ago, no one dared live on these slops. A hundred thousand years ago, men were exploring the limits of their world with stone tools. A million years ago, the mice that would become men lived without knowing anything like ambition or resignation. In the time when the thunder lizards walked, these mountains didn't even exist.

While the life you've lived isn't luxurious, it has been safe and comfortable. It's going to end soon. Look there. Can you stand firmer than the mountains?"

Jamyang winced. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" Hasya asked impishly. "You should. " She pinched at the side of Jamyang's neck, and the girl couldn't help a pained 'yow!' "The mountain, and we, are mostly empty space." Her face turned deadly serious. "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter."

Yamyang rubbed at her neck mulishly, unwilling to raise the point on how the universe had mass, while the Abbess was nonchalantly defying thermodynamics.

The valley of Javaal was a miracle, a warm refuge deep in the barren snow-capped mountain of Tibet. So old and steeped were its rocks in psychic power that even mere borderline mind could find itself in possession of strange abilities.

It was a close to an earthly paradise that could be found, in terms of Tantric Buddhism at least (which didn't concern itself with physical comforts or monuments to ego anyway), and people who grew up within its walls were justifiably terrified of the uncontrolled chaos of the outside world.

Just a few months ago, Javaal's long peace was permanently broken. A boy had journeyed into the valley, in a few short weeks learned enough to surpass the powers of those who spent their lives training, and just as suddenly as he'd arrived had left without looking back. He took with him learned masters and disciplined warriors of the temple.

Who could shatter the peace they've so longed for, so thoroughly, but a demon in human form? Jamyang could only shiver at the memory. She'd thought that it would be exciting to know more of what was happening outside the unchanging walls, but her brush with an agent of unrelenting change just disrupted her sleeping patterns. Her dreams were filled with blood, screams, and death.

Her dreams were accurate visions of the present.

In a place full of telepaths, it was impossible to hide her distress. She was not unique, however. Others were experiencing similar dread.

"Right now, people are dying. How does this make you feel?"

Jamyang frowned. "I'm not sure. I feel afraid, of course. But I can't see who is dying. I feel that I should care more, but..." The girl hugged herself. In the distance she could feel as if a black sun, shining a light of despair across the world.

"Why does Javaal exist, niece?" asked

"Um... to preserve knowledge and teach those who have supernatural abilities how to responsibly use their powers."

"That is what we do. As the mental disciplines are separated into the inward and outward paths, so here in the roof of the world do we train and hide. Occasionally we set out to police those among humanity who possess psychic power. Here, so far from civilization, do we remove ourselves from the temptation to meddle with mankind's natural growth.

But that isn't why we exist."

"Why are we even here?' the girl asked piteously. "Just to get used up and thrown away..." She couldn't decide which was a worse fate - to be a helpless bystander caught up in the maelstrom, or to have enough power or awareness to see one's own inescapable destruction.

It was like a bright flash burst from behind her eyes, a high-pitched tone resounding within her skull.

"Why me...?" the girl asked. "Just we talked a little...? Or is because I'm related to you?"

"Haha... no, you have only yourself to blame for this, little one. Your curiosity compels you to understand. You're just slightly more sensitive to this sort of thing." Hasya looked at the shining snow and sighed. "Our faith... is old. The philosophies we've picked up through the many thousands of years, how we've changed as a people, all of it just to secure a moment of hope when everything comes tumbling down.

Nirvana is beyond us now. The barriers are eroding. People are finally beginning to understand each other. "

Jamyang put her hands over her ears. "They're dying! They're in so much pain!" She dropped to her knees and retched. "Him. Damn him. What sort of person would want this to happen?"

"Men may claim to understand war, but we women have always been the ones to feel it most." Hasya said.

"Those who remain suffer on, while the dead care no longer. No -one- wanted this to happen… but it is how it is. This is the pain of childbirth. The Star Child must take its first breath, or be aborted at the moment of its emergence."

=][=

They cowered in an alley. Shinji still carried Rei's decapitated head. His eyes were blank, and offered no resistance as he was dragged along. Agent Jiro grunted as he let go, stopping to rest.

Rika Izuna refrained from touching the boy any more than she needed to. Carrying around pieces of a corpse was creepy, but she had never really hated the boy. She could muster more anger towards Misato Katsuragi than Shinji Ikari. They might be kids with monstrous power, but they were still kids! The pilots... it was **_inevitable_**, she didn't want to be proven right like this - they would **_break_**.

Carrying the weight of the world, pretending they're monstrous enough to bear it all, until they finally slip and fall- and everything shatters. They shatter.

Shinji was shaking. He lifted Rei's head as if he wanted to kiss her cold lips. Tears tracked down his cheeks, but his eyes lacked all feeling. He pressed his forehead to hers and deep inside, he refused to say goodbye.

Rei was gone. He refused to acknowledge that. Asuka, when she returns, she too would cry and demand why he didn't try his best to bring her back.

Death was not supposed to be easy to defeat. He opened his eyes. All that remained of Rei exploded into a gout of blood in his hands. Brain, bone, skin and all - reduced to thick red LCL, dripping down to the dirty alley ground. Her soul was sucked into

He stared numbly at the ichor remaining in his cupped palms.

And then he raised his palms up to his lips and drank. Blood ran down his chin and stained the front of his white shirt. Rika shivered. Creepy children. NERV was entirely to blame for this.

The light from the end of the alley brightened considerably and a feminine silhouette blocked that exit. Agent Jiro grimaced. "Go!" he shouted to Rika and her cameraman. "Just get out of here! I'll hold it off!" And in a lower tone "... somehow."

They had all seen how the toughest armor and psychic power failed to even delay Yui, but the cameraman nodded. "Come on, Rika." He grabbed around one of the boy's armpits and pulled.

Rika made a face. With blood all over his face and down his neck, pale from shock, he looked like a vampire or something. This was everyone's last hope? It was too ridiculous. She rubbed at her eyes and bent over to help.

Suddenly, Shinji's arm shot out to the side. His fingers dug into plaster.

"Don't be stupid, kid!" the cameraman hissed. "We can't let you throw your life away." He grunted and tried to force Shinji to his feet. "Ayanami wouldn't like that, would she?"

Shinji's palms clenched into fists. Rei was dead. Even recovering a clone wouldn't bring her back, the memory download did not work like that. Rei's soul was stolen by Lillith. Her little smiles, the times they shared, the promise they made to Asuka... gone.

Shinji took a deep breath and failed in trying to stand up. He couldn't see the face of his mother, only a back of a man in a black suit barring the way. There was a piece of him that wanted to go out there and... what?

Hatred and longing smashed against his heart, and not all of those emotions were his own. It was like his resolve was being drained away.

He closed his eyes. "Ayanami..." he breathed.

He had one last promise, to make sure there was still a city for Asuka when she returned. It was like there was an echo in his heartbeat. He needed to see the sun. Being held up by the arms, he was just barely able to stagger forwards.

The three left the alley without look back.

Agent Jiro felt such pride in how three people who had just the barest fifteen minutes of contact had united their priorities.

Agent Jiro felt like a bug under a boot. The light at the end of the alley overwhelmed even his polarized sunglasses. The warmth was kind of pleasant, rolling off in waves like being inside a womb. He was starting to feel sleepy, but knew that closing his eyes would mean sleeping forever. So would looking up towards the brighter light.

He kept his eyes firmly on Yui's shoes. Saliva pooled in his mouth. He felt lethargic and hungry at the same time. Looking down he could see his hands. His fingers twitched. He couldn't explain why, but he had the idea that it would taste so good if he just raised his hand up and began to bite them off, chew up his own flesh and bones.

No! He refused to be distracted, to remove her from his direct observation. Still inexplicably she remained unmoving while she had his attention.

He didn't care why. If somehow this bought them a few more seconds to get away... then he chuckled. He was still young, and there was still so much he wanted to do. Being NERV Section 2 was more tedious than he'd expected, but it paid well. He wanted to get married someday, own a small toy or candy shop maybe. His kids would grow up and learn something useful, a doctor or dentist maybe.

And Agent Kentaro would have to be the godparent for them. All of them. He'd have to buy them expensive presents on their birthdays. Just to spite the old man he'd have, like, a dozen kids muahahaha.

_"It's a social contract, you know that?"_ the older agent had said. _"It has to be voluntary. If I'm under duress it doesn't count."_

What the hell. Agent Jiro grit his teeth. They both knew the risks, just from living in Tokyo-3, but this city just kept on sucker-punching those who kept faith that things would get better.

"Do you believe in Hell, rookie?"

He flinched. It was Agent Kentaro's voice, exact with the bone-weariness the old man, who lived through post-Impact as a teenager, often displayed. He could almost smell the scent of cheap cigarettes stubbed out halfway from being burned through.

"Then you'd best be prepared to accept an eternity of pain. None of us here are good people."

Agent Jiro refused to look up. He focused on those slim feminine ankles. Huh. Yui Ikari wore short white socks. In the darkness behind his brain something with too many eyes and teeth laughed.

"Why would you want to go to the heaven built by a being that made us just to suffer? Why would you want to reincarnate back into a world which offers only fleeting peace? Enlightenment isn't that far off from dying. There's no one that answers when we call out, never has been, never will be. What's happened before will happen again. And again. And again.

It's not so bad, being like this. You don't have to be afraid of anything anymore."

The voice changed to a husky timbre. "Humanity is one being. All souls go to the same place. Great or small, they realize in the end how little they meant."

Lama Pagnor, born James Henry Brown in 1916, had in his death found the nirvana that individual souls had been grasping for through thousands of years. Having the memories now of the actual historical Buddha was rather... uninspiring. He was a good man, but even Gautama did not escape the karmic wheel. It was all just a delusion. Mankind was a germinate form of the Lillith life-form, and eventually they were meant to reach critical mass. The closer they reached for the power of an overmind or imposing will upon the laws that governed the universe, the more they fed their doom.

"Instrumentality is a release from this endless cycle." spoke Yui, but her voice seemed a composite of millions of different female voices. "But if we live in dreams of our own making we might as well have never existed.

But I can make it right again. I can bring it all back... the universe won't ever forget that we were here.

But first everyone should just DIE."

Agent Jiro grit his teeth. They'd followed a boy's stupidly simplistic views because they both believed there was worth in staying alive. Dislike for Gendo Ikari's agenda, weariness at how the government kept on trying to bleed out NERV, he'd followed the older agent's lead because it made sense to take the risks so that others wouldn't have to... if anyone had to suffer, let it be them who were prepared to endure.

This Angel was just trying to unsettle him. The pressure made his knees feel like little twigs and his body so heavy. Fear howled inside his heart.

But ah! What would be the point? He was one frail human? Why would it even bother? He shook his head and stood his ground.

"So what?! I remember what my partner said! There comes a time when it's the smart thing to just give up. There comes a time when life itself wants to push you down! What can you do in that time?

You make the shout!"

Those grueling days spent training again, crashing through the same course as the UNIG to prove their worth, learning about new weapons and techniques... they'd chosen to be more than just mere bodyguards.

Those who lived in the city didn't do it for pride or money. It was an oath they swore to themselves. The world will NOT fucking end, not on my fucking WATCH!

"To yourself!" He stomped at the ground and opened his arms out, presenting himself as a wall. "You get up! You get up! You get up! Can you hear me?! Old man! **I watched your goddamn classics!** I'm not moving!"

Agent Kentaro was shaking. His tanned skin was starting to turn red and break out in watery boils, as if being roasted over an open flame.

The wall beside him was smashed open, and a large yellow hand reached out. Agent Jiro's eyes widened as he met glowing red eyeports of a bear-like angular helmet. Yui moved. Captain Avirkupolous' right hand pushed at Agent Jiro's chest to force him to the ground. His left hand was held up, having just thrown something behind his back.

A Thought Bomb Grenade detonated in front of Yui's face. The shockwave sluiced forcefully through the alley, and the strong back of Terminator armor took the brunt of the blast.

With groaning servos, Captain Avrikupolous got up from his half-kneeling position. Despite how futile he felt this last charge would be, he never before had he felt so powerful. So full of flowing purpose.

"Move." the Custodian rumbled out.

Through the rear-view camera in his suit he watched Yui nonchalantly wave in front of her face to fan away the smoke. He had a wife and child. He didn't come to the city for mere money. He believed the self-important promises of a boy because he wanted a world where his son could grow up in without the fear of war or hunger.

He was a dam against the frightful torrent. His world extended outside of him and it would not end! He only had left the trust that the boy would somehow live up to his boasts. Even with Case Zero in shatters... to surrender, to lie down and die, what the hell would that accomplish?! Survival instincts rang for him to run, but here he decided to all but turn off his brain and just refuse to be budged.

Fire burned within his soul, beating back the cold despair that seeped in from the collective unconsciousness of humanity, every single one recognizing its progenitor. Man had not yet grown strong enough to fill the space left by its parent.

For some reason Yui remained locked in one place. She put her arms into her lab coat's pockets and her glow intensified. Shadows deepened and stretched out.

He smiled as a TAG signal on his HUD began blinking, and turned red. Compared to how much his powered armor cost, a targeting designator and an overpowered transponder was cheap. He had all-band signal ports both front and back.

Three ultra-thin LCD displays provided him with a view as if he wasn't wearing a helmet. A ghostly white hand slid out of the front screen and caressed his jaw.

"Too late, monster." he said with a fierce grin.

=][=

On distant hilltop, a cannon finished acquiring a targeting lock and fired. Air broke apart as the positron beam lanced through buildings and into the alley. Everything in its path simply ceased to be.

=][=

The trio had just cleared the alley. The Positron blast struck sideways through multiple buildings, and the shockwave it caused blew blew them out of the alley. A hot wind carried them out into the next avenue. Shinji felt boneless, and there was no pain when he landed flat on his back, and skidding to a stop. He felt as if he was looking at his body from the outside, it was a meat-puppet held together only because he had nothing else.

He looked up at the sky, and its blueness was pale and bleak. The moon was a barely-discernible white shard in the afternoon light.

Rika Izuna coughed and heaved for breath. He felt herself being lifted up. Her head was throbbing with pain and, dazily, the past few months flashing behind her eyes.

"Rika? Come on! Get ahold of yourself!"

She felt stinging pain on her cheek and woke up fully. "Wha... what happened?"

"We're outside. Come on, we've got to move." Her cameran got up and began to go over to where Shinji Ikari continued to lie as if lifeless. He paused, sensing that Rika remained sitting. The reporter had pulled her knees up in a fetal position. "Rika? Hey!"

"It's not fair..." Rika mumbled. "Why should we have die for something we don't understand?."

"Dammit, Rika! If you don't want to die, help me!"

Numbly the reporter started to get up, only to fall back to her knees. Tears were tracking down her cheeks. "I don't want to be here!" she sobbed. Slowly she crawled over to him. She sat back and looked at Shinji's distant, ashen expression. "Look at this... if even he's given up... what chance do we have? Just leave him behind."

The cameraman grimaced and began to pull the insensate boy away anyway. "And run where? Like it or not, this kid is our only hope."

Dimly he noticed one more strangeness. Back in the alley the boy's hair, normally cropped close at the back, was neck-length. Now it was rather girly locks flowing down past the boy's shoulders.

"He's broken. We're all broken." Rika looked down and trembled. "There's nothing left. We used it all up." Her hands clenched into fists. "I tried to tell them... I tried to make them listen... don't throw your life away chasing after the impossible. Don't make someone believe they have to be perfect. It's too cruel."

There was a loud bang from behind them. They turned to see Agent Jiro stagger out, gasping for breath, from the smoke and dust still billowing out the alley they just left.

And then there was light.

An empty suit of Terminator Armor came flying out in two halves.

Yui Ikari walked out, perfectly nonchalant. Her lab coat and the shoulders of her purple shirt had been blasted off, exposing the swell of a breast. They could see her garments starting to reform out of nothing, stitch by stitch, weave by weave.

Agent Jiro took off his glasses, and shook his head sadly. He looked at the pair frightened nearly out of their wits just by the feel of Yui's presence. Behind him was the perfect predator, and her sustenance was not mere flesh and gristle. Only souls would satisfy her. The gardener had come to reap the harvest from fields she had sowed. In front of him lay a boy trapped in his sorrow.

_'Is this it?' he asked himself. 'Have we lost everything? No more plans. No more miracles.'_ Agent Jiro looked up to see a web of bright white contrails coming like claws. _'Everything except hope...'_

"THERE WILL BE A NEW DAY!" he shouted. "I PRAY! All this sorrow, this endless sorrow! To all the dying we offer the peace we protect! We don't look back! We keep on trying to fight! We wreck our grief and anger as we strike! There will be a day after this! I believe!" He pointed to the sky. "We go up! We go up! We go up!"

He dropped his hand, exhaling heavily. He reached into his shoulder holster to take out a small service pistol. He could just hear his partner's gruff voice.

"Put your fear... in your gun... huh?" Agent Jiro touched the tip of his Beretta to his forehead and smiled. He turned around and aimed, baring his teeth. "Shoot them out! Shoot them out! Shoot them out!"

The cameraman stared up at the Section 2 Agent standing there, whose exposed skin was full of bleeding sores. His weapon was tiny, his stance was shaky. And yet, his expression was jubilant. As every bullet bounced harmlessly off Yui's head, his fear exhausted itself.

"I am not yours." he spat.

Agent Jiro burst into a shower of orange goo.

The cameraman bowed his head and exhaled.

A slight chuckle escaped his lips as he stood up.

Rika was shaking, numb with terror. She shouldn't be here, she shouldn't have to put herself between stupid broken kids and monsters and... "Toshiro! What are you doing?!"

Her cameraman stood up and looked around. He saw a piece of rebar nearby and went over to pick it up. "Sorry, Rika. I guess you'll have to manage things by yourself from now on." He stood with his back to hers, refusing to look back.

"You... stupid! I won't do it! There's no hope..." Rika's hands were shaking. "I'm not strong enough. I can't... don't leave me. Not now. What's this boy done to you?!"

"I'm not doing this for him. I'm doing it for you!" Toshiro Manabu shouted. It was like he was leaping right out of his own skin. The glowing figure of Yui Ikari pulled at him as much as it inspired primal terror.

"Rika... what an annoying woman you are." He turned his head aside and smiled. "You're selfish, you're loud, you're so full of yourself. You're so afraid of not being seen. The woman I love is stronger than this!

Dry your tears, Rika. You have to survive!"

Brave fools, but fools nonetheless. They knew there was nothing they could do that would give even semi-permanent harm to Yui Ikari. Rika Izuna bit her lip, still sobbing, and hesitantly began to drag away the still-insensate boy.

She stumbled, and dropped on her side. "Toshiro!"

"Survive, Rika!" the cameraman shouted while rushing forward, holding the metal pole two-handed like a baseball bat. "... goodbye, Rika."

It was mere seconds before the first wave of missiles would hit the city.

=][=

Ritsuko put in the master code for the self-destruct and waited as the MAGI began to purge itself. The three supercomputer cores were Naoko Akagi's crowning glory, and according to the scientist she'd put herself in it as a mother, a scientist, and a woman.

The MAGI's three core icons turned red on the console, but then the last, MAGI core Balthazar, blinked blue. It had rejected the order. Shortly, the other cores turned blue again.

"... what does this mean?" Ritsuko whispered to herself, while lying back completely exhausted. "Mother... what is it that you regret?"

=][=

The boy's paralysis was a hard shell of grief, true, but within it compressed to cold clarity was RAGE.

He had considered the possibility of loss, he had already long accepted that they might have to keep on fighting by walking on the bones of their loved ones. Ayanami, Sohryu, Kirishima... there were many times they could have died. That they survived for so long was just a testament to their forced growth as child-warriors. The power of the Eva could never protect, just allow hitting back the enemy with equal force.

He hated his body in all its weakness.

He hated the enemy who would not give them any peace.

He hated the world in all its filth.

He hated, because his heart had known love.

He hated that he wouldn't be allowed to rest.

He hated being a human being.

He hated being afraid of turning into a monster.

He hated that he wanted to return his mother's embrace, wanting to feel safe and protected.

He hated being himself, being asked by that little boy so long ago, just where did he _stop_being a good boy?

His strength drained away from his limbs and into his heart, just to contain that acid regret. Behind his plans was the animal howling against the inevitable. He was motionless, emotionless, because otherwise all he had was this unthinking beast that hid at the bottom of every human's psyche.

It clawed and raged and roared and cried in the emptiness of his mind, and in being trapped it was being punished. He was punishing himself for his weakness. The berserker had no room for grief, and he would not let go of that. It was all he had left of Ayanami.

Unit 01 roared and slammed against its cage, the crippled beast unable to add its power to break through the shell. In Lillith's presence, it was more a liability than a weapon.

When did he start to twist reality? Before Ayanami pledged herself to his purpose, before they split their souls into each other, he'd been just a strange boy with strange delusions. He was not made to rule. The world after the war, he'd always felt it was for someone else to inherit.

The gap within was a conduit for Lillith to enter, and he armored his being against the onslaught with his sorrow. The release was just a hand's reach away, a promise to be reunited with those whom he'd lost. And end to all the pain.

A quick, shattering release. Impact.

Suffering boiled under pressure. So much had already been given up. He wanted to scream, to escalate things, to burn this sinful world that demanded such sacrifice! It would take from him everything! He had given up pride. His own death was nothing to fear. He had only one last sacrifice to make, to throw away the capacity to love, and he screamed and screamed his refusal to let go of this last thing that he owned.

"You useless idiot!"

... Asuka?

"You can't let them do this! Haven't you satisfied your ego enough, Ikari? Too many people believe you can save them. Too many people have DIED for you! You coward! You moron!"

That voice, it wasn't Asuka. She was still half a world away. This voice was full of pain and fear, rather than the sheer burning defiance that was Sohryu.

But strangely, being insulted, it felt good. He felt distant pain, someone beating on his ribs. When did masochism start being a normal part of his daily experience? Huh. If he didn't like the feeling of being alive from his nerves on fire, he probably wouldn't have been able to power through physical pain in his fights.

"Wake up! You're supposed to be a hero! Act like it!" The voice broke down into unintelligible sobs. "... they're all dying."

There was a pulse, like a heartbeat.

_"... Ikari-kun."_the wind whispered.

"Raaarggh!" Toshiro yelled and charged, whomping the metal pole across Yui's back, uselessly bending the metal. The shock stung at his palms.

_"Hey. Ikari."_ a gruff voice said, and Shinji could almost see a dark silhouette of a man in a black suit, spinning a unlit cigarette on his palm._ "We're only dead when nobody's left to remember."_

A taller but younger man dressed in the same way approached, and saying with an amused snort_ "This is too uncool a way to go, kid."_

A silhouette of a giant of a man._ "We gave it all to keep our loves ones safe. In them we still survive."_

_"With guts and effort, anything is possible." _A girl with flaming red hair, her left eye covered by an eyepatch._ "Even death can die!" _

A man with a jacket, lounging back on an office chair. _"I don't believe in the great man concept of history, but there are inestimable historical forces that shape our identity as a species. There are heroes in this world, young Ikari, and you are not one of them."_

Shinji Ikari blinked. The light of intelligence returned to his gaze.

He grit his teeth. "No more death." He struggled to get back up. His hair flowed long behind his back. "No more heroes. No more..."

His consciousness burst. He remembered now his childhood days gone by, when all was warm and alive and fun. His mother, the wind, and the sun. He remembered Gendo's hand ruffling his hair, a tolerant half-smile on the man's face. He now remembered Yui's gentle tone, saying:

"Live forever, Shin-chan. Live forever and tell the universe - we will give it love and peace forever." Even the black holes would carry this message. Yui was a literalist that way.

Lillith was only able to emerge so fully… so soon, even without the Red Earth Ceremony, through the metaphysical that he had accidentally created returning from being absorbed by Unit 01. But that connection- it goes both ways!

"This is my fault." he whispered to Rika Izuna's teary and furious face. "I'm sorry." That was not enough. He had led so many to their deaths, he did not hope to be forgiven. "I'm going to fix thi-"

His field of view exploded into orange goo. Shinji woke up just in time to see white contrails dropping from the bluest heights.

=][=

The first salvo of strategic missiles launched from offshore ballistic missile submarines were just arriving. Sixteen of them.

Unlike conventional nuclear bombs, most of the bulk of an N2 warhead consisted of mechanisms to generate antimatter. This made their yield inferior to comparable nukes in missile weights, but had the benefit of their yields being adjustable. In this instance, they were set to maximum.

Each of those missiles would explode with equivalent of three hundred thousand tons of TNT. By comparison, the nuke that wiped out Hiroshima was only around fifteen thousand tons of TNT. The only fortunate thing about that was that the first one to blow would eliminate those other missile coming in too close in a fratricidal fireball. This was why missile launches were staggered fifteen second apart.

=][=

And time ceased to have meaning.

The sky seemed to turn inside-out, and a shadow moon slipped out of the unreal depths. A black pearl hung in the sky, and a dead soul shone. Petals of sunfire spread out. A deadly mushroom rose high, the white clouds darkening the valley.

Lillith stood alone.

There was the rattle of blue bolts from a Burst Cannon, and Yui raised her arm to shield her face from the bright blue glare.

A strange walking machine, with a broad blocky chest and feet ending in cloven feet landed with a thump near Shinji Ikari. It picked up the boy by the backplate of his plugsuit and jumped away, jets burning to fling it all the way across the city block, and to safety.

"no..." Shinji breathed. "No." he growled.

"Oh, that's fine." Kaworu said. "No need to thank me or anything. It's not like I just -saved your life- again."

"... haah." Shinji's breath misted out. A clump of his long, silken hair stretched out and twisted together, coiling into an screw-edged shaft, which began to spin. The improvised drill bit flipped around and bored straight through the armor of the Battlesuit's cockpit.

"GAH! Dammit, Ikari!" Kaworu gurgled out. "Just when I think you can't be any more of a thankless wretch, then you try to KILL ME WITH YOUR HAIR."

The Battlesuit jumped clear to a nearby building as Kaworu clutched the hole in his stomach. He reached out for a glob of sealant gel and applied it to the wound.

He looked to the main monitor inside his walker and saw that Yui's attention was on him. He felt as if something had sunk its claws into the back of his brain and yanked, hard. He grimaced and took quick, deep breaths.

The part of him that was made from Adam recoiled with '_I DON'T BELONG YOU!'_ He coughed, tasting blood at the back of his throat._ 'I AM HE THAT REFUSES YOU.'_

If Lillith... Yui Ikari(?)... just had access to a Lancea Longini, it would already been over. Not even the massed missile strike would have stopped Third Impact. He looked up at the sunlight filtering down the mushrooming cloud cover, the shards of light giving the blasted city a chapel-like air. Gendo was wise to remove the Lance from Tokyo-3.

Or was it intentional? The failure of Case Zero, Kaworu considered that it may be the success of someone else's scenario. Seeing Yui Ikari standing there, he could only rage in futility at Gendo's greed.

"Haaaaaahh...!" Shinji looked up, his eyes wild and unfocused. He shambled forward. One step. Faster. Faster. He was running. There was a sticky feeling in the air, just like before a thunderstorm.

"It's not going to work, Ikari..." Kaworu whispered with pity.

Shinji punched out, uncaring that his puny fist driven by a body still numb with shock wouldn't harm anything even vaguely solid. Yui looked mildly disappointed.

He slammed onto an AT-field barrier. Kaworu sighed. A human may resist and force through an Angel's AT-field because a human has his own sense of identity. The Ego Border, if it doesn't collapse, merges its outermost bondaries with the Angel. The human dies, mutates, goes insane... or with utter willpower remain untouched.

Not like this. The berserker can only try to force through.

"The power of the Eva is closed to you now, Ikari. It would like asking Lord Ruby-Eye, hey, lend me your power so I can kill you (with your own power)." Kaworu didn't want to see his chosen rival act throw aside the potency of his intellect and survival instincts. "Anger only gives the sensation of power. The delusion of being able to accomplish something meaningful."

Shinji's hammering on the AT-field slackened, until finally he slumped exhausted against the barrier. He dropped to his knees, his hair falling like waves of a black sea.

Kaworu stared with an unamused gaze. "Seriously, what is up with that, Ikari?' he muttered. "That was just too suspiciously stylish. And you dare talk smack to me about my being too effeminate?!" Focusing on the absurdity of his rival's follicles kept him from empathizing too much. This was not how he wanted to see Shinji be defeated.

This was his loss! In this humiliating and nerveless reality, Kaworu felt utterly overcome. As long as he could look outside at someone whom he could use to measure his existence, he could vicariously experience terrifying freedom.

He touched the puckered wound on his belly. Drill. Hair. "Mnggh." Kaworu ground out in irritation. It was as if the family Ikari existed just to piss him off in every way possible[1].

=][=

Down in the geofront and at UNIG Cerberus Base, people were coming out of their (quite and useless) duck and cover pose. "We're alive? Why the hell are we still alive?" Misato crowed. As the monitors cleared, she let out a long "Oooh...!" of awe and horror at the mushroom cloud rising over the city.

"Radiation levels are minimal." Shigeru reported. "We got hit by clean N2 bombs." He sagged on his chair. "For now."

Most of the strategic missiles still headed their way were megaton devices.

"Okay, so who pulled our fat out of the fire this time?"

The monitors slowly began to recover. A lot of Tokyo-3's communication and observation systems were hardened to the point of surviving near point-blank nuclear detonation. What if there was an Angel that attacked with some sort of super- EMP effect? For all that people knew back then when the city was still being built, the AT-field might end up creating new elementary particles that spontaneously arrange into lattice arrangements that messed with atomic charges.

Surprisingly, the combination of old and new technologies proved to be the most reliable. A series of camera lenses, within thick metal poles, fed a fiberoptic sensor. Views from all around the city flicked through the main screen as the operators searched for survivors.

The black ball impossibly hanging in the sky over the city made it obvious who was responsible for the physics-defying protective barrier.

The fireball and pressure wave bounced off the intense field saturating the region, and the skies shimmered with streamers of captured energy.

"It's Gendo." Misato mumbled, rubbing at her forehead as a groundside camera view expanded to show the reunion of the family Ikari. "Somehow it's like I'd feel better if I'd died instead. What's he up to, saving us now?"

Up at the command desk, Kozo Fuyutsuki laughed. "Yui. The one person with even stronger faith in you. Of course he would refuse even this fate."

=][=

Yui turned around to see Gendo emerged from the gray shroud of mist billowing through the streets. He was wearing his usual scowl, his orange glasses oddly reflective, his hands were wrapped in fresh white leather gloves. The wind tugged at his jacket and hair as he walked towards her.

Delight spread across Yui's face. She put her bloodied hands back into the pockets of her lab coat and murmured with dark pleasure. For the first time she spoke as herself. "Gen-chan..."

Gendo raised his right hand over to his right shoulder and swiftly swept it out. The back of his hand smacked hard against Yui's cheek, and despite her godlike state proofed against psychic power and antimatter her head jerked aside. She stumbled back, and fell.

=][=

Ritsuko Akagi had just out of the elevator back into the command tower. She looked up at the main screen and lifted her eyebrow. "Excuse me, everyone, but did I really just see Gendo Ikari bitch-slap Lillith?"

=][=

Yui touched her jaw. That... that hurt! She ran her thumb over the edge of her lips and wiped away blood. She looked up and there was only betrayal and confusion in her demeanor.

"Gen-chan... why?!"

"Stop. Wearing. Her face." Gendo ground out.

Yui got back up, her expression never faltering. "Gen-chan! It's me! Don't you remember? April Nineteenth! The trains!"

"You have her memories. That doesn't mean you are her. She is just one more mask that you wear."

"Stop talking to me as if you don't know me!" Yui replied angrily, the pressure of her presence blowing out the smoke around them. "I am not Lillith!"

Gendo was famous in certain circles for his ability to Not Give a Fuck. It may be written that the meek shall inherit the earth, but to be chosen to be the leader of the first and most important NERV sites, required more than just amiability and the ability to get along with people. His wife was one of the three geniuses that created Eva. He was no mere paper pusher.

Gendo Ikari was reliable in the way that, while he may lie or cheat or steal, he always keeps his promises. Even the promise to scoop out your eye with a spoon if you fail to meet the deadline.

It is this sheer lack of fear that attracted Kyoko Zepellin Sohryu in the first place. It was like he lived to cut through Gordion Knots. He may have been an abrasive bastard, but he was an abrasive bastard to everybody equally. Whatever the odds, whatever the challenge, whatever the gap in social levels or personal power, Gendo Ikari never failed to deliver on his word.

"No. Of course not." Gendo said in a tired tone. "Lillith is not a being. You are something more than your discarded old clothes. You are an **ideal**. A **belief**. The endless spiral, the Serpent rising out of Chaos."

Yui looked as if she might cry, her fists balling up. She looked down dejectedly, then after a few moments, looked up with a different emotion on her face. Now she carried only an imperious certainty.

Yui smiled. "For the name of the game is Entropy. The simplest structures of life are the most robust, but life tends towards more and more complexity. As the cells which do not have awareness form the human which claims to know, so do are worlds consumed to feed the galaxies that believe. Through each stage, there is less and less efficiency and more and more of the energy of the universe is consumed, but all to achieve that state free from the grasp of entropy.

The sower has the right to the harvest. The scythe has begun to move. It is too late for the grains to complain."

If one just removed Benevolence from the equation, the problem of theodicity was easily solved (or rather, bypassed entirely). The thoughts of a creator was inscrutable, as like those of a dog trying to understand the whims of its master. The maker was justified in doing whatever it wanted to its work, for the petty desires of its work was irrelevant. Lillith was a being beyond human morality, for humanity was created to feel pain for a purpose.

Gendo took a deep breath and sighed aside. He raised his hand to his nose, and belatedly realized he had lost his glasses. His face was much narrower, more weather-worn, without them. "I know Yui did not want this. Even the old men and their petty attempt at escape – Instrumentality – is not enough to prove her existence."

Yui's expression switched back into sorrow, her tone so vulnerable. "I'm still Yui Ikari. Gendo, why? Was it just a lie after all? Don't you love me?"

A look of pain flashed across Gendo's face. "You... have no idea just how much." He raised his hand to chest level. "Yui! Remember this!"

Gendo grimaced and clenched his hands into fists, holding them up near his face and hunching over as he looked to contain an overpowering rage. He then swiftly moved his left arm up straight over his face, then bringing it back down bent at waist level. His right arm in an eyeblink copied the motion and held it there, completing a 'V'.

Slowly he swept his right arm overhead from left to right, holding it again with his palm blade-straight. People assumed that Gendo Ikari also armored himself with grave dignity. The weight of that emotional defense could only have slowed him down

"I remember clearly." Yui tilted her head to the side. "Yui Ikari only makes you cosplay as a Kamen Rider."

Gendo kept the pose up. "You people just keep on falling for my diversions."

Honestly, it seemed that the greater the personal power one may possess, the easier it was to get distracted by something unexpected. The image of their universe that made sense in their mind, it was so swiftly coddled and protected in response.

"... wha-?"

WHAM!

There was a flash of gold, and Yui was knocked clear across the road by a fist as big as her head.

"Haah. Haah..." Shinji gulped for breath. His arms were comically huge, wrapped in the gauntlets of a Tactical Dreadnought's Power Fist. Somehow his long hair had woven thick enough to serve as artificial musculature, to support the heavy gauntlets without breaking the boy's spine. Technically, being rooted to his head, his hair should have broken his neck anyway... but it was no more ridiculous than Gendo still standing there holding the pose.

He had also repurposed a UNIG flag, with its falling star insignia, as a cape for some reason. His hair had stitched itself into the fibers.

Shinji glanced aside, his eye betraying a 'what the hell are you doing?' look. He then nodded, acknowledging his father's presence without wasting any more thought on it. He had to focus on the bigger threat. Gendo just nodded back, holding himself with quiet dignity.

"Ayanami..." Shinji whispered. He looked up at the disc of clouds in the sky and the sunlight streaming down, and asked "... is this all right? I have no power other than what others choose to give me. Their trust, their loyalty, love and friendship! SO I ACCEPT. Let's all burn away our lives together!"

He blinked away his tears and looked back at the ground. "Ayanami is gone." said Shinji, pointing with an oversized fist. "But in your heart she still survives. A lot of people died today. You ate them up!

You may wear my mother's face but you're just another monster to me!" he shouted with desperate exertion. "You ate them up AND I WILL HAVE THEM BACK!"

He rushed forwards. Shinji, at best, could only control someone else's AT-field. Lillith yanking out the split part of his soul that was Rei (and the small portion of Rei's soul that was Shinji) left a hole, a tiny conduit. His improvised cape stiffened out, like a glider wing.

Just before reaching Yui, he shifted his shoulder and the cape spun to the side, and counterbalance to the motion he tilted to the side and hooked a punch up to her ribs. Yui blocked with her elbow. There was a crunch as metal caved inwards.

Shinji, snarling, reached out with his left hand and grabbed her lab coat. "GIVE THEM BACK!" he screamed as he pulled, while pushing off the road. His forehead met her nose. Again. "GIVE HER BACK TO ME!" Pull. Headbutt. "GIVE HER BACK! GIVE HER BACK! GIVE HER BACK!"

Yui shook her head, dazed. Annoyed, and with that thought she pulsed her AT-field. A telekinetic wave spread out, and flinging Shinji all the way back across the street and crashing through a shop window. Not satisfied with that, she gestured and flung a car into it.

"What a dysfunctional family this is." Kaworu muttered as he fired away from his perch. A spread of homing lasers shot out from the sides of the Shadow Moon, and he directed the beams to strike at the awakened primordial creature. While he couldn't connect to the Hivemind for great accuracy, his battlesuit did have pretty good line-of-sight marking.

The cascading torrent of beams splashed against an AT-field.

Gendo dropped his right hand to shoulder level, forming a fist. Steam hissed out from under his sleeves.

"Toh." said Gendo. The AT-field shattered under his punch.

For the first time, fear showed on Yui's expression. Gendo raised his right hand, the glove burning away to expose Adam's veiny flesh and unblinking eye growing out the back of his hand.

Gendo smirked. "This hand of mine... glows with an awesome power."

=][=

Back at Cerberus Base someone screamed. "NO! NO! You of all people don't get to say that! YOU DON'T!"

=][=

"... its shine calls for me to defeat you."

=][=

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGG GGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Aida's gone berserk! Run for your lives!"

=][=

"How… how can you do this?" Yui gasped, warily skipping away from Gendo. Only Adam's power could oppose Lillith. It should not be possible to be used by a being made out of Her own flesh.

Yet she could feel it – it was a dead power, but no less potent for that. She grimaced, feeling the pain from the hits on her body. Gendo had never hit her, never! Yui Ikari was certain that she'd been his entire world. She'd been certain that she held his one true loyalty.

"I will tell you a story, dead thing." said Gendo. "For the Fruit of the Tree of Life is Intelligence, but the Fruit is but a shell to be consumed for the Seed's growth into the next incarnation of the Tree. The Soul grows to fill the void.

When Yui Ikari made her contact experiment, Unit 01 was still connected to Lillith. As she sought to became one with the Child, the Mother also tasted of her soul. The flesh of Yui Ikari dissolved, because even when she was born, her soul was incomplete.

Always she sought to accept everything with equanimity. Always she sought not to be unnecessarily entangled, controlling herself before associating with others. She was well-liked and respected.

She was a functional psychopath.

She met a violent young man who seemed to resonate with her in a way she could not comprehend, and somehow his approval meant more to her than any amount of praise from powerful people."

Lilith blinked, bringing up the memory. "Who are you, Rokubungi?"

"There was once a foolish girl who died for the sake of a stupid ungrateful boy. Then, the boy refused his paradise in an even more idiotic attempt at going back to change it all.

Again and again, the world died, the girl died, the boy died, and everything kept getting worse and worse. Time was wounded, and healed. The world moved on, forgetting the name of the one who first made it possible.

In trying to cling to her, he only shattered her."

Gendo's left cheek bulged out, and bled, and from the break in the skin another eye opened. It blinked, and turned to look at Lillith.

"And the boy chased her shards through the pages of a dead book, all to put her back together again." Gendo stepped forward. Yui flinched. "Yui…" he crooned.

Gendo extended his left hand. "I've been looking for you for so long. Only I remember your name. How many times must you condemn the world for the same little ingrate? Come home, Yui. You have always been my anchor. I will bring you back."

There was gentleness in his eyes. His voice dropped to a plaintive whisper. "Come home, Ichijou."

Yui blinked. The bright red glow in her eyes faded, become confused brown eyes. She looked at Gendo and slowly recognition dawned. Hesitantly she reached out to touch his hand. Gendo grasped her fingers tightly.

"Come home." he said. "Come back, Yui."

He pulled.

And, strangely, Yui's flesh flowed as if liquid. Another set of slim fingers emerged out from the skin, pulled out and held within Gendo's scarred hand. Yui gasped, and Yui fell out. A girl, looking no more than fifteen years old, dressed in a white plugsuit eerily similar to Rei Ayanami's, stepped out into the sun. Her steps were wobbly as she was made to walk away from her former shell.

She looked up, amazed. "Ge… Gen-chan?' she whispered.

"Hello again. Yui."

She smiled hesitantly. "You… you came back." Her eyes showed such anguish and relief. "Like you promised…"

A young boy wearing a striped shirt, a young girl wearing a white sundress, on a hill overlooking the resort town of Hakone – a monstrous white face in the heavens – and a promise… time itself was no barrier to a person who went beyond monster and man, beyond demon and god. A man who trapped himself in the cycle of suffering, knowing only that only love could raise him higher than prayers.

Lillith blinked, red eyes confusedly looking down at the apparition that in front of Her. The confusion was replaced by unthinking hatred, and she reached out to -

Lillith fell over face-first into the concrete. A green blur screeched to a stop near Gendo.

"Battle Hopper!" Yui said excitedly. The green motorcycle blinked its bright red head-lamps on an insect-like chassis and revved in greeting.

"It's not just SEELE that I've had to contend against" said Gendo, gently touching Yui's cheek with the back of his index finger. "Sometimes it is GENOM, or SHOCKER, or CRONOS. It doesn't matter. I'll always bring you back."

"Gen-chan..." Tears misted her eyes and bawling, she hugged him. Gently Gendo patted her back.

"Every part of you that's missing, until we're both whole again."

"Oh that's IT! I HAVE -HAD- IT!"

Lillith remained unmoving on the road, still in the form of Yui Ikari, but everyone else turned to look at Kaworu stomping over in his Crisis Suit. The cockpit hatch was open and they could all see his expression of consummate frustration.

"Stop. Stop it right there. Hold it.

Let me see if I have this straight... SEELE uncovered Adam and caused Third Impact in an attempt to attain godhood. It failed. This released the Angels that, according to the Dead Sea Scrolls, must be defeated before they could try again. Yui Ikari opposed this and engineered her absorption into Unit 01 and the development of the human-Angel hybrids like me and Ayanami to sabotage the Red Earth Ceremony despite that we are the tools to make it possible."

He pointed to Gendo. "SEELE created NERV and put you in power to defeat the Angels. The Evangelions were created not just to defeat the Angels, but actually clear the way for Third Impact to happen.

I decided to act against the wishes of SEELE to ensure that the human race maintains its physical existence. With the same goal but different methodology, so did Shinji Ikari.

BUT! It turns out that the continued use of the Evangelion would inevitably release Lillith anyway, since the human race IS the but the larval stage of the Lillith lifeform. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the geofront were deliberately designed to tempt whoever uncovered them to make this happen."

"You should start at the beginning, with why the First Ancestral Race created two opposing philosophies on the development of life."

"SILENCE! I'm not finished. SEELE thought that you might want to start Third Impact on your terms and claim godhood. Yui Ikari wanted you to preserve the scenario she'd crafted, that would rely on Ayanami to trigger and control Third Impact and leave the final result to Shinji Ikari's choice.

But Shinji Ikari doesn't want Third Impact to happen and instead use the power of the Eva to settle the stars.

But inevitably, human struggle would force them into overusing the Eva or melting into a communal mind that would release Lillith anyway. Even my Hivemind would switch into this philosophy on encountering the Adam-life out there.

Yui Ikari knew this, and in my creation implanted in me the urge to continually test myself against her son, help him reach his potential, so that humanity would grow into a being that would not be overshadowed by Lillith's oversoul.

But you knew this. Damn it, you knew and you didn't care what weirdness your son was doing, as long as you got your wife back.

But then it turns out that it wasn't Yui Ikari that you wanted anyway, but... who is this anyway?"

The black-haired girl with the bob-cut haircut who, if Kaworu was inclined to recall... bore an uncanny resemblance to a certain Little Miss Death Star with a Silence Glaive, fearfully hid behind Gendo's arm. She did bear an astonishing resemblance to Shinji Ikari.

"Yui Ichijo. Pilot of Evangelion Prototype Unit Zero[2]." Gendo replied for her.

"... I am not going to go into that. But what the hell? Is it a time loop, huh? Have you been replaying this scenario over and over? I have received visions from my future self and none of this ever happens! No, you just made me think that was up with you. That was just a lie. We're just too predictable."

He breathed out his stunned realization. Of course Gendo wouldn't care about anyone. They might as well be meat-puppets to him. There was no indignity he couldn't shrug off, no enemy too terrible to overcome, no sacrifice too great to make. This overpowering purpose, this miserable man, was the measure that both Shinji and Kaworu both denied and wished to be like. To give of their entire being to one goal, to live sustained only by their willpower... they were still children who hoped to surpass someday their father.

Kaworu remembered Gendo standing impassively over the travel Core of the Shadow Moon to murmur _'The twentieth century was so long ago...' _

And relayed through the gestalt genius of the Hivemind, they thought it meant something symbolic and deep and anything other than Gendo Ikari was a goddamn fanboy at heart.

Just like his son.

Oh. Oh gods that he didn't believe in. This explained. So much.

So much hate flooded Kaworu's veins.

"So this leaves me to conclude... you're a dimensional traveler, aren't you?"

"The proper term is 'Slider'." Gendo replied evenly.

Kaworu turned around and began to indiscriminately fire with his Burst Cannon. He roared and spat out a loud sequence of expletives. It took quite a while for him to calm down. "Was this one of your scenarios?"

"No, all these stupid plots have entangled and ended each other by accident." Gendo replied. His voice, while not warm, did convey a benign amusement.

"BURN EVERYTHING!" Kaworu let out a primal scream and, gulping for breath, brought his pallid face back into cool control. "So. Ghk. So. You needed Adam to neutralize Lillith."

Battle Hopper revved its engines as if to grumble _'I did that, thank you very much.' _Kaworu ignored and repressed. Heavily.

"So. What now, Ikari?" he hissed. "What now?!"

"Now I leave." He looked up to the distance, seeing streaks of approaching missiles, then down to where Lillith was beginning to stir. "Are you going to ask to come along?"

"Hell no!"

"Then do not attempt to hinder me."

"You come along, mess with people, and just leave? How dare you, Ikari!" Kaworu could endure hatred, fear, or even cool contempt. This patronizing arrogance rankled in the way that even he had to admit was quite hypocritical of him. But for all his own arrogance at least he had a purpose that others could pick up and carry with him.

"Why not? You do and the boy do it, manipulating people into twisted reflections of what they should be, all to satisfy your own egoes."

"Because we LIVE HERE! Whatever the result, we have decided to live with our actions! This is our world! Why should we have to accept what bitter old men say about what we sort of people we should be?"

"You're no Prometheus, Nagisa." Gendo replied, patting the girl hugging his waist. "You're still trapped in the labyrinth, trying to outrun your minotaur." He looked at Lillith, starting to get back up. Then back to Kaworu.

"Do you think there is some outside observer who awards you points for character development? Changing everything around you to deny being controlled by anyone... why should I give a damn about yet another kid Icarus?"

A shard of metal crawled across the broken avenue, screeching as it scraped against the reinforced concrete.

"Prodigies burn out." Gendo sniffed. "I know that too well. Ideals mean nothing in the end. The world turns, the world ends, but those you love give meaning to your life. It is a childish desire to be acknowledged. The one who loves only oneself has never grown up."

"You don't get to judge me, you thieving piece of excrement."

"If the choices you made were actually your own, I would have so dared, Angel of Free Will."

"Rargh!" Kaworu punched at his own face again and again, as his Angel soul refused to contemplate even harming its creator, while his human half wanted to go wild. It was another thing which he envied Shinji: being able to go berserker.

His mind - ! A man could never be truly enslaved as long as his mind was his own. Kaworu could not claim that much. He snarled out "You arrogant assho-"

Kaworu glanced down at Yui, and glared. The glare gave out a frightened 'eep' and hid behind Gendo. This was the one thing that Gendo Ikari valued in any way. If- Hurk. He couldn't breathe. It was as if something was squeezing his heart.

Gendo put on his eyeglasses, and the glinting said keenly, _'Even contemplate bringing harm to her, and I will -end you-' _

The Crisis Suit was forced to a half-kneel. Kaworu gasped for breath. "I have made my choice. I have my will." he whispered to himself. "I've given myself and others meaning in existence... it was all my decision, wasn't it? I saw a way through the bars. Even a wasted effort, as long as it was mine to make…?"

Gendo held up the hand with the large red eye on his palm. "You are concerned about Adam and its influence. Then I will oblige you." The eye closed and was sucked into his flesh, leaving a puckered pink scar.

Gendo then knelt down to one knee and faced Yui. "You know what to do..."

"But..."

"I've walked in the darkness for too long. Where we're going, we don't need to need to see the road. " Battle Hopper revved its agreement.

Kaworu Nagisa twitched. Again with the repression.

A car flung itself through the air behind him, as if attracted by powerful magnet, only to explode into its component parts. The stream of disassembled devices entered into the dark innards of a destroyed shopping mall. Suits of fallen Terminators tumbled across the road.

"O-okay." Yui put her hands up and fingers out and, after a few moments of hesitation, smoothly plucked out both of Gendo's eyes. The man didn't even flinch.

He stood up, staring at Kaworu through empty sockets. "Eat of my flesh, Nagisa, and claim your birthright."

"... this changes nothing. You're doing this because it doesn't matter." Kaworu looked up and glared.

"As you said, Nagisa, this is your world. Make of it what you wish."

The reinforced concrete of the pavement cracked as Lillith slapped her palms down to force herself back to her feet. She looked up, and her skin was starting to slough off. Yui Ikari's features were fading, hardening, turning into a distinctive bone mask. Bones of defeated Mass Production Evangelions began to stir.

And every human being's heartbeat skipped a beat.

"ENOUGH."

Thump. Thump. Metal-shod boots on concrete. A golden glow came from inside the mall. A clawed hand grasped at the edge of the broken wall. A giant clad in golden armor stepped out.

"PERISH, ENEMIES OF MAN. IN THEIR NAME, DIE, AND THREATEN THEIR PEACE NO MORE."

The armored giant opened its right palm out, and lightning danced over his hand. Blood from the fallen slicked through the streets and up into the air. Gathering over the hand, compressing, condensing into a ruby-red psychoreactive crystal sphere. Then, the giant slammed the sphere into the center of its chestplate.

The Eye of Terra blinked.

"What -are- you?" Lillith asked nonchalantly.

"Ikari… so you have fallen for the trap." Kaworu sighed. "To defeat Lillith, you have willingly embraced the existence of something exactly like Lillith."

Gendo smirked, blood dripping down the sides of his face. His hollow eye sockets managed a mocking stare at everyone anyway. He snapped his fingers. Kaworu looked down to see that Gendo had a helmet in his hand.

He put it on Yui's head. "Too tight?"

The girl shook her head. Gendo put his hands under her armpits and lifted her to Battle Hopper's back. Then, with practiced ease he mounted the motorcycle.

"If you wish to sate revenge, see if you can find me in the dark side of the sun." he spoke for the last time.

They exploded into a gout LCL, which then ignited, burning away into nothing. They were gone to a place beyond anyone's reach.

Lillith stared at the incoming missiles mere seconds away and dismissed them as inconsequential. She glanced at the floating Shadow Moon then towards Kaworu. She dismissed those too. She looked towards the white disc of the moon barely visible in the afternoon sky. She frowned.

The Ceremony was incomplete. She bent her knees and elbows, preparing to jump.

And jump she did. The pavement cracked beneath her, an earthquake rocked Tokyo-3 and a shockwave spread out. She was in space in an eyeblink.

A larger one toppled buildings, for Unit-01 followed, like a puppet being pulled by strings.

The shockwave did not move the golden giant or Kaworu. The white-haired hybrid snarled. He felt, through the golden light flooding out of the being's eyes, as if he was being judged, and again dismissed as unimportant.

Kaworu winced as the eyes in his palms grew roots that dug into his flesh, and burrowed into his hands. The globes bulged under his skin as the traveled up his arms and to his neck. He screamed. The cockpit hatch to his battlesuit slammed shut.

"Next time, Ikari. No more... of our friendly competition. I will… end you… and all… you hope for." His forehead burst open and his chest caved inwards. The Battlesuit vanished in a green flare, and above the Shadow Moon shimmered, spun, and was gone.

The ICBMs were seconds away.

"AND I SAY UNTO YOU, THIS CITY LIVES." Golden light burst forth. A shining dome grew to cover the city, and along the ground as the light touched blood and viscera the human remains burned to nothing. As the light touched destroyed machines, circuits sparked.

Down below, teeth grew around Unit-01's red core.

"HRAAAAAAGH!" he screamed, forcing the dome to expand further, the glittering golden motes in the air to thicken even more.

Shinji Ikari opened his eyes and his eyeballs boiled. Golden light burst out of his eyesockets.

The first of the nukes slammed against the shield and detonated.

"AND THE SPIRIT OF MAN WILL NOT BE BROKGNNGHh…" Blood flowed out of his mouth as his tongue liquefied, his innards gushing out. Golden light sprang out of his mouth.

The sky blossomed in flame. The shield grew stronger and larger with every hit. Fire licked against the edges, but heat and the shockwaves were deflected upwards. The cities around Tokyo-3 were not meant to suffer for its sake. They too held the innocent and the hopeful. Even radiation and fallout were absorbed and transformed. The warmth spread from the mountain slopes to the plains to coastlines.

_'Please don't let this be the end.'_ so many screamed to themselves. _'I don't want this. Let me live, please!' _

And someone answered_ 'Fall and I will catch you. Close your eyes and I will protect you.'_

=][=

Kaji looked at the shining horizon and smirked. "The door has been forced open. Is it the lady or the tiger? Who dares to take the first look?"

"What's happening?" the Prime Minister snapped. "Damn it, Ryouji, what has NERV done now?!"

"What do you think? The final test has begun. Not whether mankind deserves to exist, but in what form it will exist. Congratulations. We won." Kaji smirked and put a cigarette to his lips. "Now we get graded for our efforts."

=][=

"No… no…." Misato clutched at the sides of her head. "I can hear him. He's burning up. He's dying."

Kozo Fuyutsuki leaned back on his chair and smiled. "Yui… we shall shout to the end of time of our existence. The child moves into the space left by its parents."

=][=

Minutes passed and the firestorms raged. Thick were the clouds above that folded valley. Lit from below, the golden glow could be seen almost all the way across the country.

Even the generals and world leaders who ordered the strike could feel it ringing inside their souls – once again, NERV had beaten the odds. Once again, the might of mankind's machines of war were rendered null against the sheer might of its own desire to survive. Mankind may be one soul, one mind, beneath it all – but as to be expected it was a disturbed, schizophrenic one.

Destroy parts of itself so the whole survives – that was the correct call, the one they chose, and their souls did not condemn them for it.

But it was the desire to make the enemy lose, not the desire to win. And now their souls rejoiced with the song of ultimate victory.

Mankind wakes.

And it is a wrathful being.

=][=

The afternoon leaked through overcast skies. Clouds shaped like overlapping discs hung around the core of Japan. Clouds that were still stained gold.

As if sliced out of time, the golden shield over Tokyo-3 remained. Impenetrable, imperturbable, even as the last of the oncoming city-killers had already exhausted in impotent fury. Even as the communication links returned, and the people could look up from their shelters to see how narrowly apocalypse was averted again.

Time passed by in a breathless hush. The golden shield stood strong, vibrating… screaming.

The sky broke apart.

A bladed prow emerged from silver-rimmed hole in the heavens.

A dark humanoid form leapt out, dropping from kilometers on high, towards the very center of the dome.

"… -ILL BREAKER!"

The golden barrier shattered.

Unit 02 slammed into the ground. The hammer-head of its weapon was destroyed, it was holding no more than a long pole now.

Underneath, between the red Evangelion's legs, Shinji Ikari fell down on his face, his armor falling apart around him.

Up above, one could almost hear a frantic "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeee!" as Castle Strumbrand drifted, spinning on its axis, hoping for a survivable crash landing with its untrained pilot.

"You should have waited for me, you idiots…" Asuka whispered, her palms over her eyes to keep tears from flowing. "Damn it. I tried to get here in time… I should have been faster!"

Unit 02 opened its maw and roared its barren rage.

=][=

* * *

-End Tumbling down part 3 -

And it is done[3].

Sorry it took so long.

Since the whole thing started off as a one-shot crackfic, maybe going back to the roots is appropriate. Shouldn't take it too seriously - much of anything was because I thought it would be cool to put in, no matter how silly. Because it is silly and pointless is the whole point.

And eh, perhaps it's time to stop being ashamed of writing Shout-Outs, the Fanfic.

Damage Report:

_- Most of the world's stockpile of nukes have been spent uselessly. No more MAD for you!_

_- NERV has again the world's only remaining fully-functional Evangelion. The one with an S2 Engine.  
_

___- China seems to have decided to declare war on the USA through ambushing a convoy, escorted by US warships, delivering the only other S2 Engine in the world.  
_

___- Ayanami is still dead.  
_

___- Ikari the younger has done something... weird... but too much for his mortal frame to contain.  
_

___- Ikari the elder not only got the very thing he wanted, but managed to get the last taunt in before moving out of stomping range.  
_

_- Lillith is loose, but 'she' seems to more concerned with what SEELE is doing on the moon._

_- Kaworu's sanity has finally snapped apparently._

[1] Yes, Kaworu. The Ikari family exists just to troll you.

[2] Yui Ichijo is found in the Evangelion Der Mond artbook and is part of the Evangelion Proposal.

edit:

[3] Also, uh, sorry for the misconception. There's still two or three more chapters to go.


End file.
